The eleven years that had passed since the acting-Principal assumed office were among the most critical in McGill's history. They were fraught with a hopeless misunderstanding arising from a dual control, the causes of which have been made sufficiently clear in the documents quoted. The Governors resented the interference of the Royal Institution, which in those days of advocacy of political autonomy and sensitive abhorrence of Downing Street coercion they could not easily tolerate. It was contrary to the spirit of the age. Whether the Governors helped their cause by their attitude or by their attempt to give to the College a character of sectarian exclusiveness need not be here discussed. They had, however, urged the actual erection and equipment of a College, and it was in a large measure because of their persistence and their faith that the original buildings were so early constructed. They had the good fortune to see the buildings actually opened, students enrolled and collegiate instruction commenced in accordance with the will of the founder. They saw, too, the Medical School made an integral part of the University. And the controversy in which they had so prominent and at times so painful a part, although unfortunate in many ways, had at least one good result--it showed plainly and unmistakably the hopelessness of dual supervision and divided authority. Nevertheless, by the dissension of those bitter years of storm and stress the College had been brought financially, at least, to a feeble and uncertain state, and many who watched its progress were wondering if it could still endure. But again it struggled forward. Those who were really interested in its existence never doubted its ultimate concord and prosperity and growth. But to bring it to its destined place of usefulness and power it needed unfaltering strength and unwavering faith to guide it through the troubled period that lay yet before it. CHAPTER VII THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE