3-4 '■ ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Toronto, was actually president; the members of the council were con- 

 tinued without material change; and when the college was opened, the 

 council, the president, the professors and the principal and staff of the 

 minor college and 2 2 out of 26 students of the university were members 

 of the Church of England, and, the whole tenor of the proceedings 

 including the religious exercises on the occasion were suclfas implied the 

 continued predominance of that Church. The forces by which the new 

 university was manned were still unchanged, and the charter was but a 

 negative and theoretical deviation from its original principles. 



This real attitude of King's College as thus brought into operation 

 was speedily made evident by a new movement which now began. On the 

 8th of September, 1842, a few months after the comer stone had l^een 

 laid in Toronto, the Board of Trustees of Queen's College held a meet- 

 ing at which the university situation was discussed and the following- 

 resolutions adopted : — 



" That the}' in common with the Presbyterian population of the 

 province always entertained the conviction that it was most expedient 

 that King's College with its ample public endowment should be In the 

 proper sense a university for the whole population v\àtliout respect to the 

 religious creed of the students, and that they were led to take measures 

 for founding and establishing a separate college only when the prospect 

 of the actual commencement of King's College and the attainment by 

 the Presbyterian population of tlieir due influence in the administration 

 of that college seemed to bo indefinitely postponed." 



•'That now when these circumstances are altered, inasmuch as that 

 measures are in progress for beginning the business of instruction in 

 King's College, and a spirit of conciliation and liberality pervades the 

 councils of the Provincial Government, the board feel themselves called 

 upon to declare that they have no wish to appear to stand in an attitude 

 of rivalry with that institution, but rather to help it forward, as far as 

 they can consistently with those interests ^vhîch are committed to them 

 by the Royal Charter, and that they are ready to concur in any legisla- 

 tive enactment that shall empower them to limit QUeeu's College to the 

 department of tlieological instruction, and that shall authorize the remo- 

 val of said college to Toronto. ]irovided the other powers and privileges 

 conferred by the charter shall not be infringed on ; and provided further 

 that a fair and virtual influence shall be conceded to this board and to 

 the professors of Queen's College in the administration of King's College, 

 and that all reasonable aid and facilities shall l)e afï^orded to tliis board 

 for making the change herein contemplated." 



On the basis of these resolutions a commission was appointed to 

 negotiate with the council of King's College on the proposals thus inti- 

 mated. 



