he services in the college chapel were required to be attended
by all resident students, and of the eighteen students then in the
college, sixteen were Episcopalians. It was felt that this college
required to be placed on a different footing, and Mr. Gilbert's bill,
although it provoked much hostile comment at the time, certainly would
have been more beneficial to the educational interests of the country,
if it had passed, than the state of affairs which resulted from the
continuance of the old system. An agricultural school was the very thing
the province required, while, judging from the limited attendance at the
college at that time, the people of this province were not greatly
impressed with the value of a classical education. In 1851, however,
any one who proposed to replace a college for the teaching of Greek and
Latin with a college of agriculture, and the sciences allied to it, was
looked upon as a Philistine. Then youths were taught to compose Latin
and to read Greek who never, to the day of their death, had a competent
knowledge of their own language; and agricultural studies, which were of
the highest importance to more than one-half of the people of the
province, were totally neglected. Mr. Gilbert's bill was defeated, as it
was certain to be in a legislature which was still under the domination
of old ideas. Had it passed, New Brunswick might at this time have had a
large body of scientific farmers capable of cultivating the soil in the
most efficient manner, and increasing its productiveness to an extent
hardly dreamed of by those who only consider it in the light of the
present system of cultivation.

During this session, Mr. Ritchie of St. John moved a series of
resolutions condemning the government, and complaining of the colonial
office and of the conduct of the governor. These resolutions declared:
first, that the House was entitled to full copies of all despatches
addressed to or received from the colonial office, and that it was not
enough merely to send extracts from a despatch which had been received
by the governor. They declared that the power of making appointments to
offices was vested in the governor by and with the advice of the
executive council, and that the appointment of the chief-justice and a
puisne judge by the governor, contrary to the advice of his council, was
inconsistent with the principles of responsible government. They
complained that the salaries were excessive, and condemned