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 PRESIDENT QUINCY'S SPEECH 
 
 MINOEITY REPORT OF MR. BANCROFT. 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 JOSIAH QUINCY, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 BOARD OF OVERSEERS OF THAT INSTITUTION, 
 
 FEBRUARY 25, 1845, 
 
 ON 
 
 THE MINORITY REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMITTEE OF VISITATION, 
 PRESENTED TO THAT BOARD BY GEORGE BANCROFT, ESQ., 
 
 FEBRUARY 6, 1845. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 
 1845. 
 
y 
 
 v^V 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 METCALF AND COMPANY, 
 
 PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The subjoined Speech was made under circumstances 
 which I deem it proper briefly to explain. It is now pub- 
 lished, in order that the views I entertain with regard to the 
 several topics touched upon in it may be known to the public, 
 and particularly to the friends of Harvard College. 
 
 In the year 1843, George Bancroft, Esq., a politician 
 well known to the people of this Commonwealth, obtained a 
 seat at the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, through 
 the temporary ascendency of the political party to which he 
 belongs, with the aid, as was stated at the time, of Calvinistic 
 votes. In that and the succeeding year, three Calvinists, two 
 clergymen and one layman, were elected into the Board, chief- 
 ly, as was also then stated, by the union of the same influences. 
 
 On the 6th of February last, Mr. Bancroft made an attack 
 upon Harvard College, in the form of a Minority Report 
 from the Committee of Visitation, containing statements which 
 I could not but deem false, and insinuations relative to the con- 
 dition of the seminary and the labors of its Professors, which I 
 knew to be unjust. 
 
 In this Report, he animadverted, in terms of reprobation, 
 on the sectarian character of Harvard College. The course 
 of his remarks on this subject was forthwith followed and sup- 
 ported by two of the Calvinistic members who had obtained 
 their seats at the Board as above mentioned ; the one of them 
 giving the weight of his political, and the other the weight of 
 his religious, character to Mr. Bancroft's views. It became 
 apparent, after this concurrence, that, unless openly and au- 
 thoritatively counteracted, Mr. Bancroft's Minority Report 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 would go forth to the world with the influence of this combined 
 sanction, and be received as truth. Hence the duty of ex- 
 posing what I considered false and fallacious in it seemed 
 to be devolved upon me, in my then official station, by a 
 necessity which I could not evade. The subjoined Speech 
 was the result. 
 
 Being at that time President of Harvard University, and 
 being led in the course of my argument to refer to political and 
 religious relations then existing in the Board of Overseers, I 
 was unavoidably restrained and embarrassed by my official 
 position. This state of things is now changed. In accord- 
 ance with a determination, long since made, to relinquish, 
 after the present academic year, my connection with Harvard 
 College, and my personal arrangements for the removal of 
 my residence to Boston having long ago been completed, 
 I have resigned the office of President of the College, and 
 now retain only temporarily the superintendence of the insti- 
 tution, at the special request of the Corporation. 
 
 I am now, therefore, and intend henceforth to be, a private 
 citizen. I have thought it proper, however, to keep back this 
 publication, until my resignation was accepted, and my real 
 position understood by the public ; in order that it should be 
 known by all to be made by me as a private citizen^ on my 
 sole responsibility J independently of official duties or connec- 
 tions, and prepared without the suggestion, consultation, or 
 knowledge of any member of any body, party, or sect, literary, 
 political, or religious. In conformity with the liberty afforded 
 me by this new position in which I am placed, I have not 
 hesitated to give to the several topics of the subjoined Speech, 
 having a theological bearing, a development and directness 
 of application which my present relations to society justify 
 and enjoin. 
 
 As in the course of the subjoined remarks my sense of duty 
 has compelled me to speak without reserve of Calvinism and 
 its influences, so far as they are brought to bear upon Har- 
 vard College, it may possibly be supposed that they have 
 been dictated by hostility to that creed or its professors. 
 Nothing can be farther from my thought or design. Where 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Calvinism acts in its natural sphere, and, while defending itself, 
 treats with Christian charity the opinions of those who differ, 
 both that faith and those who maintain it have my honor and 
 respect ; and I would say and do nothing to diminish either its 
 power or that of those who profess its doctrines. 
 
 It is not Calvinism, when directed to Christian ends and 
 using Christian means, that I deprecate. It is Calvinism when 
 it seeks worldly power by worldly means ; — it is Calvinism 
 when it embarrasses by misrepresentations a great literary insti- 
 tution, for the purpose of getting that institution under its con- 
 trol ; — it is Calvinism when it strikes hands with politics, 
 willing to take the chance of putting the institution into the 
 hands of the politician, for the sake of the chance of getting it 
 into its own ; — it is Calvinism thus operating and thus aiming, 
 that I deem it my duty to endeavour to make my fellow- 
 citizens understand. 
 
 It is the misfortune of Harvard College to have religion and 
 politics combined very intimately with the other influences of 
 its constitution ; and all history shows, that, when thus brought 
 together, and party struggles for power commence, the quality 
 of the religious element is always debased^ and the quality of 
 the political never improved. 
 
 By the constitution of the College, its religious influences 
 were made to depend upon those, which, from time to time, 
 might prevail in the town of Boston and its vicinity, and in 
 certain specified Congregational churches there situated. In 
 the course of time liberal religious views predominated in these 
 churches and this vicinity, and about the beginning of the pres- 
 ent century the Calvinistic clergy of Boston and its environs 
 found that they had lost the control of the College. 
 
 A few of the more ambitious of this clergy were naturally 
 deeply affected by this deprivation of power, and immedi- 
 ately set themselves to persuade the Calvinists in other parts 
 of the Commonwealth, that it was a deadly blow aimed at 
 the Calvinistic faith ; and for a time succeeded in impressing 
 them with the apprehension that Harvard College was spe- 
 cially directing its influence to the undermining of that faith. 
 Time, observation, and acquaintance with facts have, I have 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 reason to believe, greatly diminished this fear, among Cal- 
 vinists in general. Honest and unambitious Calvinists in 
 other parts of the Commonwealth begin to understand the 
 cause of this excessive zeal for their sect, put forth by a 
 small party of Boston Calvinists. They are satisfied, that, 
 under the influences which now prevail at Harvard Col- 
 lege, its concerns are managed with fairness in respect of 
 other denominations, that no efforts are made for the propa- 
 gation of any peculiar religious views in the College, that all 
 sects are treated equally well there, and that it is the intention 
 and endeavour to conduct the seminary exclusively as a liter- 
 ary institution. I have reason to believe, from the language 
 of some distinguished Calvinists, and from the altered conduct 
 of others, that their prejudices concerning the religious influ- 
 ences of Harvard College have become greatly softened. The 
 learned and faithful Professors of the Theological Institution 
 at Andover have shown of late years an increased confidence 
 in those who conduct the College, and are, I have reason to 
 think, satisfied that their efforts are not specially directed to 
 propagate their own religious faith, or to undermine that of 
 others. Those Professors, faithful to their own creed, do not 
 think, as I apprehend, that this fidelity requires them to be un- 
 just to the honest belief and fair conduct of others. Young men 
 are no longer warned, at Andover, to avoid Harvard as though 
 it were a seat of infidel propagandists. The learned and liberal 
 Principal of Phillips Academy in that place (Calvinist as I sup- 
 pose him to be) does not hesitate to encourage young men to 
 come to Harvard. His intercourse with the Professors of Har- 
 vard College is that of a gentleman, a scholar, and a Christian. 
 The same acknowledgments are due to the learned and cath- 
 olic Professors of the Baptist Institution at Newton, whose 
 zeal and fidelity for their own religious views do not prevent 
 them from evincing a confidence in the fairness with which 
 Harvard College is conducted in respect to other sects. 
 
 It is the fate of Harvard College, as I have above inti- 
 mated, to be cast, by the constitution of its Board of Over- 
 seers, into the very trough of a politico-theologico sea, which 
 has tossed that seminary in successive periods of its history, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 always to its injury, sometimes nearly to its destruction. In 
 consequence of party spirit in politics and party spirit in re- 
 ligion, sometimes in hostility, sometimes in coalition, con- 
 testing for power, or endeavouring to oppress political rivals or 
 religious opponents, the prosperity of the College has been 
 mischievously affected, from the days of Dunster to the pres- 
 ent, its literary advancement obstructed, and the peace and 
 happiness of its governors and instructors, at diiFerent periods, 
 disturbed or destroyed. 
 
