562 MR. WATERS, JUN., IN REPLY TO MR. W. A. CHERRY. 
laws were passed by the Council, upon one of which I have been 
refused my diploma ; thus making the bye-laws have a retrospec- 
tive effect in my case and in that of the other three students who 
are similarly situated with myself. This, I contend, is inconsistent 
both with the spirit and letter of the Charter ; and is, therefore, 
unjust. Mr. W. A. Cherry states that our examination was pro- 
tested against. This was done by Mr. Gabriel ; because, finding 
the bye-laws did not apply to us, seeing we had entered before 
they were passed, he protested against our examination on the 
ground that a resolution was come to by the Council at their first 
meeting, to the effect that all students who should enter either at 
London or Edinburgh after that period should be subject to the 
bye-laws that might afterwards be passed by the Council ; such a 
resolution was, however, ultra vires, because the Charter distinctly 
states that no bye-law shall be made and passed until it has been 
three months under consideration from the time of its being pro- 
posed. And here the Council, at their first meeting, adopt a reso- 
lution making all the bye-laws binding from the first meeting, 
which is contrary to the spirit and letter of the Charter ; not 
only so, but the very bye-law which they make the ground for 
refusing me my diploma, is an enactment beyond the powers con- 
ferred by the Charter; inasmuch as by it the Council are only 
empowered to appoint examiners and to examine, but have no 
power conferred by it to fix a curriculum ; but, even if they had 
such power, their conduct, in my case and the other three, is incon- 
sistent with the very bye-law they have enacted; because, while 
they have allowed those students who have had no other oppor- 
tunities of gaining a knowledge of their profession than two sessions’ 
attendance at College to pass, they have enacted that all students, 
after the first of January 1848, must serve an apprenticeship of 
three years, in addition to attending two sessions at College ; thus 
putting a value at a future period on an apprenticeship which 
they will not allow in times past. Thus, although I have studied 
six years as an apprentice and six months at College, students who 
have only studied eighteen months, or, rather, who have only studied 
twelve months, are allowed to pass, and receive their diplomas, while 
I, who have studied six years and one session, am refused mine ; 
not on the ground of want of knowledge, but because I have not 
complied with a bye-law which they have no right to apply in my 
case ; and I, therefore, call it gross injustice. 
From what has been stated, it will be seen that the assertion of 
Mr. W. A Cherry, that the certificates were not sent by Pro- 
fessor Dick, is a mere quibble. The Professor did send our cer- 
tificates ; and if the Council had required our indentures to be 
sent, they had only to say so. They were produced to Professor 
