CHAPTER V

ANXIOUS YEARS

The Rev. John Bethune, appointed acting-Principal of McGill in temporary

succession to Principal Mountain on November 18th, 1835, was a Canadian

by birth and education. His father, the Rev. John Bethune, a native of

the Island of Skye, Scotland, and a graduate of King's College,

Aberdeen, emigrated to America before the War of Independence. At the

beginning of the Revolution he served as Chaplain of a militia regiment

fighting in the Carolinas on the British side; he was taken prisoner by

Republican troops, and after his release by exchange he moved with other

British Empire Loyalists to Canada. He lived for a short time in Nova

Scotia, became Chaplain again of a Highland Regiment fighting in defence

of Canada against Montgomery's Army, and when the War ended he settled

in Montreal. Here he organised, as we have seen, the first Presbyterian

Congregation in the City, and ministered to it from March, 1786, until

May, 1787. He then removed to Williamstown in the county of Glengarry,

where he became minister of the Church of Scotland.

[Illustration: _Rev. Dr. John Bethune

Actg. Principal of McGill University_

1835-1846]

The future acting-Principal of McGill, the Rev. John Bethune, the

younger, was born at Williamstown, Glengarry County, in January, 1791.

He received his education at the school of the Rev. Dr. John Strachan

at Cornwall, already referred to. After serving in the War of 1812, he

entered the ministry of the Church of England, possibly through the

influence of his former teacher, who left a deep impression on the minds

and lives of all his pupils, and in 1814, he was ordained by Bishop

Mountain at Quebec. He was stationed for a time at Brockville and

vicinity, and in 1818 he was made Rector of Christ Church, Montreal,

where he remained for more than fifty years, eventually becoming Dean of

the diocese. He was acting-Principal of McGill from November, 1835,

until May, 1846. He died in August, 1872.

Soon after his appointment, the acting-Principal entered into

negotiations with the Board of the Royal Institution on the question of

the erection of a suitable building on the Burnside Estate for the

reception and instruction of students, as required by James McGill's

will. The Medical lectures, the only lectures given in the name of the

College, were given in a building far removed from the College property.

The College authorities did not even pay the rent of the building nor

did they pay the salaries of the Professors, and the School, except in

name, and for its own protection and the privilege gained thereby for

the conferring of degrees, was still, to all intents and purposes, a

private institution. Technically, it was contended, it was not a part of

the University at all. It was not situated on the Burnside Estate as the

will of the founder required, and it could not therefore be considered

as fulfilling any of the provisions of the bequest. Even the legality of

the degrees conferred had been questioned, and had been accepted on the

basis of equity and intention rather than on that "of justice and of

fact." The Principal and Governors realised the force of these

arguments, and the necessity of removing the cause. The situation could

only be met, they believed, by the erection of a building or buildings

on the Burnside Estate, as the terms of the bequest demanded, and the

Governors urged immediate action. They pointed out that "without

provision for resident students very little good can be expected to

result from the opening of the College, and without residence within the

College for one or more professors it cannot be expected that resident

students will be obtained." The acting-President of the Royal

Institution for the Advancement of Learning, A. W. Cochrane, wrote to

Principal Bethune on January 11th, 1836, stating "with respect to the

measures proper to be taken towards the speedy erection of a College on

Burnside property, it was my intention to have submitted to a meeting of

the Royal Institution which was fixed for Thursday next a proposal to

advertise for plans and estimates of a suitable building.... My own

opinion is that a new building calculated for 40 students (_intimus_)

with a suitable public apartment and accommodation for two professors

would be sufficient for the present demands of the country (perhaps even

beyond what is necessary) and that at all events it would not be

justifiable to exceed the expenditure of £4000 or £5000 out of the

bequest for such a purpose at the outset. The present building, Burnside

House, might be adapted to the residence of the Head of the College." He

added that, as promised in 1801, the Crown should give an endowment for

general education in the Province, in a way that would not rouse

political or sectarian feelings. "I should not," he said, "wish to see

the question connected with the proceedings of any political

association. If taken up in this general way, I think that some public

movement at Montreal in favour of it would not fail to have a good

effect; but great caution and moderation are requisite." But the Board

and the Governors could not agree on the kind of building required and

over a year passed without any action on the part of either body.