 No object has been nearer to my heart, or occupied more 
 assiduously my endeavours, while I have been President of 
 Harvard College, than to give no cause for excitement to 
 either of the elements which are included in the constitution of 
 this seminary. Those endeavours have been faithfully and 
 earnestly seconded by every member of the Corporation, and 
 by all the faculties presiding over the Academic, Law, and 
 Divinity Schools ; and I had flattered myself they had been 
 not wholly without success. Perceiving, however, by the 
 events of the last session of the Board of Overseers, that 
 those elements are again in action, and by combination have 
 gained an increased power, I have deemed it important for the 
 interest of the College to have their effects on its prosperity 
 historically presented to its friends and the public. To this end, 
 I made preparation to trace the consequences of this constitu- 
 tion, in which the seeds of political and religious controversy 
 are scattered with no sparing hand, through the various stages 
 of the College history, and to connect the result of my inquiries 
 with this publication. But after proceeding some way in my 
 investigation, I found that the subject belonged to a work of a 
 higher and more permanent character than the present. Such 
 a work it is my intention, as soon as leisure permits, to pre- 
 pare and offer to the public. 
 
 Contrary to all the habits, feelings, and intentions of my 
 life, I have been drawn, as I have already said, by an irre- 
 sistible sense of duty, to make the subjoined publication, 
 notwithstanding it savors of theological controversy, to which 
 I have ever had not so much a dislike as an utter antipathy. 
 It is not, however, my intention to reply to any animadver- 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 sions it may produce, whether with name or anonymous, unless 
 some of the facts, on which the views stated in this publi- 
 cation are based, should be authoritatively denied. In such 
 case, I may possibly, however reluctantly, deem it my duty 
 to make some additional statements and remarks. 
 
 JOSIAH QUINCY. 
 
 Cambridge, May 15, 1845. 
 
SPEECH. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 25th of February, 1845, the Board 
 of Overseers being assembled in the Senate-chamber, 
 his Excellency Governor Briggs introduced the busi- 
 ness of the meeting by remarking, that the report of 
 the minority of the Visiting Committee of the Board of 
 Overseers had been referred to several committees, 
 and he then called upon them for their respective re- 
 ports. 
 
 Upon this, Mr Quincy (President of Harvard Uni- 
 versity) rose, and asked for information concerning 
 the position of the subject then before the Board. 
 The state of things, as he understood it, was, that the 
 minority report, although formally parcelled out to 
 several committees, was yet, in fact, now on the table, 
 and was as much the subject of debate as though its 
 parts had not been thus referred. 
 
 Mr. Quincy said he made this inquiry because he 
 was under some embarrassment as to his course. He 
 wished to make some remarks on that report, and 
 he earnestly desired to have an opportunity to offer 
 them before the committees had made their sever- 
 al reports. What those reports would be he had no 
 knowledge ; and he had no wish or intention to say 
 one word concerning them, whatever they might be. 
 He did wish, however, to animadvert upon the report 
 of the minority of the Visiting Committee, and he 
 1 
 
foresaw, that, if he postponed his remarks until the 
 presentation of the reports of the committees to whom 
 it had been referred, his strictures would appear to the 
 public as being aimed at the particular report which 
 might then be under debate, or at the resolution 
 recommended by it, than which nothing would be 
 farther from his intention. His strong wish was to be 
 heard on the original minority report, and on that 
 only, and also before the reports of the other commit- 
 tees should be made. 
 
 After some debate, liberty to speak was granted 
 to Mr. Quincy. Commencing with some general ex- 
 pressions of reluctance to address the Board of Over- 
 seers, Mr. Quincy proceeded thus : — 
 
 Notwithstanding my repugnance to this task, it 
 was impossible for me to permit the report of the 
 minority of the Visiting Committee (Mr. Bancroft's) to 
 pass this Board in silence, without feeling that I should 
 thereby neglect to fulfil an imperious duty, — an official 
 duty. I have not, however, risen for the purpose of 
 opposing investigation into the affairs of the College. 
 Far from repining, I rejoice at it. I believe that the 
 better the actual state of Harvard College is under- 
 stood, the more satisfied the public will be with it. 
 I complain only of the spirit in which the inquiry has 
 been instituted, and of the manner in which it has 
 been maintained. I do not deprecate the measures 
 taken, or any of their probable results. 
 
 My remarks will be directed solely to the report of 
 the minority of the Visiting Committee, which I regard 
 as containing assertions wholly groundless, intimations 
 gratuitous and unfounded, and schemes of improve- 
 ment impracticable and unjust. 
 
The minority report begins with declaring its utter 
 dissent to the raising of the qualifications for admis- 
 sion to Harvard College, which it considers as a 
 scheme to exclude candidates from country schools and 
 open the seminary somewhat exclusively to those from 
 Boston schools. At first I was at a loss to imagine 
 where the author of this report got the notion that 
 any such project was contemplated ; but I now find 
 it was from the report of the chairman of the Visit- 
 ing Committee. Where this gentleman obtained 
 it I know not. I am certain it was not from any 
 member of the Faculty or of the Corporation, for they 
 have no such intention. I do not mean, that, when- 
 ever the state of the preparatory schools will permit, 
 and the Overseers shall deliberately consent, the Cor- 
 poration and Faculty would not be willing, nay, 
 very desirous, to raise Harvard College somewhat 
 nearer to the standard of the European Universi- 
 ties. But they have now no such plan. No, Sir. 
 The Faculty have too much difliculty and hard work 
 to squeeze into College, at the present standard, some 
 of the candidates who now offer. They have no de- 
 sire to increase their diflSculties in that direction. 
 
 The President in his annual report had stated, that, 
 "in point of disposition to good order, gentlemanly de- 
 meanour, and assiduity in study, the members of the in- 
 stitution were, it is believed, never more exemplary ; 
 leaving, generally speaking, litde more, in either respect, 
 to be hoped, or even to be wished." Here was a 
 statement made by the President oflicially and on his 
 own responsibility. It was either true or false ; and 
 it was the duty of the Visiting Committee either to 
 deny it or to let it alone, and suffer the community to 
 believe it or disbelieve it, according as they had or 
 
had not confidence in the statement of the President. 
 What does the author of the minority report? He 
 does neither the one thing nor the other; but in 
 effect says, " Though the President has made this 
 statement, / as a member of the Visiting Committee am. 
 not prepared to confirm it,^^ Well, are you pre- 
 pared to deny it ? That is the question. If he was 
 not prepared to deny it, why say any thing about 
 it ? Why use a form of expression which carries the 
 force of a secret disbelief, which he is wiUing to 
 intimate, but dares not assert? Why use a form of 
 expression which is pregnant with an insinuation ? I 
 should have honored him, if he had come out manfully 
 with a direct contradiction ; but as he has used such 
 a noncommittal insinuation, my feelings are just the 
 reverse. 
 
 In preparing his annual report, particularly the 
 short, general statement with which it is introduced, 
 the President is always deeply sensible that he acts 
 under great responsibility ; and never admits any thing, 
 in the nature of assertion, which he does not consider 
 himself perfectly able and ready to maintain, in case 
 scrutiny should be instituted. 
 
 The present year, when that duty was to be per- 
 formed, he examined every record of merit, every book 
 of discipline, and made all the inquiries necessary to 
 enable him to attain an exact comprehension of the 
 state of the College. He found, by the concurrent 
 testimony of the professors and tutors, and of the mem- 
 bers of the parietal board, that the state of the College 
 had been now, for eighteen months, highly satisfac- 
 tory ; that few or none of those annoyances had 
 occurred to which the officers of all Colleges are sub- 
 ject, no indications of personal or general discontent, 
 
no noisy assemblages of an exceptionable character; 
 that the prevailing disposition shown by the young 
 men had been orderly, their behaviour towards the 
 tutors and parietal officers gentlemanly. During the 
 sixteen years, in which I have been President of the 
 seminary, I had never been able to present Harvard 
 College in a state, as I thought, more gratifying and 
 unexceptionable ; and I made a draft of the introduc- 
 tory report in conformity with that opinion. Accor- 
 ding to my custom, I read it to the whole Faculty 
 of the College. When the paragraph was read, which 
 the author of the minority report (Mr. Bancroft) has 
 informed the public " he was not prepared to con- 
 firm," one of the Faculty said to me, " That lan- 
 guage is strong,''^ I replied, "/if is so; but is it 
 not true?'' He answered that it was. I put the 
 same question to every other member of the Faculty ; 
 and they gave me the same answer. " Then, " I re- 
 plied, " I will utter it. For, in my opinion, it is as 
 much a duty, and is as useful, to acknowledge and 
 be just to the virtues, good conduct, and gentleman- 
 ly demeanour of the young men under our care, as it 
 is to be severe on their follies, and to give publicity 
 to their delinquencies." 
 
 Such is the history of a paragraph which the au- 
 thor of the minority report has told the world he is 
 not prepared to confirm; and which, notwithstanding 
 his lurking insinuation, I here repeat. 
 
 We come now to the great outcry about expen- 
 ses. That the expenses of the College diminish the 
 number of undergraduates at Harvard is almost a 
 universal opinion and subject of lamentation. On this 
 point three things seem to be taken for granted by 
 every body : — 
 
1st. That the expenses of the College have greatly 
 increased of late, — and that, indeed, very recently. 
 
 2d. That they are in their nature very unreason- 
 able. 
 
 3d. That, if these College expenses were dimin- 
 ished, the number of undergraduates would be in- 
 creased proportionably. 
 
