ADDRESS
THE COMMISSIONERS
RAISING THE ENDOWMENT
®Itc Itomitg of Jiflutlt.
NEW ORLEANS:
p. M. NORMAN, PUBLISHER',
1 8 5 9,
ADDRESS.
At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University op the
South, held at Montgomery, Ala., in November, 1851, it was resolved
that the Bishops of Louisiana and Georgia be appointed Commis¬
sioners to canvass the several Dioceses for subscriptions to form the
endowment of the University. This resolution was re-affirmed at a
subsequent meeting of the Board, held at the Beersheba Springs,
Tenn., in July, 1858, and, by authority of this commission, the un¬
dersigned are now engaged in the performance of this important
duty.
The undersigned have deemed it necessary, as auxiliary to their
work, to sketch the history of this proposed University, and to dis¬
cuss the principles upon which it is to proceed. It presents some
features which are peculiar, and which, it is believed, will commend
it to the confidence of the States, for whose blessing it has been in¬
stituted. As these are contained in pamphlets which are rapidly
getting out of print, it is proposed to embody them in this publica¬
tion, and present them anew to the public attention.
The Southern States have not been indifferent to the subject of
Collegiate education. Each of these States, at a very early period
of its history, has founded an University, upon which it was intended to
concentrate the patronage of the State Legislature. Could this policy
have been adhered to steadily, free from the interference of popular
-clamor, or religious differences, the University which we are now
proposing to establish, might have been unnecessary. But it has been
virtually abandoned by the incorporation, year after year, of Colleges,
which have drawn off from the State Universities both their students
and their means of advancement. No one of the Southern States has
either wealth or population enough to do more than sustain, upon a
proper footing, a single Collegiate institution, while we find, in each
of them, four or five Colleges contending for the mastery, and endan¬
gering, in the struggle, the State University.
This condition of things, while it has diffused education and
placed a course at College within the reach of a larger number of
young men, has prevented any one of these institutions from attain-
4
ADDRESS.
ing the very highest rank as an University, and has left that want to
be supplied. And this is no time for us to be behind the rest of the
world in either intellectual or moral greatness. The South needs,
more than ever, men of the very highest education, who shall prove,
by their ripe scholarship, that our institutions are not adverse to the
loftiest culture, and who shall be prepared to maintain truth and
right against all comers, not merely by the force of genius, but with
the resources of learning and the traditions of the world. And, under
our peculiar form of government, where opinions and policy vary with
the caprices of the moment, we can hope for such scholarship only
from an organization independent of the popular will for its revenues,
and immovable in its conduct as the Church of Christ. We think, there¬
fore, that the right chord was struck in the Southern heart when the
people of the ten States, lying South and Southwest of Virginia and
Kentucky, were invited to an union for this purpose upon the com¬
prehensive principles of the Episcopal Church.
This invitation was given in the summer of 1856 through a letter
addressed by the Bishop of Louisiana, to the Bishops of North and
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi,
Arkansas and Texas, in which he drew their attention to this neces¬
sity of the South, and invited their cooperation for its supply. His
language was this :
" Institutions there are within the pale of all our Dioceses, upon a more or less
enlarged scale, and of greater or less excellence. They have been established
either by State patronage, or founded by one or other of the religious denomina¬
tions surrounding us, and are doing what they can—and, in some instances, with
eminent and honorable success—to supply a public necessity ; but whatever their
degree of excellence may be, they do not meet the wants of our people.
"In the minds of many, they are not upon a scale sufficiently extended or full
to offer advantages comparable to those to be had abroad, or at the institutions of
highest grade in the Northern States of our Union; and, for that reason, are set
aside, and our children are expatriated or sent off to an inconvenient distance,
beyond the reach of our supervision or parental influence, exposed to the rigors
of an unfriendly climate, to say nothing of other influences not calculated, it is
to be feared, to promote their happiness or ours.
