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consisted of 12 clergymen and 15 laymen of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland. Three or two of the clergymen retired annually, and their places were filled by the Synod or Supreme Court of the Church. Four or three of the laymen retired annually, and their places were filled from a list nominated by the congregations of the Church.
A great change was made by the legislation of 1874, necessitated by the fact that a section of the Canada Presbyterian Church with which the Kirk proposed to unite was opposed on principle to the Church becoming responsible for the maintenance of any Faculty or Department of a University save the Department of Theology. The Act obtained in 1874 (38 Vict Cap. 76) therefore declared that the Board of Trustees shall elect successors to the members retiring annually, whether said members be ministers or laymen.
In 1882, the Board being threatened with litigation on the ground that the legislation of 1874 was ultra vires of a Provincial Legislature, applied to the Parliament of the Dominion for an Act similar in terms to the Act passed in 1874 by the Legislature of Ontario: and though the question of jurisdiction was debated,
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the Act was passed.
In 1885, the Report of the Board to the General Assembly contained the following paragraphs: - "One of the provisions of the Charter of Queens is to the effect that Professors not in the Theological Department shall subscribe such a formula declaratory of their belief in the doctrine of the Confession of Faith as the Synod may prescribe. This provision has been in abeyance since the Union; and as the Trustees intend to apply to the proper authorities for an Act amending the Act of 38 Vic. Cap 76 in the direction of further defining and extending the power of the University Council, they propose that the provision be abrogated." The General Assembly adopted this Report.
In 1888, legislation was asked for and obtained from the Dominion Parliament on the two points referred to in the Report to the Assembly of 1885. The extension of the power of the University Council consisted in enacting that the Council shall elect five additional members to the Board of Trustees, - one annually to sit for five years, and that these five members need not be Presbyterians. It followed from this legislation that Trustees not Presbyterians would thereafter take part in electing Professors of Theology and this proved to be distasteful
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to some members of the Church. Consequently, when the Report of the Board was submitted to the General Assembly in 1892, a motion was submitted in favor of "some scheme" whereby the appointment of Professors in the Theological Department should be vested directly in the Assembly. This was voted down, but a motion by Rev. C. J. Macdonnell was unanimously agreed to, calling the attention of the Board of Trustees to the desirability of bringing the Theological Department into closer relations to the Church. In consequence the Board suggested that the Assembly shall have the right to veto any appointment to the Faculty of Theology at the meeting of Assembly following the appointment and this was adopted.
The Constitution which the University received by the legislation of 1874 has thanks to the loyal support of individuals in its constituency and of congregations traditionally attached to it, worked as well as could have been expected. But while the Board of Trustees has been able hitherto to provide in some measure for the growing demands of modern education, the present constitution gives no prospect of adequate expansion for the future. Since 1874, the Church has ceased as a body to recognize any responsibility for the maintenance and development of the University. Harmony has indeed existed between
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the Church and the Graduate as to what constitutes a right ideal of education for clergy and laity alike; and this may have been a more vital force than a formal connexion would have been. But, there is no Church organization to which we can appeal for defence or support, although the nominal connection with the Church which still exists must always make it difficult for many of our Graduates to feel the full measure of their responsibility: while it prevents municipalities in Eastern Ontario, or the Government and Legislature of the Province from voting the direct aid which otherwise could legitimately be sought from them. Such aid would be construed by out and out denominational institutions into a ground for granting aid to them also. This question was settled thirty years ago and could not be reopened. The fact then is that the Board of Trustees is not representative, and that the five members who sit as representatives of the graduates are not considered by a section of the Church to be the proper body to elect Professors of Theology, and that section is therefore disinclined to do anything for the Theological Faculty.
It is also evident that the Church is less likely now than it was in 1874 to bring the University as a whole into direct relationship with itself. The Maritime Provinces
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will be attracted more and more to Dalhousie, Quebec to McGill; Western Ontario to Toronto, Manitoba and the North-West to the University of Manitoba, and each of these Universities has a Theological Faculty or College of the Church affiliated to it. The graduates of these Universities and Colleges could not be expected to give a rival institution a stronger claim to their support than that which is claimed by their own Alma Mater. Indeed the very fact that we seem to persist in putting forth a claim which they have decisively rejected must be irritating, and as long as that feeling exists there will be a certain friction which is bad for the Church and for Queen's.
The present condition of University matters in Ontario and our needs combine to make the present moment opportune for a thorough consideration of the Constitution of the Board. The Government of the Province has pledged itself, in answer to a request from the University of Toronto, to reopen the University question in the near future, with the view of aiding still further the Provincial University. This is not astonishing; for the needs of a University, now that the competition of the great American Universities has to be met, not to speak of the constant enlargement of McGill, cannot be met by a revenue supposed to be adequate half or quarter of a century
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