y'^^, 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 THE PRESIDENT OF HARYARD COLLEGE. 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CORPORATION. 
 
 
 jL^^^ 
 
LETTER 
 
 r " 
 
 PRESIDENT OF HARVARD COLLEGE. 
 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CORPORATION. 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 5 BOSTON: 
 
 CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 
 
 1849. 
 
v£5 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 PRINTED BY BOIXES AND HOUGHTOM. 
 
LETTER 
 
 To Jaked Sparks, LL.D., 
 
 President of Hakvaed College. 
 Sir: 
 
 As you have recently been appointed to that 
 distinguished and important office, which, during the 
 whole history of Massachusetts, has been, not only one 
 of the most honorable stations in the community, but 
 one of those which it has always been most difficult to 
 fill, the present moment seems a suitable one to address 
 you on the nature of the position, and the present cir- 
 cumstances of the college. It is, no doubt, in conse- 
 quence of the difficulty of finding a well-qualified 
 incumbent, in consequence of the multiplied attain- 
 ments, and the various and seemingly inconsistent 
 powers which are requisite to perform the accumulated 
 duties of the office, that it is esteemed so honorable to 
 any man to attain it; and you must allow me to con- 
 gratulate you that your merits have been so recognized 
 by the appointing powers, and so cordially acknow- 
 ledged by the public generally, as to secure to you this 
 position, with siich universal approbation. The talents 
 of the wisest man, and the virtues of the best, find an 
 ample field for exercise and cultivation in the office 
 of President of Harvard College; and while he who 
 
faithfully and discreetly performs its duties must be 
 improving himself by laborious effort, he has the 
 reward of knowing that he is contributing to the 
 improvement of others, of many generations, by the 
 good influence he exerts, by the beneficial changes he 
 may introduce, and most of all, by the example he sets 
 of unwearied exertion and generous self-sacrifice. 
 
 The President is the centre around which revolves 
 the whole complicated machinery of the college, and 
 he must direct his eye, in rapid succession, upon the 
 system of instruction and discipline of undergrad- 
 uates, — upon the management of the more advanced 
 schools connected with the earlier institution, — upon 
 the manner in which the various parts, under the direc- 
 tion of many different officers, are respectively con- 
 ducted, — upon the general principles which are to 
 regulate the whole, and bind all together in one 
 system, — upon the appointments which are so often 
 to be made, the selection of the best men that can be 
 obtained, for a great variety of places, — upon the 
 management of the external affairs of the college, its 
 finances and resources, and its intercourse with the 
 parents of the pupils, — upon its connection with the 
 Commonwealth through the Corporation and Board of 
 Overseers, — and last, not least, upon its relations to its 
 numerous friends, alumni and patrons, who, without 
 direct power over its action, exercise a magnetic 
 influence upon its destiny, not the less efficient because 
 it is invisible, and whose real and affectionate interest 
 in the literary mother of so many illustrious sons, may 
 be greatly augmented or diminished, both in activity 
 and intensity, by the discretion or indiscretion, the 
 
effort or the neglect of the President. For the best 
 discharge of these duties it is sufficiently evident that 
 he must bring to the place a large amount of scholar- 
 ship, of thorough and extensive learning, a practical 
 acquaintance with human nature, as it shows itself 
 under every variety of age, development, and condi- 
 tion, a knowledge of what is somewhat technically 
 called business, and an extensive familiarity with liter- 
 ary and scientific men and institutions ; he must possess 
 a sympathizing heart, that he may acquire the benefi- 
 cent influence which that alone can give, and, at the 
 same time, firmness, that he may administer a fatherly 
 discipline, or resist projects of useless change ; sagacity 
 to discern motives, and charity to judge them ; enter- 
 prise, to stimulate to improvement, and discretion, to 
 prevent a waste of efforts ; and to all these high qual- 
 ities he must add the personal virtues of integrity, 
 purity, and piety, for without these, he will most 
 assuredly fail, though in all other requisites he were 
 the foremost man of all the age. 
 
 As one of the alumni of Harvard, I rejoice most 
 sincerely that, possessing, as you do, so many of the 
 most important requisites for the place, you have been 
 selected for it, and have devoted yourself to its high 
 duties, and its noble incitements. But you are not to 
 imagine that all the difficulties of the post have been 
 pointed out in the preceding sentences. The qualities 
 which have been enumerated are those which will be 
 called forth in the practice of the daily routine of 
 duties, under even the most favorable circumstances ; 
 while their very highest efforts will be necessary, to 
 meet the occasional trials of controversy, and the more 
 
6 
 
 constant effects of the ignorance and prejudice which 
 pervade large classes of the community, in respect to 
 the organization, the objects, and the resources of the 
 college, and its effects upon society. It is perfectly 
 astonishing to one who considers the matter, without 
 going very deeply into the natural history of fault- 
 finding, how long and how constantly the college, 
 which was founded for great ends by our progenitors, 
 and has always been an object, not merely of generos- 
 ity, but of affection and pride, in the secret heart of 
 the people, has yet been the visible subject of little but 
 reproach and blame from every quarter. At one time 
 it is accused of heresy, at another of treason; its 
 organization is deemed the worst possible, its instruc- 
 tion is behind the demands of the age ; sometimes too 
 much, sometimes too little is taught ; now, attention to 
 purely collegiate studies, Latin, Greek, and metaphys- 
 ics, supersedes the more important practical pursuits of 
 the day ; and now, the ancient classics, the fountains 
 and sources of all real knowledge, are neglected for 
 science falsely so called ; and the resources of the col- 
 lege are wasted upon things that have nothing to do 
 with education. But perhaps the most fruitful cause 
 of complaint, is the discipline of the institution, which 
 can, by no possibility, be made to conform to the hetero- 
 geneous opinions that are promulgated on every side. 
 One man complains that there is no discipline at all, 
 and that his son has been ruined by the neglect of the 
 of&cers; another declares it is shamefully severe, and 
 that the prospects of his son have been blighted by an 
 extreme punishment for a venial offence. 
 
 These conflicting opinions, which are obviously not 
 
so much the reflection of the real faults of the college, 
 as the results of individual habits of thinking and 
 feelingj are constantly poured into the ear of the Pres- 
 ident ; and it is no small part of his business to justify 
 the ways of the college to private complainants of all 
 these various kinds. They are also frequently expressed 
 in the most public manner, by all sorts of persons, the 
 ignorant and the well-informedj those who are not 
 acquainted with the history of the institution, and those 
 who are ; — sometimes by those who hold office under 
 its organization, and sometimes by those who have had 
 no connection with it. 
 
 I do not address you, however, to overwhelm you by 
 the contemplation of the difficulties and trials which 
 necessarily belong to the office of President, but to do 
 something, if I can, to relieve you from any needless 
 apprehension of reproach arising from accusations of the 
 college, whether new or old, which however plausible 
 they may appear at first view, are, in reality, unfounded 
 and unjust. 
 
 The latest exhibition of this prevalent spirit is con- 
 tained in the last number of the North American 
 Eeview ; in an article, the writer of which goes pretty 
 deeply into the subject, shows a considerable acquaint- 
 ance with the wrong side of the carpet, but cannot 
 make out the figures which appear on the other, and 
 who has apparently studied the history of the college 
 to a considerable extent, not with any purpose of char- 
 itably hiding its faults, but with what he would con- 
 sider, perhaps, as the still more charitable design of 
 probing every wound, without much regard to the 
 immediate sufferings of the patient. Before using the 
 
8 
 
 knife, it will be well to ascertain if the supposed injuries 
 are any thing more than imaginary discolorations of 
 the surface, which cannot be even discerned in the 
 clear light of truth and candor. 
 
 I believe that much of misapprehension, as to the 
 proper character of the institution, has arisen from the 
 names that have been given to it ; and though there 
 has been a good deal of discussion whether it should 
 be called College or University, and the reviewer takes 
 side strongly in favor of the former, yet it does not 
 seem to have occurred to the parties, that neither term 
 fitly describes the institution which was founded by 
 " the Court " of Massachusetts, and the Rev. John Har- 
 vard, if the meaning be understood to be that attached 
 to the words in Europe. In England, a college is usu- 
 ally a rich establishment, founded very much like the 
 still more ancient monasteries, upon independent re- 
 sources sufficient to erect and maintain all the neces- 
 sary buildings, chapel, cloisters, library, refectory, &c., 
 to furnish the support and compensation of all the 
 officers, and instructors, and commonly, also, of a large 
 portion, if not of the whole of the students. Some- 
 times, too, fellowships, as they are called, are provided 
 for the entire support of graduates who intend to 
 devote themselves, in celibacy, to the pursuit of par- 
 ticular studies. If this be compared with our estab- 
 lishment, there will be found a difference, not merely 
 in degree, of wealth, or learning, or talent, but in kind, 
 which cannot be reconciled till sufficient funds are pro- 
 vided for the erection and maintenance of all necessary 
 buildings and apparatus, the support of all officers, and 
 of a portion, at least, of the students. The important 
 
9 
 
 bearing of this difference upon the course of instruc- 
 tion and discipline which is possible in the one institu- 
 tion and impossible in the other, will not be overlooked 
 by any one who gives the slightest attention to the 
 subject; and doubtless much of the complaining of the 
 want of discipline and steadiness of system of instruc- 
 tion at our Cambridge arises from its having been 
 always called "a college/' which is supposed to be 
 capable of carrying on both instruction and discipline, 
 with a firm and independent hand. This has never 
 been possible with us, because the whole establishment 
 was originally, and four-fifths of it continue still to be 
 absolutely dependent upon the students who frequent 
 it. Those who pay for an article are apt to have some 
 influence upon those who sell it, in all countries, but 
 far more in this than in any other. 
 