" Our Dioceses are all comparatively new, some of them but of yesterday. They
must therefore be expected to be feeble—too feeble singly to rear any such estab¬
lishments as could occupy the commanding position, or offer such advantages as I
have indicated. But what we cannot do singly, we may, with great ease, do col¬
lectively. I believe now is the time at which we may found such an institution as
we need. An institution to be our common property, under our joint control, of
a clear and distinctly recognized Church character, upon a scale of such breadth
ADDRESS.
5
and comprehensiveness, as shall be equal in the liberality of its provisions for
intellectual cultivation to those of the highest class at home or abroad, and which
shall fully meet the demands of those of our people, who require for their children
the highest educational advantages, under the supervision of the Church."
This letter led to a meeting, at Philadelphia, during the session of
the General Convention in October, 1856, of the Bishops included in
the above invitation. At that meeting it was unanimously resolved
to attempt the foundation of an University upon the amplest scale,
and to prepare an address to the members and friends of the Epis¬
copal Church in the Southern and Southwestern States, inviting their
cooperation. This address was signed by all the Bishops in attendance
upon that meeting, and sets forth the reasons which incited them to
this vast undertaking. After speaking of the great responsibility
which rested upon them as the chief pastors of the Episcopal
Church, to make suitable provision for the training of the young in
learning and religion, they say :
"We desire in the outset to express our sense of the high character and
eminent services of many Institutions, already existing in the several States,
where our fields of labor lie—institutions which, whether founded by the States
severally, or by one or other of the religious denominations inhabiting them,
have discharged the duty of training those committed to their care with honor¬
able success, and on an extended scale. Of the capabilities and the claims of
some of these, the personal experience of several of our number would
forbid our speaking otherwise than in terms of the highest respect and vene¬
ration.
" It is believed, nevertheless, that the whole ground is not occupied. That the
work to be done is beyon.l the power of the laborers who are employed in doing
it, and that the entrance of another Institution of a high grade upon the field to
be cultivated, so far from being uncalled for, should be hailed as a welcome ally."
" Nothing is more common than to hear it affirmed that the hopes of mankind
are suspended upon the success of the experiment in government now being made
in these States. The success or failure of this experiment turns entirely on the
degree of intelligence, and the character of the moral sentiment which shall dis¬
tinguish the masses of our population. These masses are but the aggregation of
individuals, and the responsibility and duty of originating and sustaining Insti¬
tutions whose offices go to the point, directly or indirectly, of enlightening them,
is therefore obvious and imperative. And we may add, if there ever was a time
in the history of our republic at which good men were called upon more than at
another, to unite upon efforts to found such Institutions, the present is that
period. At no time in all the past, have we been so threatened with the spread
of the wildest opinions in religion and government; and at no period, therefore,
has there been so great a call to put into operation and multiply agencies, whose
high conservatism shall furnish us with the means of making fast the founda-
6
ADDRESS.
tions of the State, securing a sound and healthy feeling in the social condition,
and preserving in their integrity the'great truths of our holy religion."
" In view of this condition of things, we, your Bishops, during our sojourn in
this city, in attendance on the General Convention, have thought it expedient to
take the matter into our serious consideration, and have come to the conclusion,
it is of so pressing a character, that no time should be lost in relieving it; and
that for its relief in the most effectual manner, no plan presents itself of so
promising a character as that which would unite the energies and resources of
all our Dioceses in one common effort. We have therefore resolved, after mature
deliberation and consultation with leading clergymen and laymen of our several
Dioceses, to propose to you to unite our strength in founding an Institution upon
a scale of such magnitude, as shall answer all our wants. This we propose shall
be a University, with all the Faculties—theology included—upon a plan so ex¬
tensive, as to comprise the whole course usually embraced in the most approved
Institutions of that grade, whether at home or abroad.
