the reasons why they had doubted the validity of the act by which the Vicar Apostolic had been constituted successor of the Inquisitor General, and pointing out that, even though valid, it would be most inconvenient and by no means advantageous to the interests of the College to have a Protector resident in a distant country, and ignorant of the conditions and circumstances which obtained in Portugal; with whom, moreover, in cases of difficulty easy and rapid communication could not be had. It was also suggested that all these inconveniences would be obviated, were the office of Protector vested in the Apostolic Nuncio for the time being resident in Portugal. The Rev. Peter Baines was sent to England as the representative of the Superiors and bearer of this letter, with instructions also to arrange with the Cardinal and the recently appointed Bishops, a new distribution of the students amongst the different Dioceses.
This he successfully accomplished and immediately returned to the College. The Pro-Rector finding that he was unable satisfactorily to perform the combined duties of his office and those of Vice-President, the Rev. Peter Baines, in April of this year, 1853, was appointed to the Vice-Presidentship, having for upwards of nineteen years fulfilled with great ability the varied duties of Procurator. At the same time the Rev. Joseph Ilsley handed over to the College the Secular School which had been founded by him and for many years successfully carried on, and the Rev. Laurence Richmond was placed over it as Director. The flourishing state in which this school was when taken over, gave promise that it would prove of considerable financial advantage to the College; hopes, however, which for various reasons were in the sequel not realised. The Professorship of Theology, both Moral and Dogmatic, which for many years had been held by Dr. Winstanley, was assumed by the Pro-Rector, while Ecclesiastical History and Canon Law were allotted to the Rev. Laurence Richmond, and the Chair of Philosophy to the Vice-President, and at the same time the Rev. William Hilton, who now for eighteen years has
