THE CHARTER. 
51 6 
On the 12th ultimo, our excellent President, Mr. Thos. Turner, 
received a letter, with two enclosures, from the Secretary of State, 
announcing that petitions had just reached him from the Governors, 
Subscribers, and Trustees of the Institution, known by the name of 
the Royal Veterinary College, containing allegations directed 
against the Charter recently granted by the Queen to the veteri- 
nary profession, to which he was desirous of drawing the attention 
of the President, and from him desired to learn upon what foun- 
dation the said allegations rested. So strange and unexpected an 
announcement caused the President without loss of time to summon 
the Council ; the members whereof, up to the time we are writing, 
have held two meetings, at the latter of which a reply was agreed 
upon, nem. con., and directed to be forthwith forwarded to the 
Secretary of State. 
Who or what could have wrought such hostile feelings in the 
minds of the Governors of our Alma Mater, we do not ourselves 
profess, in the present stage of the affair, for certain to know ; and, 
therefore, our readers must, until August be passed, excuse our 
silence on this topic. We are ready to confess rumours have reached 
our ears in explanation of the origin of the dissatisfaction, and we 
incline to the opinion, from their general concurrence, that such 
rumours are well founded ; notwithstanding this, however, so long 
as any doubt of their truth exists, we had rather — and it may be 
policy so to do — defer the publication of them for another month. 
In respect to the allegations contained in the petition of the 
College Governors, which is signed by Professor Sewell on their 
behalf, they are founded upon alleged alterations of the draft of 
the Charter, tending to the prejudice and disparagement of the 
Veterinary College, to have been made after it had been shewn 
and approved by Mr. France, the solicitor to the said College, and 
in this affair the agent and representative of the Professors and 
Governors thereof. To this grave charge the reply of the Council 
contains a complete refutation ; proving, by a plain and honest 
statement of every circumstance and transaction connected with the 
case, that but one alteration, and that a trivial and unimportant one, 
was suggested by Mr. France, and that that was, in fact, the only 
one that was made after his perusal and approval of the Charter : 
it further adds, that this statement, if required, will be attested by 
oath. 