 On the continent of Europe, " a college " approaches 
 nearer in signification to what we mean by a high 
 school, than to the English meaning of the word ; 
 while by a derivative use in the German universities, 
 collegium means a private course of lectures, for w^hich 
 a fee is paid to the professor who gives them. Of 
 course, little resemblance can be traced between these 
 uses of the term and ours. Still smaller is the resem- 
 blance between the European meaning of the word 
 university, and our application of it. In England, a 
 university is a collection of colleges, associated together 
 by the heads of each, for certain purposes. On the 
 continent, it includes a considerable variety of institu- 
 tions for education, but is most generally understood as 
 the proper title of the great German schools for profes- 
 sional and advanced instruction of all kinds, where 
 
10 
 
 nothing is furnislied to the student but courses of lec- 
 tures ; where the professors are maintained in part by 
 government, who alone appoints them, and in part by 
 fees ; where the student may attend what lectures he 
 pleases, and may often select his instructor from among 
 a half dozen on the same subject, according to the 
 price, and the estimate he puts upon the respective 
 value of each course ; and where the discipline is little 
 else than that of the city or town police. 
 
 It is manifest that our Harvard has so little resem- 
 blance to either kind of institution, as known in Europe, 
 that it is not of the smallest consequence whether it 
 is called one, or the other, or either indiscriminately, 
 notwithstanding the unfortunate allusion of the re- 
 viewer to the alias of a criminal in a court of justice. 
 It is certain that Harvard CoUege, or the University at 
 Cambridge has been, through all its past history, con- 
 tinues to' be at the present moment, and is likely to 
 be forever hereafter, a peculiar institution, — a New 
 England institution, honorably unlike any of those 
 after which it has been named, and distinguished more 
 for its struggles to live and labor, than for the abun- 
 dance of its resources; for its constant endeavor to 
 adapt itself to the wants of the community in which 
 it exists, than for its power over systems of education, 
 or systems of discipline ; for its practical influence upon 
 the leading minds of the country, than for the splen- 
 dor of its appointments, or the dignity of its offices. 
 John Harvard is said to have founded a college ; but 
 what a difference between the extent of the edifice of 
 which he laid the second stone, and those " twins of 
 learning " established by a man of unmeasured wealth. 
 
11 
 
 power, and worldly ambition, a century before ! The 
 difference between the palace of Hampton Court, the 
 Cardinal's own residence, and Harvard's humble dwell- 
 ing at Charlestown, is not more striking, nor more 
 instructive. 
 
 Harvard College, like most other American colleges, 
 has always been, and is still, poor in physical resources. 
 What ! I hear some one exclaim, with an abundance of 
 New England notions of thrift and wealth in his head, 
 Harvard College poor ! when it has been receiving such 
 immense donations from the government of the state, 
 and from rich individuals, for two hundred years and 
 more ; when it is by far the richest college in the coun- 
 try, and actually possesses more than ^750,000, 
 besides all the college grounds, and buildings, and 
 books ! Yes, I say again, — and I wish to impress the 
 true meaning of the word, and the true causes of the 
 fact, if I can, upon the mind of every reader, — Har- 
 vard College is very poor ; and is compelled to be a 
 beggar for those necessaries of life, which, if it had 
 been rich, would have been furnished long ago. I will 
 begin my explanation of the relative terms, poor col- 
 lege, and rich college, by stating what is necessary to 
 constitute the latter, in my judgment. 
 
 A rich college is one which has funds, well and per- 
 manently invested, sufficient to erect upon its own 
 ground, and keep in repair, all desirable buildings, 
 including chapel, library, lecture-rooms, dwellings for 
 the officers and students, dining-halls, cabinet-rooms, 
 and all other proper structures whatsoever ; to support 
 and compensate the instructors, and all officers from 
 the highest to the lowest; to support and instruct all 
 
12 
 
 the students ; to furnisli all necessary apparatus of 
 instruments, collections and books ; and finally to be 
 able to procure some appropriate luxuries, such as 
 costly and showy books, coins, medals, &c., and such 
 suitable pictures, sculpture, and exterior architectural 
 decorations, as may add to the charm of collegiate life, 
 and to the affection with which a generous mother 
 should and must inspire a generous child. 
 
 Magnificent as all this may sound, it is no more than 
 is actually accomplished elsewhere ; it is not more than 
 is effected at West Point ; it is no more than was de- 
 signed by Stephen Girard for his college ; and it is no 
 more than can be done at any moment for Harvard 
 College, whenever the legislature, or a few scores of 
 wealthy individuals, shall will it. Compare the condi- 
 tion of an institution like the one described, with that 
 of our college, and I think that pauperism and beggary 
 will be acknowledged to be not inappropriate words for 
 its state. About one half of the salaries of the pro- 
 fessors in the academic department are paid for by 
 independent funds, and the other half, together with 
 the compensation of all the other officers of the same 
 department, the president, tutors, librarians, proctors, 
 and of all of the servants, janitors, sAveepers, and as 
 many as there be, are left unprovided for ; the build- 
 ings have been begged, one by one, of the legislature, 
 and no funds exist wherewith to repair them ; books 
 are wanted for the library, but no funds, or next to 
 none, exist to buy them ; collections are wanted, but 
 cannot be obtained ; instruments, but they are again 
 the objects of solicitation. All these things must be 
 charged upon the students, if procured, and the stu- 
 
IB 
 
 dents cannot pay for them ; and consequently much 
 that is really necessary in the college is wanting, and 
 things are done, not as they should be, but as they can 
 be ; and while the nurse is famishing for want of suffi- 
 cient food, the nursling is compelled to pay for an inade- 
 quate supply of his mother's milk. 
 
 How does this correspond, it may be asked, with the 
 praises which are lavished upon the benefactors of 
 Harvard College, with the eulogies which are constantly 
 passed upon the bounty even of our enterprising fore- 
 fathers, and the generosity of our richer contempora- 
 ries ? If they have been so liberal to the college for 
 two hundred years and upwards, how can it be that 
 the school is still so poor ? The explanation is easy. 
 The state and individuals have, at all times, made 
 donations, which, in respect to their means, were truly 
 generous and noble, but which, considered in reference 
 to their objects, were insufficient and scanty. The 
 views of the public as to the liberality of donations, 
 have naturally been more directed to the extent of the 
 resources from which they were drawn, than to the 
 magnitude of the object to which they were to be 
 devoted ; and it must be remembered that what is great, 
 when regarded from the one point, may be very dimin- 
 utive when viewed from the other. It is a very liberal 
 act, one deserving of all commendation, for a few indi- 
 viduals to give ^20,000 for the increase of the library 
 of the college ; but a fund of twenty times that 
 amount, like that given to the city of New York, by Mr. 
 Astor, is what is truly needed to meet the exigencies 
 of the department ; to furnish the books that are con- 
 stantly asked for in vain, to provide for their preserva- 
 
14 
 
 tioiij to pay the necessary officers, and to erect and re- 
 pair the building designed for them. Who can wonder, 
 then, and who can reasonably find fault with the man- 
 agers of the college, if, even after what are called, and 
 justly called, most liberal donations, they still complain 
 of poverty ? They are poor, and they will continue to 
 be poor, until the public shall have so far enlarged their 
 ideas of the nature and design of a college, as to sup- 
 ply, in a permanent manner, all those wants, which are 
 permanent in their nature ; and shall relieve the friends 
 of the school from the necessity of begging, alike for 
 new wants and old wants, for needs which are perpet- 
 ually recurring, and for those which spring up with the 
 new circumstances which rise so fast around us. 
 
 It is quite natural and excusable in a person not 
 educated at college himself, and not familiar with insti- 
 tutions for collegiate and professional education, that 
 there should be something more than wonder in his 
 mind at the apparent inconsistency above alluded to. 
 But it is a little different with one who is acquainted 
 with the numerous and vast unsupplied wants of Har- 
 vard College, and yet complains of her perpetual asking 
 for aid. He who knows what such an institution 
 should be, and what our college is, if he be a true 
 friend of education, should join in these supplications, 
 should support them with his sympathy and effort, and 
 find no fault that is not thrust upon his notice by its 
 enormity. Whatever is venial he should forgive, what 
 is inexcusable, he should lament and palliate. The 
 only chance for filling up the deficiencies which exist 
 must be derived from the favor of the public ; and that 
 favor is scarcely likely to be secured, if her professed 
 
15 
 
 friends can see, or can point out, nothing but errors in 
 her whole history, nothing but blunders in her present 
 condition. 
 
 There is quite a long catalogue of the supposed 
 mistakes of successive ages contained in the article in 
 question ; and I propose to examine them all, and 
 ascertain whether the writer is justifiable in his accusa- 
 tions, or whether he has committed an error as great as 
 those which he charges upon others, in making promi^ 
 nent ill-founded complaints. 
 