"We are aware of the magnitude of such an enterprise, in all its aspects—the
large amount of capital necessary for its foundation, and the very weighty re¬
sponsibility resting upon those who shall be charged with the duty of shaping
its plans and conducting them to a successful consummation. But when we think
of the pervading and far-reaching influence such an Institution could not but
have upon the interests of the country and the Church, and reflect on the extent
of the field whence we propose to draw, not only the means for its establishment,
but the minds to found and govern it, we dare not hesitate to believe that all the
resources necessary, of whatever description, are within our reach, and will be
forthcoming so soon as they shall be needed. To say nothing of the well known
and ample wealth belonging to our communion generally, we will not allow our¬
selves to believe that upon the presentation of such an occasion for the employ¬
ment of a part of that treasure committed to our stewardship, we shall fail to
find our Lawrences and Stuyvesants, our Moores, and Kohnes, and Gores, and
Dudleys, ready to lend their aid in the consummation of so great a work."
In this address was incorporated a rough sketch of certain articles
to he submitted to the Conventions of the Dioceses uniting in this
undertaking, among which was one designating the persons who
were to constitute the Board of Trustees of the University. This
second article was as follows :
" That the Board of Trustees should be composed of the Bishops of the Dio¬
ceses, e%-oj]ficio, so uniting, and one clergyman and two laymen from each of the
said Dioceses to be elected by the Conventions of the same. The joint consent
of the Bishops, as an order, and of the clerical and lay trustees, shall be neces¬
sary to the adoption of any measure proposed."
The Conventions of the Ten Dioceses, having approved the action of
their Bishops, elected in accordance with this second article a Board
ADDRESS.
7
of Trustees, which convened in July, 1857, at the Lookout Mountain,
and inaugurated this great undertaking.
At that meeting a declaration of fundamental principles was adopted
and subscribed by all the Trustees in Convention assembled. These
principles are the Constitution of the University, and have been endorsed
by the Dioceses uniting in this work, and to some of these we desire
to invite the particular attention of our readers.
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES SET FORTH AND SUBSCRIBED BY THE
TRUSTEES IN CONVENTION ASSEMBLED.
We, the undersigned, Bishops and Delegates of the Dioceses of North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Ar¬
kansas and .Tennessee, do hereby resolve to establish a University upon the fol¬
lowing principles:
1. The University shall, in all its parts, be under the sole and perpetual direc¬
tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, represented through a Board of Trustees.
2. The Board of Trustees shall be composed of the Bishops of the Dioceses
above named, ex officio, and one Clergyman and two Laymen from each of said
Dioceses, to be elected by the Convention of the same. The joint consent of the
Bishops as an order, and of the Clerical and Lay Trustees as another order, shall
be necessary to the adoption of any measure proposed. The Senior Bishop, by
consecration, shall always be President of the Board.
3. This University shall not be put into operation until the sum of, at least,
Five Hundred Thousand Dollars be actually secured.
4. The funds subscribed to this University, shall be all considered as Capital,
to be preserved untouched for any purposes connected either with the organization
or management of the University ; provided, that donations and legacies may be
received for such objects as the donors may indicate.
5. There shall be a Treasurer appointed in each Diocese by the Convention of
the same, to whom shall be delivered the cash, notes, bonds, stocks, or titles to
land, obtained as subscription in that Diocese; whose duty it shall be, under the
advice of the Standing Committee, to invest the cash and all money which shall be
derived from the realization of the above mentioned private securities, in the best
public securities, or other safe investments, paying over annually to the Treasurer
of the University, the interest of the amount subscribed.
6. There shall be a Treasurer of the corporation, who shall receive the interest
annually from the Diocesan Treasurers, and expend it under the direction of the
Board of Trustees.
7. The amount subscribed in any Diocese, as above, shall, in the event of the disso¬
lution of the corporation, be returned to the donors, or their legal representatives,
and in case of there being no legal representatives, then it shall revert to the
Diocese.
8. The location of this University shall be as central to all the contracting
Dioceses as shall be consistent with the necessary Coixditions of locatidn.
8
ADDRESS.
9. No Diocese shall be bound by these Principles to furnish any particular sum
of money, but its contributions shall be voluntary, according to its pleasure and
ability.
10. The signatures to this Declaration shall not bind the Dioceses further than
they may have already bound, or may hereafter bind, themselves by their respec¬
tive Conventions.