Further difficulty arose in connection with the amended Charter of 1834,

which had not received the approval of the authorities. Until it was

given confirmation no additional professorships could be appointed. That

it did not conform to the ideas of the Board of the Royal Institution is

evident from a letter written to Principal Bethune by the President in

June, 1836. Objection was taken to making the Governors a self-elective

body, and the necessity of making it essential that the Governors or a

majority of them should be of the Protestant faith was also insisted on.

That the discord between the Governors and the Board which led in the

end to unfortunate bitterness and disaster, was then developing is also

apparent in this letter. The President of the Board wrote: "Whatever

changes are proposed to be made in the existing Charter must, I should

conceive as a matter of course, be submitted for the consideration of

the Royal Institution, the Visitatorial body who are bound to see that

the views of the founder of the College are not defeated." The Governors

then decided to submit new amendments, and at a meeting held on November

14th, 1836, attended by the Lieutenant-Governor, the Chief Justice and

the Principal, the Charter recommended in January, 1834, was changed to

read as follows: "The Governors of the College shall consist of the

Governor in Chief of Lower Canada; the Right Rev. Charles J. Stewart,

Lord Bishop of Quebec and his successors, Bishops of Quebec; the Right

Rev. George J. Mountain, Lord Bishop of Montreal and his successors,

Bishops of Montreal; the Rector of Christ Church, Montreal, and his

successors of the said Church; a minister of the Church of Scotland

resident in Montreal, to be selected for the purpose by the Presbytery

of Montreal to be perpetually succeeded by a minister of the Church of

Scotland chosen in like manner; the Principal of the College; the Hon.

James Reid; the Hon. George Moffat; the Hon. Peter McGill; William

Robertson, M.D.; William P. Christie; Samuel Gerrard and John Samuel

McCord." Authority was given to fill all vacancies by a majority vote of

the Governors, seven to constitute a quorum. It was stipulated that all

Governors of the College must henceforth be residents in the district of

Montreal. The Chief Justice and the Principal agreed to the above

changes in the Charter, but the Governor of the Province "declined under

existing circumstances to give any opinion on the subject, and his vote

was not recorded." It was also decided at this meeting that the rents

from the Burnside Estate be expended on repairs and that the premises be

placed in the occupation and charge of the Principal for the time being,

he to keep them in a good state of repair. This latter decision was not

approved by the Royal Institution and it gave rise to further

controversy. Without the approval of the Board of the Royal Institution

the Governors forwarded their amendments to the Governor-General for

transmission to the Home Government, but at the request of the Board he

stayed proceedings.

Meanwhile, the ultimate possession of the endowment fund was causing

anxiety. The case was settled in favour of the College in 1835, but the

Governors were unable to secure the money. The Desrivières heirs who

were in control of the legacy demanded terms as we have already seen,

but their terms were refused. When the Executors at last secured

possession of the funds they declined to convey them to the Royal

Institution until certain promised conditions were fulfilled by that

body acting for the Home Government. On November 10th, 1836, a memorial

on the subject of the legacy was forwarded to the Colonial Office by Dr.

