"I have had under my serious consideration your Lordship's confidential Despatch of the 19th of February, on the subject of McGill College at Montreal, and in connection with it I have reviewed the copious correspondence which passed between your Lordship's predecessor and Lord Stanley on this question. I have observed with great regret the state of disorder and inefficiency in which the Institution appears to be.

"The question which has appeared to me to call for my immediate decision is that of the continuance in the office of Principal of the College, and in the Professorship of Divinity, of the present holder, the Reverend Dr. Bethune, whose appointment it is still competent for the Crown, according to the Charter of the College, to disallow.

"It is with regret that I have come to the conclusion that it is my duty to recommend to Her Majesty to disallow this appointment.

"Into the various and somewhat complicated charges which have been brought against Dr. Bethune, in his capacity of Principal of the College, I do not find it necessary to enter; nor do I wish to state at the present moment any decided opinion as to the extent to which the present condition of the Institution is owing to the character and position of its Principal. My decision is founded upon reasons which are not open to dispute; the first, the weight of the Bishop's authority, together with your own, independently of any reference to that of the Board of Visitors, which may be considered to be to some extent at this moment in dispute; next, the fact that Dr. Bethune did not himself receive an University education, which I must hold to be, unless under circumstances of the rarest occurrence, an indispensable requisite for such a position as he occupies. To these I am disposed to add, although I express the opinion without having had the advantage of learning what may be the view of the Lord Bishop in this particular, that I cannot think it expedient that the offices of Principal and Professor of Divinity in McGill College should be combined with that of Rector of Montreal. This latter circumstance is not much adverted to in the papers before me; but I am strongly impressed with the incongruity of this junction of important collegiate appointments with a no less important pastoral charge in the same person; either the former or the latter of which, especially considering the large population of the Town of Montreal, I must, as at present advised, hold to be enough to occupy his individual attention.

"I have, therefore, felt bound to advise Her Majesty to disallow this appointment in both respects, in pursuance of the power vested in her; and have only to add the expression of my 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.

"With regard to the general position of the College, there are indeed many points as to its Constitution, its Laws, its Revenues, and its Administration which obviously require a careful consideration and an early and definitive settlement; among which perhaps the most prominent is the confirmation, or otherwise, of the Statutes which have for some time been awaiting the decision of the Crown. But adverting to the course adopted by Lord Stanley, and to the information received from your Lordship's predecessor, with particular reference to the Despatches noted in the margin, I have resolved to suspend any active measure on my part, at least till the conclusion of the present session of the Canadian Legislature, thinking it not improbable that the proceedings of that body may tend to throw some light on the questions connected with the College, by which I may be guided in the consideration of my own course in this important matter."

As a result of the above despatch, Dr. Bethune retired from the acting-Principalship in May following. On July 3rd he protested in a memorial to the Colonial Office against the legality of the act of the Home Government in the disallowing of his appointment, but no action was taken by the authorities, and there the matter dropped.

Dr. Bethune did not give up the acting-Principalship, which he had filled for eleven years, without the regrets and the tributes of men who had been closely associated with him during his term of office. The Chief Justice of Montreal, the Hon. James Reid, one of the Governors of the College, had already written to him on February 13th, 1845, not long before his death:



"I am enabled to say that after your appointment as Principal the interests of the College, which had previously been much obstructed and delayed, were more closely pursued and attended to, principally by your exertions, your declared object being to bring the College into operation as soon as possible, and to render all the means belonging to it available for this purpose."

On May 11th, 1846, after Mr. Gladstone's despatch had been received, and Dr. Bethune was about to leave the College, the Rev. John Abbott, the Vice-Principal and Secretary, and E. Chapman, formerly Lecturer in Classical Literature, whose relations with the Principal had not always been harmonious, wrote as follows:

"We, the undersigned Officers of the University of McGill College, from our personal knowledge, as far as we have been respectively connected with it, do hereby certify that the Reverend John Bethune, D.D., has performed the duties of his Office of Principal of this Institution with a zeal, ability, and moderation only equalled by his patient and enduring perseverance, under circumstances of great and harassing difficulty; and that the opening and establishing of the College, and consequently its very existence, are mainly to be ascribed, as we verily believe, to his active and indefatigable exertions."

To this letter the Rev. W. T. Leach, who had been appointed Professor of Classical Literature on April 4th preceding, added:

"My connection with McGill College has been of very recent date, and I have no objection to add my testimony to the above."

It was also certified by the Bursar, the Rev. John Abbott, that the Principal was jointly responsible with the Chief Justice of Montreal for L500 borrowed from the Bank of British North America, and for L100 for outbuildings; that he was personally responsible for a debt of L120 for fuel, which "by his own individual means and credit he had obtained and provided for the College while the funds belonging to it were withheld during a considerable period." These liabilities, however, were all liquidated later by the Royal Institution.

The eleven years that had passed since the acting-Principal assumed office were among the most critical in McGill's history. They were fraught with a hopeless misunderstanding arising from a dual control, the causes of which have been made sufficiently clear in the documents quoted. The Governors resented the interference of the Royal Institution, which in those days of advocacy of political autonomy and sensitive abhorrence of Downing Street coercion they could not easily tolerate. It was contrary to the spirit of the age. Whether the Governors helped their cause by their attitude or by their attempt to give to the College a character of sectarian exclusiveness need not be here discussed. They had, however, urged the actual erection and equipment of a College, and it was in a large measure because of their persistence and their faith that the original buildings were so early constructed. They had the good fortune to see the buildings actually opened, students enrolled and collegiate instruction commenced in accordance with the will of the founder. They saw, too, the Medical School made an integral part of the University.

And the controversy in which they had so prominent and at times so painful a part, although unfortunate in many ways, had at least one good result—it showed plainly and unmistakably the hopelessness of dual supervision and divided authority. Nevertheless, by the dissension of those bitter years of storm and stress the College had been brought financially, at least, to a feeble and uncertain state, and many who watched its progress were wondering if it could still endure. But again it struggled forward. Those who were really interested in its existence never doubted its ultimate concord and prosperity and growth. But to bring it to its destined place of usefulness and power it needed unfaltering strength and unwavering faith to guide it through the troubled period that lay yet before it.



CHAPTER VII

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

On July 7th, 1846, the Governors of McGill met at Government House to appoint a Principal to succeed Dr. Bethune. The meeting was attended by the Lord Bishop of Montreal, the Rev. Dr. Mountain; the Chief Justice of Upper Canada and the Governor-General. The seriousness of the situation that had developed was indicated by the presence of the two last named members, who had not attended a meeting for several years. It was resolved that pending a decision on the former acting-Principal's memorial to Her Majesty's Council, protesting against the disallowance of his appointment, a temporary appointment of Principal be made. The choice was Edmund A. Meredith, B.A., LL.B., a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. He was at once informed of the Governors' decision; he accepted the post and took his seat at the meeting. He was to receive no remuneration for his services. The condition of the College was reviewed by the Governors and was found to be critical. Dr. Holmes of the Medical School reported that no degrees had been conferred in the spring "in consequence of the disallowance by Her Majesty of the former election of Principal." The Governors therefore changed the date for the conferring of Medical degrees from the 25th of May, previously fixed, to "a date to be agreed upon by the Governors on application from the Medical Faculty," and the deferred Medical degrees were given at a convocation held on December 17th, following. It was found that the liabilities of the College amounted to over L3300, made up of L2300 for old unpaid bills and over L1000 for arrears of Professors' salaries. The revenue of the College was shown to be only about L900 a year, and the current expenses, exclusive of salaries, about L500 a year. The financial outlook, considering the large liabilities, was therefore not encouraging.