Signed at the Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, this sixth day
•f July, A. D., 1857.
James H. Otey, Bishop of Tennessee.
Leonidas Polk, Bishop of Louisiana.
Stephen Elliott, Bishop of Georgia.
N. H. Cobbs, Bishop of Alabama.
W. M. Gkeen, Bishop of Mississippi.
Francis H. Rutledge, Bishop of Florida.
Thomas F. Davis, Bishop of South Corolina.
David Pise,
Francis B. Fogg, [- Tennessee.
John Armfield,
W. T. Leacock,
George S. Guion,
Henry C. Lay,
Charles T. Pollard, c Alabama.
L. H. Anderson )
W. W. Lord, of Mississippi.
Alexander Gregg, of South Carolina.
M. A. Curtis,
W. D. Warren,
J. Wood Dunn, Texas.
It will be perceived that this undertaking is based upon an union of
ten Dioceses, and that the representation from each Diocese is equal,
consisting of the Bishop of each Diocese, one Clergyman from each
Diocese, and two Laymen from each Diocese. The Lay representation
from each Diocese is precisely equal to the Clerical representation, the
Bishop and one Clergyman being counterbalanced by two Laymen.
This makes the Laity in the Board as strong as the Bishops and
Clergy put together. In order to save all difficulty of election, the
Senior Bishop by consecration, is always to be the President of the
Board.
The principle, however, which is the important one in the conception
of this enterprise, is that regulating the endowment of the University.
This fundamental article of our Union provides that none of the
money subscribed for the endowment of the University shall ever be
touched for any purposes connected with the University, but that every
Louisiana.
North Carolina.
ADDRESS.
9
expenditure for the building, furnishing, equipment and organization of
the University shall be made out of the interest derived from that en¬
dowment, with the understanding, however, that any subscriber may
designate how his subscription shall be expended. This provision is
contained in the 4th Article, which reads thus :
4th. That there should be a Treasurer appointed in each diocese, to whom shall
be paid the sums subscribed in that diocese, whose duty it shall be to vest those
sums in unquestionable public securities, paying over annually, to the Treasurer
of the Corporation, the interest of the amount subscribed.
To carry out this arrangement, the funds collected in each State
are placed in the keeping of the Lay Trustees of that State, and the local
Treasurer elected by the Convention of that State. These three gen¬
tlemen are to have charge of the University funds of their State
and are to pay over to the Treasurer of the University only the in
terest of those funds. The Board of Trustees will have, therefore, at
its disposal, only the annual interest of the endowment, and can ap¬
propriate nothing more than that. Should the University prove a
failure, the 7th Article provides that the money subscribed shall be
returned to the donors or their legal representatives, and, if there be
no legal representatives, shall revert to the Diocese in which it was
subscribed.
The advantages to be derived from this arrangement are the secu¬
rity of the funds and the permanency of the Institution. The funds
are secured by being distributed among ten States, and guarded in
each State by the vigilance of three persons. The money subscribed in
Louisiana, for example, is placed for safe keeping and for investment
in the hands of three gentlemen, selected for their high social position,
their unimpeached integrity, and their business habits, and every ob¬
ligation taken by the Commissioners, or every investment hereafter to
be made, is transferable only by the joint endorsement of those three
persons. They pay over to the Treasurer of the University only the
interest of the funds in their hands, and thus the Board of Trustees
is checked and restrained from any waste or misuse of the endow¬
ment of the University.
It renders the University permanent, by preserving its endowment
from diminution. It is as rich at the close of each year as it was at
the beginning. Suppose that one million of dollars, which is much
less than we hope to raise, should be subscribed for its endowment,
the interest of this, say at seven per cent., would be $70,000
per annum. The University makes its start with this. The Board
10
ADDRESS.
of Trustees meets and appropriates this income, the interest of
its endowment for the year, to buildings. Committees are ap.
pointed to see that this money is properly expended. The year passes
away. The Board meets again. It has now at its disposal the inter¬
est for the second year, a like amount of $70,000. It appropriates this
again to buildings, to a library, to apparatus, and takes like care that
it is properly expended. Another year passes away. The Board
meets a third time ; its preparations are now ample enough to permit
it to put the University into partial operation—to choose its President,
Professors, etc. It comes to this work with undiminished funds. It is
as rich now that its buildings, its apparatus, etc., are completed, as
it was in the beginning—perhaps richer—for this endowment will be
perpetually increasing from gifts, bequests and legacies far more than
it will diminish by any loss of funds.
