4^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ff %^ ^ 1.0 I.I I^|2j8 |2^ ■^ lii 122 1^ 12.0 u I ini: IL2S HIM 1 1.6 fliotogr^jliic Sciences Corporation 13 WIST MAIN STRUT WIBSTIR.N.Y. MSSO (716)t72-4S03 .<^ ^> CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian institute for Historicai IVIicroreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiquet Technical and 6ibliographic NotM/Not«s tcchniquM ct bibliographiquM ht Tha Institute has attamptad to obtain tha bast original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of this copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in the reproduction, or which may significantiy change the usufii method of filming, are checlcad below. 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Fellow Countut'iI£n, We, the undersigned Ministers of Montreal, in pursuance ' of the important object which form d the ground of our late \ Memorial to the Governor General, which has been pub- lished in all the journals of this city, have felt it our duty, respectfully but earnestly, to call your attention to the peculiar condition of our higher Seminaries of Education, and to the imminent danger, if they are to be established and conducted under such auspices as the present, of the intro- duction of a sectarian spirit into their system of government and discipline. We regard the subject of our present Appeal as one of paramount importance to this, and indeed to all the Colonies of Great Britain. We had hoped, that after the settlement of the lov,g agitated question of the Clergy Lands, we should not have been compelled, at least at so early a period, to protest against a course of proceeding in a matter of deep and universal interest to the present and to future generations in this Colony, calculated, as we fear, to revive the jea- lousies, and to renew the dissensions which appeared to have been happily set at rest. We shall now submit with tlie utmost candour and frank- ness, without any reserve or extenuation, the grounds of our dissatisfaction and alarm at the course which, it icems, is now proposed to be followed out in the immediate organ- ization of King's College, Toronto, and of M'Gill College, Montreal, and in the appointment, by the present Governors, of the professors of the most important branches of Academ- ical Education. While it is certainly desirable that these institutions should be called into active operation, with all convenient speed, we humbly conceive that it is of infinitely greater moment that nothing should be done with precipitation, or to suit the views and interests of a sect or party ; that it is due to this great and enlightened country, and indispensably necessary to the credit and prosperity of thes& institutions, that they be commenced under the most favourable auspices, and if possible, without even the arpearance or suspicion of a party or sectarian bias, that they may command the gen- eral confidence and approbation of the community, whose property they are, for whose benefit they have been pro- fessedly founded and endowed, and by whom they must in future be supported. The fact, that they have been erected by Royal Cliarter, can in no respect, we conceive, alter the unquestionable right of the community to exact the utmost responsibility from those who are charged with their organization and government, since it is not for a moment to he presumed that Her Majesty can have any other interest or desire, as a faithful trustee for behoof of all classes of her subjects in the Colony , than to render them, in tlie highest possible degree, acceptable to the whole community, and effective of their destined ends. It has been asked, of what do we complain ? Our prompt and decisive answer has been, and we adhere to it, thinking it neither irrelevant nor frivolous, that we have not confi- dence in those who have had, and, we believe, still hold the entire management of these institutions, with what respon- sibility or under what check we know not, and we presume the public are generally as ignorant as we are. And why, it may be asked, have you not confidence in them ? We answer with equal frankness, because some of them, at least, have avowed principles which must utterly deprive them of the confidence of all Protestants who do not hold that the Church of England has very peculiar and exclusive rights, of which she cannot be divested ; and, if we believe them to be conscientious and honest in the prin- ciples which they profess, and in which they glory, we can- not say less, than that we deem them to be peculiarly unworthy of the confidence of the great body of Protestants of other denominations, as well as of th2 liberal and catholic minded Protestants of their own comniunion. We emphatically proclaim our conviction, that men of this spirit and of these principles are the last to be entrusted, in such a country as this, with the control of education in any of its departments — least of all in tlie highest. Are we asked for the proof? We appeal to their re- corded language and proceedings throughout the lengthened struggle which distracted this Colony, and threatened to sever the bond of union with the Parent Country, until the late auspicious era, which has restored peace and unity, by depriving them of power, and by denouncing their principles. Can we be expected