1893, Bute's disinterestedness
It seems unnecessary, after a lapse of a quarter of a century, to enter into further details of the regrettable controversy between St. Andrews and Dundee, which persisted throughout Bute's term of office in the university, but of which all, or nearly all, the protagonists have now passed over
"To where, beyond these voices, there is peace."
There is no doubt but that the part taken by Bute in the affair was much misinterpreted in many quarters; and he in turn may have to some extent misunderstood, and unconsciously misjudged, the actions and motives of his opponents. Enough, however, has perhaps been said to show, what no impartial person can question, that he was throughout animated by a single-hearted desire to act for the best, and to promote by every means in his power the highest interest of the university which he loved so well. That this was the view of those whose suffrages had placed him in office, and with whom he had never ceased to maintain the most cordial relations, namely, the students of the university, was shown by the substantial majority by which, as will be seen, they voted for his re-election to the Rectorship.
[[1]] It is to be feared, from their use of this particularly objectionable word, that the then Glasgow Corporation did not combine a literary sense with their other (doubtless) admirable qualities.
[[2]] Bute's speech on this occasion, delivered in reply to two addresses presented to him, was in Latin. Some of those present were rather disconcerted by this classical outburst, for which they were not in the least prepared.
[[3]] Bute's far-reaching charities were regulated, like everything else in his busy life, by strictly business-like methods. Every appeal for help which reached him was carefully sifted and inquired into through the almoner to whom, from the time of his coming of age, he entrusted the investigation of all such cases before dealing with them himself.
[[4]] The marble altar in the church was given by him. An inscription on it, inconspicuous yet visible to every priest who celebrates there, asks for prayers for Bute himself and for his wife.
[[5]] This was on a subsequent occasion to the election of 1883, referred to on a previous page.