 Now I am not a believer in either of these opin- 
 ions ; and although I grant that it may be proper, and 
 probably expedient, to reduce the College expenses, 
 yet I am no believer either in the necessity or in the 
 anticipated result; and, as I think, for very strong 
 reasons. 
 
 These " College expenses " (emphatically so called) 
 are strictly those charges which the College makes 
 for certain specified services or accommodations, and 
 which are incident, more or less, to all Colleges ; and 
 are understood to cover strictly those charges which 
 are peculiarly and exclusively incident to life there. 
 They are called, indifferendy, " expenses of instruc- 
 tion," " expenses of tuition," or " College expenses." 
 
 As to the first point, that the expenses of the 
 College have greatly increased of late, and that very 
 recently, — I thought it utterly untrue, and was there- 
 fore greatly surprised to find the following statement 
 in the minority report (by Mr. Bancroft) : — 
 
 "The expenses of tuition have been increased at 
 least Jifty per cent, beyond what they formerly were, 
 and, for some of the classes, thirty-three and a third 
 per cent, beyond what they were when the under- 
 signed was a student. " 
 
 An assertion made so deliberately, and under cir- 
 cumstances of great responsibility, I began to think 
 must have some color for it, notwithstanding my pre- 
 
vious opinion to the contrary. I thought it, how- 
 ever, worth the trouble to inquire into the accuracy 
 of it, and directed the Steward of the College 
 to prepare a table of the charges at Harvard Col- 
 lege to Mr. Bancroft (exclusive of board, text-books, 
 and fuel), for the four Academic years 1813-14 to 
 1816-17; also a table of the actual charges to a 
 student for the four Academic years 1840 -41 to 1843 
 - 44. The following is the result : — 
 
 Mr. Bancroft's College charges, stricdy so 
 called, amounted, on an average, for the four 
 years 1813-14 to 1816-17, to . . ^95.88 
 
 The average of College charges in the 
 College bills for the four years 1840-41 to 
 1843-44 was 93.16 
 
 Difference 2.72 
 
 Making the expenses of Harvard College at the pres- 
 ent day just tico dollars and seventy-two cents less 
 per annum than the expenses at the time Mr. Bancroft 
 was in College.* 
 
 There is, however, an element in Mr. Bancroft's 
 quarter-bills, denominated fines and assessments, which 
 now never enters into our quarter-bills, amounting in 
 his four years to $ 3.24. This, being deducted, would 
 reduce the charges in his College bills to ^92.64, 
 and consequently leaves the actual expense at the 
 present day just fifty-two cents more than it was dur- 
 ing the time Mr. Bancroft was at College. The for- 
 mer is probably the true principle of difference. 
 
 Here Mr. Bancroft called Mr. Quincy to order. He 
 
 * See Appendix, A. 
 
8 
 
 said that the President had put into his hands the 
 documents on which he was commenting, and he had 
 called the President to order because he was deceiving 
 and misleading the Board ; that the documents of the 
 President supported entirely the assertion in his (Mr. 
 Bancroft's) report. " I there stated, " said he, " that 
 the expenses for tuition were fifty per cent., or thirty 
 three and a third per cent., higher now in College than 
 they were when I was there; and the documents pro- 
 duced show that the * instruction fee ' when I was in 
 College was either forty-four or fifty-six dollars a 
 year, and the present College bills show that the fee 
 for instruction is seventy five dollars a year ; and that 
 is thirty-three and a third or fifty per cent, higher than 
 it was in my time." 
 
 Mr. Quincy, in reply: — If that is the ground the 
 gentleman is about to assume, he is w^elcome to all 
 the converts he can make to his new position. His 
 present ground is a mere quibble. His language was, 
 " The expenses of tuition have been increased at least 
 fifty per cent, beyond what they were formerl}', and, 
 for some of the classes, thirty-three and a third per 
 cent, beyond what they were when the undersigned 
 was a student." The term " expenses of tuition " is 
 a form of expression equivalent to the term " College 
 expenses." It includes the instruction fee, and, in ad- 
 dition to it, all the other peculiar charges of College 
 life. If used, then, only as equivalent to " instruction 
 fee," it was used in an equivocal sense, and was thus, 
 whether intentionally or not, calculated to deceive the 
 public, who certainly have understood it as convey- 
 ing the idea that the cost of a College education has 
 increased since the author of the minority report was 
 
9 
 
 in College. Now, if, while the instruction fee has 
 been increased, the other charges have been dimin- 
 ished in proportion to that increase, the cost of educa- 
 tion at Harvard would remain the same as formerly. 
 This is in fact the case. For the documents adduced 
 show that the cost of College education, instead of 
 being higher, is about the same as in Mr. Bancroft's 
 day. Besides, he had no means of comparing the 
 " instruction fee " of his day with that of the present 
 day ; because it so happens, that, in the College bills 
 of the present day, that charge is combined with other 
 items, — a bad practice, I admit, and I hope it will 
 be altered, — and no man can tell, unless by guess, 
 what the instruction fee exactly is at Harvard Col- 
 lege. I therefore hold the gentleman to the meaning 
 which he certainly conveyed by the term " expenses 
 of tuition, " — namely, that all the College expenses^ 
 strictly so called, are increased, at the present day, 
 beyond what they were when he was in College. 
 
 I have already shown that these expenses, so far 
 from being increased fifty per cent., are in fact $ 2.72 
 less per annum in our day, if you include all the 
 charges in the quarter-bills in Mr. Bancroft's time ; 
 and that, if you exclude certain charges, which were 
 made then, and are not made now, the only increase 
 is .52 cents per annum, instead of fifty per cent. 
 
 Not content, however, with this result, I deemed 
 it proper, and thought that perhaps it might be more 
 satisfactory, to compare the aggregate of all the charges 
 in the term-bills when Mr. Bancroft was in College 
 with those at the present day. To this end, I di- 
 rected the footings of Mr. Bancroft's quarter-bills, 
 during the four years 1813-14 to 1816-17, to be 
 stated in the form of a table ; but as Mr. Ban- 
 2 
 
10 
 
 croft was a clergyman's son, and was probably, and 
 properly, economical in his habits, I had a similar ta- 
 ble prepared from the quarter-bills of one of his 
 classmates who might have felt himself less restricted 
 in his expenditures. I also directed that the footings 
 of the quarter-bills of some student who had gradu- 
 ated in 1844 should be presented in the same form, 
 taking special care to select some one who had roomed 
 and boarded in commons every term of his College 
 life, and to whom had been charged instruction, rent, 
 special repairs, books, fuel, board, every item which 
 makes part of what constitutes the entire expense of a 
 College education at the present day. Well, Sir, it 
 has been done, and here is the result. 
 
 The aggregate of Mr. Bancroft's quarter-bills, dur- 
 ing the four years he was in College, amounted to 
 ^815.39.* The aggregate of the College quarter- 
 bills of a student, selected as 1 have stated, during 
 the last four Academic years, was ^^ 783.18; and the 
 difference was an excess of expense, amounting to 
 ^32.21, in Mr. Bancroft's bills, beyond that of the 
 present day. The other comparison w^as still more 
 decisive. The individual selected was Mr. Caleb 
 Cushing. The aggregate of his bills was $ 1047.11, 
 showing in this case an excess in the College ex- 
 penses of $ 263.93 over those of the present day. 
 
 I think I have proved, not only that the " College 
 expenses," "tuition expenses," or "expenses of in- 
 struction, " strictly so called, are materially the same, 
 but that, notwithstanding the difference of the times, 
 the entire aggregate of the expenses at Harvard is, 
 in fact, less, instead of being greater, at the present 
 
 * See Appendix, B. 
 
11 
 
 day, than at the period when Mr. Bancroft was in 
 College. What becomes, then, of those pathetic lamen- 
 tations for the desertion of Harvard College, and of 
 those piteous tears shed by Mr. Bancroft over " eight 
 counties " of this Commonwealth, that are deprived 
 of the privilege of sending their sons to Harvard Col- 
 lege in consequence of the vast increase of College 
 expenses since Mr. Bancroft's time ? 
 
 But why is Harvard College deserted ? I deny the 
 fact. Harvard College is not deserted. It has at this 
 day more undergraduates than at any previous period 
 of its existence, — one period only excepted, when, 
 owing to the state of the times, and the distribution of a 
 large amount of beneficiary money, under the express 
 authority of the legislature, an uncommonly large num- 
 ber were matriculated. " But, " the reply is, " the Col- 
 lege is comparatively deserted, because it does not in- 
 crease as other Colleges do. Look at Yale, which has 
 394 undergraduates, while Harvard has only 254. See 
 also Amherst, Brown, Williams, Dartmouth, — all fast 
 advancing towards the numbers of Harvard." " Why," 
 exclaims Mr. Bancroft, "are there 104 undergraduates 
 from Boston and its suburbs, and only 80 from all the 
 rest of the Commonwealth ? Why do eight counties of 
 this Commonwealth send more Senators to the Board 
 of Overseers, than their constituents send sons to Har- 
 vard College ? " 
 
 I answer, — extent of territory, number of inhabit- 
 ants, number of Senators, neither one nor all of these 
 are proper elements of comparison on this subject. 
 The question is one of proportion of demand and 
 supply. How many inhabitants of Massachusetts wish 
 a high degree of education for their sons ? and of these 
 how many are members of Harvard College ? 
 
