UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 339 



requisition to the Council asking that a special Court of 1866. 

 Proprietors might be summoned to consider the course taken 



by the Council in deferring the appointment of the best Mr. Croom 

 qualified candidate for special reasons to the vacant chair. 

 An objection to this on legal grounds was raised by the 

 Council ; they referred the question to the law officers of the 

 Crown, and before the opinion of these gentlemen (which 

 was in favour of the requisitionists) was announced, settled 

 it their own way by the appointment of Mr. Croom 

 Robertson, who was a pupil of Prof. Alexander Bain, and 

 an adherent of the school of thought upheld by that 

 gentleman, and approved by the leading members of the 

 Council. 



When Mr. De Morgan heard that the Council intended Roagj^ 

 to reject Mr. Martineau for reasons connected with fessorshi]>. 

 religious belief, he openly declared that should the Col- 

 lege make such a departure from the principle on which 

 it was founded, he should feel that his connection with it 

 was at an end. He waited with anxiety for their decision, 

 and when the news came that the acknowledged best 

 candidate was set aside on the ground of his Unitarianism, 

 and one below him appointed, he said that the College had 

 committed a suicidal act, and would never hold its old 

 place again. He did not hesitate as to his own course, 

 but at once sent in his resignation. 



His letter to the Council, which follows, I know to 

 have been written without any intention of publication at 

 the time, or rather with a distinct intention of non-publi- 

 cation during his lifetime. 



To the Chairman of the Council of University College. 



91 Adelaide Road, November 10, 1866. 



SIR, I feel much sorrow in notifying to the Council 

 that my connection with the College must close at the 

 end of the current session. 



For some years the returns of my chair have been so 



z 2 



