Untitled - Electric Scotland

162 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP TAIT [CH. vi.
is not constitutional or legal, or such as the Univer
sity or its members are bound to obey." In respect
to this opinion a characteristic memorandum was drawn
up by Dean Tait, who, while disclaiming any intention to
dispute the lawyers technical arguments, drew attention
to their deliberate avoidance of the term illegal, and
pointed out that their expression not legal simply
meant that the Commission, as all were aware, possessed
no compulsory powers. ,
"It will be found that the much-vaunted opinion leaves the
Commission where it found it. The Hebdomadal Board has now,
as it has had all along, only one point to settle, namely, *
Does
it choose to answer the questions of the Commissioners, though
not compelled to do so? Will it act in the conciliatory spirit
adopted at Cambridge, or resist ? Will the Board assist a friendly
in the
Royal Commission, or will it, by throwing impediments
way, do what it can to ensure the appointment of an unfriendly
Parliamentary Commission, whose powers will be compulsory?
The Commission itself is very little interested (except for the re
gard which its members entertain for the University) in the way
in which the Board settles this question. Nay, we should not
be surprised if the Report appears
can make up
its mind."
before the Hebdomadal Board
The Hebdomadal Board, however, invoked the aid of
the Convocation of the University, and on May 2 1st, 1851,
a petition to the Crown was adopted by 249 votes against
105, praying Her Majesty that Her Commission be
"
forthwith revoked and cancelled as
"
unconstitutional
and illegal."
The Commissioners meanwhile persevered steadily
with their task, and were, as they hoped, drawing their
labours to a close, when, on February 23d, 1852, Lord
John Russell s Government was defeated, and Lord
the other hand, the Commission was declared by the law officers of the
"
Crown not to be in any respect illegal or unconstitutional." (Vide Report,
Appendix B, pp. 25-33.)