12 
 
 In the five Colleges which from their position and 
 character are entitled to be regarded as competitors 
 of Harvard, — namely, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, 
 Williams, and Amherst, — there are 271 undergradu- 
 ates from Massachusetts ; namely, 45 in Yale, 44 in 
 Brown, 33 in Dartmouth, 60 in Williams, and 89 in 
 Amherst. The average number of undergraduates 
 from Massachusetts in these Colleges is 54 and a frac- 
 tion. Harvard has 184, — that is, more than twice as 
 many as Amherst, more than three times the number 
 in Williams, more than four times that in Yale or 
 Brown, five or six times as many as Dartmouth, and 
 more than two thirds as many as all these united. 
 Considering all the circumstances which operate upon 
 the minds of parents in selecting Colleges for their 
 sons, I think Harvard has its full proportion, and its 
 friends have no cause for complaint or distress. 
 
 But " why do so many citizens of Massachusetts 
 send their sons elsewhere ? " 
 
 I answer, there are four strong, efficient, and natu- 
 ral reasons ; and not " College expenses," or " tuition 
 expenses," technically so called. 1. Local prefer- 
 ences. 2. Personal preferences. 3. Religious prefer- 
 ences. 4. Those incidental temptations to expense, 
 which are supposed to be greater at Harvard than in 
 other Colleges. 
 
 Every one of these causes operates in favor of each 
 of the other Colleges. 
 
 Parents love to have their children near home. Hence 
 the inhabitants of those towns in Massachusetts near 
 Providence send their sons to Brown. The same is 
 the case with every other College. It is this prefer- 
 ence which sends so many of the sons of Boston and 
 its vicinity to Harvard College; and this with many 
 
13 
 
 parents is quite as strong as their desire to have the 
 advantage of a very high education. Then there are 
 personal preferences, v^^hich operate strongly in favor of 
 Brown and Yale. The parents themselves graduated 
 at the one or the other, and men love to have their 
 sons taught where they themselves were educated. 
 Then there are religious preferences. Almost every 
 religious sect also dreads, or affects to dread, what is 
 called Unitarianism, and proclaims to the world that it 
 is the great endeavour at Cambridge to propagate the 
 tenets of that sect ; a charge, however, altogether false 
 and unfounded. When to these general reasons is 
 added a common opinion that the style of living, of 
 fitting up rooms, and of dress, is somewhat more 
 expensive than at other Colleges, we have enough 
 reasons to account for the proportion of young men 
 who go elsewhere, and to justify the opinion that it 
 is not College expenses which produce this result. 
 From my own experience, and it has been consider- 
 able, / do not believe that a single individual was 
 ever deterred from coming to Harvard on account of 
 College expenses, technically so called, who had taken 
 pains to inform himself what these expenses were, and 
 ivhat were those at other Colleges, 
 
 The average difference in the cost of an education 
 at Harvard College and at either of the other Colleges 
 mentioned is about $ 40. Now every person, who 
 takes pains to inquire, will find that at almost every 
 other College there are charges, for some item or 
 other, not included in the published statement, but 
 always in the bill; these, in many Colleges, are some- 
 what high, and parents have complained, as it re- 
 spects one of them, rather severely. Besides, there 
 exists in connection with Harvard College, in addition 
 
14 
 
 to the usual beneficiary aid of from ^^ 30 to $ 50 
 annually to needy and meritorious students, another 
 fund, established by a number of friends of the Col- 
 lege, from which any worthy student may obtain $ 40 
 or $ 50 annually, 07i loan, without interest during the 
 time the student is in College ; and which is enough to 
 cover the whole of this forty-dollar difference. Now, 
 can any man believe, that, with a knowledge of these 
 facts, — and any one who inquires is informed of them, 
 — there ever was an individual deterred from send- 
 ing his son to Harvard by the mere College ex- 
 penses ? He might be deterred, through considering, 
 or being made to believe, that the temptations to idle- 
 ness or vice are greater in the vicinity of a city than 
 in the country, — he might be deterred by the idea 
 that the temptations to expense, from style or associa- 
 tion, are greater at Harvard than at other Colleges; 
 but that what are termed " tuition expenses," or " Col- 
 lege expenses, " ever solely deterred any man from 
 sending his son to Harvard College, who had ac- 
 quainted himself with the subject, I do not believe. 
 In my opinion, it never was the case. 
 
 Again, as respects the real necessity for a reduc- 
 tion of the expenses. The total amount of " College 
 expenses," or " tuition expenses," however called, 
 meaning the expenses incident to College life, is, as I 
 have shown, less than ^94. Of the 254 under- 
 graduates in Harvard College, about 30 or 40 are 
 beneficiaries, for whose support there already exists 
 a sufficiently liberal provision, as I have just now 
 intimated, and shall presently show more fully. Next, 
 there are about 60 or 70 who would like to have 
 the expenses reduced the proposed 30 or 40 dol- 
 lars. There then remain about 150, whose parents do 
 
15 
 
 not desire a reduction ; who will not thank you for it ; 
 who think the expenses of the College little enough ; 
 and who are of opinion, that if they can get their sons 
 through such a seminary as Harvard College, with all 
 its noble libraries, its numerous branches of study, and 
 desirable facilities for education, by paying ^90 or 
 ,$f 100, per annum, "College expenses," strictly so 
 called (which is cheaper than Boston parents can get 
 a girl of fifteen educated for a year at one of the pri- 
 vate schools in that city), the charge is sufficiently low ; 
 they are satisfied. Now I never could see the wis- 
 dom of reducing expenses to the sons of such pa- 
 rents, who do not ask it, and would not thank you 
 for it. And I say without hesitation, that they never 
 constitute less than three fifths of every College class. 
 
 As respects the beneficiaries, — every undergrad- 
 uate, who can plead need and merit, can be sure 
 of receiving from ^^ 30 to $60, — say an average 
 of $ 40, — annually, from the College beneficiary fund, 
 — and also of receiving a like sum from a private fund 
 in the hands of trustees, on loan, without interest so 
 long as he continues an undergraduate, on a note 
 taken from himself, though under age, and without 
 the guaranty of his father, — the trustees relying upon 
 the principle of honor, inherent, as they hope and 
 believe, in every one who graduates at Harvard Col- 
 lege, that he will repay the same, with the interest 
 which may accrue after the time he graduates, as 
 soon as the income of his profession or industry shall 
 permit. In this hope they have no experience to teach 
 them that they are likely to be generally disappointed. 
 
 It appears, then, that every student, who is willing 
 to be considered a beneficiary, and in the opinion 
 of the Faculty is entitled to receive aid, may reason- 
 
16 
 
 ably calculate upon obtaining ;^80 — on the terms I 
 have stated — towards paying ^^94, which is the whole 
 amount of " College expenses," technically so called, 
 leaving just ^14 to be paid by the parent; — an 
 amount certainly not to be regarded by any one as 
 extravagant, considering the many advantages a stu- 
 dent is permitted to enjoy at Harvard College. 
 
 Besides the rich, who are indifferent to the expense, 
 and the needy, who are anxious about it, there is a 
 third class, who are so well off in point of property as 
 not to be willing that their sons should be regarded as 
 beneficiaries, and yet not in sufficiently easy circum- 
 stances to be able to meet as readily as they could wish 
 all the College expenses. Now to this class the loan 
 fund, without interest while the applicant remains an 
 undergraduate, is always open ; and from it any under- 
 graduate, who possesses the qualifications of scholar- 
 ship and good conduct, may calculate upon receiving 
 at least ^^ 40, — a sum equal to the average difference 
 of the " College expenses " at Harvard College, and 
 those of other similar institutions ; leaving only about 
 fi 50 out of ;^ 94 to be provided for by the parent ; — 
 an amount of expense not very oppressive even to 
 this class of parents ; particularly as they have the 
 power of taking advantage of the College benefici- 
 ary fund, if they choose to apply for it. 
 
 I have here been speaking exclusively of the " Col- 
 lege expenses," technically so called. All other 
 expenses are subject to the control of each student. 
 Such are board, fuel, light, text-books. They can be 
 obtained nearly, if not quite, as cheap at Harvard as 
 elsewhere, — and as to cheap living, by joining in 
 clubs, the students, if so disposed, can live as econom- 
 ically at Harvard as anywhere. One student assured 
 
17 
 
 me that it cost him only one dollar a week for board ; 
 another, that he lived for fifty cents a week. 
 