The new Principal, Edmund A. Meredith, was the son of the Rev. Thomas Meredith, D.D., a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and a mathematician of distinction. His mother was a daughter of the Very Rev. Richard Graves, also a Fellow of Trinity, Dean of Ardagh, and a theologian of note. He graduated in 1837 from Trinity College, Dublin, where he won the second classical scholarship, the prize for political economy, and the graduation medal in science. He then began the study of law, but before his course was completed he came to Canada in 1843. Here he resumed his legal studies, and on fulfilling the requirements he became a member of the Bar in both Upper and Lower Canada. When he was appointed Principal of McGill he was a lawyer in active practice in Montreal. In scholarship he was well qualified for his duties, as Lecturer in Mathematics and as Principal of the struggling College in which courses had to be arranged and the whole academic policy reformed. He was possessed, too, of unusual administrative ability and of legal knowledge of great value in that time of College chaos and disagreement; and he displayed uncommon tact and abundant patience and energy in his efforts to solve the delicate problems with which the University was then confronted. It was largely through his initiative that the movement was undertaken for the securing of a new Charter. In 1847 he accepted the post of Assistant Provincial Secretary, but as the seat of Government was then in Montreal he still remained Principal of McGill. After the burning of the Parliament Buildings and the violence in connection with the Rebellion Losses Bill, when the seat of Government was moved to Toronto, Mr. Meredith tendered his resignation as Principal on October 26, 1849. He was induced to retain the Principalship, however, although living in Toronto, until a successor could be found, and it was not until 1851 that he finally withdrew. His name appears as Principal in documents of that year. In recognition of his services the University conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1857. When Thomas Workman gave the workshops to the Faculty of Applied Science he directed that a sum of $3000 be paid to the former Principal, Dr. Meredith, "inasmuch;" he said, "as I have long been convinced of the value of the services rendered to the University of McGill by Edmund A. Meredith, LL.D., during a very critical period of its history." Dr. Meredith afterwards became Under-Secretary of State for Canada, and he was connected with the Civil Service until 1878.

The nine years between 1846 and 1855 were years of continuous financial perplexity during which the Governors had great difficulty in keeping the College in operation. There is little else to record than a discouraging battle with poverty and want. But in this period hope for ultimate success was not abandoned. The new Board of Governors had first to reorganize the teaching staff and make new appointments. In addition to his other duties the Principal undertook to conduct, as Lecturer, the classes in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. The Professor of Classical Literature, the Rev. W. T. Leach, was made Vice-Principal in September, 1846. It was also realised that in a country of two languages instruction in French was an absolute necessity. No funds were available for the purpose, but Monsieur L. D. Montier accepted the position of Lecturer in return for lodging and fuel and a portion of students' fees, on the understanding that he was to receive a salary of L30 a year as soon as money was available. But students' fees, because of the small number in attendance, gave but little reward, and as a result the new French Lecturer was apparently not always as zealous and enthusiastic in his unremunerative labours as the Caput desired. It frequently happened that for several days he gave no instruction, and soon after his appointment the Caput censured him for neglecting his work and for "conduct highly reprehensible and subversive of all College discipline." In recognition of his services, however, and perhaps to keep him from becoming weary in well-doing, the Governors allowed him half an acre of land "in the northeast corner of the College grounds, to pasture his cow and make a garden," from the products of which they hoped he might receive some slight return for his work. The Rev. G. F. Simpson, Headmaster of the High School, consented to act as Lecturer in Mathematics without any salary or fees. In March, 1847, the Hon. Justice Badgley, LL.D., was appointed Lecturer in Law without remuneration other than fees, and instruction in Law which later led to the establishment of the Law Faculty was commenced during the following term. In July, 1848, a Lecturer in Hebrew and Oriental Languages was appointed without salary. It was decided not to appoint a Professor of Divinity in succession to Dr. Bethune, not only because of the lack of funds, but because the clauses in the Statutes bearing on the nature of the theological instruction to be given had not yet been agreed upon by the Home Government.

But the gravest and most important duty of the new administration was in connection with the serious financial condition of the University, and with efforts to improve the situation. When the Governors met in July, 1846, the Professors and Lecturers, some of whom had already retired because of resignation or dismissal, appealed to them for payment of their salaries. They had worked without pay for several months, and in some cases for a year and a half. It was even difficult for them to obtain fuel and candles. The Governors expressed their "sympathy with them in their embarrassment and distress," but regretted that they were unable to relieve them. The Vice-Principal was given land behind the College to enable him to make a garden, "on condition that he would not interfere with the Bursar's garden." The Governors and the Board of the Royal Institution were unwilling to encroach upon the meagre capital to pay for ordinary running expenses. They believed that if the burden of debt which the College carried could be removed they could meet in some way all current obligations, and that there would be no doubt about the future success of the University. In liquidating the debt they hoped for assistance from the Government. In November, 1846, the Secretary of the Governors wrote: "The prospects of the College are now in so promising a state as to lead the Governors to entertain the most sanguine hopes, if they would but be relieved from their present embarrassments, of succeeding in carrying into full effect the great object its benevolent founder had in view." But their hopes for direct assistance from the Government or the Home authorities were not early fulfilled.

It was soon evident that the removal of the burden of debt without Government assistance would be an arduous task uncertain of accomplishment, and that a problematical period doubtless lay ahead. Many of the debts were of ten years' standing. Some of them had been incurred with mechanics and tradesmen in connection with the construction of the College buildings. Professors had long been unpaid. Since July, 1845, no money had been placed at the disposal of the Governors to meet expenses. The Statutes for the government of the College were still unsanctioned by the Crown, and this fact and the dispute between the Board of the Royal Institution and the Governors continued to furnish an excuse, whether valid or not is questionable, for paying no money for several months out of College funds. The Governors had borrowed from the Banks on their own personal security, and had obtained small sums at different times on their own personal undertaking to pay for fuel and to meet the most pressing demands made by absolutely necessary contingencies. Were it not for this timely assistance it is probable that the College would have been closed; its fortunes at best were precarious.

The Royal Institution had meanwhile concluded to transfer to the Receiver-General of the Province all sums paid to them on account of the College. But the Receiver-General would not pay them to the College authorities, pending the Crown's decision on the Statutes. The Governors urged the Royal Institution to a hasty consideration of their embarrassment. They did not blame or censure the Board for the extraordinary situation in which they found themselves. In the question as to the cause of the situation they were not primarily interested. Debating on the responsibility for it and on bygone disputes would not improve it. The fact was plain that the College's existence was in the balance because of financial conditions, and that this fact must be faced. "The buildings are becoming dilapidated and useless," they wrote, "and those who inhabit them will be frozen or starved unless the Governors contribute from their private means." They likewise vigorously called the attention of the Home Government to their incongruous and lamentable plight. "We desire earnestly," they said, "to impress upon Her Majesty's Government that the attainment of the benevolent and noble object of the founder of McGill College has been unfortunately if not culpably delayed." Yet they insisted that the present problem "will work out and the whole income will soon be available for expenditure." There would then be no difficulty, they thought, "in maintaining the College on a scale large enough to be of use in a colony of a million people without means for obtaining education for youth." And they declared with astonishing optimism, "the Governors have great hopes that when once fairly put in action this Institution will speedily attract patronage and support and will expand with the wealth of the country." This note of courage and faith is all the more remarkable when we realise the exact condition of the University, without money, without Statutes, a fact which was used as an excuse for withholding funds, with but little sympathy from Provincial Government or Home Government, with its few Professors unpaid and pleading even for fuel and light, with unfinished and poorly equipped buildings falling rapidly into decay, with grounds uncared for, and with a very small enrollment of students.

The Governors were determined, however, not to decrease the capital funds of the College and that payments, if any, must be made out of surplus revenue. In this they had the approval and co-operation of the Board of the Royal Institution. Nor did they wish to dispose of any of the land until it was absolutely necessary to do so, and then only with a unanimous consent. They made an effort first to increase the value of their real estate. A large portion of the land had been let for pasture and for grass, but the leaseholders were slow to pay the rent and many of them were several months in arrears. The Board of the Royal Institution now endeavoured to collect all rents promptly when due. They decided to discriminate between their own various debts. They would pay tradesmen first, in the order of the age of their bills. When the tradesmen had all been paid they would then pay the Professors, but not until all other debts had first been liquidated. The Professors must wait. An agreement was then entered into with the various creditors to pay their debts off in installments. In order to secure more revenue the students' fees were increased. They had already been raised from L3 to L4 6s. 8d., of which L2 13s. 4d. went to the House Fund, 6s. 8d. to the Bursar, the same amount to the Library, and L1 to the servants. The fees were now advanced to L10. Every matriculant was also to pay L1 5s. to the Bursar for his use and benefit, and all students were to deposit 10s. "caution money," to cover breakages and damages to furniture, this deposit or the portion of it not used to be refunded in the spring. Expenses during this period were reduced to a minimum. In 1845 the large dining-hall or refectory had been given over to the Medical Faculty, and one of the small rooms had then become the dining-room. In 1847, however, because of the financial loss incurred even the small dining-room was closed and, as we have seen, the students boarded with Professors. In 1848, when Law students were first permitted to reside in the College, it was on the express condition that "Professor Leach would board them."