 It is something new in the history of the misdeeds 
 of the college, that it should be charged with receiving 
 too much, or rather too many donations. In the uni- 
 versal dearth of means, it was certainly natural, and, it 
 would seem, not very blamable, that it should receive 
 with thankfulness whatever either government, or 
 liberally-disposed individuals might see fit to give, 
 which would aid, directly or indirectly, in the progress 
 of education. The college was not limited, in its origi- 
 nal purpose, or its early practice, to the narrow sphere 
 which the reviewer seems to think is the only one in 
 which it should attempt to move. Preparatory educa- 
 tion was not all that it was designed to give, nor all 
 that it did give, from the earliest moment of its exist- 
 ence. The training of pastors for the churches was 
 part of its original object, and the labors of its early 
 presidents were largely bestowed on this professional 
 education ; and scarcely a donation was made to the 
 coUege in which the preparation of youth for the min- 
 istry of the Gospel is not alluded to, or directly men- 
 tioned. The conversion of the Indians was one of the 
 objects sought for in the devotion of so large a proper- 
 
16 
 
 tion of the young men at Cambridge to the sacred pro- 
 fession. It had always been an object deeply seated 
 in the hearts of our fathers, stern and cold as they are 
 thought to have been, and one greatly in favor with 
 sympathizing friends of theirs in England. It was an 
 enterprise generously patronized by the most enlight- 
 ened, as well as humane men, at successive periods, 
 who thought the college a proper recipient of their 
 bounty, and weU able to look after its management. 
 The Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts, erected a building for the especial purpose of 
 having the Indian youth educated at Cambridge, by 
 the officers of the college. The Hon. Robert Boyle 
 gave a considerable annuity for the sole purpose of 
 employing two missionaries for the conversion of the 
 Indians, the disbursing of which was entrusted to the 
 college ; and finally the Rev. Daniel Williams gave a 
 still larger annuity for the same purpose. Some frag- 
 ments and gleanings of this latter gift are all that 
 remain, the payment of the annuities having been 
 discontinued at our Revolution ; and the reviewer 
 can find nothing to say of this pleasant memo- 
 rial of the real kindness of our fathers, this evi- 
 dence how much their hearts, and the hearts of their 
 wealthy friends " at home," had been touched by the 
 saint-like labors of Eliot, and b}^ the just sentiment 
 of a heavy debt due from the white man to the red 
 man, except that " it is now a draft upon their [the 
 Corporation's] time and care, it encumbers their treas- 
 urer's books, and does not in any way promote the 
 growth of liberal studies at Cambridge." He says he 
 presumes "the Corporation would gladly resign this 
 
17 
 
 trust fund to any person or institution who could 
 legally take charge of it ; " and without doubt he 
 would think it better if it had never been accepted, as 
 it is the first of the instances he mentions in which 
 money was bequeathed to the college "for certain 
 purposes that had little fellowship with its original 
 design." 
 
 It appears that in this case the fellowship was close 
 and intimate ; and not only so, but that the money was 
 bequeathed for one of the noblest purposes, and from 
 the noblest motives, which could actuate a just and 
 generous heart. He who does what he can to dis- 
 charge the debt of one race of men to another, he who 
 shows the power of generous sentiments by action, and 
 thus does something to counterbalance the heavy load 
 of selfishness and injustice, the conviction of which 
 ought to press upon the conscience of every American 
 who has read the story of the Indians, is not a man 
 whose gifts are to be set aside, in any age, as an 
 incumbrance and a burden ; and what shame would 
 have fallen upon our fathers, if they had so much as 
 thought of declining to be the almoners of such a 
 bounty ; and what expression of disapprobation would 
 be too strong, if the Corporation should now give up 
 the care of so precious a memorial of the character of 
 our predecessors, because " it is a draft upon their time 
 and care, and encumbers their Treasurer's books." Per- 
 haps once in twenty or thirty years some new project 
 is started with regard to the distribution of the in- 
 come, which may require a few hours consideration; 
 and it probably takes a half an hour in a twelvemonth 
 for the Treasurer to collect and pay over the proceeds, 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 and keep the account. When the last Indian shall 
 have disappeared, and the appropriation of the fund to 
 its original purpose shall have become impossible, the 
 legislature will have the power and the right to say 
 what shall be done with it ; and though it will be diffi- 
 cult to point out any thing which has more fellowship 
 with the original design of the college, yet no doubt 
 something exceedingly useful and desirable may be 
 effected by it, which shall ^^ promote the growth of 
 liberal studies at Cambridge." 
 
 Mrs. Winslow's donation, for the immediate benefit of 
 the town of Tyngsborough, is another of those instances 
 in AYhich the reviewer can see little fellowship with the 
 original design of the college ; although it might, pos- 
 sibly, have occurred to him that it Avas not altogether 
 unbecoming in those who were engaged in providing 
 for the preparatory education of the young, to assist in 
 the still more elementary instruction of others, who 
 might thus be led to enter their own school ; nor for 
 those whose duty it is, and always has been, to send 
 forth pastors and teachers, to feel an interest in the 
 support of one of them who might go from their own 
 halls. The reversion to the college, in case of a vio- 
 lation of any of the conditions of the donation, is not 
 so remote a contingency as to add nothing to the 
 value of the college property. Such have been the 
 changes in the state of things in the town, since this 
 donation was made, that it has already been suggested 
 by some of those most interested, that it would be 
 better to suffer the money to revert to the college ; 
 and it is certainly extremely probable that at no dis- 
 tant day this will be done. Such a contingency not 
 
19 
 
 only justified the Corporation at the time in accepting 
 the trusty but would have been a strong ground of 
 complaint if they had refused. If ^^ old Harvard is 
 none the richer for these funds/' the refusal to accept 
 the charge of them would have made her much 
 poorer, — poorer in that sympathy which she needs 
 herself, and which she should, therefore, show to 
 others j — poorer in those right feelings which are the 
 best wealth of an institution, as well as of an indi- 
 vidual, professing to have a character at all; and 
 poorer in that extension of views with which the guar- 
 dians of a permanent institution ought always to reach 
 forward to the future. 
 
 These are admitted by the reviewer to be " extreme 
 cases," and it may well be considered a fortunate, and 
 even flattering, circumstance that so careful an inves- 
 tigator could point out nothing worse than these, in 
 the long and curious list of very miscellaneous legacies 
 and donations which have been received by the college 
 during its term of two hundred years of corporate life. 
 
 But though these are the worst, they are far enough 
 from being the only errors of management which have 
 been exhibited in the history of the college, in the 
 opinion of the reviewer. All the schools which in the 
 course of time, and the progress of events, have been 
 gathered around it, and placed under the general 
 supervision of the same managers, with the aid of par- 
 ticular officers devoted to each, are greatly injurious, in 
 his judgment. He says Harvard College ^^ is now in a 
 fair way of being smothered under a heap of other 
 institutions, ivhich have as much to do ivith the original 
 purpose for which it was founded as with cotton-spinning. 
 
20 
 
 It is not that the respective objects of these institu- 
 tions are mean, unworthy, or of little account. Far 
 from it ; most of them are of that high and liberal 
 character which challenges the admiration and support 
 of every well-informed lover of his race, every well- 
 wisher to the highest interests of mankind. But they 
 absorb the time and energy of the governors of the 
 college ; they give it a deceptive appearance of wealth, 
 when in truth they only make it poorer ; they divert 
 the attention and generosity of the community, which 
 would otherwise be all turned towards the fostering of 
 proper academic studies at Harvard ; they borrow its 
 money; they multiply inordinately its occasions for 
 appealing to public munificence, so that the college 
 appears like a horse-leech, whose cry is constantly, 
 * Give ! Grive ! ' they become formidable rivals to those 
 exclusively intellectual pursuits, to that love of letters 
 and sound scholarship, to that general and liberal cul- 
 ture, which should be the peculiar aim of a life at col- 
 lege ; and though often seemingly successful at the 
 outset, they subsequently become in many cases a 
 dead weight and an incumbrance, injuring the good 
 name of the college, and lessening its means of useful- 
 ness. Let them be confined to their proper place ; let 
 each be established on its own independent footing ; 
 let not Harvard College be expected to furnish all the 
 machinery, all the management, all the funds, for the 
 cultivation of every science, and for the promotion of 
 every enterprise, be it of an intellectual, a philan- 
 thropic, or an industrial character." 
 
 This skilfully-constructed paragraph, which it almost 
 takes away one's breath to read, substantially develops 
 
21 
 
 the theory of the reviewer, respecting its true, and 
 what he considers its original purpose -, and shows the 
 faults he thinks to have been committed, as well by 
 those who have endowed the college, as by those who 
 have consented that it should be so endowed. Itg 
 admissions are important, and its rhetorical embellish- 
 ments are such, that in order not to be misled by them, 
 one must have either remarkable coolness, or a little 
 antagonistic warmth. If all the inferences of the 
 reviewer were just, it does not seem that any mon- 
 strous evil would have been produced ; but as the 
 greater part of the whole statement is a mere dictum 
 of the writer, it would seem that a general negation 
 was a sufficient answer. To most of the assertions of 
 seeming weight in those sentences, it would be per- 
 fectly safe to say to the writer in reply, " you are mis- 
 taken ', it is not so ; " — while others might be partly 
 admitted, as containing a portion of truth, but no man- 
 ner of harm, even if they were wholly true. But it 
 is not by specific contradictions of particular assertions 
 that the facts in the case can best be explained, and 
 the reasons for the general course of the college can 
 be exhibited. This must be effected by taking a little 
 wider view than the reviewer has done, both of the 
 original purpose of the college, and of those circum- 
 stances out of which its present condition has gradually, 
 honorably, and wisely been produced. 
 