 As to reducing College expenses for the benefit of 
 the rich, or those who are satisfied with the present 
 state of them, I see in the project neither wisdom 
 nor charity. Meritorious students may always calcu- 
 late upon receiving from the beneficiary fund and the 
 loan fund an amount nearly equal to these " College 
 expenses." To have the power of distributing a some- 
 what larger amount than at present to undergraduates 
 of this class might be desirable. And in respect of 
 that intermediate class who do not require beneficiary 
 aid, a larger loan fund than is at present possessed is 
 undoubtedly much to be wished, so as to enable the 
 trustees to bestow a sum more nearly approximating 
 the " College expenses," technically so called, than they 
 can at present. An increased loan fund, and a some- 
 w^hat larger beneficiary fund, are, in my judgment, 
 all that is wanted. Experience has shown, that the 
 policy of supplying students with loans, without in- 
 terest during their Collegiate life, on no other secu- 
 rity than their own notes, is the form of aid most 
 satisfactory to parents, — and the young men them- 
 selves always express great gratification, also, at the 
 opportunity of thus relieving their parents from re- 
 sponsibility and a portion of the expense of their 
 education, by thus assuming it to themselves. Often 
 the first fruits of professional success are devoted by 
 them to restoring to the loan fund the amount they 
 have received from it, with interest from the time of 
 taking their degree ; and they feel a just pride in thus 
 contributing to enlarge a fund from w^hich they have 
 derived a benefit which they readily acknowledge. 
 
 I am not one of those who desire to see all the youth 
 3 
 
18 
 
 of the Commonwealth concentrated at Harvard for an 
 education. I look upon Amherst and Williams with 
 no envious or jealous eye. Both of them cultivate 
 and support, in their respective vicinities, a high and 
 sound standard of College education. Instead of 
 adopting a policy which should deprive them of their 
 proportion of students, in order to give Harvard a 
 great enlargement, I think they both deserve patron- 
 age; and when that noble merchant (Amos Law- 
 rence), who is at once a blessing to the city in which 
 he resides and an honor to our common nature, gave, 
 as he lately did, ten thousand dollars for the pur- 
 pose of raising Williams College from its ashes, I felt 
 scarcely less gratification than if it had been given to 
 Harvard College. If we could draw off all the students 
 both from Williams and Amherst to-morrow, I think 
 it would scarcely be more injurious to these institutions 
 than to the Commonwealth. And as to Harvard, I know 
 not what it would do with the resulting addition to its 
 numbers, considering the great enlargement of its Law 
 and Divinity Schools. It appears to me, the wisest and 
 the only very desirable policy, on the whole matter, is 
 to insure funds adequate to give all the reasonable as- 
 sistance to every class which requires aid. As to 
 those classes which do not require aid, and do not 
 thank you for giving it, the true policy is to leave ex- 
 penses as they are. 
 
 But the cry everywhere is, " Numbers, — Num- 
 bers." "These," every one exclaims, "are the evi- 
 dence and element of success." All this is very natu- 
 ral in a republic. Under such a form of govern- 
 ment, power and superiority are reckoned by the head. 
 No account is taken of the nature of those heads, or 
 of their material. 
 
19 
 
 But the success of a literary institution is to be tested 
 by a very different measure from " numbers." These, 
 to say the least, are very uncertain criteria of suc- 
 cess, and for this plain reason : because there are so 
 many causes leading to the selection of a literary insti- 
 tution, and for thronging to it, apart from its fulfilment 
 of its duties in a high degree. The sole criterion of 
 success in relation to such an institution is the quality 
 of the scholars it sends forth into the world. Is it faith- 
 ful to its trust? Are all admitted equally to its privi- 
 leges ? Does it reject no one who is diligent and 
 virtuous ? 
 
 Numbers in a literary institution are by no means 
 an unqualified blessing. In this world good and evil 
 are mixed, or placed side by side. Compensation 
 is the law of Providence. Numbers bring not merely 
 honors, reputation, and equivalent income to a literary 
 institution, but something else. They bring increased 
 care, anxiety, labor in instruction and supervision, 
 greater danger of noisy assemblages, more materials for 
 the engendering of idle, dissipated, rude, and ill-regulat- 
 ed habits and manners. Numbers bring also increased 
 expenses, require necessarily more instructors, cause 
 more difficulty in arranging hours for study, more mi- 
 nute division of the labors of instructors, and a less 
 proportion of direct instruction to each individual. All 
 these results are unavoidable. 
 
 And yet the author of the minority report, in his 
 desire to obtain "numbers," seriously intimates that 
 the present corps of instructors in Harvard College 
 may be reduced ; an intimation which would seem to 
 imply that the number of instructors now in Har- 
 vard is unnecessarily great in proportion to its number 
 of students. 
 
20 
 
 In the course of the remarks growing out of the mi- 
 nority report, its author referred to Yale and its num- 
 bers in comparison with Harvard. From the example 
 of Yale, then, let us see if there be any such great 
 excess of instructors in Harvard beyond what its num- 
 ber of students require. Setting aside, in respect of 
 both institutions, the instructors in the modern lan- 
 guages, and also the professors of the Law, Medical, 
 and Divinity Schools, except so far as they take part 
 in the instruction of undergraduates, there are em- 
 ployed in Yale, in the offices of instruction, by hearing 
 recitations, or lecturing in the following branches, 
 namely, natural religion, the evidences of Christianity, 
 natural, moral, and intellectual philosophy, constitu- 
 tional law, rhetoric, logic, history, anatomy, elocution, 
 and chemistry, 12 professors, including the President 
 of the College, 7 tutors, and 3 called either lecturers, 
 assistant lecturers, or instructors, — constituting a body 
 of 22 instructors or lecturers for 394 students. In 
 Harvard, for teaching the same branches, there are 
 employed in like modes of instruction 10 professors 
 and 3 tutors, — a body of 13 instructors for 254 stu- 
 dents.* In Yale 18, in Harvard 192, undergradu- 
 ates to an instructor. 
 
 In Yale, they employ in instruction in the Latin and 
 Greek 3 professors and 5 tutors. In Harvard, they em- 
 ploy only 2 professors and 2 tutors in teaching these 
 languages, and that during the four years of the Col- 
 lege course; w^hile in Yale these branches are taught 
 but for three years. In mathematics, there are em- 
 ployed at Yale one professor and one tutor, and in natu- 
 ral philosophy, the same number ; while at Harvard only 
 one professor is employed in teaching each branch. 
 
 * See Appendix, C. 
 
21 
 
 In what I have said I have not had the most dis- 
 tant intention of instituting a comparison between Har- 
 vard and Yale, for the purpose of intimating a prefer- 
 ence for one or the other. They are both high, 
 honorable, and well conducted institutions. Between 
 their respective officers there is a perfect harmony 
 and friendly intercourse ; nothing either of jealousy or 
 envy. Both perform their respective duties to the 
 public, according to their means and opportunities, 
 faithfully and earnestly. Nor is it intended to sug- 
 gest, that in Yale there are too many instructors in 
 proportion to the students, or that they do less work 
 than those at Harvard, or that there is any superiority 
 in the one College over the other. Whatever has been 
 here introduced in the nature of a comparison is intend- 
 ed to illustrate the position, that, if the number of 
 students in a literary institution increase, the number 
 of instructors, and of course expenses, increase also; 
 and to show that there is nothing in the example of 
 Yale to justify the suggestion, that the number of in- 
 structors in Harvard is unreasonably great in propor- 
 tion to its number of undergraduates. 
 
 On this subject of numbers, there are, as has been 
 stated, 394 undergraduates in Yale, being 140 more 
 than in Harvard. Of those in Yale, 201 come from 
 the Middle, Southern, and Western States. The 
 young men from those quarters of the Union now in 
 Harvard are, in general, as worthy and well dis- 
 posed as any members of the seminary. Some of 
 them are among our highest scholars, and among 
 the most valued for their example and influence, and 
 bid fair to be an honor to the College and to be 
 distinguished in after life. But young men from those 
 quarters of the Union are often educated in a manner 
 
22 
 
 at variance with the customs and habits of New- 
 England. Placed at a distance from parental influence, 
 too often supplied with unlimited command of funds 
 through a mistaken confidence of their friends or rela- 
 tives, they are exposed to manifold temptations, which, 
 to some temperaments, are wholly irresistible, and in 
 former times they have accordingly proved very 
 troublesome inmates of College. In a few portions of 
 the Union, a dagger or a bowie-knife is said to be 
 deemed an indispensable appendage of a gentleman ; 
 and young men who carry such deadly weapons about 
 them are apt to use them on very slight occasions. 
 Hitherto the annals of Harvard have not been sullied 
 by the murder of a professor or tutor. Should, how- 
 ever, such an event ever occur here, I earnestly hope 
 that the laws of Massachusetts may be so framed, 
 adjudged, and executed, that the offender shall not 
 escape through the payment of money, but shall incur 
 the full penalty affixed by the laws of the land to 
 murder and manslaughter ; and the lives of professors 
 and tutors enjoy the same protection as those of other 
 members of the community. 
 