to give our confidence to men whose principles place them in decided opposition to all Protes- tants who arc without tlie pale of the Church of England, who denounce as schismatics or heretics, and scruple not to \ unchurch, all who do not subscribe to their notions of the j exclusive Apostolic origin and character of their own sect ? To their peculiar tenets, ecclesiastical and religious, we should not have adverted, on this occasion, were it not ne- cessary to expose the impolicy of putting into such hands the great interests of education in thy Colony, and the utter < unreasonableness of expecting that such institutions shall w summanj our eonflJeJice, while we have no b«!tter ^u&r>n- ttt9 for their impartial and enlightened administratiou . We do not wish it to be understood, that we would have even swch n»n wholly wolude^ from pl»c« or power, but W9 mu^-say, that we cannot think \x politio^ or safe to give them an ascendant, in any department involvin(c gicat public interests, on which their peculiar views and sectarian feel- ings have any bearing. From the subjoined note, it will be seen that the Gover- ■ors of Sing's College, in Canada West, and of M'Gill College, in Canada East, are men of whom somb, and those too holding very prominent and influential places in their government, have forfeited the confidence of this communi- ty, a few of their own sect excepted, and though there may be among their assessors men of more enlarged and catholic spirit and principles, they are toa few to be regarded as suf- ficient guarantees for the protection of onr interests, and perhaps there is not one among them that any of us, had the privilege of such election been vouchsafed to us, would have chosen as his representative. Is it not a fact that, with the unimportant exception of two or three, who happen to be members, in virtne of civil office, the Governors of King's and M'Gill Colleges, are of the communion of the Church of England P Is this doing jus- tice to the Universities P To the country P Is it fair ; is it respectflil to the numerous bodies of other denominations P While the Clergymen of all other Protestant denominations and the public at large are, at this moment, in profound ignorance of what has been done, or of what is devised, who shall wonder that we hesitate to give a blind and implicit confidence to the measures, which such Governors may see fit to adopt, measures, too, which may produce lasting, and, it may be, very injurious consequences ? Are two or three individuals, however respectable, sufficient to fhlfil so high a trust, as the organization of great public institutions, which ought to be rendered equally open, acceptable and service- able to all sects and parties P KING'S COLLEOK, TORONTO. • ChoHcelhrqflhe VnivtrtUji: Nik BsoallMcy th* Rlffht Honoarable Sin Cbaslii Baqot, O. C> B., GoTCrnor Ocneral of BritUh North Am«utc». Fiiitort: Th* HoBO«nble J. B. Roblaian, The Honourable Jm. B. Mieanlity. ' The Honoanblr J. .foiie*. The Honoarable J. M'Lean, The Ha|KmmU»C. A. HetcnMUl. The Right Rev. Mm Straehaa, S. D. ft LL. D., Lord Bithep of Toronto. Otuneil: The Hon. R. S. Juneion, The Hon. R. B. SalliTan, The Hon. A. Cavillier, The Hon. W. AHan, The Hon. VI. H. Draper, The Hon. J. S. Mneaulnjr. The Rev. J. M'CanI, LL. D., The Hon. L. P. Sherwood The BcT. H. J. OrMWtt, B. A. M'GILL COI^LflGE, MONTftEAL. Omiernon: Hi* Exeenenev the Qovemqr General, The Chief Jnitk-e, Dr. Strarhan, Blthop of Toronto, Dr. Bethnne, Rector of Christ'iChurrh. Arv we not all as much interested and as well cntitleJ,, as th« members of the Cliurcli of England, to be consulted as to the constitution and modelling of them ; and sliall we not b« permitted without the imptitatjon of intrusiveness, to crave that the voice and the will of the great majority of Protestants in this Colony shall not be lreate>l, as if it were of no account ? We see an advertisement for Professors and Tutors, ema- nating no doubt from the Governors of M'Gill College. Is it too bokl to asli what arc the number and qualifications of the judges and electors who are about to appoint men afier so short a warning, to fill the Chairs of the University ? Will the interests of literature and scienc be safe in their custody ? Will this precipitation inspire confidence, or does it augur well for tlie fame of this great school of letters P Will literary and moral qualifications be alone required of the candidates for oflScc ? Will not adherence to the Church of England compensate for inferior scholarship, and the ab- sence of that adherence neutralize, in the opinion of such judges, the highest literary merits ? Do the Governors not shrink from the responsibility which they must incur, and the unsparing scrutiny and censorship to which their pre- sent proceedings wilt most justly be subjected in the Colony and in the parent cotmtry ? Indeed we cannot allow ourselves to believe that the en- lightened and liberal portion of onr brethren who adhere to the Church of England will approve of such partial pro- ceedings, because we cannot imagine them so hTind and mis- calculating, as to deem that the temporary possession of such exclusive power and influence, would not be bought at far too dear a price by setting them in a hostile attitude to the great body of their Protestant brethren in this Colony. Is