Strachan, one of the surviving Executors of the will of James McGill. He

pointed out that the original bequest had increased by the accumulation

of interest to £22,000. This amount together with the Burnside Estate

would, he said, be transferred to the Royal Institution when two

conditions were fulfilled--first, the contributing by His Majesty's

Government towards the erection and endowment of the proposed

University, and second, the carrying out of the intention of the

testator, to which Dr. Strachan stated himself to be a living witness,

that the proposed College should be essentially Protestant. To this

Memorial the Colonial Office replied that the will did not stipulate for

a contribution from His Majesty's Government towards the proposed

University, and added "nor can we perceive any disposition on the part

of the testator to impress on the Institution to which he so liberally

contributed a character of religious exclusiveness.... The testator did

not in his will either directly or indirectly introduce such a

condition, and adverting moreover to the even-handed liberality with

which his bequests were distributed between the poor Catholic and

Protestant inhabitants of Montreal, we apprehend it would be impossible

to impose such a restriction founded on mere verbal testimony as to the

intention of the testator.... His Majesty's Government cannot now advise

His Majesty to reconsider it for the purpose of narrowing the Charter of

1821." In November, 1836, the Board conveyed to the Governors of the

College the possession of the Burnside Estate, subject to the Board's

subsequent approval of all decisions affecting it. But the controversy

between the executors and the Colonial Office over the conveyance of the

funds, which the heirs had not yet given up, continued for several

months. It was not until October 20th, 1837, that the litigation finally

ended. In December following, a transfer of all monies, investments,

etc., was obtained by the Trustees of the Royal Institution, estimated

at the value of £22,000, the amount of the legacy and accrued interest,

and yielding an income of between £800 and £900. But in the meantime the

College suffered and its progress was retarded.

There were other worries than those of buildings and charter and

endowment fund. Since the College was opened in 1829 no repairs had been

made on the Burnside property. The buildings and fences were rapidly

falling into decay; the neighbours were complaining that the fences of

Burnside had disappeared and that through the property cattle wandered

at will to their lands and gardens, and the farmer who had leased the

premises "on the halves" had neither the money nor the inclination to

effect a remedy. There was also a demand for streets or roads through

the estate. The Governors had no money at their disposal; they must beg

every cent expended from the Royal Institution. The situation was

incongruous. On December 17th, 1836, Principal Bethune wrote to the

Secretary of the Board informing him that "there is a demand on the part

of the neighbours for fences, which on a close inspection are found to

be unserviceable with the exception of 170 cedar rails or rather logs

which will serve by being split into two for rails." The neighbours, he

said, preferred "a fence 10 feet high, but they will be satisfied with

one 6 feet high." He also advised that the Royal Institution should join

in the proposal of one of the neighbours, Phillips (who is remembered in

the present "Phillips Square"), "a man difficult to deal with if

thwarted by delay," for opening streets through the estate of Burnside.

As a result of this appeal the Board granted £75 to be expended on the

buildings and fences. The expenditure of this sum created further

friction between the Governors and the Board. The latter body was not

informed until February, 1837, of the Governors' decision at their

meeting on November 14, 1836, to put Burnside House and premises into

the occupation and charge of the Principal of the College. When they

received the information they wrote to the Principal asking him what use

he intended to make of the estate. The Principal in his reply questioned

the authority of the Board, and said: "With regard to the use intended

to be made by the Governors of the House, the Governors do not conceive

themselves in any way accountable to the Board in this respect ... yet

they feel no objection to communicating it for the information of the

Board." To this letter the Secretary of the Board replied: "The Board

was only originally induced to make the grant of £75 on the 14th of

November last, for the repairing of the Burnside House and fences in the

expectation that the same would be made tenantable and be let to the

advantage of the Trust, and have learned with much dissatisfaction that

the House is to be occupied by the acting-Principal without any

advantage to the Trust; and a personal interest thereby given to him to

prevent the College going into speedy operation; and that the Board do

also think it necessary to record their opinion that as the Visitors of

McGill College they are at all times entitled to inquire into the

management of the Burnside property, especially when a demand is made

upon the Board for a grant of money to be laid out on the said property.

It was ordered [by the Board] that Mr. Bethune be further informed that

under the circumstances disclosed to the Board for the first time in his

letter, the Board cannot feel themselves justified in advancing any

further sums for the repairs on the Burnside property." The Principal

answered that the Board had no right to act in any matter affecting the

College without consulting the Governors; that "the Governors cannot

recognise the Visitatorial powers of the Board to the extent claimed";

and that the Board was "illegally and unjustly detaining the funds." He

emphasised his desire "to effect a restoration of harmony and unanimity

between all the parties"; but it was clear that because of the rapidly

growing friction and misunderstanding a crisis was not very far off.

For several months thereafter no meetings of the Governors were held.

