Reform of the University of Glasgow : considered with reference to the published report of the Royal Commissioners of Visitation appointed by Sir Robert Peel, and to the evidence and documents contained in their unpublished appendix, embracing the whole of Mr Oswald's bill for the regulation of that university, compared, clause by clause, with the constitution proposed by those commissioners / by a graduate of the University.

Date:: 1835

Credit: Reform of the University of Glasgow : considered with reference to the published report of the Royal Commissioners of Visitation appointed by Sir Robert Peel, and to the evidence and documents contained in their unpublished appendix, embracing the whole of Mr Oswald's bill for the regulation of that university, compared, clause by clause, with the constitution proposed by those commissioners / by a graduate of the University. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

19/40 (page 19)

procured §till stand on record.*’* An authentic extract from the record alluded to is before me. ihe material parts are as follows :— ^ On tht29th of January, 1760, eleven Professors being present, the record f^ys =— An “ University meeting being duly summoned and convened, a presentation by his ajesty m favour oi Alexander Wilson, A. M., to be Professor of Practical Astronomy, and Observer » in this Uriversity, was laid before the meeting and read.” The presentation we need not quote at length. Suffice it, that the presentation is in favour of Mr Alexander Wdson, to be Professor of Practical Astronomy and Observer, in the University of Glasgow, andthat it requires “the Rector, Principal, Dean, and other Professors and Masters, in the said Uni- “ versity of Glasgow, to admit and receive the said Alexander Wilson to the peaceable exercise “ and possession of the said office and profession in the usual manner. After quoting the presentation at length, the record proceeds :—“ Upon which the meeting appointed him to “ deliver a discourse on the following subject, viz. ‘ Philosophorum de Cometis opiniones “ exponere, veramque confirmare,’ as A piece of trial, on Thursday the 7th day of Febitiary “ next.”—On the day so appointed, nine of the eleven formerly present attend, and the record runs thus :—“ An University meeting being duly summoned and convened, Mr Alex. “ Wilson, A. M. delivered the discourse prescribed for his trial in the minute ot 29th ^‘January last; and he being removed, the meeting declared themselves satisfied with it. And Mr Wilson being called in, and having produced a certificate of his having signed “ the Confession of Faith before the Presbytery of Glasgow, the following oath was adminis- “ tered to him.” [The oath we omit for brevity.] “ Upon which he was admitted a “ member of the University, and solemnly received by all present as such. Mr Wilson s name appears in the list of sederunt of the next called meeting, w'hich was held on the 11th February, 1760.—In the minutes of that meeting there occurs the following entry. The Dean of Faculty is appointed to write, in the name of the society, by this night s “ post, a letter of thanks to his Grace the Duke of Argyll, for his Grace s favour to the Uni- “ versity, in procuring the erection of a new profession of Astronomy in this University.’ Now if, from record, anything can be clear, it is, that, in this instance, Mr Alexander Wilson was presented by the King, and admitted by the Professors, to be a Professor of the University only, and not of the College within the University. It was rather bold to refer to a record bearing such facts for a proof that the King can appoint a Professor of the College, provided the existing Professors consent. No such attempt was made by the Crown ; and therefore no such consent could, by possibility, be given by the Professors. But the attempt, had it been made by the Crowm, would have been alike illegal with any consent the Professors might have offered. The King, indeed, might have granted a new charter, including one or more Professors within the College ; but in the face of the exist- ing charter, which is ratified by Parliament, the supposed new charter, being inconsistent therewith, could not be valid without the supreme authority of Parliament, which, indeed, of itself and alone, is capable of altering the subsisting charter. And as to the consent of the Professors, what power have they to consent? By the charter, the Principal and the Professors are four out of twelve persons provided for by an allowance of 21 chalders of victual, and some salaries besides. To that allowance they have an undoubted right, and that allowance they may consent to share with anybody during their incumbency, but no longer. To the smallest part of that allowance being taken from their successors their consent is not competent. And as to anything more than their stated allowance, they have, by charter, no right; for anything more is a surplus, and, as such, at the disposal of the Visitors. What right, then, had the Professors to consent ? Even under the former charter, wherein the addition of Regents to the College was contemplated and provided for, the consent of the then existing Regents was not required. But, admitting consent to be competent, what kind of consent to the act of the King appears “ on record ?” On the day of Mr Wilson’s producing his presentation, and on the subsequent day of admission, the Professors pro- ceed like men obliged, as they were, in the course of their duty, to proceed. But upon a subsequent day, when the Professor is fully inducted, the Dean of Faculty is to write, by that night’s post—to the King's responsible adviser?—No! but—to an aged nobleman, not a member of the King’s government, hut merely a Scotch representative peer, by whose influence the new Professor had been recommended and the appointment obtained from the government. These thanks were evidently a matter of courtesy—an economical retaining- • Uemarks, page 5. ^

Licence and re-use

Contents