there not cause then for alarm ? Is there not good ground for this Appeal ? When we look around the various Colonies of British North America, what is the actual state of our Protestant Colleges P In what hands is their govern- ment vested P Are they fitted to inspire equal confidence in all classes and denominations of Her Majesty's loyal sub- jects P Is there no respect of persons or of creeds P Do they fulfil their ends in the most ample measure P Or, what is the cause that they are shorn of their power, lustre and in- flnence, and the public deprived of the equal and full parti- cipation of their benefits P Is it to be tolerated at this day, and in this part of the British dominions, that these noble : institutions should be cast in a party or sectarian mould, that they should be trammelled, dwarfed, drained of their vital power and spirit, paralyzed in their free and generous action, by a preposterous and antiquated illiberality P In fact, until these institutions throughout British Noith Ame- rica shall have been effectually emancipated from the pre- ponderant ascendancy of one sect or party, thrown open to the public, and their government made at least virtually re- sponsible, it is not possible to entertain the shadow of a hope- that they will fulfil their end and command public con&- , dence. In fiiip, w»' arc jjcTsuaded that there never was a pe- 1-Iod when we had greater cause tu distrust a party who it seems " have learned nothing and forgot nothing," amidst the many lessons and warnings which the recent tNubles of this Colony hare imparted, to all who are capable of profit- ing by experience, and so long as they continue to manifest a determination to maintain an undue influence in the con- duct of our most important institutions, we meet feel it our imperative duty to watch them closely and to guard the most sacred and precious rights of a free people ; nor so long as their influence is allowed to predominate, is it possi- ble for us to indulge the pleasing confldence that we may sit down secure against any infringement of interests, which it would be unpardonable in us to leave in jeopardy. We cannot but regard, therefore, the present as another great crisis which has arisen in the history of this Colony, in which we are called once more to unite and co-operate, in order to enforce the practical and impartial carrying out, in the frame work and administration of all our public Institu- tions, of those principles of equal rights and liberty, and of that virtual responsibility to public opinion, which are the only sure guarantee of our future peace, freedom, and prosperity. Under this persuasion, we conclude by recommending that the public, by every constitutional means, should now protest against, and thereby counteract, the pernicious in^uence of this party and sectarian spirit, which, if it be not now sternly and vigorously opposed, will not stop in its career, until it shall have perverted into merely party and sectarian schools, cur Universities and Colleges, which if not immediately and effectively put down, will revive the unhappy dissensions from which we have just emerged, and obscure the fair prospects that are now opening to our country. Is it too much to hope, that those who are now so blindly and precipitately urging this matter, may be induced by this Appeal to pause in a career, in which we are persuaded their ultimate defeat is iuevitable ? Nay more, we will venture to forewarn them, that should they actually succeed, victory will prove to them more injurious than defeat ; for we are persuaded, that if these institutions are established upon a narrow basis, and governed in the spirit of a sect or party, they will forfeit the confidence and support of the great body of the people, will dwindle into mere private and party establishments ; new institutions, founded upon hi'ttvr principles and standing upon a broader basis, will speedily rise up to supersede, in all probability to overshadow and eclipse them ; compelling them either to accommodate themselves to the wants and wishes of the country, or dooming them to languish and wither away, the just objects of general contempt and reprobation. • Representing, as we do, so many Christian commtulUiea, it is scarcely necessary distinctly to disclaim any hostile spirit towards the Church of England as such, and to avow our willingness, in all respects, to concede to the members of that community those equal rights to which, in common w'*'' ourselves, they are entitled. «Ve rejoice in the fact that that Church includes many towards whom we cherish most sincere fraternal love, and with whom we shall gladly co-operate in all that pertains to the glory of our common Lord and the best iiiierests of our fellow-men. WILLIAM SQUIRE, Wesleyan Minister. H. ESSON, A.M. Minister of St. Gabriel Church. W. TAYLOR, Presbyterian Church, Lagauchetiere Street. H. WILKES, A.M. Minister of the CongregaUonal Church. BENJAMIN DAVIES, Ph. D., President of the Baptist Theological Institution. H. O. CROFTS, Methodist Mew Connexion. T. T. HOWARD*, Methodist New Connexion. CALEB STRONG, Minister of the American Presbyterian Church. RICHARD T. HUTCHINSON, Wesleyan Minister. JOHN GIRDWOOD, Minister of the Baptist Church. J. J. CARRUTHERS, Congregational Theological Professor. Montreal, August 23, 1842.