Page:Correspondence between the Warden of St Columba's College and the Primate of Armagh.djvu/14

 that, on an occasion when the province of Visitor was extended beyond its legitimate bounds, as prescribed by the Statutes then in force, I raised no question of jurisdiction, because the point then submitted to your Grace did relate to my conduct in my office; but the moment I had reason to believe that you disapproved of my course of proceedings, I offered to resign, (April 9, 1851,) and as soon as you had declared your disapproval, I voluntarily sent in my resignation, (April 24.)

It should also be remembered, that since my appointment, a new code of Statutes has received your Grace's sanction as Visitor, in the XIIth of which provision is made for proceeding against a Warden charged with holding opinions contrary to the teaching of the United Church of England and Ireland, as at present established.

While I owe it to my own position and character, not to plead guilty to this grave charge, implied in your Grace's letter, (of which I protest my entire innocence,) and while my resignation would justly be regarded as equivalent to putting forward that plea; I owe it equally to the Fellows, not to allow the invasion of their province and functions by an exercise of the Visitatorial jurisdiction contrary to the constitution of the College.

The sum of my offence, as I understand it, is this—That in a matter of public interest, on which I had plainly declared my convictions, in my published writings, in 1849,—and in which I am personally