 As to the insinuation, that the professors at Harvard 
 could do more in the way of instruction than they now 
 do, and their places still be " the most agreeable, most 
 desirable, and least onerous in the country " ; I sup- 
 pose they could, at least some of them. And if you 
 will give them more instruction to do, and time to 
 do it in, they are ready, and would thank you. But 
 for this time is necessary as well as inclination. There 
 are in Harvard 254 undergraduates, distributed into 
 classes, divisions, sections ; from seven to ten recitations 
 almost daily, in different branches, every undergradu- 
 ate being made as far as possible to recite three hours 
 
23 
 
 daily ; six or eight instructors, each deeply interested 
 in securing to himself his proper proportion of the time, 
 and all anxious so to arrange the hours, that, while the 
 students shall not be harassed by exercises following 
 immediately one upon another, they themselves may be 
 enabled, at the same time, to fulfil the duty they owe 
 to their respective branches, in the most perfect and 
 thorough manner. Now this division and arrangement 
 of time is not an easy matter. On the contrary, it is 
 a most difficult one ; and when it is making, it is al- 
 ways a source of a good deal of discussion, carried 
 on at times with some degree of feeling and even 
 warmth. Every year I witness very animated de- 
 bates on these topics, among the instructors ; each one 
 contending for his share — his full share — of time for 
 instruction in his branch. The great contest is, who 
 shall get the best position and the greatest number 
 of hours for his work, — not who shall have the feic- 
 est, I repeat, then, that, if you will find the time 
 for any instructor, I will guaranty that he will fully 
 employ it in the work appropriate to his branch. But 
 if you mean to turn honorable and learned professors 
 over to other work, in any other branch than that 
 to which they have devoted their lives, and to teach 
 which they were invited to Harvard College; if you 
 mean to make a mathematical professor teach Greek, 
 or a Greek professor mathematics, — I think there will 
 be some objections; and, I apprehend, not without 
 reasons, to say the least, very plausible. 
 
 The intimations plainly given in the minority re- 
 port, that professors in Harvard College do less than 
 they might, have more tutors in their respective branch- 
 es than they need, and that, in the way the author 
 of this report has pointed out, they could easily be 
 
24 
 
 made to do more, are unjust and gratuitous. Had 
 such intimations fallen from a stranger to the institu- 
 tion, they would have been comparatively of little im- 
 portance. A stranger, unacquainted with the difficulty 
 of so arranging the hours of recitation as to give to 
 each branch its due proportion of time and attention, 
 might easily be led into such errors. But the author 
 of the minority report was educated at Harvard Col- 
 lege, and has held the office of tutor in it, and must 
 know that an attempt to devolve upon professors the 
 labors now required of tutors, in addition to their own 
 proper duties, would be wholly incompatible with the 
 general arrangement of the recitation hours of the 
 several classes so that the duties of the respective in- 
 structors may not interfere, and with that thorough- 
 ness of teaching required by the character of the Col- 
 lege and the high standard of scholarship at which it 
 aims. He knows those professors, and knows also, 
 that, if such plan were practicable, they would not 
 wait for any third person to suggest it. 
 
 I am entitled to speak distinctly of the services of 
 these gentlemen by a long official acquaintance with 
 their virtues, and with their readiness to labor, each 
 in his vocation. I know their duties, and the earnest- 
 ness, fidelity, and singleness of heart, with which they 
 execute those duties ; and I here say, without qualifica- 
 tion, that, in my judgment, a more able, faithful, ear- 
 nest, and assiduous body of instructors, or more willing 
 to spend and be spent in its service. Harvard College 
 never had. And as to their offices being, as the 
 author of the minority report insinuates, "the least 
 onerous in the country," the idea is altogether decep- 
 tive. The labors and responsibilities of these gentle- 
 men are not to be estimated, and are very insufficient- 
 
m 
 
 ly indicated, by the hours of exercises stated in the 
 tabular views, which are prepared chiefly for the use 
 of the students, and with no design to represent the 
 amount of the duties and services of the instructors. 
 The hours of recitation are, indeed, in themselves 
 " onerous " enough. The intensity of mental applica- 
 tion and the w^ear of feeling consequent upon the labor 
 of instructing from at least one hundred to one hun- 
 dred and twenty young men, belonging to different 
 classes, for three or four successive hours, on three 
 or four successive days in a week, is no light work. 
 Then there are every week as many written exer- 
 cises to be examined and criticized, in the several 
 branches, as there are members of the class ; the value 
 of each recitation and exercise to be estimated, a rec- 
 ord to be kept of those estimates and of any miscon- 
 duct, and a return made of them to the Faculty; les- 
 sons omitted by students, who have been sick, or ab- 
 sent on leave, to be heard, and in like manner esti- 
 mated and returned ; every moment a liability to be 
 called on by the President, in case of any emergen- 
 cy; one night every week, whether called or not, a 
 meeting to consider the discipline of the College and 
 to examine into its state; and these meetings, when 
 disorders arise in the seminary, sometimes repeated 
 three or four evenings in a week, accompanied with 
 painful and difficult investigations, resulting often in 
 decisions in relation to which the line of duty is not 
 very clear, and terminating sometimes in the general 
 discontent of the students, and not unfrequently in 
 complaints or remonstrances from parents and friends 
 of the individuals subjected to punishment. 
 
 When all these particulars are considered, I appre- 
 hend it will be found that the duties of the instruc- 
 4 
 
26 
 
 tors are in their nature not quite so wholly de- 
 lectable and desirable, as the author of the minority 
 report, in his zeal to make their offices appear to the 
 public little onerous, has seen fit to represent. Of all 
 methods, that of taking the tabular views of the hours 
 of recitation as the measure of the official labors of 
 the instructors is the most unjust and deceptive. 
 A lawyer spends an hour in arguing a cause. Are 
 his labor and rate of compensation to be estimated 
 by the value of that hour ? The laborious days and 
 nights which he has spent in preparing himself to 
 make that argument, — are these to be made no ac- 
 count of? The case is the same with these profes- 
 sors. They have not only labored hard, in time past, 
 to acquire the knowledge they have attained, but, if 
 they are true to the College and themselves, they 
 must labor daily and diligently to preserve and en- 
 large the knowledge they have acquired. The hu- 
 man mind, in the present age, is striving for advance- 
 ment with a zeal and activity never before witnessed. 
 New books, new views, new projects are daily put 
 forth in relation to every art and every science. A 
 professor in a University is bound, and has hard 
 work of it, to keep up with the age in this respect. 
 Then he occupies a somewhat conspicuous place in 
 the literary world. He is bound, if possible, to do 
 justice to his position; to throw his contribution into 
 the general stock everywhere forming by men of sci- 
 ence. Every height, every distinction he attains, is an 
 honor acquired for the University with which he is 
 connected. Its glory is, in a greater or less degree, 
 identified with his success. 
 
 It appears by the minority report, that this grand 
 scheme of improvement does not stop at the dis- 
 
27 
 
 missing of tutors and giving more work to professors. 
 It casts an eye also upon the President, and it con- 
 templates making him an instructor. Certainly, Sir, 
 it is but reasonable, while every other officer is about 
 being made to contribute to this eleemosynary project, 
 that he also should be called upon for his subscrip- 
 tion. Accordingly, Sir, 1 have had many questions 
 put to me of late concerning the President's office and 
 my management of it; some of them very curious 
 and very particular. And I dare say, as is usual on 
 occasions of this kind, many things are in circulation 
 which never reach my ears. Among other things, I 
 have heard that the President does not attend morn- 
 ing prayers, or, at least, very seldom attends. 
 
 Here Mr. Bancroft interrupted Mr. Quincy, ex- 
 claiming, — "I never said so." 
 
 Mr. Quincy, in reply : — And I never said he did. 
 But I am misinformed, if it has not been said. 
 However, I should as little have thought of saying 
 any thing upon that subject, as I should have of 
 speaking here on the most common and every-day 
 action of life, had not a question of the same general 
 import been put to me, in writing, by a friend, — 
 one of the committee to whom was referred the 
 minority report. Consequently, I conclude the sub- 
 ject has been under inquiry by that committee in 
 some form. My answer was in writing, but I choose 
 to repeat it here. For the manner, in every par- 
 ticular, in which I have conducted in that office, I 
 hold myself responsible to the public, not only in 
 this place, but everywhere and at all times. My an- 
 swer was, — "I have been President of Harvard Col- 
 
28 
 
 lege nearly sixteen years, and I have never been 
 absent once from morning prayers during the whole 
 period, — three mornings only excepted, when I was 
 summoned, as a witness, by the Court at Concord, 
 on business of the College." 
 
 Another subject of inquiry was, " Whether it was 
 the practice of the President to instruct. " To this 
 I deemed it my duty to reply at large. I shall, there- 
 fore, here only state generally my view of the interest 
 of the College in that respect. My letter is in the 
 hands of the committee on the minority report, and I 
 suppose will, in some form, come before the public. 
 