Hitherto, in undertakings of this sort, much of the fund collected has
been put into brick and mortar, and when the buildings were finished
but little has been left to pay the professors, and enlarge and ad¬
vance the institution. Our colleges have been got up upon too small
a scale, and their originators have been in too great a hurry to put
them into operation. We have determined to avoid these evils. We
have bound ourselves not to take a single step until we shall have
received obligations to the amount of $500,000, bearing interest, as
the lowest point at which we should commence. This will give us
from $30,000 to $40,000 per annum, quite as large an annual income
as the most flourishing institutions of the United States possess, inde¬
pendent of their tuition fees and lecture tickets. This secures us
from having a petty affair upon our hands, and we shall take
our time for putting it into operation. An oak that is to spiead
abroad its branches in greatness and power, that is to stand
the storms of centuries, does not grow up in a day. The authen¬
tic records of Oxford reach back to the reign of Henry III.
Harvard is almost coeval with the landing of the Pilgrims. While,
therefore, we shall lose no time in the execution of our work,
we shall not permit ourselves to be hurried forward faster than either
our means or our wisdom shall direct us. We are, from the organization
of the Episcopal Church, a perpetual body. If one Bishop dies, another,
as good as he, as wise as he, as learned as he, can be found to take his
place. And so with our Clergy and our Laity. The Episcopal Church,
with its high culture, can always find men, in every Diocese, fully quali¬
fied to stand in the places of any who may pass away. Our plans will be
ADDRESS.
11
arranged upon the largest scale, our curriculum will be made as
extensive as literature, and science, and art, and religion, and the ad¬
vancing civilization of the world shall require, our scheme will be
sketched out, in its final consummation, upon the most perfect ideal,
but we shall fill up, for the present, only such part as our means shall
allow us to complete, and leave it for those who come after us to finish
the detail, as they shall see the necessity and possess the power.
We shall thus secure to the South an institution of the very highest
grade, and raise up a body of scholars of whom no country need be
ashamed.
And besides this, we shall secure for the South a Literary centre, a
point at which mind may meet mind, and learning encounter learning,
and the wise, and the good, and the cultivated, may receive strength
and polish, and confidence, and whence shall go forth a tone that shall
elevate the whole country. We, of all men, should be the most highly
cultivated, because we have the most leisure. Labor is performed
among us by a caste, and there is, in consequence, a large body of
men, who can devote themselves to the elegancies of literature, and
to such a culture as shall make their homes the envy of all lands.
The world is trying hard to persuade us that a slaveholding people
cannot be a people of high moral and intellectual culture. Because
for the last seventy years, in the necessity which was laid upon us
for hewing dov^n our forests, and settling our wildernesses, we have
been neglectful of the details of literature, the world has come to
suppose, and has worked the impression in upon ourselves, that our in¬
stitutions are unfavorable to literary development. Never was there
a grosser error than this. Before this position can be established,
the literature of the Hebrews, a slaveholding people by the direct
permission of God, must be blotted from the book of Life, the
pathetic narratives of Moses, the songs of the sweet Psalmist of Israel,
the eloquence of him whose lips were touched with a live coal from
off the altar. Before this opinion can be assented to, scholars must
cease to be nurtured upon the literature of the Greeks, another slave-
holding people, and writers to find their models for every species of com¬
position among the dramatists, and historians, and orators, and philoso¬
phers of Attica and Ionia. Before this can be maintained, the Mantuan
swan must be forgotten, the lessons and example of the greatest rhetori¬
cian the world has ever known must be pnt aside, and statesmen must
cease to learn their wisdom at the feet of Ceesar and of Tacitus, for Rome
was a slaveholding power of the intensest sternness. And upon what
12
ADDRESS.
