. Clarke, Presbyterian minister, all of Lisburn.
Dr. Campbell died soon after, and Mr. Coulson refused to act, so that
the burden of the trust fell upon Mr. Clarke, who felt it to be
his duty to carry it out to the best of his ability. Dean Stannus,
however, was greatly dissatisfied with the last will and testament of
Captain Bolton. Yet the dying man had no reason to anticipate that
his affectionate pastor would labour with all his might to abolish
the trust. Dean Stannus paid the captain a visit on his deathbed, and
while administering the consolations of religion he seemed moved
even to tears. To a friend who subsequently expressed doubt, the
simple-minded old Christian said: 'I will trust the dean that he will
do nothing in opposition to my will. He was here a few days ago and
wept over me. He loves me, and will carry out my wishes.' The captain
died in April, 1867. He was scarcely cold in his grave when the agent
of Lord Hertfort took proceedings to eject his trustees, and deprive
the schools of the property bequeathed for their support. Not content
with this, he took proceedings to get possession of the schoolhouse
also, deeming it a sufficient reason for this appropriation of another
man's property, this setting aside of a will, this abolition of
a trust, that, in his opinion, the schools ought to be under the
patronage of the rector, and in connection with the Church Education
Society. He had a perfect right to think and say this, and it might
be his conscientious conviction that the property would be thus better
employed; but he ought to know that the end does not sanctify the
means; that he had no right to substitute his own will for that of
Captain Bolton, and that he had no right to take advantage of the
absence of an act of parliament to possess himself of the rightful
property of other people. Unfortunately, too, he was a judge in his
own case, and he did not find it easy to separate the rector of the
parish from the agent of the estate. It is a significant fact that
when his son, Mr. Stannus, handed his power of attorney to Mr. Otway,
the assistant-barrister, that gentleman refused to look at it, saying,
'I have seen it one hundred times;' and the Rev. Mr. Clarke, while
waiting in the court for the case to come on, observed that all the
ejectment processes were at the suit of the Marquis of Hertfort. The
school-house was built by Mr. Bolton, at his own expense twenty-eight
years ago, and he maintained it t