The necessity for much needed repairs to fences and buildings and for fuel for the College rooms called urgently for funds. But there was no money to provide these necessities. Permission was asked and received by the Governors to pull down and remove an old wooden hut on the College grounds, "which had long been considered an unsightly object and a nuisance fast falling to decay." It was arranged that "the boards of the roof and floor would mend fences and that the old logs would be used for fuel." It was later decided to sell the surplus furniture in the College, scanty enough at best, and also the sand that had been taken from the excavations for the buildings, the money from the sales to be put to "repairs to the spouts of the buildings and to the fences, also to bring water from the spring near the bridge [in the present 'hollow'], to put a railing on the bridge, and to make passable the road between the College and Sherbrooke Street." But in the midst of all their financial worries the determination of the College authorities to encourage students is evident from their establishing two exhibitions of the value of L10 each, to be awarded yearly to the two students standing highest in the matriculation examination. Professors might starve or freeze and creditors might wait, but ambitious and meritorious students must be practically encouraged.

The Governors were at last given some slight relief by the receipt of over L1400, on account, from the Receiver-General, to whom the revenues arising from College funds and properties were being periodically transferred by the Royal Institution. Of this amount only L50 was voted for current expenses; the remainder was used to pay off a portion of the debts, among them the amount borrowed from the Bank by the former Principal and the Chief Justice of Montreal. A further sum of L280 was received by the Governors from rentals, of which L100 was paid to the Vice-Principal, L100 to the Bursar, Registrar and Secretary, L50 to the Professor of Mathematics and L30 to the Lecturer in French, in part payment of their long overdue salaries. But it was decided that in consideration of these payments "no fuel could be provided for the present for any College officer."

The relief resulting from the above receipts was of but brief duration. In November, 1848, the Governors had only the sum of L54 at their disposal. They divided it between the Bursar and the two Lecturers in proportion to the amount of salary in arrears, and as a result the Lecturer in French, M. Montier, received L2 14s. as his share from January 1st, 1848, to November 29, 1848. That was the full amount of salary received by him during the year; but he still had his cow and his garden! As if to increase the worries of the College authorities the College buildings caught fire on January 24, 1849. Fortunately the damage was only small, but any damage, however trifling, could at that time be ill-afforded. To add to the embarrassment, several of the few students enrolled failed to pay their fees, and the Bursar could not collect them. In February, 1849, he was in urgent need of funds, and on the 13th he sent out to the student debtors appealing letters of which the following is typical: "I beg that you will pay your fees this week if possible, as I have a heavy College claim to meet on Saturday without the wherewithal to pay it." He supported this appeal by letters to parents, "I beg that you would be good enough to pay your son's College fees on or before Saturday next, as I have a heavy College debt to pay on that day and not sufficient funds to meet it." These appeals were not always successful, and the revenue from this source remained indefinite. In the spring the students who had paid their dues were not given back the caution money they had deposited because "no funds were available." There is a record of one student, more persistent than the others, who was difficult to placate. He was finally promised that his "caution money would be refunded when possible," and he was assured that "funds would soon be available because the Statutes would soon be ratified."

The gross revenue available to the College in 1849 was L494, made up of L70 from the rent of Burnside House, L274 from rents of building lots and other lands, and L150 from the rent of a large stone building known as the King's Arms or Mack's Hotel, situated on Jacques Cartier Square, formerly Nelson's Market. The rent of this latter building was first L250 a year, but from depreciation in value because of the removal of the Market it had decreased by L100. After deducting the amounts required for insurance, etc., the net revenue was only about L440. Only thirteen students were in attendance; two of these had obtained exhibitions and were admitted free, and the income derived from the fees of the remaining eleven was L110. The salaries, which, however, were several months in arrears, amounted to L292 a year. The Principal received no remuneration. The salary of the Rev. W. T. Leach, Vice-Principal and Professor of Classical Literature, was supposed to be L100; that of T. Guerin, Lecturer in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, L50; the Hon. W. Badgley, Lecturer in Law, received no stated reward, but he was entitled to a fee of L2 per term from each student attending his lectures; the Rev. J. Abbott, Registrar, Bursar, Secretary, and Lecturer in Ancient and Modern History, Geography and Logic, was supposed to receive a salary of L100, and in addition several small fees from students, which amounted the previous year to only L4 5s.; L. D. Montier, Lecturer in French, received L30 a year, and the Beadle, F. Hewitt, was given L12; the Lecturer in Hebrew, the Rev. A. De Sola, received no salary. Later in the year a lecturer in Botany was appointed "without remuneration for the present."

The Board of the Royal Institution endeavoured earnestly to relieve the financial situation of the College, and they requested the Receiver-General to make all possible payments to the Governors. But the liabilities far exceeded the assets. In January, 1850, the College officers urgently pleaded for their overdue salaries. It was decided to pay them 2s. 9d. in the pound. Accordingly, Vice-Principal Leach received L55 of the L404 in arrears; L. D. Montier, the Lecturer in French, was given L4 of the L34 due him, and the others were paid very small amounts in proportion for a year or, as in the case of the Vice-Principal, several years of work. A grant of L25 was asked for by the College authorities to purchase books for students, but it was of necessity refused. The supply of fuel for the year was reduced to "ten cords of maple wood," and altogether the outlook of the College was not promising.

Meanwhile the Statutes, Rules, etc., which had been forwarded to the Colonial Office for Royal sanction in 1843, had been approved with some alterations, and the Royal confirmation was announced in a despatch from Lord Grey to Lord Elgin, the Governor-General, on September 27th, 1848. The Home Government had delayed their approval of the Statutes because they were not sure of the attitude of the Provincial Legislature towards the College. Remembering the political events of 1837 and realising as a result Canadian resentment of any semblance of dictation or coercion, they decided to proceed with caution. In this they followed the advice of the Governor-General, Lord Metcalfe, who, as we have seen, strongly urged delay and a careful consideration of the clauses bearing on religious instruction, in his despatch of September 6, 1843. To this despatch Lord Stanley replied from Downing Street on October 13, stating his approval of the suggestions and expressing his desire to meet first the wishes of the Provincial Assemblies. "It is evident," he said, "that these questions cannot be decided without the intervention of the Legislature of Canada and that it must rest with the Provincial Parliament to determine whether pecuniary aid shall or shall not be afforded to the College.... It could answer no useful purpose, but may lead to a most embarrassing controversy if, by the confirmation of those Statutes ... Her Majesty should hazard a collision on such topics as these, between the Royal Authority irrevocably exercised and the future recommendation of both or either of the Houses of local Legislature. Consequently, until I shall be apprised of the results of their deliberations, the decision of the Queen will be suspended."

There were rumours that a bitter attack against the College, its administration and its religious exclusiveness would be made in the Legislature, and that a Bill would be introduced which might possibly lead in the end to its abolition. Lord Metcalfe feared such a possibility. But no attack was made, and on January 17, 1844, the Governor-General wrote to Downing Street: "No attack was made on McGill College in the shape of a Bill during the late Session. The Institution perhaps owes its escape to the prudence of the French Canadian party, who, having several Roman Catholic Colleges that are exclusive, are not disposed generally to join in attacking other Institutions on account of their exclusiveness, lest the same weapons should be turned against their own. Under those circumstances McGill College being in Lower Canada appears to be in a safer position than it seemingly occupied before the late Session; and I do not consider the expediency of withholding confirmation of their Statutes to be so urgent as I then conceived it. Nevertheless, it is not certain that the Institution may not be attacked in any future Session, for the Presbyterians and Dissenters of all classes are bent on destroying the exclusive character which it has acquired in the hands of the Church of England." Efforts were now renewed by the Royal Institutions to have the Statutes, in part at least, approved, but the Board was informed by the Colonial Office that "it does not appear to Her Majesty that the College has the means of sustaining itself on a reasonable scale of efficiency." The closing of the College was looked upon by the Home authorities as a mere matter of time!

