with."
They hoped at a later date "to be able to entertain the application," if
the appeal for funds recently made to the Government should succeed.

Principal Bethune desired to procure a legal decision before a competent
tribunal on the Board's refusal to make the above grant. The Governor of
the Province was appealed to, but as he was about to leave Canada at the
end of his term of office he again declined to interfere. He felt, too,
with reference to a Provincial grant that he was only authorised to
issue from the funds of the Province such a sum as was absolutely
necessary to carry on educational work until a meeting of the Special
Council could make provision for such an object and also for the voting
of "a sum of money towards the erecting of McGill College." The
discussion was finally closed by a resolution of the Board on the 4th
of April, 1840, in which they said that in addition to having voted
L8,000 for the erection of a building they had provided for the
establishment of three Professorships with L300 a year for each chair,
and an additional L100 for the Principal. "In these arrangements," they
pointed out, "the Board did not lose sight of the necessity of
subsequently providing for the instruction of students in the Medical
and Legal professions, but they were clearly of opinion that in the
actual state of the funds, these objects, however desirable, must be
postponed for the opening of the Institution in the other branches of
general education. To these arrangements the Governors offered no
material objection and it was obvious that the resources at the disposal
of the Board did not warrant any material increase of expenditure." With
reference to the requested grant for the Medical School, they expressed
surprise that such a demand should be made on their scanty and already
inadequate resources, and they declared that they "would not be
justified in the administration of their trust, in suffering their
resources to be diminished for any object however desirable or important
but that which they conscientiously judged the most desirable and
important and primarily contemplated in the will of Mr. McGill,--which
was the providing of collegiate education." There the discussion ended.
The Medical School continued to be regarded as an independent
institution, under the protection of the McGill authorities for the
purpose merely of legalising their degrees. The Board had won in their
contention, and the question