The Rebellion of 1837 and the struggle for Canadian autonomy required

all the attention and the energy of the Provincial authorities, and the

subject of Collegiate education was again somewhat neglected. But in

May, 1837, the Royal Institution announced to the Principal that they

were about to erect buildings for the University, and they asked for

suggestions which might guide them in calling for plans. But the

Principal and Governors declined to make suggestions. They denied the

right of the Royal Institution to undertake the erection of buildings,

and they contended that the whole property and management of the affairs

of the College devolved upon the Governors. They would therefore not

surrender into other hands what they conceived to be their own vested

rights. They pointed out, too, that the case between the executors and

the Royal Institution for the possession of the funds was not yet

settled. The Board replied that until a College was actually erected

they were in control, under the terms of the will. They were somewhat

inconsistent in their attitude. In the first suit against the

Desrivières heirs for the possession of the estate they had pleaded that

by the mere obtaining of the Charter the College was to all intents and

purposes "erected and established." The courts sustained their plea.

Now, however, they repudiated their own former contention; they

maintained that the College had not yet been "erected and established";

and that until buildings were actually constructed they had the sole

authority!

Discord continued to characterise the relations of the two bodies. The

Governors' meetings were usually attended only by the Principal and the

Chief Justice. The former had a double or casting vote in case of

dispute. He was virtually in control. The Board of the Royal Institution

declared that he did not represent the views of the Governors. Apart

from the disagreements arising from a dual management, other causes

contributed to the bitterness of the controversy. The period was not

conducive to harmony. Downing Street was not a name to conjure with, and

"Downing Street rule" had become in Canada a synonym for indifference or

coercion. The suspicion that the Royal Institution was but the

mouthpiece, or at least the meek and unprotesting agent, of Downing

Street only added to the irritation. The suspicion was not well founded,

for the Royal Institution did not willingly submit to dictation from the

Home authorities. But a new and sturdy Canadian spirit was evident in

education as well as in politics. It was apparent as early as 1815 when

Dr. Strachan outlined his plan for a University and expressed his doubts

on the suitability of English methods in Canada. It had grown rapidly

since that time. The year 1837 was a year of turmoil, with a cry for the

privilege of solving Canadian problems in a Canadian way by those who

were familiar with the requirements and conditions, and were not

dwelling thousands of miles away. In such a period, aside from the waste

of time, it was doubly distasteful to the Governors and to those

interested in education to have to submit all appointments and all plans

to the Home Government for ratification. The friction was, on the

surface, between the Governors and the Royal Institution, but its roots

lay deeper. Its cause was not far removed from the cause of the

political rebellion of the hour.

After several months of somewhat discordant discussion the Principal

finally agreed to submit to the Board suggestions on the proposed

buildings, and on June 30th, 1838, he forwarded an outline of what he

believed the College should include. He suggested that it should provide

"(1) Accommodation for 100 students, namely, 100 sleeping rooms, and 50

sitting-rooms, two students in one set of apartments; (2) apartments for

the Principal, and Vice-Principal, and family, and for four other

Professors. The present house of Burnside might, he said, be adopted for

the residence of the Principal; (3) a College Hall which for the present

may be used both for lectures, exercises and refectory; (4) a Library;

(5) a Chapel; (6) Steward's apartments." As an alternative to (3) he

suggested three lecture rooms with some adjacent small apartments. It

was proposed that prizes should be offered for the first and second best

plans with specifications and estimates, not only for the buildings, but

also for the laying out of College grounds on the northwest side of

Sherbrooke Street "in avenues and ornamental and kitchen gardens." It

was pointed out that this land consisted of about seventeen acres, and

was considered sufficient for the College grounds, and that the upper

side of Sherbrooke Street, which was then being opened to the width of

80 feet, was considered the best site for the College, as it was the

most elevated land on Burnside and had the best approach. It was desired

that the Building should include "a large room for the business of the

Professor of Latin and Greek which might also be appropriated to many

general purposes; a room for the Professor of Mathematics, Natural

Philosophy and Astronomy with suitable adjacent apartments for his

apparatus; a room for the Medical Department with suitable adjacent

apartments for Chemical apparatus." The Professorships proposed to be

established in the first instance were four: that of Divinity and Moral

Philosophy to be occupied by the Principal; that of Medicine, with a

suitable number of Lectureships in the different departments of Medical

Science; that of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy; and that

of Latin, Greek and History. It was pointed out that "in the present

state of the College funds the greater number of these Professors can

have little more allowed them than the fees derivable from pupils and

that their salaries will therefore be uncertain."