After much discussion and delay, when it seemed probable that the College would weather the storm, the Statutes were finally in part approved in the autumn of 1848. The time for action had come and the Home authorities realised that "further delay might issue in the ruin of the College." As we have already seen, the clauses relating to the sectarian character of theological instruction and of the College prayers were not confirmed. In giving reasons for the vetoing of these clauses, Lord Grey wrote that in his opinion, based on the advice of Lord Metcalfe, "aid would not be granted [to the College] if the Royal confirmation of the Statutes should first have impressed indelibly on that Institution a character of exclusiveness in whatever relates to Theological degrees and studies and to the public worship of the place.... The Will and Charter are both silent on the subject of the peculiar religious tenets or ecclesiastical principles to be inculcated at the College, a silence very significant in the case of a Testator who was himself the member of a Christian Church, a silence not less significant in the case of the Sovereign ... a silence not to be explained by any supposed forgetfulness or intentional omission of the subject, since the inculcation of 'the principles of true religion' is expressly provided for by the Charter; a silence, therefore, apparently indicating a design that Christianity should be taught, not in any single or exclusive form, but in any and in every form in which its great fundamental truths and precepts could be imparted to the students.... The questions respecting the religious and ecclesiastical principles to be inculcated in the College will, therefore, for the present rest in the same state of indecision as that in which the Will of the founder and the Royal Charter have left them."

With the approval of the Statutes, the Governors made an effort to reorganise the College on a better working basis. In December, 1849, the Principal forwarded to the Board of the Royal Institution suggestions for amendments to the Charter in order to provide a greater freedom of action which might render the management more efficient. This step resulted largely from a report sent to the Governors by the Board of the Royal Institution, setting forth the latter's observations on conditions found during their official Visit in 1848, and including an outline of the remedies they thought should be applied. The Board approved of their suggestions and urged immediate consideration of the question. Three months passed without action. Meanwhile a peculiar situation had developed. The Principal of the College had desired in October, 1849, to resign, as he was about to move to Toronto because of the change in the seat of Government. He was now Assistant Provincial Secretary. But as no successor was available he was persuaded to retain the office for the present, although no longer able, because of his residence in Toronto, to take a very active part in College affairs, or to exercise any direct supervision over the administration. The remaining Governors consisted of the Lord Bishop of Montreal, who resided at Quebec; the Chief Justice of Upper Canada, the Hon. J. Beverley Robinson, who, like the Principal, dwelt in Toronto; and the Governor-General, Lord Elgin, who, after he had been attacked by a mob in 1849 as a result of his attitude on the "Rebellion Losses Bill," no longer resided in Montreal. None of the Governors was therefore able to exercise any oversight of the College of which they were the legal guardians. In April, 1850, a Committee of the Board of the Royal Institution was appointed to suggest a solution of the peculiar problem. They wrote to the Governor-General, setting forth the absurdity and the hopelessness of a condition which permitted the College to be controlled by Governors no longer resident in Montreal, and emphasising the necessity that existed for "a prompt application of remedies to relieve the College from its present unfortunate state of depression." They urged an amended Charter as the first requirement. A long correspondence followed between the Board and the individual Governors, relating to the details of the Charter. In June the Board's Committee wrote again to the Governor-General, stating that if the Charter were amended according to the draft prepared "McGill College would speedily be relieved from the difficulties by which it has been so long surrounded."

The Board desired to amend the original Charter rather than to abrogate it in order not to raise any question of the tenure of the estate through a lapse of possession. They feared that between the brief period of time which would necessarily intervene between the annulment of the old Charter and the passing of the new, the heirs-at-law of James McGill might, even at that late date, claim that the College no longer existed in fact, and that they were entitled to the estate. They therefore preferred an amended Charter, even if more cumbersome. One of the amendments provided that the members of the Board of the Royal Institution should henceforth be the Governors of the College, the members still to be appointed by the Crown. The number of Governors was left indefinite, but the Board suggested strongly that "the number should not be less than thirteen, and that they should be selected from the different Protestant denominations in the city and district of Montreal." Later they suggested that the number should be nine or eleven, exclusive of ex-officio members. They pointed out that "so long as the Board of the Royal Institution and the Board of Governors are composed of different bodies of men exercising a co-ordinate and uncertain jurisdiction over matters very ill-defined ... it is impossible to expect either unanimity in the bodies themselves or harmony in the system.... The only means of imparting to these bodies unity of action and design will be found in making them identical." Such an amendment would forever end the dual control which had brought about in the past disaster and depression.

Other clauses in the amendment provided that all Statutes and Rules of the College could be approved by the Governor-General at his discretion without transmission to England; and that the visitatorial power be transferred from the Royal Institution and vested in the Governor-General. The purpose of the amendments was to simplify the government of the College and to secure an efficient administration. The suggestions with reference to numbers and to the selecting of the Governors from the different Protestant denominations were not followed by the Government. There was much correspondence between the Board and the Governor-General and his Council over the proposals. But it was on the whole amicable. The objections of one side were always met with reasonableness by the other, and a harmonious agreement was finally reached. The Governor-General forwarded the amended Charter to the Colonial Office with his approval and his advice that it should receive Royal sanction. The Board of the Royal Institution, realising from past experience the slow methods of Downing Street, appointed an agent in London to hasten the passage of the Charter through the different offices of the Imperial Government. It was not until August, 1852, however, that the amended Charter was finally approved.

Between 1849 and 1852 very few meetings of the Governors were held, owing to the absence of the Governors from Montreal. The affairs of the College were largely in the hands of the Vice-Principal and his assistants. Conditions gradually became graver. The Lecturers in French and Mathematics were dismissed because no money to pay them was in prospect. By 1851 the buildings, which had not been completed and were uncomfortable at best, had fallen into a dilapidated state. Rain and snow fell freely through the cracks in the roof, and leaked to the rooms below. Windows and doors, which in the course of time had been shattered, were still unrepaired. There was not enough fuel to heat the broken and damaged structures, for an allowance of "ten cords of maple wood for the winter" was not sufficient to bring warmth. The College grounds were uncared for. Students who dwelt in the city tramped through snowdrifts to the cold College classrooms. Because of the discomfort, the lack of adequate accommodation, and the inconvenient distance from the Hospital and the city, the Medical classes, which had been held in the Centre building since 1845, were removed in 1851, as already recorded, to the building on Cote Street, built by three members of the Medical Staff, Drs. Campbell, MacCulloch, and Sutherland, and leased to the Faculty. A year later the City began excavations for the reservoir in rear of the College grounds. The blasting in connection with this work did not add to the peace or the safety of student life in McGill, and later serious breaks in the buildings were caused by heavy stones falling on the roof. For these various reasons it was ordered by the College authorities that all occupants except the Vice-Principal should withdraw from the College buildings. The chief excuse given was economy, but the real reasons were not then disclosed to the public. The Arts classes were afterwards carried on in part of the building used for the High School. The McGill buildings were abandoned, except by the Vice-Principal, and it was not until 1860 that they were reoccupied by the Faculty of Arts.

Several changes now took place in the administration of the College. In 1851 Principal Meredith resigned. His resignation was followed the next year by that of the Rev. John Abbott, who had been Secretary and Bursar and Registrar for several years. The Hon. Judge Charles Dewey Day was now President of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, and as such he assumed, in conjunction with Vice-Principal Leach, direction of the College management.

