“It is with extreme unwillingness that I obtrude upon Your Excellency, with the purpose of their being submitted if you should see fit, to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, any representation relating to the affairs of McGill College, in addition to those which are already before you from other quarters; and it is with feelings of a nature more seriously painful that I find myself compelled to state to Your Excellency the conviction at which I have arrived, of its being inexpedient for me to take my seat at the Board of Governors of that institution so long as the Rev. Dr. Bethune, in virtue of his acting as Principal of the College, is also a member of the Board.
“Your Excellency will readily believe that unless I had strong and what I conceive to be imperative grounds for my proceeding, one of the last things which I could possibly be prompted to do would be to bring under the notice of Her Majesty's Government any disadvantageous exhibition of the management of important public interests in the hands of one of my own Clergy, and one who occupies so prominent a position in the Canadian Church as the Rector of Montreal.
“I have, however, long felt that the College could never prosper while presided over by Dr. Bethune. And I should have been impelled before this day officially to submit my views upon the subject to Your Excellency had it not been that I had no seat among the Governors till after the passing of the Act of the last Session, which confers upon me, as Bishop of Montreal, all the legal powers vested in the Bishop of Quebec; and, moreover, that having all along regarded the appointment of Dr. Bethune simply as an ad interim arrangement (in which I believe there are abundant means of showing that I was perfectly correct) I anticipated that his retirement would have taken place in time to save me from the necessity of making official statements, from which it is sufficiently obvious that I must desire to be spared.
“When, however, I consider the general character of Dr. Bethune's proceedings in those matters connected with McGill College which it has devolved upon him to conduct, or in which he has taken a leading part, and more especially in the intercourse of business with the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning; when I consider again his too evident deficiency in very important points of qualification for his office, such as academical experience (for he never studied at any University), actual classical attainments of the nature and extent which the case requires, and I am constrained to add, such temper, such discretion, and such weight of personal influence and possession of public confidence, as must be necessary on the part of the Principal, to preside with effect over an infant University in a country like this, or to execute his part in recovering it from the utterly inefficient and discreditable condition in which it now lies, I am brought to the unavoidable conclusion not only that his appointment ought not to be confirmed, but that every delay in the disallowance of it opens a door to some new mischief within the Institution; more particularly as the powers committed to the body of Governors, in something more than their mere ordinary exercise, are, from peculiarity of circumstances, in a manner left in his hands. The long continued ill health and infirmity of the Chief Justice of Montreal, the consequent seclusion in which he lives, and the fact of his not having either the sort of interest in the Institution or the opportunities of familiarly knowing the relations subsisting between Dr. Bethune and other parties concerned which he would naturally have if he were of the Protestant religion, appear, I may venture to say it, to justify the conclusion that the proceedings of the Governors resident at Montreal are to be regarded as little or nothing more than the decisions and acts of the individual filling the office of Principal, at the same time that they have in several instances involved a result of which I can hardly be persuaded that two Governors were sufficient to dispose. These proceedings have been recently crowned by the summary dismissal, without a hearing, of the Vice-Principal and Professor of Classical Literature, under circumstances with which Your Excellency, as I am informed, has recently been made acquainted. I feel that I am now called upon to state to Your Excellency both as the Head of the Body of Governors, whenever you may see fit to take part in their proceedings, and also as the Head of the Government, that till Dr. Bethune shall cease to occupy a place at the Board of Governors I must abstain from attending it, persuaded as I am that I cannot do so either with the hope of advantage to the public or with comfort to myself.
“With reference to the question intimated above, respecting the competency of two Governors to dispose of some matters such as have actually been disposed of by that number only, Your Excellency is aware that the number to whom the wisdom of Government had originally within their particular province confided the interests of the College was seven, and comprised the highest functionaries of Upper and Lower Canada: and I conceive it to be necessary for those interests, not to say for the very existence of McGill College, that an efficient Body of Governors should, as soon as possible, be given to the Institution.
“I have only to add, although it is not within the more immediate scope of the representations here submitted, that the observations which I have made with reference to the inexpediency of Dr. Bethune's retention of the office of Principal, will manifestly suggest reasons of at least equal force against the confirmation of his appointment to the Professorship of Divinity.”