The Royal Institution refused, however, to proceed at that time with the

erection of buildings on so large a plan as suggested. On August 1st,

1838, they announced their intention to "proceed immediately on such an

extent as the limited resources at their command will justify." They

agreed to call for plans for a building containing lecture rooms and a

public hall, but no apartments for students or professors, the building

to cost not more than £5000. They contended that all the money in their

possession was required to endow professorships and that they could not

therefore make so great an expenditure as the large building suggested

by the Governors would entail. They stated, too, that only three

professorships could at present be established, those of Classical

Literature, Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and Metaphysical and

Moral Philosophy, on the understanding that when the charter was

changed to permit it, each of these professorships should be divided

into two. They pointed out that their University scheme "in the absence

of the long hoped for assistance from Her Majesty's Government will not

embrace either Theology, Law, or Medicine." It was stipulated that the

Principal should be also one of the Professors. An interesting condition

with reference to the teaching of Theology was also set forth by the

Board in the following resolution:

"That it is not expedient that a Professor of Divinity be appointed

under the Charter, but that it be intimated to the Right Reverend the

Lord Bishop of Montreal on behalf of the Church of England in this

Province and to the Reverend the Presbytery of Quebec or the Synod of

Canada on behalf of the Church of Scotland that Lecture Rooms will be

set apart and that application will be made for such an alteration in

the Charter as will give all rights and privileges of the University to

such Professor or Professors as they may appoint and endow, or procure

endowments for, for the instruction of students of Divinity of their

respective churches; and that the authorities in both churches be

respectfully requested to recommend or to enforce on their students

attendance on the classes of general education in the College."

It was later decided that the Board of the Royal Institution and the

Governors of McGill should write a memorial to Her Majesty's Government

asking for the means of endowing at least four Medical Professorships;

that a similar memorial be prepared with respect to a Professorship of

Law; and that until such Professorships be established, every facility

be given within the College to Lecturers in the various branches of

Medical and Legal Science. These memorials had no response.

Another effort was now made by the Governors to secure the passing of

the new Charter as amended in 1834 and 1836, which had been ignored by

the Home Government. But Lord Gosford, the Lieutenant-Governor, refused

to give it his sanction. Application was then made to Lord Durham, but

no answer was received from His Lordship, who declared that he was "too

busy to consider the question."

The correspondence during this period indicates that the Board and the

Governors were working in harmony. But the peace was not of long

duration. It lasted but a few days. It was, however, of sufficient

length to permit of temporary agreement on the kind of building

required. As a result, plans for the laying out of the grounds and for

the erection of buildings were at last called for by the Board of the

Royal Institution, and the following advertisement appeared in the

_Mercury_ and the _Official Gazette_ on the 16th of August, 1838, and in

the _Quebec Gazette_ on the day following:

TO ARCHITECTS

OFFICE OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION FOR THE

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING

Quebec, 16th August, 1838.

By order of the Principal and Trustees of this Board, Public Notice is

hereby given that they are desirous of obtaining plans, specifications,

and estimates for the erection of suitable buildings on the estate of

Burnside, near Montreal, for the McGill College; and that the sum of

fifty pounds currency will be paid for the plan which shall be accepted

by the Board as the best plan; and twenty-five pounds for the plan which

shall be adjudged as second best. The said plans to provide:

1ST. Apartments for 100 students: to consist of 50

sitting rooms and 100 sleeping rooms.

2ND. Apartments for a Vice-Principal and family,

and for 4 Professors.

3RD. College Hall.

4TH. Library.

5TH. Chapel.

6TH. Steward's Apartments.

With a connected plan for the distribution of the ground on the

northwest side of the continuation of Sherbrooke Street in avenues--with

ornamental and kitchen gardens.

The said plans to provide for the erection in the first instance of such

portions of the building as are specified below to be hereafter

incorporated with the general design when completed; the sum at present

disposable being limited to about £5000.

