In order to strengthen the claims then before the courts for the possession of the endowment fund, it was desirable actually to open the College in Burnside House as speedily as possible. It was decided that the opening should take place on Wednesday, the 24th of June, 1829, and notification of this intention was published in the press. In April a committee of the Board was appointed to draw up a Code of Statutes for the government of the College. The Rev. Archdeacon Mountain, son of the Principal of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, had been appointed Principal of the proposed University five years before. But no arrangements had been made for the future. There was apparently but little promise of a grant from the Government, and until the second suit should be settled in the courts and money thereby made available, it was obvious that all plans must be indefinite. The future would, it was hoped, take care of itself; the main object to be considered for the present at least was the opening of the College. With that accomplished, and the endowment fund paid, all difficulties, it was thought, would vanish, and the College would go forward to its intended place. But before it lay troubled years of uncertainty and anxiety. It was only the firm determination and the undefeated optimism of those who believed in its destiny that kept it from being merely the hope or the dream of a Scottish pioneer rather than a place of everlasting influence in our national life. The struggle of those years was not always without great disappointment, and even bitterness. But the product that emerged from the turmoil was perhaps greater and stronger for that fact. CHAPTER IV THE COLLEGE OPENED