has been reared the literary greatness of our Fatherland ? Upon her
classification of society, and upon her Collegiate arrangements which
have enabled a portion of her people to devote themselves, without in¬
terruption, to literary pursuits. This great advantage we possess by
means of that very institution which is supposed to check literary pro¬
gress. And we should now begin to use it. Hitherto the South has been
expanding herself—enlarging her borders, and working up her
resources—"mewing," as Milton grandly expresses it, "her mighty
youth,"—but now should she find time for nobler things, and enter upon a
friendly and glorious rivalry with the rest of the world in letters and cul¬
ture. There is secured to us by the Constitution of the United States,
the most perfect liberty of thought and expression ; we have that
division of classes which makes one a laboring and the other a domi¬
nant class—one a working and the other a thinking and governing class;
we possess through our monopoly of some of the greatest agricultural
staples of the world, sources of unbounded wealth. What more do we
need ? nothing but the perception of our own resources—but the de¬
termination to assert our rightful place among the learned of the
earth—but the will to lay aside petty differences and unite upon a
grand foundation for letters and religion.
And this University will not interfere with the existing institutions
of the States. Even now, after centuries of duration, standing in the
midst of thirty millions of people, Oxford does not matriculate
more than four hundred students annually. This is the num¬
ber of men, demanding the highest education, who knock at her
doors. Supposing that this should be the number applying annually
at our University, this would not deprive the State institutions of
their numbers. The very highest scholarship is never sought for save
by a limited number of persons. A lesser amount of scholarship is
all that a vast majority cares for. This highest scholarship, which
is necessary as a standard—which is necessary for the reputation of
a country—which is essential to the dignity and prestige of the
South, it is our desire to furnish. The existing institutions will con¬
tinue to supply and advance the scholarship which they are now
giving. They will be the sources whence we shall derive much of
our strength and our influence. When their students shall have
graduated, if we can offer them a maturer cultivation, they will
spend additional years at the University; if they intend to devote
themselves to literature and the sciences, they will take up their
residence in its neighborhood, and have free access to its libra-
ADDRESS.
IS
ries, its collections, its lecture rooms. If they are prepared to
give their lives to some specialty, the means will be afforded
them for their work, and the University press be ready to
give their learning to the world. And while the Government of this
University will be restricted to the Church which founds it, so that
it may be an unit and work harmoniously, its academic halls, its
lecture rooms, its libraries, its collections of science or art, of what¬
ever kind, will be freely opened to all. Any man, no matter what his
religious opinions may be, may come and drink of the waters that
shall flow from this fountain, with the single restriction that he
comes not there as a propagandist, nor with the intention of min¬
gling the poison of infidelity with its pure waters. We desire to
build up a great University, which shall open its arms, far and
wide, to literature, to science, to art, to knowledge, under the
sacred sanction of religion, as wo have received it from our fathers.
So far every step has been securely taken. The location has been
most judiciously chosen, as will be seen by consulting the Address of
the Committee of the Board, with its accompanying maps. Nine thou¬
sand acres of land have been given us by the Sewanee coal company,
and by the citizens of Franklin county, Tennessee. A Charter of Incor¬
poration, which will be found in an Appendix to this Address, has
been obtained from the Legislature of Tennessee. A committee has
been appointed to draft a plan of the inner life of the University.
We are collecting the endowment, and the larger that endowment
becomes, the wider will be the scope of the University. And
its returns to the country would be the richest dividends it could
ever receive, dividends that would give it security, reputation, glory
among the nations. And how easily it can be done. Here is a popu¬
lation of five millions of people scattered over this Southern country,
many of them abounding in wealth, many of them seeking for chan¬
nels through which they may dispense usefully the money which God
has entrusted to their care. A few of these persons have already
contributed more than one-third of the sum stipulated as our starting
point. Tfeirty^ersons have given us, within a few weeks, over
-fffifbftftf) Shall not this be an encouragement to others to come for¬
ward, every man according to his ability in the sight of God, and
speed this great scheme to its consummation? We have no doubt
that every Southern heart will say, Amen !