1ST. Two large rooms, each calculated for separate

classes of 50 non-resident students.

2ND. Two rooms available for medical students,

chemical apparatus, etc.

3RD. College Hall.

4TH. Library.

5TH. Steward's Apartments.

Information respecting the proposed site and grounds, with other

particulars, can be obtained on application to the Rev. Dr. Bethune,

Principal of McGill College, Montreal, to whom the plans are to be

delivered on or before the 1ST of October next.

WILLIAM S. BURRAGE,

For the Rev. R. R. Burrage,

(Sec'y to the Board of R. I.)

Plans were accordingly submitted by several architects, and were

forwarded by the Board to the Governors of McGill for their comments.

The Governors pointed out that even in the best and most suitable plan

submitted "no provision was made for retiring rooms for Professors!" The

plans provided for a Post Office at the entrance to the grounds, a

Botanical Lecture-house and "ornamental bridges" over the stream that

ran through the grounds near the present University Street. The Board of

the Royal Institution declined to accept any of the plans submitted on

the ground that they involved too great an expenditure, and building

operations were again indefinitely delayed.

[Illustration: _The Plan of the Proposed University_]

The Governors continued to urge with vigour the immediate erection of a

building. They tried to force the Board, for no apparent legal reason,

to have the building completed before the 29th of June, 1839, the tenth

anniversary of the opening of the College, and in October, 1838, the

Principal wrote to the Board: "I am well informed that it is the

intention of the heirs Desrivières, should not a College be erected on

Burnside property within ten years from the period of possession thereof

by the Royal Institution, to sue for the recovery of the whole bequest.

No legal advice has been taken on the subject, but we think it

prudent to avoid the contest." The Board sought legal advice on the

latter question and were assured that there were no grounds whatsoever

for such an assumption on the part of the heirs, and that such a

contention could not be defended in law. No attempt indeed was made to

put forward such a plea, and it is very doubtful if such an attempt was

ever contemplated. But that the Board feared this possibility is evident

from their determination speedily to establish the College on a more

real basis. They decided to begin instruction in Burnside House.

Difficulties, however, were in the way. The Principal was occupying the

dwelling house, and although he had taken possession of it without the

Board's approval they could not well compel him to leave. Moreover, he

had expended a considerable sum from his own private funds on repairs to

the estate. He had submitted a bill for the amount to the Board, but the

Board declined to pay it as they had not authorised the expenditure.

They contended, too, that he could reimburse himself from the products

of the farm. The situation was a delicate one, and gradually the evils

of a dual control were being disclosed. The Board knew that the

Principal would not vacate the building in which they wished to begin

instruction until his bill was paid. On November 21st, 1838, they voted:

"that a communication be made to the Governors of McGill College that it

is in the opinion of the Board expedient that a permanent Principal and

Professors be appointed and the actual working of the College commenced

as speedily as possible in Burnside House till such time as more

convenient buildings be erected, by which means the wishes of the

Governors to have the College established and in operation before the

29th of June next will be met, and that the Board will take into

consideration the claim of Dr. Bethune arising out of expenses incurred

by him on the estate of Burnside while in his possession on his vacating

the premises and rendering an account." Meanwhile the Governors'

meetings had dwindled to two, and sometimes to one member. There was

criticism that their meetings were no longer representative, and to

these statements, because of their own objection to the alleged Downing

Street methods of the Royal Institution, the Governors were sensitive.

To meet this criticism they established the "Corporation" of the

College, to include not only the Governors, but a number of the members

of the teaching staff, and certain citizens selected because of their

interest in education. The first meeting of this body was held on

November 27th, 1838. There were present Sir John Colborne, the

Governor-General; the Principal; Drs. Robertson, Stephenson and Holmes

of the Medical School, and the Hon. George Moffat. It was at this

meeting that the resolution of the Board above referred to was

considered.

