But notwithstanding the Governors' efforts, the University was still far from adequate prosperity. It was not yet in a flourishing condition and its outlook while hopeful was not wholly auspicious. Greater co-operation on the part of the public was obviously needed, and the contemporary press frequently deplored the lack of public encouragement. There was peace and concord in its administration, but there was little advancement in its academic activities. It was clear that it had either to go forward or to cease to function. It was plain, too, that in addition to funds a new Principal and several instructors should be appointed as expeditiously as possible. The Governors, it was rumoured, were looking abroad for a Principal; they were also, it was said, considering the reorganising of the College on the plan of English Universities. Neither of these suggested procedures was popular, and neither was in the end followed. In August, 1854, one of the contemporary newspapers, the _Sun_, which has long since disappeared, in referring to the needs of the University voiced editorially the opinions of the people: "All we need," it said, "are persons at the helm who will take an _active interest_ in the progress and advancement of the institution.... It won't do to sit idly down--to follow the dignified and majestic example of Cambridge and Oxford. Montreal is not in England--it is in Canada. We have a way of doing things for ourselves. It is not necessary in order rightly to accomplish an end to ask how they do it 'at home'; we can find out a mode ourselves. McGill College will never be anything until some exertion is made by those who have control of it. A languid indifference or a sickly half-dead interest will never secure to it a permanency among the institutions of the day"; and the writer added that "unless measures for its improvement are speedily undertaken there is a danger that McGill College will soon be numbered among the things that were."