ss
liberal than it was if it had not been for his efforts. The Bishop of
Nova Scotia and the Bishop of London desired to confine it entirely to
students belonging to the Church of England, and to make subscription to
the thirty-nine articles a condition precedent to the granting of
degrees in arts. On the other hand, Attorney-General Peters in 1845,
when the amendments to the charter were discussed in the legislative
council, stated that the charter as originally drafted and sent to
England was much more liberal in its provisions than when finally
passed, but that in 1828, to the surprise of Sir Howard Douglas, the
then existing charter came out copied from one obtained by Dr. Strachan
for Upper Canada. If this statement was correct, it affords a singular
illustration of the injury that the bigotry of one man can cause to
future generations. If King's College had treated all denominations on
equal terms, all would have resorted to it for higher education. As it
was, it became the college of only a section of the people, the
different denominations established colleges of their own, and when
finally the connection between the Church of England and King's College
was severed and it became the University of New Brunswick, the
denominational colleges had become so well established that it could
hardly compete with them on equal terms.

{AN EXCLUSIVE INSTITUTION}

During the session of 1838 Mr. Wilmot, as chairman, submitted to the
legislature the report of the select committee which had been appointed
to take into consideration the state of the college. In this report it
was proposed to make certain alterations in the charter for the purpose
of rendering it more acceptable to those who were not in the communion
of the Church of England. In 1839 he introduced a bill in the House of
Assembly embracing these amendments. The principal changes were to make
the lieutenant-governor visitor of the college instead of the bishop, to
repeal the section which provided that the president of the college must
be a member of the Church of England, and to make persons of every
denomination eligible for members of the college council. The
professorship of theology was still retained, and students in that
course were still required to subscribe to the thirty-nine articles,
while services were held in the college morning and evening according to
the rites of the Church of England. These changes were certainly of a
very moderate character, bu