The resolution was not received with applause nor with delighted

approval. The Governors doubted the efficacy of the plan. The Principal

was not eager to vacate Burnside House. The Professors in the Medical

School resented the suggestion that the "actual working of the College"

had yet to be commenced. In answer, it was resolved that "in the opinion

of Corporation it is expedient that a College be _built_ before the 29th

of June next on the Burnside Estate as the surest means of securing the

bequest of the late Mr. McGill." But the bequest had already been

secured; it had been paid over to the Royal Institution in December,

1837! Notwithstanding the Board's decision, the Governors insisted on

the erection of a building before the 29th of the following June. The

amended Charter had not yet been approved. There was still provision

only for four professorships, and these had been filled by the members

of the Medical School. Only one of them was now vacant. Until the

Charter was approved, then, and provision made for the appointment of

more professors, the building erected could only be occupied mainly by

Medical teachers. In December, 1838, the Royal Institution again

recorded their opposition to the Governors' desire for "the hasty

erection in a few weeks of a building adapted only for instruction in

Medical Science." They expressed their belief "that the first proper and

most pressing measure to be adopted in execution of the plain expression

of the testator's will and of the Charter is to commence forthwith a

course of general instruction in the ordinary branches of a learned

Collegiate education in the buildings now erected on the Burnside

Estate." They added that "they see no difficulty in accomplishing this

object before it would be possible to commence the erection of a new

building, and they are of opinion that it would be a nearer approach to

a real performance of the testator's intentions than the attempt to run

up a new building before the 29th of June, next, which even if it could

be finished by that time would not deserve the name of a University."

They did not consider that the terms "erect" and "establish" used in the

will "could with any propriety be interpreted as meaning the erection

of a material building." They declared that it was undoubtedly the

testator's intention to establish an institution for collegiate

education; they expressed their determination to apply the funds first

of all to the payment of "a Principal and of such Professors as may be

required, and to proceed in due course with the erection of a more

extensive building than even that suggested by the Governors."

To this the Governors would not agree; they urged that a decision on the

Charter be obtained at once. On February 5th, 1839, the Board again

expressed their views. They were sensible, they said, of the necessity

for the appointment of additional professors, but they emphasised the

folly of waiting for this permission before erecting a College building.

Approval of the amended Charter might be postponed indefinitely, and the

present Charter provided for a building for collegiate education. They

added: "The Board are not aware of the circumstances under which the

_Medical Faculty of Montreal_ became possessed of all the Professorships

of the College but they must suppose that it could only have been a

temporary arrangement, without remuneration, adopted with such

precautions as not to allow the present holders of Professorships

setting up the pretension to continue to fill them to the exclusion of

other branches of knowledge. The existing arrangement appears to the

Board to be clearly liable to the objection that it is contrary to the

terms of the Charter and the intention of the founder since an

institution of which the offices are so filled for the purpose of one

science alone cannot in law or in common parlance be considered as a

University where all the branches of literature are or may be

universally taught, and such an Institution is erected by the Charter

according to the express will of the testator."

Their plan was to appoint a permanent Principal who should be required

to lecture in some branch or branches of knowledge, and to establish

temporary Lectureships which could be changed to Professorships when the

amended Charter, permitting an increase in the number of Professorships,

was approved. Under this plan they saw "an easy means of opening at once

a course of public instruction which would meet the present wants of the

Province and be capable of future extension." They would devote the

endowment fund, they said, to the payment of Professors' salaries. The

house on the Burnside Estate was sufficient, they thought, "for the

limited purpose at present contemplated," and "in that building, if

nowhere else, a College should be put in actual operation," for by so

doing "an effective answer would be afforded to any demand or pretension

that might be raised to obtain the forfeiture of the property bequeathed

on the pretence of the College not being in operation." They promised to

proceed to the erection of a building "with all despatch consistent with

due caution. But at least a year from next summer must elapse before a

building suitable to the purpose of a University can be prepared for

occupation." They therefore urged the use of Burnside House for the

present, at least.