This communication was forwarded by the Governor-General to the Colonial Office, but over a year passed before definite action in connection with it was taken by the authorities.
Meanwhile the Governors carried on the work of the University, harassed always by debts and by insufficient revenue. The Medical School now sought a closer union with the University. Its connection with the College since the latter's establishment had been more or less nominal; it was at least indefinitely hazy, other than in the mere fact that it was “engrafted,” and in the imprimatur of its degrees. Since its request for a grant from University funds six years before was refused, there was little actual intercourse or connection between the two bodies. They worked, on the whole, independently, although the legal incorporation of one with the other was recognized. The Medical School had carried on its work in temporary quarters. It had begun its work in 1824 in a building at 20 St. James Street, on Place d'Armes. Its Statutes, Rules, etc., had been approved, as already seen, in 1832. About a year later the School was moved to a larger building near the present Bank of Montreal, where it remained for more than two years. It then was again moved to a building on St. George Street, not far from the corner of Craig Street. In 1843 the Medical Faculty applied to the Governors for a piece of ground on the Burnside Estate, near the recently erected McGill buildings, “for the purpose of erecting lecture rooms.” The request was granted and the giving of sufficient ground was approved by the Royal Institution. But like the College, the Medical School had no funds. The grant asked for from the Provincial Government by the Board of the Royal Institution to help “in bringing the Faculties of Law, Theology and Medicine into actual operation,” and partly promised, had in the end been refused. The Royal Institution, as we have seen, did not feel justified in giving the Medical School assistance from the funds already inadequate to provide for Collegiate education, as called for in the bequest. As a result, although ground for a building was willingly given, the erection of a building had to be indefinitely postponed. The Medical Faculty then applied for permission to use any rooms that might be available in the College buildings. On September 16th, 1845, the Governors agreed—and the Royal Institution later approved their action—to give the Medical School the refectory or dining-room for its exclusive use—as the students were now for the most part boarding with Professors or outside the College—together with the southwest lecture-room as a lecture-room and museum, the private room of the Bursar for the Professors' office, and two small adjoining rooms “for anatomy and dissecting rooms.” Medical students, too, were to be permitted to reside in the College, on condition that they were to be under the same discipline as the College students. The Medical Faculty accordingly moved to these rooms provided in the McGill buildings, and a closer contiguous connection with the University was thereby established. There the Faculty remained until 1851, when because of its growth and the inconvenient distance from the city and the Hospital, it moved to the building at 15 Coté Street, erected for its use by three of the members of its staff.
Efforts were made to increase the attendance in the College and students from the French-Canadian Colleges were admitted to equal standing with McGill students. The need for funds became gradually more acute. The Royal Institution would not listen to the Governors' demands for the payment of salaries and contingent expenses. In December, 1845, they again appealed to the Governor-General, Lord Metcalfe, but he declined to interfere, pointing out that the Royal Institution were the trustees of the Trust; that all the Statutes, Rules, etc., of the College should be confirmed by Royal authority before they became law; and that as the statutes under the authority of which debts had been contracted by the Governors of McGill had never received Royal sanction, these debts had no effect in law. The Governors were therefore themselves liable. But the Governors had already borrowed £500 from the Bank of British North America to meet necessary and vital requirements. That amount had not yet been paid off, and they naturally were not disposed to assume the responsibility for further personal indebtedness.
All the correspondence in connection with the whole situation, in addition to the various petitions and appeals, was forwarded to the Colonial Office, with which the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone had meanwhile become connected as Secretary of State for the Colonies. It was hoped that Mr. Gladstone would display more interest and energy than his predecessors, and that a decision would soon be reached. The College authorities expected that the Provincial Legislature would be asked to make an investigation by Committee. Accordingly, on April 15th, 1846, they issued instructions “forbidding officers and members of the College from answering any summons from a Committee of the Legislative Assembly acting on the petitions of Chapman, Wickes or Lundy.” The excuse for not answering was that “McGill College was a private foundation and was therefore not liable to the action of the Legislature.” But their expectations were not realized and no investigation was held by the Assembly.