ditions so
as to enable the Trustees to act in conformity to the trust reposed in
them by the will of the deceased."

Two years of inaction followed, and even after the trustees of the Royal
Institution were appointed, delay characterised the efforts of the
authorities. There seems to have been considerable disagreement between
the Home Government and the Provincial Government with regard to the
exact objects for which the revenue of the Jesuits' Estates was
intended, and on the method of distribution. The Home authorities would
not agree to assign any of the revenue to aid in the establishment of
McGill College. Finally, in 1819, Lord Bathurst directed the Duke of
Richmond, the Governor-General, immediately to commence the building of
McGill College, and he authorised him to defray the expense which it
might in the first instance be necessary to incur "from any funds which
might be in the hands of the Receiver of the Jesuits' Estates." But this
instruction was not carried out. Its object seems to have been merely to
prevent the lapse of the McGill bequest in conformity with the expressed
condition of the will that the College should be erected within a
definite time. Further, the proposed assistance from the Jesuits'
Estates seems to have been an advance and not a gift. It is unnecessary
here to follow in detail the disagreement and the struggle arising from
the distribution of the revenue of these estates. For several years the
subject was one of controversy, and meanwhile the cause of education
suffered. In 1823 Lord Bathurst recommended to the Lords Commissioners
of the Treasury that a loan of L50,000 at 4% interest should be granted
to the Royal Institution, but this recommendation was not complied with.
In 1825 a system was proposed by Lord Dalhousie, and subsequently
followed, by which the management of the estates was taken over by the
Inspector of the King's Domain under the control of the Governor in
Council. He was allowed an agent in each district to collect the rents
which were then turned in at stated periods to the Receiver General. For
several years, however, particularly in 1830 and 1831, the question of
assigning the revenues from the estates for the purpose of education was
repeatedly under discussion, but no pledge for such financial assistance
was given by the Home Government. At last, in 1831, the Home Government
surrendered the Jesuits' Estates to the Provincial Legislature, and
against much oppos