 The establishment of the college was proposed for 
 the twofold purpose of keeping up an acquaintance 
 in the children with all that knowledge which so many 
 well-educated men brought with them from England, 
 and of perpetuating a supply of learned ministers for 
 
' 22 
 
 the pulpits of New England. The often-repeated 
 declarations of the founders and early benefactors of 
 the college prove this design so unequivocally, and it 
 is so universally understood and admitted, that it is a 
 cause of no small surprise to see so able a scholar as 
 the reviewer insisting that " Harvard College was insti- 
 tuted for the promotion of liberal studies, and for nearly 
 two centuries it was exclusively (!) devoted to this 
 end." The professional tendency and character of the 
 earliest studies in the college is manifest from the 
 records, imperfect as they are, of the prescribed course, 
 in which the acquisition of Hebrew, translation from 
 Hebrew into Greek, lectures on the Scriptures by the 
 President, &c., are prominent ; while the result is shown 
 by the fact that, for a long period, the proportion of 
 the graduates who devoted themselves in after life to 
 the ministry of the Gospel was not less than one-third 
 of the whole number. It is scarcely probable that 
 they received the whole of their theological education 
 during the four j^ears of their collegiate life ; but it is 
 certain that the foundation of it was carefully laid, and 
 that it was intended to be laid, by '^ the Court " of 
 teaching and ruling elders who made the first donation, 
 by the Reverend John Harvard, who gave the first 
 legacy to the infant seminary, and by the very numer- 
 ous contributors of sums for the aid of those who were 
 quaintly called '^ poor scholars," especially of those 
 who devoted themselves to the ministry of the Gospel. 
 So far from the fact is the assertion that for nearly 
 two centuries Harvard College was exclusively devoted 
 to the promotion of what may properly be called 
 liberal studies, that it would be much nearer the truth 
 
23 
 
 to call it an almost professional school at the outset, 
 and that it has been more and more devoted to liberal 
 studies, as it has advanced in years and discretion. 
 
 The two mottoes of the college seal, though objec- 
 tionable if considered as indicating the whole design 
 of the institution, yet show distinctly and strongly the 
 tendency of the age to give it a professional character. 
 "In Christi Gloriam" was the first; and the other, 
 which is now in use, is '' Christo et Ecclesiae." It is to 
 be regretted that such strictly-professional mottoes 
 should have been adopted, and retained so long ; but 
 the inference from this single fact would be strong, 
 that the college was not exclusively devoted to " that 
 general and liberal culture," which the reviewer says, 
 " should be the peculiar aim of a life at college." 
 
 In less than a century from the establishment of the 
 college, it was endowed with a theological professor- 
 ship by a generous and truly liberal man, who belonged 
 to the denomination of Baptists. This professorship 
 has been a sore subject to the college, to its friends and 
 its foes, from the hour it was first given till now. It 
 has scarcely ever ceased to be the subject, or the occa- 
 sion, of difficulty and complaint. But what was the 
 objection to it which was made when IloUis proposed 
 to found it ? Was it that it could not be well mingled 
 with those liberal studies, those " littercE himaniores " to 
 which the college had been thus far " exclusively devo- 
 ted?" Was it that the college was "originally de- 
 signed " for the cultivation of " classical learning, old- 
 fashioned scholarship, literary pursuits, and the moral 
 sciences," for the extension of which the reviewer 
 thinks that " colleges and universities were instituted ? " 
 
24 
 
 Not a whisper of all this. Our fathers did not so under- 
 stand the " original purpose " of the college, and they 
 would have received such a foundation with unbounded 
 gratitude from a benefactor, who, as Dr. Colman ex- 
 pressed it, " had been one in opinion and practice " with 
 them. But the difficulty was, Hollis was a Baptist, 
 and wished that a candidate might not be excluded 
 from his chair merely because he was a Baptist. There 
 was a horror of Baptists even when they made presents 
 of professorships ; and Judge Sewall refused to take 
 " any bribe to give his sentence in disparagement of 
 infant baptism." There have been other contests about 
 this professorship in after times, but never till now was 
 it made matter of reproach to the college that it ac- 
 cepted a donation for a professional purpose. A few 
 years later the foundation of a professorship of mathe- 
 matics was laid by the same generous spirit ; and it is 
 an apt illustration of the course which was taken 
 by the college, its patrons as well as its governors, that 
 provision should be made first for the supply of the 
 churches with able teachers, and afterwards for the 
 cultivation of " those exclusively intellectual pursuits," 
 which should be the peculiar aim of a life at college." 
 Five years after the foundation of a professorship of 
 mathematics, two donations were made to the college 
 for the purpose of establishing a professorship of law ; 
 and the corporation of that day, little imagining that 
 <2 they were beginning to attend to things ^^ which had 
 as much to do with the original purpose of the college as 
 with cotton-spinning," accepted them ; and though one 
 was lost early, the other continues to this day, and now 
 forms a part of one of those institutions which " absorb 
 
25 
 
 the time and energy of the governors of the college." 
 Forty years later a thkd profession was introduced into 
 the college, by a donation for the purpose of giving 
 medical instruction, and our fathers, still blind to the 
 future, thought they were accepting a real benefaction, 
 and were grateful for it, and for the additions subse- 
 quently made to it, by which it was rendered more 
 available. 
 
 All these donations, for the three subjects of pro- 
 fessional, as distinguished from academical education, 
 generous when considered in regard to the sources 
 whence they emanated, were but small for the objects 
 to be attained. They were insufficient for the main- 
 tenance of a professor in either department, and though 
 a professor of theology was immediately appointed, 
 his salary was eked out by fees from the students, 
 and by contributions from the legislature ; and it was 
 long before any one was appointed to give either 
 medical or legal instruction, to those in any manner 
 connected with the college. 
 
 Suppose, now, for a moment, if it be possible, that 
 our ancestors had taken the view of things presented 
 by the writer in the North American, and that they 
 had said to HoUis, and Royall, and Hersey, successively, 
 " We will not receive your donations, for though they 
 are for objects of that high and liberal character which 
 challenges the admiration and support of every well- 
 informed lover of his race, and every well-wisher to the 
 highest interests of mankind, yet they will absorb our 
 time and energy, give the college a deceptive appear- 
 ance of wealth, when in truth they will only make it 
 poorer, divert the attention and generosity of the com- 
 
 A 
 
26 
 
 munity from fostering proper academic studies ; and 
 become formidable rivals to exclusively intellectual 
 pursuits, and that love of letters, and general and lib- 
 eral culture, which should be the peculiar aim of a col- 
 lege life. 'No, if you want professional schools, let 
 each be established on its own independent footing ; let 
 not Harvard College be expected to furnish all the 
 machinery, all the management, and all the funds for 
 the cultivation of every science, and the promotion of 
 every enterprise." 
 
 It is very difficult to carry one's imagination so far 
 as to think of men having charge of an institution for 
 education in this community, eager as it always has 
 been to seize every, the smallest, opportunity for im- 
 provement, pursuing such a course as this. It is 
 impossible to believe, or to imagine, that such a course 
 would have been sanctioned, or tolerated for a moment 
 by the public. The members of the Corporation who 
 should at any period have adopted it, would, probably, 
 have been very speedily, unceremoniously, and certainly 
 very justly, removed from seats they were incompetent 
 to fiU. Yet it is precisely the course which, if he would 
 be consistent, the reviewer must have recommended. 
 If institutions for professional education ought not to 
 be gathered around the college, still less ought profes- 
 sional instruction to be given in the four short years 
 which are devoted to the ^^litterce Immanioresr It 
 would then, of course, interfere in a much greater 
 degree with the proper preparatory studies of under- 
 graduates ; and if our predecessors committed any 
 oversight in the matter, it may have been that they 
 did not discriminate with sufficient distinctness, when 
 
27 
 
 and how this professional education should be given. 
 But even this is not lightly to be brought against 
 them. They may have supposed that it would be easy 
 to arrange matters with regard to the other professions, 
 in the same manner as had always been done in theo- 
 logy ; and that resident graduates would pursue, under 
 the direction of the professors, the studies on the rudi- 
 ments of which they had entered while in college. 
 They certainly ought not to be blamed for not having 
 foreseen the changes which have taken place in the 
 circumstances of the country so fast that we, who have 
 seen them, can hardly believe them. It is no matter 
 of reproach to them that they did not anticipate the 
 time when many, besides graduates of colleges, would 
 pursue professional studies, and, notwithstanding the 
 deficiency of their early education, would make them- 
 selves respectable and respected in their professional 
 career throughout the country. Nor should it be a 
 matter of reproach to those governors of the college 
 who, in a later day, were enabled, by the assistance 
 and countenance of its best and wisest friends, to 
 detach, in some degree, those professorships which were 
 not useful to under-graduates, but which were more 
 particularly adapted to professional education, and thus 
 to leave the course of studies which truly belong to an 
 academic department, freed from the embarrassment 
 of inappropriate labor, and in possession of the entire 
 period of four years, short enough at the best, to be 
 devoted to its proper pursuit. , 1^- 
 
 At successive periods, by the strenuous exertions, y<^^ f 
 
 not merely of the Corporation, but of bountiful bene- 
 factors, of professors and lecturers in the college, and 
 
28 
 
 in short of all its friends, this separation into schools 
 and departments has been effected; — and the addi- 
 tional professorships founded in each by alnmni, or by 
 uneducated, but true, friends of education, have put 
 the seal of general approbation upon the movement. 
 In one case the professors urged upon the Corporation 
 the establishment of a medical school, and after long 
 and anxious consideration, the thing was done ; and it 
 would be fair and modest to presume, even if we did 
 not know, that it was done for suf&cient reasons by the 
 wise and good men who took part in the transaction ; 
 and it has certainly been attended by the most useful 
 and successful results, which could have been attained 
 in no other way. In another case, a theological 
 school was established by those who agreed in opin- 
 ion with the governors and professors of the college, 
 and it was thought judicious, by all parties, that 
 the means of theological instruction at Cambridge, 
 comprising the library, two professorships, and one 
 lectureship, should be combined with other resources, 
 and formed into a school, without withdrawing any 
 thing from the elementary instruction of undergradu- 
 ates which the professors had heretofore given. If 
 such a school were wanted at all, (and who should 
 decide this against the judgment of the numerous con- 
 tributors, who probably knew the wants of a commu- 
 nity of which they formed so considerable a part,) 
 would it have been wise in them to pass by, and over- 
 look, the advantages actually existing at Cambridge, 
 and doing much less good than they might do, merely 
 for want of opportunity, and attempt to build up an 
 institution elsewhere, and repeat the same necessary 
 
29 
 
 foundations at new cost, while those at Cambridge 
 would be lying unused ? Or would it have been 
 reasonable for the Corporation to have refused permis- 
 sion to their professors to exercise their talents, and 
 communicate their learning, in a new school, under 
 their own control, where they could be made far more 
 useful than they could possibly be to undergraduates ? 
 Certainly not for the reason given by the reviewer, 
 that the new institution would absorb their time 
 and labor, whatever other grounds may exist, in the 
 minds of some persons, for doubt upon the expediency 
 of the establishment. 
 