Charles Dewey Day was a native of Bennington, Vermont. While he was still a boy he moved with his parents to Montreal, and there he received his education. He studied law, and in 1827 he was admitted to the Bar. Ten years later he was made a Queen's Counsel. When the Rebellion of 1837 ended he was appointed Deputy Judge Advocate-General, and he consequently had an active part in the courts-martial appointed for the trial of accused insurgents. He was made Solicitor-General in 1839. At the election of 1841 he was chosen to represent the County of Ottawa, but he retired from political life in the following year and accepted a Judgeship in the Court of Queen's Bench. In 1849 he was elevated to the Superior Court. He was later appointed a member of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, of which he became President, and after the amended Charter of the University was approved in August, 1852, he became in virtue of that position a Governor of McGill. In 1857 he became Chancellor of the University, a position which he occupied until his death twenty-seven years later. He filled many important offices. In 1859 he was one of the Commission entrusted to prepare a Civil Code for the Province of Quebec; he subsequently served on Commissions appointed at different times to determine the amount of the Provincial debt to be assumed by the Dominion; to investigate the details of the Pacific Railway scandal; and to settle the amount of subsidy which should be paid to the railroads for carrying the mails. He also helped to prepare Canada's case in the negotiations for the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, and after his retirement from the Bench he assisted in prosecuting the Hudson Bay Company's claims against the United States under the treaties of 1846 and 1863. After his appointment as a Governor of McGill, Judge Day took, a deep and earnest interest in the activities of the College. He devoted his energy and his time to advancing the College's welfare, to removing the causes of its many troubles, and to giving it a place of power and usefulness in Canada. He died in 1884. He was referred to in the contemporary press as "one of Montreal's most upright, honourable and useful citizens"; and speaking a few days after his death, on his connection with McGill, Lord Landsdowne said, "In this University he leaves an irreparable void and an enduring memory."

With the approval of the amended Charter in the autumn of 1852, efforts were made to reorganise the University, and to commence a forward movement. The new Board of Governors authorised and established under the amended Charter found the University in an unsatisfactory and almost hopeless predicament. It was struggling under lamentable deficiencies in its educational arrangements; it was faced by heavy pecuniary embarrassments and altogether inadequate resources. It was, in short, destitute of funds. Even its buildings had been abandoned, but it was hoped only temporarily. Conditions in the Faculty of Arts were particularly bad. Yet there was hope. It was evident to the Governors that an attempt at resuscitation must immediately be undertaken. An agreement was entered into with creditors for the making of small periodical payments with interest. Arrangements were made for the appointment of a competent Treasurer, and for the holding of regular meetings of Governors and of Corporation. A Committee on Ways and Means was selected, consisting of the President, Judge Day, and Messrs. Davidson, Ramsay and Dunkin. The Provincial Government was appealed to, and in December, 1852, the Legislature gave the College a grant of L1000 "to help liquidate the debts." It was clear that a new era in the University's life was about to begin, but that persistent energy and determination would be required to guide the University through the night that still covered it.

In February, 1853, a Finance and Building Committee of the Board was appointed, consisting of James Ferrier, Benjamin Holmes, and T. B. Anderson. One of the first acts of this Committee was to take legal proceedings against the purchasers of lots, for the most part "persons of ample means" who had failed to make payments long overdue. In June, 1853, a sum of L75 was voted by the Governors to complete the portico of the Arts Building, "the Board being very desirous of correcting as soon as possible the present unsightly aspect of the Centre building." They also called for estimates for "the putting up in front of the College on Sherbrooke Street of a fence of the same description as that of the new Cemetery." To effect greater efficiency the office of the Secretary of the Royal Institution was moved to one of the rooms of the McGill buildings—the East wing—in July, 1853, and the Secretary became also Secretary of the Governors. The two offices became identical. Later, because of the cold and the general discomfort, the office was transferred for some time to a building at the corner of Dorchester and University Streets, known as Burnside Hall. But that conditions there were not ideal is evident from an appeal made in December, 1854, to the firm that had previously repaired the antiquated furnaces. The Secretary wrote: "Instead of imparting to us an equable and cheering warmth such as might reasonably be expected from their matronly development ... to me they are painfully and consistently cold. Do, then, come to our relief and save us from the horrors of frozen limbs, hospitals and amputations; or first, if you prefer it, pass a morning without overcoat, cap and comforter in my office with the thermometer at zero."

In the summer of 1853 repairs were made to the College buildings in the hope of making them again habitable. The blasting in connection with the reservoir had caused much damage. Windows were wholly shattered and there were wide cracks and breaks in roof and walls. The contractor failed to make restitution, and the City Corporation was then urged to make the necessary repairs and to guarantee that there would be no further wreckage. The City authorities were slow to respond, but in the end they made reparation. Fences were also restored or newly built, and an effort was made to lay out the College grounds in some semblance of order. In September the lower part of the grounds was granted free for the holding of the annual Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition. In the spring of 1854 the City threatened to enter suit against the College for unpaid taxes, but the dispute was amicably settled. The total income from rents on which the taxes were based amounted to L182, of which the sum of L102 was derived from the rent of Burnside House and gardens, L60 from the Professor and L20 from two students who still occupied rooms in the College buildings. This income was exclusive of the rents of lots, which amounted to about L400. In the summer of 1854 the Governors gave to the city free of charge land for the opening of streets "on condition that all the College property shall be entirely exempt from every sort of assessment until it shall have been sold." Land for the opening up of University Street had been given in 1851. The Streets now provided for were Union Avenue, between Dorchester and St. Catherine Streets; McGill College Avenue; Burnside Place; Victoria, Mansfield, St. Catherine, Cathcart, Dorchester, and Monique Streets. It was stipulated that Victoria Street and McGill College Avenue "should not be opened, for the present, higher than Burnside Place."

But notwithstanding the Governors' efforts, the University was still far from adequate prosperity. It was not yet in a flourishing condition and its outlook while hopeful was not wholly auspicious. Greater co-operation on the part of the public was obviously needed, and the contemporary press frequently deplored the lack of public encouragement. There was peace and concord in its administration, but there was little advancement in its academic activities. It was clear that it had either to go forward or to cease to function. It was plain, too, that in addition to funds a new Principal and several instructors should be appointed as expeditiously as possible. The Governors, it was rumoured, were looking abroad for a Principal; they were also, it was said, considering the reorganising of the College on the plan of English Universities. Neither of these suggested procedures was popular, and neither was in the end followed. In August, 1854, one of the contemporary newspapers, the Sun, which has long since disappeared, in referring to the needs of the University voiced editorially the opinions of the people:

"All we need," it said, "are persons at the helm who will take an active interest in the progress and advancement of the institution.... It won't do to sit idly down—to follow the dignified and majestic example of Cambridge and Oxford. Montreal is not in England—it is in Canada. We have a way of doing things for ourselves. It is not necessary in order rightly to accomplish an end to ask how they do it 'at home'; we can find out a mode ourselves. McGill College will never be anything until some exertion is made by those who have control of it. A languid indifference or a sickly half-dead interest will never secure to it a permanency among the institutions of the day"; and the writer added that "unless measures for its improvement are speedily undertaken there is a danger that McGill College will soon be numbered among the things that were."

The Governors in the end decided to look nearer home for a Principal—a man of strong personality to take the helm in this critical period. They determined, if possible, to appoint a Canadian who was familiar with the country, its spirit, its temper and its educational needs. Down in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, they found him in the person of William Dawson, a native Canadian and a graduate of Edinburgh University. In 1855 they offered him the Principalship. He accepted the position and began his duties in the autumn of that year. In the thirty-four years that had gone since its establishment and the twenty-six years since its opening, the College had struggled through many vicissitudes and trials. It had frequently been on the border of extinction. But the crisis in its troubled history had at last been passed. A new era, more wonderful and more successful than even its most optimistic friends dared look for, was about to begin. The foundations had been laid, perhaps not always wisely, but at least firmly and hopefully. The College was now to go forward—for again, as in the past, its sign-posts pointed onward. The faith of its founder was at last to be justified. It remained for the new Principal, William Dawson, to guide it on its unwavering march to usefulness and to power, and by his tact, his judgment, his wisdom and his strength to impress his name upon its century story as the man who was greatest among "the makers of McGill" in the first hundred years of its existence.



CHAPTER VIII

COLLEGE LIFE IN MID-CENTURY

College life in mid-century, or rather in the "forties and fifties," during the early dark days of struggle and ten years thereafter, differed greatly from College life in our day. It is difficult perhaps fully to realise the changes since that time in other ways than growth. The McGill of our day is not the McGill of seventy years ago, not merely in its accommodation and its advantages, but in its internal activities.



