than to abrogate
it in order not to raise any question of the tenure of the estate
through a lapse of possession. They feared that between the brief period
of time which would necessarily intervene between the annulment of the
old Charter and the passing of the new, the heirs-at-law of James McGill
might, even at that late date, claim that the College no longer existed
in fact, and that they were entitled to the estate. They therefore
preferred an amended Charter, even if more cumbersome. One of the
amendments provided that the members of the Board of the Royal
Institution should henceforth be the Governors of the College, the
members still to be appointed by the Crown. The number of Governors was
left indefinite, but the Board suggested strongly that "the number
should not be less than thirteen, and that they should be selected from
the different Protestant denominations in the city and district of
Montreal." Later they suggested that the number should be nine or
eleven, exclusive of ex-officio members. They pointed out that "so long
as the Board of the Royal Institution and the Board of Governors are
composed of different bodies of men exercising a co-ordinate and
uncertain jurisdiction over matters very ill-defined ... it is
impossible to expect either unanimity in the bodies themselves or
harmony in the system.... The only means of imparting to these bodies
unity of action and design will be found in making them identical." Such
an amendment would forever end the dual control which had brought about
in the past disaster and depression.

Other clauses in the amendment provided that all Statutes and Rules of
the College could be approved by the Governor-General at his discretion
without transmission to England; and that the visitatorial power be
transferred from the Royal Institution and vested in the
Governor-General. The purpose of the amendments was to simplify the
government of the College and to secure an efficient administration. The
suggestions with reference to numbers and to the selecting of the
Governors from the different Protestant denominations were not followed
by the Government. There was much correspondence between the Board and
the Governor-General and his Council over the proposals. But it was on
the whole amicable. The objections of one side were always met with
reasonableness by the other, and a harmonious agreement was finally
reached. The Governor-General forwarded the amended Charter to the
Col