 In a third case a professorship was founded and 
 given to the college, by an alumnus not altogether 
 undistinguished for ability and judgment, for the 
 express purpose of securing the services of one who 
 was enough, of himself, to teach a whole school ; a man 
 whose renown was coextensive with civilization, and 
 the declining of whose services for any such reasons as 
 are suggested by the reviewer, would have been the 
 signal for such a shout of ridicule from the whole cul- 
 tivated and educated world, as no " seven mortal men " 
 had ever before excited, or could support for a moment. 
 Imagine the Corporation saying to Mr. Dane, " No, 
 sir, we cannot accept your donation, nor Judge Story's 
 services. Colleges and universities were instituted 
 more particularly for the prosecution of those ' liberal 
 studies,' as they are termed, of which law forms no 
 part. If we maintain a law school at Cambridge, our 
 time and labor will be absorbed by it ; it will give us a 
 deceptive appearance of wealth ; it will become a for- 
 midable rival of that school of the prophets which has 
 
/^ 
 
 ao 
 
 heretofore monopolized our care and attention, and we 
 must beg you to establish your proposed school on an 
 independent footing. Harvard College must not be 
 expected to furnish all the machinery, all the man- 
 agement, all the funds, for the cultivation of every 
 science, and for the promotion of every enterprise." It 
 may safely be said that, however great have been their 
 errors, the Corporation never committed quite so absurd 
 a blunder as this would have been. 
 
 The case of the Scientific School is, if that be possi- 
 ble, still clearer. There was a general state of effer- 
 vescence and impatience in the public mind, upon the 
 neglect of science in this country, and particularly in 
 this part of it, where the need of it was, perhaps, most 
 strongly felt. The reading man in his closet, the mer- 
 chant on the exchange, the mariner on the ocean, the 
 manufacturer pondering upon new patterns, the artisan 
 at work upon unyielding substances, and guided by mys- 
 terious mechanical powers, all sympathized with the 
 professor in his chair, in the wish that a school might be 
 established, where chemistry, physics, engineering, me- 
 chanics, and astronomy, might be thoroughly and practi- 
 cally taught. By a spontaneous and irresistible impulse 
 of the community,* a large sum was raised for the truly 
 noble purpose of cultivating astronomical science ; and 
 by the unhesitating decision of every one interested 
 in the matter, Cambridge was the place for the pur- 
 pose, and the Corporation was the body to take charge 
 
 * The reviewer says a considerable sum " was subscribed, after tirgent solicita- 
 tion, by the merchant princes of Boston and its vicinity." On the other hand, if an 
 experienced solicitor may be allowed to testify, never was less urgency requisite. 
 The whole sum asked for was obtained, in two or three weeks, with a facility wUch 
 showed the entire preparation of men's minds for the work. 
 
31 
 
 of the undertaking. No questions were asked about 
 it; no other place or management ever occurred to 
 anybody ; and it would be difficult now to say where 
 the apparatus could be more appropriately bestowed. 
 Several of the professors, whose time was not wholly 
 engrossed by their collegiate duties, had long been desi- 
 rous of seeing a school of science established ; and the 
 Corporation, hearing the loud call from every quarter, 
 and sensible of its singular adaptation to the wants of 
 the time and the country, were willing to undertake 
 their share of the enterprise, which was at once of ^^ an ^ 
 intellectual, a philanthropic, and an industrial charac- 
 ter," and which did not seem to them at all unsuited, 
 on that account, to their position, or to the purpose for 
 which the college was originally established. The 
 moment the project was suggested to the Hon. Abbott 
 Lawrence, his judgment approved it, his knowledge of 
 the state of the country led him to a perception of its 
 almost immeasurable utility, and his generosity of 
 spirit rendered its establishment certain. This school, 
 at least, may be justly characterized, in the language 
 of the reviewer, as one " which challenges the admira- 
 tion and support of every well-informed lover of his 
 race, every well-wisher to the highest interests of man- 
 kind." If he quarrel with it because it is connected 
 with the college, and placed under the care of the 
 Corporation, he must quarrel with the professors who 
 so strongly recommended action in the premises to the 
 Corporation, and considered it a duty of the college to 
 take the lead in establishing it ; — with that large por- 
 tion of the public who procured scientific instruments, 
 and required them to be placed at Cambridge ; — with 
 
i 
 
 32 
 
 the profound scholars and enlightened statesmen, not 
 intimately connected with the college, who cooperated 
 in its foundation, and rejoiced in its prospects ; — with 
 the singularly munificent benefactors, living and dead, 
 who have testified to their sense of its importance, and 
 the propriety of its position, by giving to the college 
 the means of its support. When he has discomfited all 
 these allies, it will be time for the Corporation to 
 attempt to justify themselves for having undertaken 
 the care of an institution " tvMch has as much to do ivith 
 the original lour pose for which the college was founded as 
 ivith cotton-spinning.^' They are not so coldly insensible 
 to the spirit of the age, and of the community in which 
 they live, as to reject the offer of the means of intellect- 
 ual progress, merely because it is by another path than 
 that of " classical learning, old-fashioned scholarship, 
 and literary pursuits." Aware of the benefit of even 
 the reflected light of science to the institution to which 
 they are ardently attached, they could never refuse a 
 gift which would add lustre to its name, give a new 
 stimulus and new knowledge to its students, and pene- 
 trate the whole atmosphere of the college with the 
 rising brightness of another dawn. 
 
 It thus appears, from recurring to a few well-known 
 facts in the history of the college, that these obnoxious 
 institutions have been gathered around it in such a 
 manner that the annexation of not one of them could 
 have been prevented ; even if the reviewer himself 
 could have lifted up his warning voice a century and a 
 half ago, and advised the Corporation to beware of 
 encumbering themselves with donations for the conver- 
 sion of Indians, to hold back from the treacherous gifts 
 
33 
 
 of Baptists, and lawyers, and doctors, and even from 
 those of a growing and improving public. It is no- 
 body's fault that they are there ; but it has generally 
 been considered heretofore that it was a great merit of 
 somebody; and it remains to be seen whether they 
 have been productive of the various evils which the 
 reviewer has ascribed to them. 
 
 " They absorb the time and energy of the governors 
 of the college," he exclaims. If by absorb, he means 
 that they take up all the time of the governors which 
 is given to the entire establishment, there is no need 
 of contradicting such an extravagant assertion. If the 
 more moderate accusation is meant that they consume 
 the larger part of that time, or even the still more 
 plausible charge that an undue proportion of it is 
 given to these, to the neglect or injury of any of the 
 interests of the college proper, the assertion is equally, 
 though not so obviously, groundless. It might be rea- 
 sonably conjectured, without positive knowledge, that a 
 branch of the institution, which, like the academic depart- 
 ment, comprises half the students and instructers, and 
 m,ore than half the funds, would share in due propor- 
 tion, at least, in the attention of those who are appointed 
 to superintend the interests of each. But, in fact, such 
 is the nature of that department, the pupils require so 
 much more care, the branches of instruction differ from 
 each other so much, the arrangements of study, disci- 
 pline and accommodation, are so intricate, there is so 
 much greater responsibility to parents and friends, 
 and the public generally take so much more interest in 
 the progress and well-being of those blooming youth 
 than of maturer persons, that it would be perfectly safe 
 
34 
 
 to say that nine-tenths of all the time given to the col- 
 lege by the Corporation are ahsorhcd by that depart- 
 ment. The other branches of the institution, from the 
 riper age of the pupils, and the peculiar character of 
 the instruction given to them, are much better able to 
 take care of themselves ; the appointments to office in 
 them, one great absorbent of the time of the Corpora- 
 tion, are far less frequent ; and the feeling of that body 
 towards the part of the institution which requires and 
 receives so much the largest proportion of their thoughts, 
 is necessarily one of stronger interest. If any danger 
 were to occur to it, threatening its extinction or serious 
 decay, the most strenuous efforts of the Corporation 
 would be required by the public, and nothing short of a 
 truly absorhing devotion of their time and labor would 
 satisfy either themselves or the community. But, with 
 regard to the other departments, though their responsi- 
 bility may be as immediate, their interest can scarcely 
 be so deep as in the original, the primary school. The 
 mere fact that the management of the advanced schools 
 is necessarily more given up to the faculty of each than 
 that of the academic department can be, accounts for 
 a different feeling with respect to them ; and no 
 reviewer, nor any one else, need apprehend a diminu- 
 tion of the intense filial regard which is and must be 
 felt for his Alma Mater, by every member of the Corpo- 
 ration, whether he passed through one of the profes- 
 sional schools or not. The only danger which can arise 
 on this point, is from a source to which the reviewer 
 does not allude, namely : placing in the Corporation 
 those who are not alumni. 
 