Under the original Statutes of the College the administration was under the control of four distinct bodies: (1) The Corporation, which met annually on the day after commencement day "to inspect the Books and Accounts of the Registrar, Bursar and Secretary and to transact all such business relative to the property of the University as might be necessary." This body seems to have taken no part in strictly Academic discussions. (2) The Board of Governors, which met quarterly in March, June, September and December, and which was in supreme control; two constituted a quorum and the Principal had a double or casting vote. (3) The Caput, which met weekly and consisted of the Principal, Vice-Principal and Professors, three forming a quorum. The duty of this body was "to frame Rules and Regulations for the discipline, lectures, studies and internal government of the Lecturers, Scholars, Students, Inferior Officers and other members of the College and to make regulations regarding the expenses and system of living within the College." They had no control at first, however, over studies or lecturers in the Faculty of Medicine. (4) The Convocation, which met "four times in every Term for the purposes of conferring Degrees, such meetings being regulated by the Caput." Every Professor, Lecturer and Tutor had to take the oath of allegiance and of office.

Discipline was severe and was rigidly enforced. Every Professor was given power to punish students by confinement and fine, the fine not to exceed five shillings and the confinement not to exceed twelve hours. Many of the early regulations are of interest. The duties of the Vice-Principal seem to have been responsible and arduous. All disciplinary measures as well as the general conduct of the University were under his direct supervision. He was compelled to reside in the College, and during the non-residence of the Principal he was to be "the parent and guardian of the College Household." It was his duty "to examine students for matriculation, maintain the observance of the Statutes by Professors, Students, Inferior Officers and all other resident members of the College, enforcing such observance by admonitions and punishments; to direct the students in their studies, promoting by all the means in his power their progress in Religion, and Learning; to preside over the Collegiate Exercises and regulate the Inferior Officers and Servants of the College." At meals served in the College distinctive tables were provided, one for "Members of Convocation and Bachelors of Civil Law, Lecturers, Fellows and Tutors"; one for Bachelors of Arts and Students in Law and Medicine who had graduated in Arts; and one or more for undergraduates. The academical year consisted of three terms, the Michaelmas Term, the Lent Term and the Easter Term, and it extended from the first Wednesday in September until the third Wednesday in June. The Arts course extended over three years. Until a Chapel should be built it was imperative that Divine Service should be held in some convenient room, and on the first and last days of every term the Principal or one of the Professors, Lecturers or Tutors selected by the Principal for the purpose, preached a sermon in the College or in one of the Protestant churches of Montreal; attendance in full academic dress of all the members of the University excepting those who had obtained a dispensation was compulsory. The prayers in the College Chapel were said morning and evening; the service was conducted in rotation by Officers of the College.

It was required that "the dress of all members of the University should be plain, decent and comely without superfluous ornament." No member of the Arts Faculty was allowed to appear in Church, Chapel, Lecture or Dining-hall without his gown and only by special permission from the Vice-Principal was a student permitted to go outside of the College grounds without his academic dress. Students were not allowed to resort to any inn or tavern or place of public amusement without special permission from the Vice-Principal. They were not allowed to remain out of College nor to entertain visitors in their rooms after 10 o'clock at night, and the Vice-Principal, Professors, Lecturers and Tutors had authority to enter at all hours the rooms of undergraduates. Junior students were required "to pay the respect due to their Seniors both in public and in private by taking off their caps, giving place to them and by other useful modes of attention and civility."

The course of study leading to a degree in the Faculty of Arts was of three years' duration. Courses were of two kinds, from which students could make a choice. One consisted of Mathematics, Logic, and Ethics; the other of Classics. In the former the First Year was devoted to the study of six books of Euclid, Algebra to the end of Quadratic Equations, and Trigonometry to the end of the solution of Plain Triangles. In the second year the course included a repetition of all the first year work, Analytic Geometry, Differential and Integral Calculus, and Logic, consisting of Fallacies, Induction and "a sketch of a system of Philosophy of the Human Mind." The work of the third or final year was in Physics, Astronomy, and Ethics, principally "Butler's Analogy." In the Classics course selections from Homer, Virgil, Euripides and Horace were read in the first year; selections from Cicero, Horace, Demosthenes and Sophocles in the second year; and selections from Herodotus, AEschylus, Thucydides, and Tacitus in the third year. In the first and second years the students were "exercised in Greek and Latin Composition, and they were also given a few lectures in Ancient History and Geography." In the third or final year they were exercised in English Composition.

Conditions in the Medical School at that period have been described by a contemporary, Dr. D. C. Maccallum, who graduated in 1850, when the Medical Classes were held in two rooms of the Arts building:

"A large proportion of the students," he said, "were men verging on, or who had passed, middle age. Indeed, several of them were married men and the heads of families. There was sufficient of the youthful, however, to keep things lively. 'Footing Suppers,' practical jokes, and special country excursions to secure material for practical anatomy, were of frequent occurrence. The last, involving as it did a certain amount of danger, commended itself particularly to the daring spirits of the class, who were always ready to organise and lead an excursion having that object in view. These excursions were not at all times successful, and the participators in them were sometimes thwarted in their attempts and had to beat a precipitate retreat to save themselves from serious threatened injury. They contributed, moreover, to the unpopularity of the medical student. 'Footing Suppers' were functions of the simplest and most unpretentious character. Each new matriculant was expected, although many failed to conform to the arrangement, to select an evening on which to entertain his fellow students, the entertainment consisting generally in furnishing biscuits and beer—the old, time-endorsed 'cakes and ale.' In partaking of these, smoking, relating humorous stories, chaffing each other and singing rousing songs, the evening usually passed with much bonhommie. But sometimes they were rather boisterous, or, at least, noisy and exciting....

"Dissections and demonstrations were made only at stated times during the morning and afternoon of the day. There evidently existed a marked disinclination on the part of both demonstrator and student to work at night in the highest story of a lonely building, far removed from other dwellings, imperfectly heated, and lighted by candles, the light being barely sufficient to render the surrounding darkness visible. Having occupied for two seasons the position of Prosector to the Professor of Anatomy, I had to prepare, during the greater part of the session, the dissections of the parts which were to be the subject of the Professor's lecture on the following day. This necessitated my passing several hours, usually from nine to twelve o'clock at night, in the dismal, foul-smelling dissecting room, my only company being several partially dissected subjects, and numerous rats which kept up a lively racket coursing over and below the floor and within the walls of the room. Their piercing and vicious shrieks as they fought together, the thumping caused by their bodies coming into forcible contact with the floor and walls, and the rattling produced by their rush over loose bones, furnished a variety of sounds that would have been highly creditable to any old-fashioned haunted house. I must acknowledge that the eeriness of my surroundings was such that I sometimes contemplated a retreat, and was prevented from carrying it into effect only by a sense of duty and a keen dislike to being chaffed by my fellow-students for having cowardly deserted my work....

"The examinations for the degree of the University were conducted orally, ten minutes being allowed to each examiner. The janitor, supplied with a watch and a large bell, was placed in the hall outside the door of the library, the room in which the examinations took place. At the expiration of each ten minutes he rang the bell, and the candidates went from one examiner to another. This was repeated until the student had completed the round of examining professors. Immediately on the termination of the examinations, the professors met and decided then and there the fate of the candidates. The latter, in the meantime, waited in the College in a rather painful state of suspense. They were summoned separately before the Professors, and the result, favourable or unfavourable, was in each case made known to the individual....

"It was customary at this time for the student to be indentured to a practicing physician, or, if not so bound notarially, to make a private arrangement with him to be allowed to study in his office and to be considered as his pupil. For this privilege a fee of L20 was usually demanded. Apart from the eclat which was supposed to be attached to the position of a student under a popular physician, and the belief of the possibility of the patron being able to forward the interests of his pupils, there were, as a rule, few advantages derived from this association. It is true that in exceptional cases, if the physician had a large clientele and took a warm interest in his students, he could, by arranging their studies, occasionally examining them on the work done, and directing them in the routine of office work, be of material assistance to them. The office work of a physician in large practice, however, offered an excellent opportunity to acquire much practical knowledge. As, with few exceptions, physicians prescribed and dispensed their own medicines, the articled student had the opportunity of making up all the prescriptions. He compounded pills, a variety of which were always kept prepared for use, and he made the different tinctures and ointments. He had the privilege, also, of assisting at minor surgical operations, such as were performed in the office, of making physical examinations, of applying tests; in short, office practice offered the same facilities for acquiring practical knowledge, although in a minor degree, that the outdoor practice of a hospital or the practice of a dispensary affords...."

