Complaints of inattention were made against some of its members, and at the election for officers after the expiration of the first year, others were substituted for the inattentive and inefficient.

The change for the most part was made by unanimous consent; but when a ballot was called for, other names were substituted for those on the house list, recommended by the former committee, and the contest resulted in the rejection of Richard Barrett and one or two others.

This was taken as an affront to Mr.O'Connell, though personally he neither took part in, nor was present at, the meeting.

Whether it was owing to Mr.O'Connell's aversion to the green-and-gold uniform, to which he sometimes expressed his dislike, or his objection to the rejection of his soi-disant friends, or to his consciousness that the club was not subservient to his control, he took very little interest in its progress, and frequently spoke of it in terms of derision.
But that which produced the first sensible and vital difference between Mr.O'Connell and the Seceders was the Colleges Bill.

Education had long been a subject of anxious solicitude with Mr.Davis, and he was in continual communication with Mr.Wyse, its great parliamentary champion.
He had repeatedly urged upon him the indispensable necessity of the principle of mixed education, as the basis of any collegiate system for Ireland.