McGill University: for the Advancement of Learning. I: 1801–1895 by Stanley Brice Frost (review)

REVIEWS 83 McGillUniversity:for the Advancement ofLearning. I:I80I--I895. STANLEY BRICE FROST. Montreal,McGill-Queen's University Press, •98o.Pp.xxii,3•3.$25.oo. This handsomeand well-produced bookwill proudlygracethe reception roomsand coffeetablesof the 'Governors, Principals, and Fellows of the Universityof McGill College'to whomit is respectfully dedicated.It tellsa story, rangingoveralmost acentury, ofgradualtriumphovergreatadversity. By the end of the nineteenthcenturya major Canadianuniversityhad emerged andwasontheeveofsubstantial expansion: allfromtheeighteenthcentury benefaction of theMontrealfur traderandmerchant, James McGill. There hadexisteda will,andthereprovedto bea way. Where thereisa will, there are usuallyalsorelatives, oftencantankerous ones. The earlyhistoryof McGillproves tobenoexception. Perhaps because he is an Old Testament scholar, former Vice-President Frost is much concerned withthematterofOrigins. Hechronicles, ingreatandloving detail,the factionalsquabbles between,first,theRoyalInstitutefor theAdvancement of Learning(chargedin 18o• with controllingall state-assisted educationin Quebec)andJamesMcGill'snephew, JamesMcGill Desrivi•res, and, after •82•, between theinstitute andtheBoardof Governors of McGillCollege. Mr Frostshows quiteclearlythattheformerstruggle waslargelyoneaspect of the mutualsuspicions ofEnglish andFrench, Protestant andCatholic, inMontreal, whilethelatterwasexacerbated bythemetropolitan rivalries of thepoliticians, clerics, andbusinessmen based inMontrealandQuebec City.Thisearly,rather sorryhistoryof McGilllastedalmosthalf a century,andit ischaracterized by failureof nerveand imagination aswellasby sheeradministrative incompetence . Thelatterreached atragi-comic dimension ofalmost epicproportion inthe figureofJosephAbbott(fatherof thefuture primeminister, J.J.C.Abbott), who for the criticalyears1843 to •852 juggled the positions of bursar, registrar,and secretary to the Boardof Governors aswellasto the Caput. Called uponin •844forthefirsttimetogiveanaccount ofcollege expenses, his statement calmly revealed thattheexpenditures ofthefirstfivemonths ofthat yearaloneexceeded thelikelyincome for thenextthreeyears. The college's annualincomewasœ5oo, yet salaries alonewereœ8oo, thisbeingthe costof havingfiveprofessors on staffto teachthe college's ninestudents. Mr Frost notesthattheBoardof Governors 'wasnotdisposed to accept theexcuses of thebursar, that"hehasnoknowledge ofmatters ofaccount"' (89),yetthefact remainsthatMr Abbottwasnotrelievedof hisdutiesuntil •852. Neitherdid thefinancial condition ofthecollege substantially improve aftertheson, J.J.C. Abbott,thoughstilla student, gavefilialservice asactingsecretary of Caput and of the Board of Governorsaswell asbeinghis father'sdeputyin the bursar's office. 84 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Bythetimethissorrystateof affairshasbeenreached,this3oo-page book hasreached itsmid-point.Noticeof thefirstgraduatein ArtsandScience has yettobegiven,andwhenitis(onpage•48) theinformationtakes theformofa footnote. It ispossible toarguethat,despite Mr Frost's substantial descriptions oftheproblems offinance andadministration, thesocially meaningful history oftheuniversity isjustabouttobegin,forapartfromaverysmall handfulof medical graduates (whospentmuchof theirtimenotonthecampus site),the university hasyettowitness thefleshandbloodofitsreason forbeing: students. Somereaderswill doubtless wonderattheauthor's choice of emphasis. Students beganto arrive,at firstin trickles,in the 185os.Sodid William Dawson, perhapsPictouCounty,NovaScotia's mostfamousson(alongwith Principal G.M. Grantof Queen's University). Dawson rightly dominates the second half of the book.He wasa manof enormous energyand forceof will, and under him McGillemergedasa thoroughly anglophone, Protestant, and profession-oriented university of majorsignificance. Frostmakesclear,however,thatDawson enjoyed certain advantages not givento hispredecessors. The Dawsonyearswerealsothe golden years of entrepreneurial capitalism (Frostdoesnotusetheterm),and the newprincipalhad little difficultyin obtaining substantial benefactions whenevera potentialcrisiswason the horizon.The Molsonbrothers,the Frothinghams, PeterRedpath, WilliamLogan,andDonaldA.Smith, aswellas others,gave generouslyto McGill in theseyears.Modern readersmay experience a sense of d•j• vuwhenreadingthatin the 187os and 188os new buildings werebuilt, newchairsendowed, yet (asin 1873 ) a professorial request for a 'cost-of-living adjustment' received the sympathy but not the support of theBoardof Governors. In thiscase, theboardultimately granted anincrease whenprovincial fundsbecame available, 'buttheprofessors wereto understand that these must be the last; no further increases could be contemplated' (2•3). It istemptingto speculate just howsuccessful Dawson(whocouldbevery stubborn andirascible) wouldhavebeenasprincipal hadprivate benefactions notmaterialized. He survived amajorcrisis overco-education (towhichhewas opposed), forexample,onlybecause DonaldA. Smithcontributed asubstantial sum onhisowninitiative inordertoprovide separate facilities forwomen tobe built.Frostismorethancharitable toDawson whenexamining theprincipal's roleintheco-education controversy andinthesubsequent, decade-long battle withthewomen's champion onthefaculty, philosophy professor JohnClark Murray. Frostconcludes hisvolume bysaying: 'Theofficialrecords oftheinstitution - theminutes of theboardof governors, of Corporation, andofthefaculties supply thecontinuity of thenarrative, buttherichcontent isprovided bythe teachers andthestudents for whomtheinstitutionexists' (295).Teachers and students arenotentirelyignored inthisbook,buttheyareclearly secondary in REVIEWS 85 importance. Mattersofadministration andfinance abound; thelifeofthemind isstrikingly absent. Frost's dedication tellsuswhythe sources of such'rich content' aretreated inthisway.Canadian historiography onhigher education stillawaitsa studyin whichfacultyand students are allowedto form 'the continuity of the narrative.' A.a.MCI•LLOI' University ofManitoba McMaster University. •: theEarlyYears in Hamilton, •93o-•957 . CHARLES M. JOHnSTOn. Toronto, Universityof TorontoPress,a98a.Pp. xvi, 33o, illus. $25.00. Thesecond volume ofProfessor Johnston's history ofMcMaster isofthesame standard ashisfirst,TheToronto Years, published in a976,whichcovered the development of this'Christian school of learning'(tocitethefounder's will) fromthe a84os to 1928,whenthedecision wasmadetomovetheinstitution...