 Here some conversation occurred between Mr. 
 Bancroft and Mr. Gray ; after which, Mr. Gray rose 
 and stated that he had not laid that letter before the 
 committee, because he had written to the President, not 
 under the authority of the committee, but for his own 
 personal information, and that he did not consider the 
 President's answer to have been made under cir- 
 cumstances authorizing him to give it publicity; but 
 that he would now return it to the President and 
 place it at his disposal. Mr. Gray accordingly de- 
 livered the letter to Mr. Quincy. 
 
 Mr. Quincy then proceeded : — The course of the 
 gentleman (Hon. John C. Gray), in this instance, is in 
 conformity with that high delicacy and propriety 
 which characterizes his whole conduct in life. But 
 ahhough I knew that his letter to me was not written 
 under the authority of the committee, yet my answer 
 to him was made without any injunction or desire 
 of secrecy. On the contrary, I contemplated pub- 
 licity at the time, as appears from the fact that the 
 
29 
 
 letter contains a postscript, requesting that ''if printed 
 I might have the correction of the press." 
 
 The contents of that letter I have no wish to con- 
 ceal. I deem the views it presents very important, 
 and I shall take a proper opportunity to place them 
 before the public. From their nature, they necessarily 
 include many details ; on which, of course, it is not 
 my intention to enter on this occasion. I shall merely 
 give a brief oudine of those views. 
 
 The wisdom of past times provided that the office 
 of President in Harvard University should not be 
 connected with instruction; and I have no reason to 
 believe that any President has acted as an instruc- 
 tor for more than a century ; certainly, since the 
 American Revolution. It is said that Dr. Kirkland 
 once attempted it. If he did, it was for a very short 
 time, and was wholly confined, as I am told, to a few 
 extemporaneous lectures to one of the classes in the 
 Divinity School. 
 
 The President's office embraces the highest class 
 of duties. In its nature, it consists in the superin- 
 tendence of all the concerns of the University, moral, 
 literary, economical, and fiscal. No man can read 
 a specification of those duties, as set forth in the 
 laws of the College, and for a moment believe that a 
 President can perform them as they ought to be per- 
 formed, and have time left to prepare lectures, hear 
 recitations, examine themes, or for other exercises ap- 
 propriate to the office of a College instructor. 
 
 I speak, as I wrote, wholly independently of all 
 personal considerations. No man could ask, or rea- 
 sonably expect, that, at my period of life, I should 
 undertake, for the first time, to fulfil the duties of an 
 instructor. I speak, therefore, independently, for the 
 
30 
 
 interest of the University, and for the benefit of my 
 successor, who, in the course of nature cannot be far 
 off; probably, is very near. 
 
 The qualities necessary for an efficient general 
 superintendent (which has been always substantially 
 the nature of the office of President in Harvard Uni- 
 versity), and the qualities necessary to a highly gifted 
 instructor, are essentially different. The concentration 
 and abstraction of mind, which are required for dis- 
 tinguished success in the latter, are, generally speak- 
 ing, wholly incompatible with the successful perform- 
 ance, or even patient endurance, of the duties of the 
 former. This I apprehend will be made sufficiently 
 clear, when those duties shall be considered in their 
 details, in all their importance and bearings. 
 
 I do not say that the present duties of the office 
 of President may not be so modified and reduced as 
 that the same person may perform, to a sort of gener- 
 al satisfaction, the offices both of superintendent and 
 instructor. But I do say that such a combination of 
 functions is, in my judgment, to be deprecated, and 
 would probably result in a very imperfect performance 
 of both. The correctness of this opinion will, I think, 
 be made manifest on examining into the details of 
 the President's office. 
 
 I now come to the consideration of the "fee for 
 advanced standing," which the author of the minority 
 report (Mr. Bancroft) denounces as extortion. For 
 myself. Sir, I should be very reluctant to give such a 
 hard name to a principle which has had the sanction 
 and practice of this College ever since its formation, 
 and is, I apprehend, in a greater or less degree, that 
 of every other College in the United States. Such 
 a fee has always been demanded, as both reasonable 
 
31 
 
 and just, in cases where the parent of the applicant 
 is able to pay it ; and where he is not, on suitable 
 representation, it has always been remitted. What 
 the exact practice was in very ancient times I cannot 
 state. It is apparent, however, from the College 
 records of the last century, that a fee for advanced 
 standing was then exacted, and on suitable occa- 
 sions remitted. As an evidence of this, I ask the 
 liberty to read a transcript from those records, rela- 
 tive to one of our most distinguished citizens, which 
 cannot fail to have an interest in itself, independent 
 of the particular purpose for which it is now intro- 
 duced. 
 
 Mr. Quincy here read a vote of the Faculty of 
 Harvard College, relative to the admission of John 
 Quincy Adams to that institution.* 
 
 Mr. Quincy proceeded : — It is apparent from this 
 record, that, so long ago as 1786, an admission fee 
 was exacted, and on proper occasions remitted. 
 
 The principle which regulates the application or 
 remission of that demand will appear by a vote of the 
 President and Fellows of Harvard College, passed in 
 June, 1839; under which, every applicant for the 
 remission, who has brought himself within the terms 
 of the vote, has never failed to have it granted.! 
 Now this admission fee, thus boldly denounced as 
 "extortion,^^ taking into view the liberal principles 
 practically apphed to its remission, is, in my opinion, 
 both just and salutary, and founded on sound rea- 
 sons of public policy ; and, as far as the experience 
 of sixteen years in the government of the Univer- 
 
 * See Appendix, D. t See Appendix, E. 
 
32 
 
 sity has enabled me to judge, is so considered by 
 a very great majority even of those v^ho pay it. It 
 will be found upon examination, that three fourths, 
 if not a greater proportion, of all those from whom 
 this fee has been exacted have been the sons of 
 gendemen of independent fortunes, dwelling in other 
 States ; and perhaps a few of the same class, in Massa- 
 chusetts. From various circumstances, arising partly 
 from local distance, partly from natural affection, which 
 leads such men to desire to have their children separa- 
 ted from them as few years as possible, and other 
 causes, — not feeling any restriction on their inclina- 
 tions from considerations of expense, parents of this 
 class are apt to educate their sons at home, or at schools 
 in their vicinity, and then send them to College, for the 
 benefit of one or two, possibly three years' instruction, 
 and that they may carry into life the name and reputa- 
 tion attached to a degree from a high seminary of 
 learning. Many of them cannot be made to realize the 
 necessity, in a literary point of view, or the advantage, 
 in relation to character and intellectual power, of a 
 thorough drilling during the four years of a College 
 course. Their sons often come partially fitted, even in 
 the branches which are the particular subjects of ex- 
 amination ; and though so well qualified as not to be re- 
 jected, yet frequently wanting in those habits and scho- 
 lastic attainments which a College residence during the 
 entire course is adapted to impart. Now is it right — 
 nay, is it even just to this class of gentlemen — to en- 
 courage them in such mistaken practice? Is it wise, 
 as respects the public, to give a bounty upon a half 
 or three-fourths College education ? 
 
 The people of Massachusetts, by public patron- 
 age or private Uberality, have founded institutions for 
 
33 
 
 education called Colleges; all established on the 
 principle, that a four years' residence is important, if 
 not essential, to a thorough education; and to this 
 the support of a body of professors and instructors, 
 and a large and expensive apparatus, during that whole 
 period, are indispensable. Gentlemen of independent 
 fortunes in other States contribute nothing to the sup- 
 port of these establishments. Is it reasonable that the 
 sons of these gentlemen should have the privilege of 
 participating equally with citizens of Massachusetts in 
 the honors and advantages accruing from a degree, on 
 paying, as the case may be, one third, one half, or 
 three fourths of the amount, which every such citizen, 
 who avails himself of the whole College course, is 
 obliged to pay? I think not. Yet, even with the 
 exaction of the admission fee, as at present estab- 
 Hshed, this class of gentlemen are enabled to gain ad- 
 mission for their sons into College, at any period of the 
 course, exclusive of the Senior year, by paying one 
 half of the single item of the instruction fee which 
 every citizen of Massachusetts is obliged to pay for 
 regularly educating his son to the same standing ; an 
 amount, in my judgment, not more than reasonable ; 
 particularly as, during the whole period of my presi- 
 dency, I have no recollection of any parent of this 
 class, and do not believe there ever was one, who 
 complained of the charge or demurred to its justice. 
 
 The light in which this charge has been held up, 
 for the purpose of making it appear odious, as an ex- 
 action of payment for instruction which has not been 
 received, is not the true view. It is a charge in the 
 nature of an indemnity to the State which has founded, 
 and to its citizens who for four years have assisted to 
 maintain, an expensive establishment, of which the 
 5 
 
34 
 
 people of other States may avail themselves on equal 
 terms v^^ith our own people, if they will ; but if, from 
 indifference, negligence, or any other cause, they 
 take advantage of only one or two of the last years 
 of the College course, they, are required, by payment 
 of the admission fee, to contribute something towards 
 the support of an institution, which has been upheld 
 by others at a great expense, to the point at which 
 they choose to make use of it. 
 