The recreations of students who dwelt in the College or its vicinity were few and simple. There were no athletic teams or athletic games. Indeed, the number of students in Arts and Law was scarcely sufficient to permit the forming of athletic teams, and the medical students were too busy all day and were too far from the College grounds to take an active part in college sports. There was no gymnasium and no physical instruction. There were no fraternities other than the fraternity of McGill itself. There was no Union, no Y. M. C. A. On evenings in spring and summer a military band usually played near the "ornamental bridge" over the stream in "the hollow" near the present Physics building. Citizens came up from the City to listen to the band, and before the Easter term ended students, too, enjoyed the music. The College grounds were long used by citizens as a park. The students seemed to have had an occasional dance during the spring term, and at times there were receptions in Professors' rooms to which students were invited. Later in the "fifties," after the coming of Principal Dawson, other forms of entertainment were added. Of these Dr. Dawson wrote: "Evening gatherings at regular intervals during the session were arranged, and cards of invitation for these were sent to the different classes or years in rotation. At such gatherings there was usually music, sometimes a short recitation or address on some topic of interest, and scientific instruments, specimens and photographs were shown, simple refreshments provided, and every effort made to cause those who attended to feel thoroughly at home." Sometimes there were gatherings which took the form of what were known as "conversaziones," during which conversation, supposedly on literary or scientific subjects, but more frequently on less dignified topics, took the place of the dances of to-day.

On the whole, college life in the mid-century was characterised by a Spartan simplicity. The students of that period seemingly enjoyed its somewhat humble joys and its unostentatious and frugal amusements. Life in that time was, at least, not artificial or luxurious or competitive or sectional; but whether the plain living of the period was more conducive to high thinking than the multifarious student activities of a later day cannot here be answered.



CHAPTER IX

SIR WILLIAM DAWSON AND THE MAKING OF MCGILL

James McGill made his will, providing for the founding of McGill College, on January 8th, 1811, two years before his death. He was dreaming of a great University which would rise at some distant but certain day in the new land of his adoption. He was doubtless dreaming, too, of a strong personality who would guide the University to its destined place in the country in which he had made his fortune and in which he had unbounded faith. At that very time another Scotchman, twenty-two years of age, was dreaming in his home in Banffshire—also, by a strange coincidence, the home of James McGill's ancestors—of the land beyond the horizon from which tales of fortune and happiness came drifting across the ocean. He was a Liberal in politics and a dissenter in religion. His independent spirit was revolting against conditions in his own land. It was not easy to sever the ties which bound him to the old home and to venture alone into an unknown and far-off country. But the new land was calling, and its lure was upon him. He resolved to go to Canada where he had heard that all things were possible to the courageous and the industrious, and where men lived a man's life based on merit and achievement, and unhampered by the fetters of worn-out fetishes and conventions. And so it happened that on the 8th of March, 1811, exactly two months after James McGill had made his will, this young Scotchman set out for the new world. The ship in which he was to take passage—a square-rigged, clipper sailing vessel in those steamless days—was to clear from Greenock, one hundred and eighty miles from Keith, his Banffshire home. He had no money to spare to pay for a conveyance. He must cover the distance on foot. He sent his heavy luggage by carrier, and with a pack of necessary clothes and provisions on his back, he set out with three adventurous but hopeful comrades on his journey. He walked through the Grampians, by Kildrummy Castle, on through the town of Perth, along the base of Cairngorm in the Highlands, through the long valley of Glenavon, and thence to the sea-port town of Greenock from which the packet ships went weekly out into the mists, heading for the land of promise somewhere beyond the sky-line. He slept with his companions on heather beds in front of peat fires in the homes of the Highlanders through whose villages they passed, and the Gaelic tongue of one of their number was always a charm sufficient to secure them food. He reached Greenock on the 20th of March, but because of unforeseen delay it was not until April 11th that he embarked for Canada. After a voyage of five tempestuous weeks he landed in Pictou, Nova Scotia, on May 19th, 1811, and there he determined to make his home. The young Scotchman was James Dawson, whose son was destined in 1855 to become Principal of McGill.



In his new home James Dawson soon prospered as a merchant and ship-owner, and later as a publisher, and in a few years he was head of one of the most successful business firms in Eastern Nova Scotia. In 1818 he married Mary Rankine, a Scotch girl from Lonerig, in the parish of Salamannan, who had emigrated to Nova Scotia after her parents' death with her brother William, the only other member of her family. Like the other pioneers of that time, they, too, were resolved to make a new home and to restore their shattered fortunes in the new world. To James Dawson and Mary Rankine two children were born, William and James, the latter of whom died while still a boy.

William Dawson was born in the town of Pictou, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, on October 13th, 1820, and there he received his early schooling. His parents believed in the value of education. Early in his career they determined that he should have whatever school privileges the country provided, and that he should later receive a college training. Many years afterwards he wrote: "To this day I cannot recall without deep emotion the remembrance of the sacrifices they made, and of the anxieties they incurred to secure for me opportunities of improvement.... I would specially record with gratitude that, at a time when he was in straitened circumstances, my father contributed liberally in aid of educational institutions then being established in Pictou, with the view of securing their benefits for his sons, and that he and my mother aided and stimulated our early tastes for literature and science."

The childhood influences that moulded William Dawson were typical of the homes of the early Scottish pioneers in the Maritime Provinces of Canada at the beginning of the last century. They were characterised by simplicity, by frugality and by reverence. They were founded on an unwavering belief in religion and education and honest labour as necessary to the development of the individual and the nation. They were based on principles inculcated in the youth of these early Canadian days long before Carlyle with rugged pen and organ tone declared them. Later, when Principal of McGill, Dr. Dawson used to speak with affectionate remembrance of the agencies which fashioned him in the little seacoast town of black wharves, and tossing tides, and far-come sailing ships bearing mysterious cargoes from unknown and romantic lands, and manned by strangely-garbed and bearded seamen speaking a foreign tongue. "Our home," he said, "was a very quiet one except when strangers, especially men engaged in missionary and benevolent enterprises, were occasionally invited as guests. To some of these I was indebted for much information and guidance ... There was always much work and study in the winter evenings, and I remember with what pleasure I used to listen to my father's reading, chiefly in history and biography, for the benefit of my mother when busy with her needle, as well as of my brother and myself, after our lessons were finished.... My early home had much in it to foster studies of nature, and both my parents encouraged such pursuits. A somewhat wild garden, with many trees and shrubs, was full of objects of interest; within easy walking distance were rough pastures, with second-growth woods, bogs, and swamps, rich in berries and flowers in their season, and inhabited by a great variety of birds and insects. Nothing pleased my father more than to take an early morning hour, or rare holiday, and wander through such places with his boys, studying and collecting their treasures. The harbour of Pictou, too, with its narrow entrance from the sea, affords ample opportunities for such investigations, and its waters teem with fish: from the gay striped bass and lordly salmon to the ever-hungry smelt—the delight of juvenile anglers. In such a basin, visited every day by the ocean tides, there is an endless variety of the humbler forms of aquatic life, and along the streams entering it a wealth of curious animals and plants with which an inquisitive boy could easily make himself familiar in his rambles and occasional angling expeditions." It was here that the interest of the future scientist was first aroused in natural history. Of his mother he wrote: "She was a woman of deep affections and many sorrows ... her girlish years had been saddened by the death of her parents, and by the mournful breaking up of her old home ... She had a few warm and attached friends, and was very kind to such of the needy as she could help."