In answer to this letter the Medical Professors contended through the

Principal, that their appointment was not a temporary arrangement and

that it was not their intention to resign their commissions. The

Governors stated further, that they could not feel themselves justified

in pressing for the resignation of any of these Professors, who were

receiving no salary, but who "now had a near prospect of reaping some

advantage from their appointment." They condemned the Board for

unnecessary delay in erecting a building in which to hold classes and

their letters did not add to the harmony so desirable in that critical

period. The Principal and Governors did not approve of using Burnside

House for lecture rooms, because, in their opinion, it was unfit for

such a purpose "except on such a scale as would entitle it only to the

name of a Grammar School; because they believed a suitable building

could be erected within a year; because it was intended to be the

residence of the Principal; and because they could not see that any

object would be attained by such a temporary, insufficient and

unsatisfactory arrangement." They stated further, with some suggestion

of defiance, that they would be prepared to open the College with

suitable teachers as soon as the necessary building or buildings were

erected "on the most extensive scale and in the most efficient manner

which the funds that may be at their disposal will admit of, and that

until such a building was provided no instruction would be given."

The Royal Institution seems to have desired harmony and to have been

willing to meet the wishes of the Governors at least half-way. At a

meeting of the Board on February 20th, 1839, it was decided to call

again for plans to be submitted before the 10th of May following. It was

resolved at this meeting "that the accommodation of the Medical Faculty

be limited to two rooms for class rooms, these to form part of the

general building unless separate accommodation in detached buildings

could be obtained for them within the limits of the £5,000 allotted for

the whole edifice, and without interfering with or embarrassing the

general plan; and that if the Medical Faculty required other or larger

accommodation than was consistent with these conditions they must be

left to their own resources to obtain it, the Board, however, being

willing to allow them to build on some part of the grounds of Burnside

if they found funds for doing so." They had meanwhile petitioned the

Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Colborne, and Council, for a Provincial

grant to aid in the construction of the building, but their appeal had

no success.

The Governors of the College then decided to agree to the erection of a

smaller building than that at first requested. The Medical School, too,

for various reasons concluded that they did not desire accommodation in

the new building. The Governors wrote to the Board stating that they

would be satisfied with the erection of a building for 60 students,

without sitting rooms; necessary class rooms; College Hall; Library;

Steward's Apartments and accommodation for the Principal and two

Professors--which could be built for £6,000. They pointed out that in

this estimate there was no provision whatever for the Medical Department

"nor perhaps will such provision be at all necessary. The present

Medical Professors are now of opinion that the situation of Burnside is

too remote from the centre of the population for this department,

because, besides the inconvenience to the Professors themselves, the

attendance there of Medical Students who will be generally resident in

the Town at 4 or 5 different Lectures daily will be attended with very

serious inconvenience if not insuperable difficulty. They would

therefore much prefer that a sufficient allowance should be made for

renting a building in Town for the Medical Department. To meet their

views in this respect the House on Burnside (which will not be required

for the residence of the Principal if accommodation be provided for him

within the walls of the College), together with that portion of the

premises on the southeast side of Sherbrooke Street, might be let for a

sum fully adequate to the expense of renting sufficient accommodation

for the Medical Department in Town."

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 £5,000 for building purposes and £5,000 for the purchase of

philosophical apparatus, furniture and books for a Library. They

included also £100 a year for a Professor of Classical Literature and

£100 a year for a Professor of Mathematics; £50 each for two Divinity

Lecturers, one of the Anglican Church and one of the Church of Scotland;

£50 each for three Medical Professors; and £50 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

£500, 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

£8,000 for the erection of a building they had provided for the

establishment of three Professorships with £300 a year for each chair,

and an additional £100 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 £5,000 was

soon found to have increased in fact to between £10,000 and £12,000. 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.

[Illustration: Original in McGill Library Photo Rice Studios

_The Proposed McGill College Original Building_]

It was soon apparent that the cost of the new buildings would be greater

than estimated. Before June, 1840, a sum of £2,783 had been expended and

provision had to be made for the payment of a further sum of £5,000 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 £559. 6. 8. The Board again appealed to the

Government for a grant of £5,000 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 £1,500 a year

for current expenses and £5,000 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 25½ 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 £500 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

£500 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 £300 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 £250, "as soon as funds

derived from the property shall admit of it." A Bursar, Secretary and

Registrar was appointed at a salary of £100 a year and fees, to be later

sanctioned, and a Beadle was selected at £30 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 £560 Provincial currency, and that not clear of

deductions. The Legislature has occasionally appropriated £500 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.