the House is to be occupied by the acting-Principal without any
advantage to the Trust; and a personal interest thereby given to him to
prevent the College going into speedy operation; and that the Board do
also think it necessary to record their opinion that as the Visitors of
McGill College they are at all times entitled to inquire into the
management of the Burnside property, especially when a demand is made
upon the Board for a grant of money to be laid out on the said property.
It was ordered [by the Board] that Mr. Bethune be further informed that
under the circumstances disclosed to the Board for the first time in his
letter, the Board cannot feel themselves justified in advancing any
further sums for the repairs on the Burnside property." The Principal
answered that the Board had no right to act in any matter affecting the
College without consulting the Governors; that "the Governors cannot
recognise the Visitatorial powers of the Board to the extent claimed";
and that the Board was "illegally and unjustly detaining the funds." He
emphasised his desire "to effect a restoration of harmony and unanimity
between all the parties"; but it was clear that because of the rapidly
growing friction and misunderstanding a crisis was not very far off.

For several months thereafter no meetings of the Governors were held.
The Rebellion of 1837 and the struggle for Canadian autonomy required
all the attention and the energy of the Provincial authorities, and the
subject of Collegiate education was again somewhat neglected. But in
May, 1837, the Royal Institution announced to the Principal that they
were about to erect buildings for the University, and they asked for
suggestions which might guide them in calling for plans. But the
Principal and Governors declined to make suggestions. They denied the
right of the Royal Institution to undertake the erection of buildings,
and they contended that the whole property and management of the affairs
of the College devolved upon the Governors. They would therefore not
surrender into other hands what they conceived to be their own vested
rights. They pointed out, too, that the case between the executors and
the Royal Institution for the possession of the funds was not yet
settled. The Board replied that until a College was actually erected
they were in control, under the terms of the will. They were somewhat
inconsistent in their attitude. In the first suit against the
Desrivieres heirs