84 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



These charters^^ gave to each college a governing board composed 

 mainly of crown officials — -the Lieutenant-Governor, Chief Justice, 

 Attorney-General, Speaker of the Assembly, the Bishop and others 

 also, chiefly officials. They gave the Church of England a privileged 

 position^^ with regard to the composition of the Board, the President, 

 the professors in the Council, the teaching of Divinity, and in some 

 cases the matriculation and graduation of students. 



These charters proved a serious embarrassment to reform. 

 They enabled the college authorities to resist the attempts of the 

 Legislatures to bring them into conformity with the wishes of the 

 people. Even the British Secretary of State was unable to enforce 

 his demand in the thirties for the surrender of the Royal Charters 

 of the King's Colleges at Windsor, Fredericton and Toronto. ^^ All 

 he could do was to withdraw the Imperial Grants and to give the 

 Provincial Legislatures permission to do what they could to delay 

 or regulate the operation of the colleges. 



Under these charters the colleges became practically private 

 institutions, although receiving State aid. A similar issue had arisen 

 when the Legislature of Connecticut tried to control Yale College in 

 1763.^^ In the famous Dartmouth College case, in which Daniel 

 Webster appeared, the Supreme Court of the United States gave the 

 decision in favour of the college in 1819. The power of the Legis- 

 lature of New Brunswick to amend a Royal Charter was tested in 

 the courts and confirmed, when Dr. Jacob retired in 1859.-" 



It may be remarked in passing that the decision in the Dartmouth 

 College case forced the State Legislatures to adopt another form of 

 government than that of the close corporation for the colleges and 

 universities to which they were to give aid. 



The King's Colleges followed the Oxford model, though in the 

 beginning I have no doubt King's College, New York, through Bishop 

 Inglis, and the Loyalists from that State, suggested many things. It 

 is interesting to note the great similarity between College develop- 

 ment in the United States and in Canada — a similarity so great that 

 it suggests direct influence from the days of the early King's Colleges 

 to the present State universities. This, however, is unlikely, because 

 the Loyalists were in no mood to look to the United States for models, 



"Hind, pp. 74-81. 

 ^^Hannay: Wilmot. 



"Universities of Canada, p. 26; University of Toronto, 1827-1906, p. 17; 

 Bethune, p. 33. 



I'Brown: Origin of American State Universities, p. 19. 

 ^''Universities of Canada, p. 33. 



