238 MEMORIAL TO SIR GEORGE GREY, BART. 
of defending public rights it seeks to establish personal authority, 
to sanction professional abuses, and to enlarge private interests. It 
is not animated by a spirit which can be commended. It was 
begun by the Professors, and by them it has been upheld. 
The Professors have boasted that the present opposition was by 
them commenced. It is notorious that it arises solely from a fear 
lest the institution of a higher qualification in the candidates for 
diplomas should decrease the number of pupils at the Colleges, and 
thereby diminish the source whence the emoluments of the Pro- 
fessors is derived. 
Such fear is groundless. The number of students at the Colleges 
has increased since the Charter gave to the veterinary profession 
its existing rights. 
That, if such fear were real, your Memorialists would participate 
in it, since one portion of the means of defraying their expences 
is obtained by the examination of gentlemen wishing to become 
members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. 
That the names of the other parties which appear appended to 
the petition for a new Charter, in the opinions of your Memorialists, 
are of little weight ; the persons who thus petition having been 
instigated so to do by statements which cannot be substantiated. 
They are not acquainted with the truth, or they would not lend 
their countenance to an agitation which cannot, be honourably 
maintained. They are misled and deceived. They act under 
false impressions. They have not inquired into the circumstances, 
and they are ignorant of the facts. Their motives are pure, but 
their knowledge is deficient. They mean well, but they are mis- 
taken. Their intentions are noble, but their convictions are un- 
founded. They have heard strange assertions and heavy accusa- 
tions, but they have not sought for explanations from the accused, 
or endeavoured to corroborate the charges made by the accusers. 
Your Memorialists are anxious to defend their conduct. They 
are prepared to answer for all that they have done. Their acts 
are open, and their motives undisguised. They invite inquiry. 
The Governors of the Royal Veterinary College of London ask 
for a new Charter. They do so knowing little of the Institution 
over which they nominally preside. At that school no minutes 
are kept. Over it no one is placed to watch the actions of the 
teachers. It is left to these teachers. The Governors do not often 
enter it. The Professors make report of their own conduct. Com- 
plaints must be made through the Professors. Improvement must 
be sought through the Professors The Governors seldom meet, 
and are difficult to approach because of the Professors, through 
whom they must be addressed, binder such a system injury is 
silenced and abuse is strengthened. 
