Governors
held on the 4th of January, 1834, at which were present Lord Aylmer,
Governor in Chief, The Lord Bishop of Quebec, and the Principal of the
College, it was decided to ask that the Charter be amended, and that the
Governing Board of the College be changed to consist henceforth of the
following: The Governor in Chief, the Lieutenant-Governor or person
administering the Government; the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada;
the Lord Bishop of the Diocese; the Chief Justice of Montreal; the Chief
Justice of Upper Canada; the Speaker of the two Houses of the Provincial
Parliament of Lower Canada; the Senior Executive Councillor residing in
Montreal; the Archdeacon of Quebec; the Solicitor-General; the Principal
of the College; the Rector of Montreal; together with four other
Governors to be named by the Governor in Chief, the Lieutenant-Governor
or the person administering the Government under a power to be
introduced into the Charter to that effect. Efforts were made afterwards
to have the Minister of the Church of Scotland added to this list,
ex-officio, but it was pointed out in reply that he was "not conceived
to have any perpetual capacity in law and thence cannot be an ex-officio
Governor." It was decided also that His Excellency be requested to
recommend to His Majesty's Government that power should be given in the
amended Charter to the Governors of the College to establish additional
professorships from time to time, at their discretion, according to the
exigencies of the University and the means at their command.

It was further resolved that in the meantime until endowments for
Professorships were available from the McGill bequest, "gentlemen
resident in Montreal qualified to give lectures should be appointed on
the same footing as the four Professors in the Medical Faculty and that
they should receive fees from their students ... with the duty annexed
of delivering occasional lectures, fees being paid by those who will
attend them according to a regulated scale, there being at present no
means of endowing Professorships with salaries." Professors were
recommended for the following subjects: Classical Literature and
History; Natural Philosophy and Mathematics; and Hebrew and Oriental
Languages--all to be appointed on the same footing as provided for by
the foregoing resolution. At this meeting, too, a recommendation was
made that a Vice-Principal should be appointed--or that one of the
Professors be empow