The first scholastic training of William Dawson was received in a small private school in Pictou. From there he went to the recently founded Grammar School conducted on "the good old-fashioned plan of long hours, hard lessons, no prizes, but some punishments." His parents desired that he should study for the Church; he began his college career with that object in view, but it was changed by circumstances. He entered Pictou Academy, which had just been established primarily for the training of young men for the Christian ministry; it was presided over by the Rev. Dr. Thomas MacCulloch, a Scottish teacher and preacher who exercised a large influence on the intellectual life of Nova Scotia. It was during his course at the Academy that William Dawson first became interested scientifically in geology and natural history, subjects which were later to form so large a part of his life work. As a result he took long excursions during vacations for the purpose of obtaining specimens and studying the minerals of his native province. In 1840, he entered Edinburgh University, where he completed his course in 1847. It was in one of his summer vacations in the Maritime Provinces that he first met Sir Charles Lyell, the distinguished geologist, and Sir William Logan, who later originated the Geological Survey of Canada. In 1847 he married Margaret Mercer of Edinburgh and with his wife he returned to Pictou. For a time he gave a special course of extension lectures at Dalhousie College, Halifax. In 1850, Joseph Howe, for whom he had a deep admiration, and with whom he had formed a friendship early in life, offered him the Superintendency of Education in Nova Scotia,—a newly established office. He accepted the post with many misgivings; and for the next few years he devoted all his efforts to bettering the educational conditions of the Province, addressing school meetings throughout the country and stimulating improvements.

In 1853 while he was still Superintendent of Education, his old friend, Sir Charles Lyell, revisited Nova Scotia and the friendship formed a few years before was renewed. On the same ship with him was Sir Edmund Head, then Governor of New Brunswick, who, on this first meeting, was deeply impressed by Mr. Dawson's views on educational reforms. As a result he appointed him the following year to the commission formed to report on the re-organisation of the University of New Brunswick, which was then in a precarious state.

In 1854, the Governors of McGill, on the advice of Sir Edmund Head who was about to become Governor-General of Canada in succession to Lord Elgin, offered the Principalship to William Dawson. He accepted the post and began his duties in the autumn of 1855. The outlook of the University when he arrived was not encouraging. The College buildings were not used for classes, but part of them was occupied by professors and students; Medical classes were held in the Cote Street building; classes in Arts and Law were held in part of the High School building. The conditions of James McGill's will were not being carried out; there was a College building on the Burnside Estate, it was true, but it was not in operation.

But nevertheless the call for educational opportunities was urgent. One hundred and ten students registered at the commencement of the session in all departments of the University, of whom fifteen were in Law, thirty-eight in Arts and fifty-seven in Medicine. The Faculty of Arts consisted of five professors and one lecturer; the Faculty of Law had one professor and two lecturers; and the Faculty of Medicine had nine professors. The annual calendar for the previous session, 1854-55, announced that "the board and lodging of students is a matter of much practical importance. From fifteen to twenty [Arts and Law students] may be received by the Professors resident in the College buildings and provision will be made when necessary for the reception of others into boarding houses, licensed by the Governors, upon settled economical terms and subject to proper rules of discipline and conduct." Medical students, it was pointed out, "could obtain board and lodging in the town for from eight to sixteen dollars a month." It was clear that the attendance would rapidly increase in succeeding years, and that provision must at once be made for their accommodation and instruction. The greatest hindrance to advancement was of course lack of funds.

The actual condition of the University at that time and the obstacles to be overcome were afterwards frequently described by Sir William Dawson, whose reminiscences of the period were always vivid:

"When I accepted the principalship of McGill," he said, "I had not been in Montreal, and knew the college and the men connected with it only by reputation. I first saw it, in October, 1855. Materially, it was represented by two blocks of unfinished and partly ruinous buildings, standing amid a wilderness of excavators' and masons' rubbish, overgrown with weeds and bushes. The grounds were unfenced and were pastured at will by herds of cattle, which not only cropped the grass, but browsed on the shrubs, leaving unhurt only one great elm, which still stands as the 'founder's tree,' and a few old oaks and butternut trees, most of which have had to give place to our new buildings. The only access from the town was by a circuitous and ungraded cart track, almost impassable at night. The buildings had been abandoned by the new Board, and the classes of the Faculty of Arts were held in the upper story of a brick building in the town, the lower part of which was occupied by the High School. I had been promised a residence, and this, I found, was to be a portion of one of the detached buildings aforesaid, the present east wing. It had been very imperfectly finished, was destitute of nearly every requisite of civilised life, and in front of it was a bank of rubbish and loose stones, with a swamp below, while the interior was in an indescribable state of dust and disrepair. Still, we felt that the Governors had done the best they could in the circumstances, and we took possession as early as possible. As it was, however, we received many of the citizens, who were so kind as to call on us, in the midst of all the confusion of plastering, papering, painting, and cleaning. The residence was only a type of our difficulties and discouragements, and a not very favourable introduction to the work I had undertaken in Montreal....

"On the other hand, I found in the Board of Governors a body of able and earnest men, aware of the difficulties they had to encounter, fully impressed with the importance of the ends to be attained, and having sufficient culture and knowledge of the world to appreciate the best means for achieving their aims. They were greatly hampered by lack of means, but had that courage which enables risks to be run to secure important objects....

"Our great difficulty was lack of the sinews of war, and the seat of Government being, at the time, in Toronto, I was asked by the Governors to spend my first Christmas vacation in that city, with a view of securing some legislative aid. There was as yet no direct railway communication between Montreal and Toronto, and of course no Victoria Bridge. I crossed the river in a canoe, amidst floating ice, and had to travel by way of Albany, Niagara, and Hamilton. The weather was stormy, and the roads blocked with snow, so that the journey to Toronto occupied five days, giving me a shorter time there than I had anticipated. I received, however, a warm welcome from Sir Edmund Head, saw most of the members of the Government, and obtained some information as to the Hon. Mr. Cartier's contemplated Superior Education Act—passed in the following year—which secured for the first time the status of the preparatory schools, whilst giving aid to the universities. I was also encouraged by Sir Edmund and Cartier to confer with the Superintendent of Education and with the Governors of McGill on my return to Montreal, with reference to the establishment of a Normal School in connection with the University. This was successfully carried through in the following year."

With the loyal aid of the Board of Governors the Principal at once undertook to arouse the interest of the general public in the University. He realised the necessity of securing their speedy co-operation and assistance. His belief was that the University should not be isolated nor removed from the stream of national life; his hope was that it should minister in a practical and tangible way to the community in which it was situated. On November 5th, 1855, he was inaugurated as Principal. A few days later he established the first real link between University and citizens, on the purely instructional side, by the commencement of a course of thirty popular lectures in Zoology, Natural Philosophy, Civil Engineering, Palaeography and the Chemistry of Life. The fee for the course was L1. The course in Engineering was the origin of the department of Applied Science, which later expanded into a Faculty. Soon afterwards a course of lectures in Agriculture was given by the Principal, who, while Superintendent of Education in Nova Scotia, had given several lectures on that subject throughout the province. The fee for this course was L1 5s.

A direct appeal for financial assistance was then made to the citizens of Montreal. It met with an encouraging response, which greatly relieved the situation and was what Dr. Dawson, forty years later, called "the beginning of a stream of liberality which has floated our University barque up to the present date." But other anxieties were soon to be felt. Early in 1856 the building occupied by the High School and the Faculty of Arts was destroyed by fire, together with the few books and the scanty apparatus that had been collected or had been given by Dr. Skakel many years before, as well as many of the Principal's natural history specimens. Teaching was not interrupted, however, and during the remainder of the session, the classes in Arts were held again, in part, in the original College buildings, then undergoing repairs, and, in part, in the Medical Faculty's building on Cote Street, in which rooms were generously placed at the disposal of the Faculty of Arts. Because of the occupation of part of the College buildings, and the expectation of soon again putting them to permanent use, improvements were commenced on the College grounds, by the planting of trees and the making of roads and walks, the cost of which was borne largely by the Principal. In 1856, general courses in Applied Science were established in connection with the Faculty of Arts, and degrees were first conferred in that department in 1859. The courses in the Law School, which had been formed into a separate Faculty in 1853, were extended to suit the conditions and needs of the country. But funds were necessary to meet the heavy extra expenses incurred, and in order to provide sufficient money for the payment of debts and contingencies, it was thought prudent to sell a portion of the College lands. From 1858 to 1860, therefore, forty-four lots, averaging in size one hundred by one hundred and twenty feet, were offered for sale by the University. Some of these were sold at auction. They were situated on Sherbrooke, Victoria, Mansfield and University Streets. Money was also loaned by the College authorities to purchasers of lots to enable them to erect buildings. The temporary revenue of the College was thus increased and expansion was consequently made possible.