he was made a Doctor of Divinity by Glasgow University and recruited the John McGarvie for ministry at Portland Head. Lang resisted the claim to exclusive state recognition and support by the Church of England involved in the establishment of the Clergy and School Lands Corporation in 1826. It was suspended in 1829 and abolished in 1833. Also in 1826, he claimed the right to perform marriages by virtue of a British act of 1818 relating to the Diocese of Calcutta which protected Church of Scotland ministers there and thus broke the Church of England monopoly, with New South Wales then being part of that diocese. The Church Act of 1836 gave state-aid to the Church of England, the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church on the same basis. The Methodists were added in 1839. Lang's views on the Church of England were evident when he published his opinions in "On the Character and Influence of the Present European Population of New Zealand, as Regards the Aborigines" in four Letters To the Right Hon. Earl Durham that were published in England. Lord Durham was a supporter of the New Zealand Company. The second letter was a virulent attack on the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand, which opposed the colonial aspirations of the New Zealand Company. The Church Missionary Society in New Zealand was led by Archdeacon Henry Williams. Educational endeavours Lang founded the Caledonian Academy in 1826, but it soon folded. He made a second visit to Britain in 1830–31 and recruited several teachers, as well as acquiring a library and equipment for a school he was to call the Australian College. It opened at the beginning of 1832 on land adjoining the Scots Church. It had considerable promise which was not realised due to Lang's lack of administrative ability and his failure to achieve more general support because of his own flaws of character and ability, particularly financial mismanagement. By 1840 it had only about 30 students. In 1842 the college became simply a day school for boys meeting elsewhere and was no more by 1852. Lang dreamed of heading an educational institution of standing. He was a supporter of the Presbyterian Theological College and of St Andrew's College within the University of Sydney, although he used his political influence to try and change the legislation and hoped in 1872 to be appointed its first principal.