Page:Correspondence between the Warden of St Columba's College and the Primate of Armagh.djvu/31



,  is with extreme pain that I write to inform you, that I have lately received from his Grace the Visitor an intimation that, in his judgment, "my continuing to preside over this College would not conduce to its interests," and calling upon me "to withdraw from the office which I now fill," as the only mode "by which he can free the College from the imputation of being an Institution in which views which he disapproves of are inculcated."

It has appeared to me, on the most mature consideration, that while compliance with his Grace's suggestion, previous to inquiry, might seem to indicate, on my part, a guilty consciousness, from which, I thank God, I am entirely free; and might be regarded as equivalent to a plea of guilty to the grave charge implied in his Grace's communications, — which could not but be most injurious to my own character; — it would be so far from clearing the College from the imputation of being a place where erroneous opinions are held and taught, that it would rather serve to prove that there is no sufficient safeguard against the introduction of such opinions, and no