 But let us proceed with the list of evils arising from 
 
35 
 
 the excrescences which have gathered around the col- 
 lege. '^ They give it a deceptive appearance of wealth, 
 when in truth they only make it poorer." If a man be 
 so careless as to look only at the schedule of pro- 
 perty, amounting to some $750,000, and suppose that 
 all of it belongs to the academic department, one would 
 think it hardly fair to consider his dulness the fault of 
 the professional schools ; and if he were to mistake 
 the sum above-named for wealth, even if it did all 
 belong to the academic department, he must be one 
 whom it would be more difficult than useful to enlighten. 
 But the reviewer has mistaken the cause of the decep- 
 tive appearance of wealth in the college. It is not 
 because other institutions have been connected with it 
 that it is comparatively poor, but because the professor- 
 ships which have been established in it, have been built 
 upon very insufficient foundations ; and each one has 
 required an increased assessment on the students, in 
 order to give a salary for which the appropriated funds 
 were inadequate. In former times, the legislature used 
 to do this, from the resources of the state, but in later 
 days the Corporation have been obliged to raise the 
 tax on the students, to comply with the conditions of a 
 donation. This is indeed giving ''- a deceptive appear- 
 ance of wealth," — to receive a donation, appoint a pro- 
 fessor, and then tax the students more heavily. If the 
 Corporation were to adopt a rule to the effect that they 
 would never again appoint a professor till the funds 
 provided were sufficient for his support, they would 
 take the first step to correct this evil, which has grown 
 up entirely within the academic department, and has 
 nothing whatever to do with the multiplication of 
 exterior schools. 
 
36 
 
 " They divert the attention and generosity of the 
 community, which would otherwise all be turned 
 towards the fostering of proper academic studies at 
 Harvard." It may not be impertinent to ask how 
 the reviewer knows that. It is by no means a self- 
 evident proposition. It does not follow that, because 
 a man has founded a professorship in one of the 
 advanced schools, he would have given his money to 
 the college, for some academic purpose, if the profes- 
 sional institution had not caught his eye. Nathan 
 Dane founded a professorship in the law school, and 
 selected the first incumbent. The choice of Judge 
 Story was a great part of his motive for doing the 
 thing at all ; and there is not the slightest ground for 
 belief that he would have given any sum to the col- 
 lege, for any purpose but precisely that which he 
 selected. The more natural inference, therefore, from 
 what has been done for the professional schools, is that 
 they have afforded an opportunity to meet the particu- 
 lar views and wishes of different individuals; and 
 that all which has been bestowed on them is just 
 so much gained for the general cause of education 
 among us. Look, too, at what has been done for the 
 academic department within the last thirty years, 
 which the reviewer marks as the period of peculiar 
 degeneracy. Is there any evidence that the generosity 
 of the community has been diverted? Quite the 
 reverse. Amid a large amount of donations to the 
 professional schools, the following have been received 
 for the older branch of the college. Three professor- 
 ships have been founded, the Perkins, the Fisher, and 
 the McLean ; the library has been more than doubled, 
 
37 
 
 and the department of books on America, in wMch it is 
 now far richer than any other library in this country, has 
 been created ; the collection of minerals has been vastly 
 increased ; the hall for the library has been erected ; 
 several sums have been given for the personal aid of 
 the students, and fifty thousand dollars have been 
 given for the education of youth of remarkable talent. 
 If this be neglect, what would be encouragement? 
 No, it is delightful to witness this spirit of growth on 
 every side ; to observe that while new opportunities 
 for progress are developed, the earliest and most 
 important are not forgotten ; and it gives the very best 
 promise of a sure and steady advance to see that the 
 chain of communication is kept up by the public, from 
 the primary school for the child of three years old, to 
 the professional school which sends forth the young- 
 man prepared for the labors and struggles of life. 
 
 But the reviewer goes on, "they borrow its 
 money," — and if they repay it again with interest, 
 what better investment can there be for the college ? 
 The uses of that money are " twice blest." It helps 
 both those who lend, and those who pay. It enriches 
 two fields of instruction at once, and does, at least, 
 twice as much good as any other money the college 
 possesses. But, of course, there is danger that a pro- 
 fessional school, like any other debtor, may not repay 
 what it has borrowed ; and it may be useful to inquire 
 what is the probability that the money advanced by 
 the college will not be restored, in either of the two 
 instances, in which only an advance has been made. 
 About $14,000 were lent to the medical department, 
 two years ago, to complete the erection of the new 
 
38 
 
 building, for which the professors gave a guarantee 
 that the interest should be regularly paid, and a por- 
 tion of the principal, small at first, but afterwards to 
 be increased, should be returned annually. As every 
 one of the professors of that department has signed 
 the guarantee, and the Corporation, who advanced the 
 money, has the power of nomination of those officers, 
 and may make the signing of the bond a condition of 
 appointment, it would seem that this investment was 
 tolerably safe. 
 
 The only other case * in which college funds have 
 been used for aiding any thing but the academical 
 department, is that of the observatory, as a part of the 
 Scientific School. It was impossible that advances 
 should be so well secured here, as in the other 
 instance ; but the action of the Corporation has been 
 by no means so reckless as the reviewer seems to 
 think. No one among us imagined, when the project 
 of an observatory was first started, that it would prove 
 nearly so expensive as it has done. Sufficient allow- 
 ance was not made for the cost of the instruments, by 
 several thousand dollars, though a much closer estimate 
 might have been made of them than was possible of 
 any other part of the establishment. But the cost of 
 some of the piers, of the dome, of the observer's chair, 
 of the stones of peculiar form required to support the 
 instruments upon the piers, and various indispensable 
 parts of the nice apparatus of an observatory, could 
 not be estimated at all. Whatever could be contracted 
 for, viz. : the house, the tower, and the great pier, upon 
 
 * The $1600 to the debit of the Scientific School in the Treasurer's last statement 
 are provided for. 
 
39 
 
 estimates made by competent mechanics, were built 
 Avithin such reasonable limits as had been anticipated ; 
 and which, though considerably exceeding the amount 
 subscribed, were not so extended as to be a sufficient 
 objection to proceeding. In the entire absence of all 
 experience of the cost of such structures m this part 
 of the country, both among scientific men and me- 
 chanics, it cannot be matter of surprise, or of blame, 
 that such new work should be expensive ; or that if the 
 thing were to be done over again, it could be done for 
 a smaller sum. The Corporation were not the only 
 one of the many parties concerned who were ignorant 
 of the expense of an observatory ; but they were the 
 only persons who knew what resources they had to 
 rely upon, to replace such advances as might be made. 
 As these have never been stated, except in the Treas- 
 urer's reports, of which few persons take any notice, it 
 may be well to repeat what hopes the Corporation 
 indulge of being able to repay to the general fund the 
 money which is, for a time, taken from it. The expec- 
 tation of a profit from the sale of the land, which was 
 purchased about ten years ago for the purposes of an 
 observatory, has been so far realized that the entire 
 cost, with interest, has been obtained from sales already 
 made ; and after reserving an ample quantity for the 
 institution, there are 123,500 feet, or nearly three 
 acres remaining, the proceeds of every foot of which 
 should go to diminish the balance against the observa- 
 tory account. Any one acquainted with the present 
 prices of land in the vicinity of Boston, and with the 
 peculiar advantages of that situation, will be aware 
 
40 
 
 that no inconsiderable sum must be obtained, by care- 
 ful management of this large property. 
 
 The present balance against the observatory in- 
 cludes the cost of a dwelling-house, without regard 
 to the fact that another house, of at least equal value, 
 was restored, by the erection of this, to the use of the 
 college. Eight thousand dollars may, therefore, be 
 equitably deducted from the account, and putting the 
 two things together, the formidable balance may be 
 reduced to about one-third of its present amount. It 
 is not altogether improbable that the remainder may 
 be wiped off by a liberality similar to that which 
 began the undertaking. Indeed, if the institution be 
 so managed as to continue the favorable regard the 
 public now feel for it, it may be considered a certainty 
 that some generous individual, or individuals, will arise, 
 who will relieve the college from any fear of future 
 reproach on that account. That it has been in a 
 condition to acquire such favor among ourselves, and 
 so high a reputation already, elsewhere, is owing to 
 the free expenditure which has placed it in working 
 order, and has enabled the Messrs. Bond to exert their 
 talents and skill in their appropriate and noble work. 
 The expenditure, therefore, was not less necessary, as 
 a financial measure, than it was to promote the pro- 
 gress of science ; and surely some effort is due from 
 the college to foster undertakings which " challenge 
 the admiration and support of every well-informed 
 lover of his race, every well-wisher to the highest 
 interests of mankind," when the whole community 
 around them is actively interested, and urging them to 
 do their part in the project. 
 
41 
 
 The next topic with the reviewer is that ^^ they mul- 
 tiply inordinately its occasions for appealing to public 
 munificence." As no especial injury seems likely to 
 befall the college, if this be so, it may be safely left to 
 the consideration of the judicious. If the reviewer 
 imagines that the public would be less wearied by the 
 applications of half a dozen various institutions, than 
 by those of one, in which they had long been accus- 
 tomed to repose confidence, for different objects, he 
 has less experience than some of his neighbors, in the 
 practice of begging of the public, and must have had 
 less opportunity of observing its effects. 
 