And the principle upon which we have get out of never using the
capital of our endowment, makes it very easy for every man to do his
14
ADDRESS.
part. He may spread his payments over any reasonable period. Se¬
cure the interest, and the principal may be paid in instalments to meet
the convenience of the parties. In this way very handsome things may
be done for the University, things which, at first sight, might seem
impossible to the donor. All the University wants is the regular pay¬
ment of the interest with a proper security of the principal. Give
her that, and she will be as well served as by the cash, for that would
require immediately to be reinvested.
We have thought it well thus to embody, in one pamphlet, all our
history, action and purposes. We feel those purposes to be patriotic;
that they look first or last to the welfare of the whole country; that
they are not the less national because they regard directly the well-
being of that section whose moral and intellectual condition is most
dear to us. And while we would, with a comprehensive patriotism,
rejoice in the advancement of all parts of the Republic in everything
that can elevate and dignify us as a people, we cannot forget that our
first duty is to that portion which gave us birth, and for whose intel¬
lectual and moral well-being we are, as Southern men, more espe¬
cially responsible.
Take this pamphlet home with you; read Lit in your domestic cir¬
cle ; weigh in the balance against money the worth of good princi¬
ples and high education for your children ; summon before you the
isolation in which the world is attempting to place you and your in¬
stitutions; recall all you have ever said that breathed of love for
the South, that savored of indignation against those that were
warring against her ; bring to your remembrance your many
resolutions for benefiting your homes, your many reproaches
because your section would not vindicate herself ; above all, recollect
that your wealth is a trust from God, for which you must account to
him as well as to society and determine, in the face of all these con¬
siderations and memories, whether you will turn your back upon this
most promising conception, or come up like whole-hearted Southern
and Christian men, and found an University for the South that shall
be worthy of our Fathers, worthy of our children.
LEONIDAS POLK,
Bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana, I
STEPHEN ELLIOTT,
Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia,
j- Commissioners.
New Orleans, February 24, 1859.
APPENDIX.
Ad Act to Establish the University of the South.
Whereas, sundry citizens of the States of Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Caro¬
lina, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida, contemplate establishing a University, to be
located in the State of Tennessee, at a place which shall be conveniently accessible to the citizens of
said States, which University is to be under the control and government of the PROTESTANT
EPISCOPAL CHURCH, subject to such rules, regulations and restrictions, as are hereinafter set forth;
And, Whereas, the security of society, the supremacy of the law, the preservation of liberty regulated
by law, the perpetuity of our institutions, and of the Union—all are, at last, dependent upon the pre¬
valence of intelligence of the people, and sound moral sense among them;
And, Whereas, it is the interest of the State, and, indeed, of every State, to encourage the erection of
Seminaries of Learning ; therefore,
Section 1. Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That James H. Otey,
David Pise, Francis B. Fogg, John Armfield, Thomas Atkinson, M. Ashley Curtis, Thomas Ruffin,
Thomas D. Warren, Thomas F. Davis, Alexander Gregg, J. L. Manning, William Allston Princi.e,
Stephen Elliott, N. H. Cobbs, Henry C. Lay, C. T. Pollard, L. H. Anderson, William M. Green, W. W.
Lord, George S. Yerger, Eugene Hinton, Leonidas Polk, W. T. Leacock, George S. Guion, William N.
Mercer, J. W. Dcnn, E. B. Nichols, J. E. Nicholson, Francis H. Rutledge, G. C. Fairbanks, George
Whitfield, J. J. Scott, and such other person, or persons, as may hereafter be appointed Trustees of
said University, in pursuance of the Constitution and By-Laws thereof, be, and they and their successors
are hereby, constituted a body corporate and politic, in fact and in name, by the name of "THE
UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH," and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and a common
seal; and shall be capable in law of suing and being sued, and shall have power to purchase, receive
by donation or otherwise, and to possess, hold, alien, and dispose of property of all kinds and descrip¬
tions, to be held in fee simple, or otherwise; subject, nevertheless, to such restrictions and conditions
as are contained in this Charter.
