e to the Jesuits'
Estates was forwarded to the Colonial Office. Lord Bathurst was
apparently meanwhile made acquainted with the conditions of the will and
with the Act of 1801. A few weeks later, on March 14th, 1816, he again
wrote to Sir Gordon Drummond, as follows:

"My despatch of the 30th December will have informed you of the
determination of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent to avail himself
of the return of peace to forward the important objects of education and
instruction in His Majesty's Dominions, and especially in the Provinces
of Canada. When I then addressed you I had not had an opportunity of
perusing the will of Mr. McGill which afforded by the liberality of his
bequest such important assistance in carrying such an object into
effect. I have since been furnished with a copy of the will of which an
extract is enclosed for your consideration. You will no doubt observe
that the mode in which the bequest is directed to be made, no less than
the nature of it, superseded the necessity of carrying into effect the
instructions conveyed to you on the 30th December under an erroneous
impression of its contents. You will therefore consider that instruction
to be recalled and in lieu of adopting any measures for enclosing a spot
well fitted for the erection of the University, you will suspend all
measures of such a nature till the necessary preliminary arrangements
have been made in conformity with the Act of Parliament of the Province
of Lower Canada passed in the 41st year of His Present Majesty, entitled
'An Act for the Establishment of Free Schools and the Advancement of
Learning in this Province.' Those arrangements you will immediately
carry into effect, by appointing under the Great Seal of the Province
the following persons to be Trustees of the Schools of Royal Foundation
in the Province in the manner and for the purposes specified in the Act
and constituting them a Body Corporate by the name of the Royal
Institution for the Advancement of Learning. The persons to be nominated
in the first instance are the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or person
administering the Government for the time being; the Right Reverend
Jacob Mountain, Bishop of Quebec; Jonathan Sewell, Esq., the Chief
Justice of the district of Quebec; James Monk, Esq., the Chief Justice
of the district of Montreal; the Reverend J. O. DuPlessis,
Superintendent of the Romish Church.

"As soon as this preliminary arrangement shall have taken pl