 Another objection of the reviewer is that "they [the 
 other institutions] become formidable rivals to those 
 exclusively intellectual pursuits, to that love of letters 
 and sound scholarship, to that general and liberal cul- 
 ture, which should be the peculiar aim of a life at col- 
 lege." The rivalry spoken of may be very likely to 
 exist, but it is not precisely in the place, nor in the 
 manner, implied by the reviewer. The professional 
 and scientific schools neither are, nor can they ever 
 become, rivals of the academic department, in any 
 direct way. They are for entirely different purposes, 
 and pursue their objects in methods each different 
 from the other, and from that of the college. They 
 are for different classes of students, of very diverse 
 ages and character ; and they have instructors who, 
 from the inherent incongruity in their subjects of 
 teaching, can never interfere with those of the college. 
 Where then is the rivalry? It may be that a law 
 school, or a scientific school, may rival the college in 
 the estimate of the public of the relative importance of 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 the studies pursued, or of tlie merits and rank of those 
 who have been educated in them. And a rivalry of 
 this sort, if it arise, will do no manner of harm, but, on 
 the contrary, much good to each institution, to its 
 students, and its professors. Those who feel a particu- 
 lar interest in either of these elevated and necessary 
 means of education, will have an opportunity of con- 
 tributing to it according to their means ; and there is 
 no fear that either will languish, comparatively, in this 
 community ; while the different opinions entertained of 
 the relative importance of each, will tend to correct the 
 over-estimate which every man is apt to make of his 
 own pursuit. None will be tempted to say to the 
 other, "I have no need of thee," nor will any man 
 again compare an institution for any branch of educa- 
 tion, with one for cotton-spinning. 
 
 Finally the reviewer says these institutions, " though 
 often seemingly successful at the outset, subsequently 
 become in many cases a dead weight and an encum- 
 brance, injuring the good name of the college, and 
 lessening its means of usefulness." 
 
 One would think from the terms " often " and " in 
 many cases," that there might be some scores of insti- 
 tutions, thus dragging the college down to ignominy 
 and disaster. In fact, there are just four schools which 
 are under the management of the Corporation, beside 
 what is called now the academic department, and which, 
 for substance, was the original college ) and these four 
 schools have otherwise no more to do with each other, 
 or the college, than if they were in different counties, 
 and cannot, therefore, injure its good uame, or lessen 
 its usefulness. Two of them are remarkably successful, 
 
43 
 
 and reflect honor upon the college and upon all con- 
 nected with them, by their well-earned reputation ; the 
 third succeeds as well as the limited demand for its 
 instruction probably permits, and has certainly not been 
 wanting in reputation for the ability and learning 
 of its professors; while the fourth has just begun to 
 exist, and nothing ought to be said of it, but that it 
 starts under the most favorable auspices imaginable, 
 and does not threaten, as yet, to be "a dead weight," 
 upon either the reputation or the funds of the college. 
 
 A fifth school, that for Agriculture, founded by the 
 late Mr. Bussey, is, at a future day, to be under the 
 same management; and as this is to be in another 
 county, and will give no trouble to any one but the Cor- 
 poration, it seems unnecessary to prophecy evil of the 
 institution, merely because, a generation or two hence, 
 it is to be under the general control of that body. Let 
 us at least hope that the Corporation of the day will find 
 some means of making it useful to the public, and not 
 injurious to the college. 
 
 The reviewer remarks, — ^^How much of the time, 
 care and effort, which the President and the Corpora- 
 tion would otherwise have given to the undergraduate 
 department, have been absorbed during the last ten 
 years by the Observatory, we have no means of esti- 
 mating. They are but seven mortal men, after all ; 
 most of them are deeply engaged in very laborious 
 professions, and it is to be presumed that they find the 
 management of the college no sinecure." Of course it 
 is no sinecure ; but neither is it any such burden that 
 men of active minds and willing hearts, cannot find 
 opportunity to attend faithfully and sufficiently to all 
 
44 
 
 its duties, without sacrificing the interests of one 
 department to those of another; and the insinuation 
 that such may be the case, however cautiously expressed, 
 is quite unworthy of the journal in which it appears, and 
 of the character of the gentlemen referred to. 
 
 The amount of the burden upon the five Fellows, as 
 they are called in the charter of the college, may be, 
 in some degree, estimated by the number of meetings 
 held in a year, which, for the five years from 1843 to 
 1847 inclusive, has averaged twenty-four and one-fifth. 
 It is not often that the business before the Corporation 
 requires the attention or time of the Fellows in the 
 intervals between the meetings, and the amount re- 
 quired of them is therefore from four to five hours a 
 month. The President and the Treasurer must give 
 more ; the former, of course, devotes almost his whole 
 time, and the Treasurer must appropriate a considerable 
 proportion both of time and thought, to the concerns of 
 the college. But they are both salaried officers ; at 
 least, one has been so till within about twenty years, 
 and must probably again receive a compensation here- 
 after, and the • other has always been so ; and there 
 is no reason why they should not, on the contrary, it is 
 quite necessary that they should give as much time 
 and thought as possible to so valuable an institution. 
 
 The increase in the labors of the board by the estab- 
 lishment of the distinct schools, may be judged of, with 
 some degree of fairness, by the increase in the fre- 
 quency of their meetings. Thirty years ago, when 
 there was no professional school connected with the 
 college, but the Medical, and that was only beginning 
 to be important, the average number of meetings in 
 
45 
 
 five years was twenty-two ; showing an increase of just 
 one-tenth in the amount of business caused by the 
 annexation of the Theological, Law, and Scientific 
 Schools, and the great enlargement of the Medical de- 
 partment. It is to be hoped that " seven mortal men " 
 may long continue to be found, who will be able and 
 willing conscientiously and fully to attend to the wants 
 and interests of all the departments, in the general way 
 that the Corporation are called upon to provide for them. 
 With a passing compliment to the founder of a 
 whole department of the Scientific School, the reviewer 
 has yet nothing but fault to find with it. He acknow- 
 ledges ^^it is an experiment, its objects and arrange- 
 ments making it really the first of its kind in the 
 world," yet he says it borrows its professors from other 
 departments, makes the senior class pay for lectures 
 they formerly attended gratis, and has not yet fur- 
 nished the only professor whose department is new 
 at the college, that of engineering. He comes to the 
 reluctant conclusion, in view of these facts, " that 
 the Scientific School as yet is a tremendous burden 
 upon the college, and yields to it no advantage or 
 profit whatsoever." Upon what part of the college can 
 it be a burden ? As yet^ clearly upon the Corporation 
 only ; and if they are willing to submit to it, and have 
 even interested themselves to procure its establishment, 
 this is a very superfluous lamentation over their trouble. 
 As for the borrowing of the professors of the academic 
 department, it will be time enough to complain of that, 
 when the undergraduates are defrauded of the due pro- 
 portion of attention from them. The lectures of the 
 Rumford Professor, formerly delivered to the senior 
 
46 
 
 clasS; were not of importance enough to require serious 
 mention in such a connection. Those lectures, honor- 
 able to the professors, as they were, and valuable in 
 other spheres, as they would have been, were not par- 
 ticularly adapted to the improvement of undergradu- 
 ates ; and the senior class has, in fact, suffered no loss, 
 by the transfer of the professor to the Scientific School. 
 In another part of the article there is a complaint 
 somewhat inconsistent with this ; and if it were just, the 
 reviewer himself would be compelled to acknowledge 
 that the removal of the Rumford scientific course to an- 
 other department was not only on the whole advisable, 
 but a positive and great gain. " So many of the natu- 
 ral sciences have been crowded and jammed into the 
 course of instruction, that the students are wearied and 
 distracted by the number of the heterogeneous tasks 
 imposed upon them, and learn nothing thoroughly. 
 The old-fashioned studies have not been given up alto- 
 gether ; but they have been pushed into a corner, and 
 the student has his option with regard to many ( 1 ) of 
 them during a large part of his college course, whether 
 he will pursue them or not. The professors undertake 
 to instruct in omni scihile (? i) ; the students get a 
 smattering of every thing and a knowledge of nothing." 
 Alas, poor students ! What a miserable place of educa- 
 tion is Harvard College ! The governors have estab- 
 lished so many schools, that your faculties are confused 
 by being obliged to attend upon them all in your four 
 short years, and at the same time you are cheated of 
 your rights, by having your professors, those who were 
 appointed to instruct you, borrowed by the Scientific 
 School. The reviewer seems to imagine all this to be 
 
47 
 
 tlie case, as it is difficult to account for those sentences 
 upon any other idea. But the truth is, the subjects of 
 study in the academic department remain the same as 
 they were thirty years ago, except that a little more 
 time is given to Botany, Physiology, and Modern 
 Languages, and some attention is paid in the senior 
 year, which, thirty years ago, was not sufficiently occu- 
 pied, to Political Economy and the Constitution of 
 the United States. Are these moderate additions 
 sufficient to thrust the proper academic studies into 
 a corner, and subject the professors to the charge of 
 attempting to teach every thing, and the students to 
 the obloquy of learning nothing ? So far is this from 
 being true, that it is known to every friend of the col- 
 lege, that partly in consequence of the increased requi- 
 sitions for admission, and partly in consequence of the 
 greater vigor with which the studies are pursued, a 
 better knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Mathematics, is 
 obtained in the first two years than was acquired, thirty 
 years ago, in the whole four ; and after this is done, 
 the students are allowed to pursue them still farther, if 
 they choose to do so. If students were permitted to 
 determine for themselves whether they would attend at 
 all to Latin, Greek, and Mathematics, or not, there 
 might be some ground of complaint on the subject ; 
 but really, when they obtain what has heretofore been 
 considered a sufficient acquaintance with such things, 
 earlier and more thoroughly than formerly, it seems 
 hard that both officers and students should be exposed 
 to such extremely reproachful language from a profess- 
 ed friend. Every well-informed friend of the college 
 knows that the attainments of the undergraduates, in 
 
48 
 
 all appropriate academic studies, are far higher and 
 more thorough now than they were thirty years ago, 
 though they were not contemptible then, — that the 
 officers of instruction were never more competent, 
 faithful and zealous, and never more deserving of a 
 word of encouragement, rather than of rebuke. 
 