Section 2. Be it further enacted, That said Trustees shall have power to assemble at such time and
place as may be designated by the President of the Board, for the purpose of organizing said Institu¬
tion, and of forming a Constitution for the government of said University. A majority of said Trustees
shall constitute a quorum for such purpose. Said Trustees shall have power, in, and by said Constitu¬
tion, to designate how, by whom, and in what way, the said University shall be governed ; and said
Constitution, when adopted, may be altered or amended in such manner, as may be provided for in said
Constitution. Said Board shall keep a minute of their proceedings.
Section 3. Be it further enacted, That said Board shall meet, at least, once a year, at the University,
when the buildings are ereated; but they may be called together in extra session, in such manner as
may be provided for in said Constitution, or by the By-Laws of said Institution.
Section 4. Be it further enacted, That said Trustees shall have power to appoint Committees, all the
members of which shall not be required to belong to the Board of Trustees, to perform duties which
may be delegated to them by said Trustees.
Section 5. Be it further enacted, That all subscriptions, donations, devises, or bequests, made upon
the faith of the terms, conditions, or stipulations set forth in the Constitution of said University, shall
bo governed thereby, and the subsequent change or alteration of said Constitution shall not have
the effect to alter the terms, conditions, or stipulations of said subscription, donation, bequest or
devise.
16
APPENDIX.
Section 6. Be it further enacted, That said Trustees shall appoint a President, and shall have power,
from time to time, to make By-Laws and Ordinances for the government of said University, not incon¬
sistent with the Constitution thereof, and for the appointment of Professors and other Officers, and for
regulating the duties and conduct of the Officers, Professors, and Students, fixing the salaries of the
Officers, etc., etc.: Provided, the same be not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of this State,
or of the United States.
Section 7. Be it further enacted, That upon the death, resignation, or removal of any of said Trus¬
tees, the vacancy occasioned thereby shall be supplied in the manner provided in the Constitution.
Section 8. Be it further enacted, That said University shall have full power to establish Literary and
Scientific Departments, and those of Law, Theology, and Medical Science, and such other Departments
as said University may see proper, and to confer upon Students, or any other person, the Degrees of
Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, or any Degree known and used in any College or University, and shall
enjoy all other powers and immunities incident to corporations of this description.
Section 9. Be it further enacted, That said University shall be established and located at Sewanee,
on the Cumberland Mountain, in or near Franklin county, or at any other point the Board of Trustees
may hereafter designate in the State of Tennessee, the site to be selected by the Trustees, or by such
person or persons, as they may appoint; which site shall continue until changed by the Trustees
according to the provisions of the Constitution.
Section 10. Be it further enacted, That said University may hold and possess as much land as may
be necessary for the buildings, and to such an extent as may be sufficient to protect said Institution, and
the students thereof, from the intrusion of evil-minded persons who may settle near said Institution,
said land, however, not to exceed ten thousand acres ; one thousand acres of which, including buildings
and other effects, and property of said corporation, shall be exempt from taxation so long as said lauds
belong to said University.
Section 11. Be it further encoded, That no misnomer or misdescription of said Corporation in any
deed, will, gift, grant, devise, or other instrument of contract, or conveyance, shall abate or defeat the
same, but that the same shall take effect in like manner as if the said Corporation were regularly named :
Provided, it shall be sufficiently described to ascertain the intention of the parties.
Section 12. Be it further enacted, That this Act be, and the same is hereby, declared to be a Public
Act.
Section 13. Be it further enacted, That this Act take effect from and after its passage.
DANIEL S. DONELSON,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JOHN C. BURCH,
Speaker of the Senate.
Passed January 6th, 1858.
I, F. N. W. Burton, Secretary of State, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy
from the original Act on file in my office.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto sfit my hand, and affixed the great seal of the State, this 15th
day of January, 1858.
F. N. W. BURTON. Secretary of State.