 The reviewer shows a certain indistinctness of per- 
 ception, or is guilty of carelessness in the use of lan- 
 guage, in another sentence in this connection. ^^A 
 young man with no previous training but a common 
 English education, may now enter the college, as a '^ spe- 
 cial student in chemistry." Indeed he can do no such 
 thing. He may enter the scientific school ; but that is 
 a very different thing from entering the college, and 
 there is no danger of their being confounded together 
 by most people. The distinction is generally pretty 
 clearly perceived. ^^ The question is," adds the reviewer, 
 " whether a college or university is just the place where 
 facilities ought to be offered for its attainment." A col- 
 lege, for the preparatory education of the young, is 
 clearly not a proper place for the thorough study of 
 chemistry ; and therefore the governors of the college 
 have been anxious to provide a separate school, where, 
 in compliance with the public demand, proper facilities 
 for it might be afforded. That a university is not 
 elsewhere deemed an inappropriate place for such 
 instruction, is evinced by the fact that the London 
 University provides for exactly such a department. 
 
 The reviewer has made two statements among others, 
 in figures, which, though not so important as the sub- 
 jects already discussed, yet require correction ; both 
 because many persons will catch up charges against 
 
49 
 
 the college, in the department of finance, who will care 
 nothing about the rest, and because the reviewer 
 himself requires and expects accuracy even in esti- 
 mates, and points out the difference between the esti- 
 mate of the cost of Gore Hall, and its ultimate cost. 
 He says that in consequence of " its size and grandiose 
 construction, ^750 have to be annually expended for 
 the fuel that it requires." It so happens that in the 
 last annual statement of the Treasurer, such a sum as 
 that, namely, $752*72 is charged to the Library for 
 fuel. If he had taken the trouble to look back for a 
 few years, however, he would have found it much less ; 
 and the average of the last four years, certainly a nearer 
 approach to the true annual charge, than that of a single 
 year, is ^397"13, or not much more than half of the 
 sum he stated. Would it be just to say of the review- 
 er's statements, as he says in relation to the college 
 estimates of Grore Hall, ex uno disce omnia ? Again, in 
 speaking of the expenses of the college, he says that in 
 1835, the " general expenses," not including salaries, 
 were but $4,843 ; last year they amounted to $7,374. 
 The sum of $4,843-34 is the amount called expenses 
 by the Treasurer of that year, but on the next page of 
 the account (page 12) are five items, all of which 
 would now be included in the expense account, and 
 would make it nearly six hundred dollars more, and 
 another on page 8, which would add four hundred and 
 seventy dollars more. But it is not by the expenditure 
 of a single year that such items can be properly under- 
 stood. If the average of the expense account of the 
 years 1830-1-2 be compared with the average of 
 1845-6- 7, it wiU be found that the difference is but 
 
50 
 
 about one-half of that which seems to exist between 
 1835 and 1847. Again, the reviewer has nearly 
 doubled the amount which he should have stated. Just 
 inferences cannot be drawn from exaggerated premises. 
 The expense account has not always been made up in 
 the same manner, but the two accounts of repairs and 
 expenses now include the same items that were charged 
 upon both in 1835 ; and the sum of them in that year 
 was $10,657-39, and in 1848, $10,797-36. The average 
 of the two accounts for 1830-1-2, was $10,687-69, 
 and for the years 1846-7-8, it was $11,427-80, 
 showing an increase of 1 740-11, which will hardly be 
 considered as a very extravagant increase in sixteen 
 years. 
 
 The reviewer mentions the circumstance that the 
 number of students has not increased in the last thkty 
 years, as one of those facts " significant and unwelcome 
 
 to the friends of the college; but none the less facts'' 
 
 Now, of what is this fact significant ? One almost 
 inevitably infers, notwithstanding his acknowledgment 
 that ^' these facts may all be accounted for without 
 imputing blame to any one," from the very sig7iijicant 
 way in which he enumerates them, that in his judg- 
 ment they are not only facts, but faults ; and that if the 
 college had been rightl}^ managed, they would not have 
 existed. But of what is this particular fact, that the 
 number of undergraduates has not increased, signifi- 
 cant ? The reviewer himself tells us, a page or two 
 farther on, that " the sole reason why they [the halls of 
 the college] are not thus crowded is the great expense 
 of living as a student at Cambridge. For vastly the 
 larger number of the youth of Massachusetts, the effect 
 
51 
 
 of this high cost is just the same as if the institution 
 were a thousand miles off. There the college is, — 
 an admirable institution, and an education within 
 its walls is very desirable ; but they are not able to 
 take so long a journey." Is it possible ? Can this last 
 sentence have been written by the same pen which 
 traced the declaration before quoted, that ^^ the stu- 
 dents are wearied and distracted by the number of 
 the heterogeneous tasks imposed upon them, and learn 
 nothing thoroughly. The old-fashioned studies have 
 not been given up altogether, but they have been 
 
 pushed into a corner The 
 
 professors undertake to instruct in omni scibile ; the 
 students get a smattering of every thing and a know- 
 ledge of nothing?" It wiU reqiiire all the ingenuity 
 of the reviewer to show these assertions to be consist- 
 ent with each other; and it may be fairly asked, to 
 which he will adhere. It has been the object of this 
 letter to show on which side is the truth — to show 
 that the students have not been so ill-treated and 
 unsuccessful, that the faculty have not been so 
 unwise, that the governors of the college, the Corpo- 
 ration and Overseers, have not so mismanaged the 
 institution through long years, and many generations, 
 as the reviewer represents ; that he is entirely mistaken 
 in some of the assertions which he considers assertions 
 of facts, and that he brings forward other statements 
 very much in the form and semblance of charges and 
 accusations, at least, if he do not mean them for such, 
 when in truth, the things of which he complains are 
 among the deeds and events most honorable to the col- 
 lege in every way ; to the forecast and liberality of its 
 
52 
 
 patrons, the assiduity and unsparing efforts of its 
 instructors, and the care of its supervisors to adapt it, 
 as far as possible, to the wants of their time. He has 
 undoubtedly told the truth, and the whole truth neces- 
 sary to explain the fact, in the assertion that the 
 sole reason why Harvard College is not more frequent- 
 ed, is the great expense of living there as a student. 
 If he had contented himself with showing this, and 
 with advocating the plan for a remedy of the evil 
 which he has ably discussed in the last pages of his 
 article, the college would have had substantial reason 
 to be grateful to him for his valuable aid. But he has 
 set in array a series of statements, which, as he himself 
 says, " give a rude shock to our feeling of affectionate 
 admiration for our Alma Mater; " and he has done it 
 without any prospect of being useful \ for if they be 
 faults or errors, they are irremediable ; and as they are 
 not likely to be repeated, — as there are probably no 
 more " other institutions " to be connected with Harvard 
 College, they can serve no purpose as a warning to 
 anybody. He has made assertions which are injuri- 
 ous, and which have now been shown to be unfounded, 
 especially those with respect to the faculty and the 
 students ; and though these are inconsistent with other 
 assertions in the same article, yet there can be little 
 doubt that they will leave theb sting behind, and that 
 ancient prejudices will be stimulated and embittered 
 by them, and new ones created where none existed 
 before. 
 
 You, Mr. President, know whether you have been 
 associated, for many years, with indiscreet Professors, 
 and unimproving pupils, or not; and I trust your 
 
53 
 
 future association with the Corporation and Overseers 
 will enable you to see that they have not, either by 
 design, by carelessness, or by incapacity, smothered 
 Harvard College "under a heap of other institutions, 
 which have as much to do with the original purpose 
 for which it was founded as with cotton-spinning." 
 You will be in a position, yourself, to do much, in case 
 of danger, to prevent the college hereafter from " suffer- 
 ing the fate of the Roman maiden, Tarpeia, and being 
 crushed by the weight of the ornaments of brass, simu- 
 lating gold, which are heaped upon it." And it is the 
 ardent hope of every friend of Harvard that you may 
 enter on your new career of duty with the cheerful ex- 
 pectation of being useful to a rising institution, and not 
 discouraged by the lamentation that "it is actually 
 poorer, weaker, and less efficient than it was many years 
 ago." If I have contributed any thing to strengthen your 
 faith, and that of other friends of the college, in its sta- 
 bility and progress, to increase the love of the alumni 
 for the good it has effected in times past, and the yet 
 greater good which may be hoped for in time to come, 
 I shall have effected my purpose, and shall be ready 
 to go on, with new zeal, in the performance of the 
 responsible duty in which I shall be associated with 
 you, as 
 
 One of the Corporation 
 
 OF Harvard College. 
 
i 
 
iS^::^:^Jxii 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 029 892 556 4