 The injustice of this scheme of discontinuing the 
 admission fee may be further illustrated. 
 
 The College is established on the principle of pro- 
 viding a corps of professors, tutors, and instructors, 
 suited to a course of four years' residence. Now, sup- 
 pose the discontinuance of this charge for advanced 
 standing should induce parents generally to adopt the 
 practice of delaying to enter their sons until the second 
 or third year ; is it not plain that the establishment for 
 a four years' course could not be maintained without 
 greatly increasing the price of tuition ? in other words, 
 that the College, in such case, could not afford the 
 same advantages of education as at present, at any 
 thing like the present rate of charge? Now, why 
 should a few favored ones, who have no claim for 
 eleemosynary aid, be admitted to the privilege (if it 
 be a privilege) of a one, two, or three years' course, 
 on terms such as could not possibly be afforded to 
 all? Is it not clear that a scheme contemplating a 
 practice of this sort must necessarily work gross in- 
 justice to the community at large ? 
 
 Again, — those who enter at the middle of the 
 course, without payment of the fee for advanced stand- 
 ing, must do it at the cost either of the College, or of 
 the students who take the full course. Should all 
 
35 
 
 come in at the beginning of the Freshman year, and 
 continue through the four years, the income of the 
 College would obviously be greater, and the price of 
 tuition might consequently pro tanto be reduced. Is it 
 not, then, clear, that so much as the sons of wealthy 
 men inhabiting other States would gain by the discon- 
 tinuance of the admission fee, by just the same amount 
 must our own citizens be burdened, or the College 
 funds diminished? 
 
 How incongruous, also, is it with one breath to con- 
 tend for a diminution of the cost of instruction, and 
 with the next to propose the discontinuance of a rea- 
 sonable fee, the direct tendency of which would be 
 either to curtail the College course, or to increase the 
 general cost of instruction ! • 
 
 One topic remains, and it is the last on which it 
 is my duty to animadvert. It is a topic I would wil- 
 lingly avoid; but it is necessary that it should be 
 treated with some thoroughness, in order to that com- 
 pleteness of reply to the author of the minority report, 
 which I engaged to attempt. 
 
 The author of that report (Mr. Bancroft), after la- 
 menting that so great a proportion of the students 
 should be from Boston and its vicinity, and a few 
 favored places; after intimating his deep affliction at 
 "the disproportion between the magnificent endow- 
 ments of Cambridge, and the comparatively small num- 
 ber who derive a benefit from them"; after sighing 
 over the towns of the Commonwealth, at a dis- 
 tance from Boston, that send their sons elsewhere 
 than to Harvard, which he calls "the child of the 
 Commonwealth"; after deprecating all party control, 
 political or religious, — proceeds to animadvert in terms 
 of reprobation on its character for sectarianism, mean- 
 
36 
 
 ing thereby unquestionably its Unitarianism. Now 
 this, coming from the author of the minority report, 
 is very curious, and, taken in connection with what 
 immediately ensued, is also somewhat symptomatic. 
 The report, having been read by its author to the 
 Board of Overseers, was soon after followed up by 
 a formal order from a lay Calvinistic member of the 
 Board (Mr. Walley), having for its object the sepa- 
 ration of the Divinity School from the College, and 
 thus making this latter what he called " a State literary 
 institution, free from all denominational bias " ; he, 
 too, like the author of the minority report, being 
 desirous to relieve the College from all suspicion of 
 sectarianism. Putting these circumstances together, 
 I tcould not fail to perceive that there was a har- 
 mony and happy coincidence in language and action 
 between those political partisans with whom the author 
 of the minority report is associated, and those religious 
 partisans with whom the author of the order for up- 
 setting the Divinity School is associated. Now, Sir, I 
 should cooperate most cordially in any project of union 
 and brotherly love between what are usually observed 
 to be very antagonistic elements, did I not plainly see 
 that their successful concert, in the present instance, 
 would result, and did I not conscientiously believe 
 that the main design of one of the parties was that 
 it should result, not in getting what they call " secta- 
 rianism " out of the College, but in getting one species 
 of sectarianism out, and another species of sectarianism 
 in. Accordingly I deem it my duty here to speak 
 directly and plainly of the sectarianism of Unitarian- 
 ism, as it actually exists in Harvard College, and as it 
 has existed there ever since I was appointed President. 
 In the first place, I ought to observe that the 
 
37 
 
 Unitarianism of Harvard College is spoken of and 
 preached against by Calvinistic clergymen and mis- 
 sionaries, in the Middle, Southern, and Western States, 
 and even in the interior of Massachusetts, in lan- 
 guage very different from that in which it is spoken 
 of and preached against by clergymen of that faith in 
 Boston and its vicinity; and for this plain reason, that no 
 clergyman in the vicinity of Harvard College could 
 use such language as that often adopted elsewhere, 
 without being justly liable, in the opinion of every audi- 
 tor knowing the facts, to an epithet which no gentle- 
 man ought to bear, and much less a clergyman. I 
 have full evidence upon this point in the often repeated 
 declarations of young men coming from other quar- 
 ters of the Union, who have expressed to me their 
 utter astonishment at what they had heard before they 
 came to Harvard College, and their gratification at 
 what they had witnessed and experienced there, in 
 relation to its Unitarian designs and influences. 
 
 In those States, Harvard College is represented as 
 a society combined and laboring for the propagation 
 of Unitarianism ; as an association of infidels, without 
 belief in the awful mystery of Christ's incarnation, 
 placing no reliance on his propitiatory death, and 
 deriving no assurance of a future state from his glori- 
 ous resurrection and ascension; denying his divine 
 mission, not acknowledging him either as Mediator or 
 Redeemer, but resting all their hopes of a future life 
 and happiness on their own merits ; " not mention- 
 ing Christ in their prayers," and "openly denying 
 the Lord who bought them." The funds of the 
 seminary are there asserted to be devoted, all its 
 influences directed, to making proselytes to the Uni- 
 tarian faith ; its honors, its beneficiary donations, are 
 
38 
 
 said to be distributed on that principle and for that 
 object. Parents, who are found contemplating send- 
 ing their sons to Harvard, are beset by the Calvin- 
 istic preacher or missionary in their neighbourhood, 
 and entreated not to jeopardize their children's hopes, 
 both as respects the present and the future life, by- 
 subjecting them to the temptations and dangers to 
 which an education at Harvard College would in- 
 evitably expose both their bodies and souls. Every 
 parental interest and affection is assailed to shape 
 the judgment and influence the will in favor of other 
 institutions. 
 
 Now, although these homilies partake strongly of 
 the nature of "pious frauds," I am not disposed to 
 charge these preachers and missionaries with circu- 
 lating what they know to be falsehoods. They go 
 forth after being educated under strong prejudices. 
 They preach and lecture under great temptations ; 
 to audiences who take all they say upon trust, and 
 who often have no means of knowing the truth in re- 
 spect to their assertions ; and they frequently know no 
 better themselves. They probably preach according to 
 their belief, and as they deem most advantageous 
 for the influence of the Calvinistic sect. 
 
 There is no question that systematic calumnies like 
 these, circulated very openly and boldly, as I am in- 
 formed, in the Middle, Southern, and Western States, 
 have a powerful influence in turning young men from 
 Harvard to other Colleges; and that they are the 
 main cause of the diminished influx of students from 
 those States, and from foreign countries, into Har- 
 vard, and of the comparative increase of their num- 
 bers in other Colleges. In Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, 
 Williams, Amherst, and Harvard, there are four hun- 
 
39 
 
 dred and fifty students derived from these sources ; of 
 whom Yale has 201, the other four Colleges 146, and 
 Harvard only 103. That such are the effects of repre- 
 sentations like those above stated, assiduously made, 
 circulated, and believed in those States, is notorious ; 
 and that these representations are utterly false is, in 
 this vicinity, equally notorious. 
 
 It is now more than sixteen years since I accepted 
 the office of President of Harvard College, and I here 
 openly and unequivocally declare, that, so far from the 
 influence of Harvard College being devoted to the 
 propagation of Unitarianism, or the labors of its teach- 
 ers being directed to this object, this has never, so 
 far as I have seen, known, or believed, been made 
 the chief or any special object of their thoughts or la- 
 bors at all. For the purpose of avoiding, as much as 
 possible, the communication of any peculiarities of re- 
 ligious opinion to the students, writings free from such 
 an objection by the universal consent of all classes of 
 Christians, such as " Paley's Evidences," and " Buder's 
 Analogy," are selected as text- books. Episcopalian, 
 Baptist, Calvinist, Unitarian, and every other denomi- 
 nation of Christians, have ever stood before the Cor- 
 poration and Faculty in the same equal light, been 
 treated with the same deference and respect, and have 
 received an equal share of the College honors and 
 beneficiary funds. Knowing the calumnies wjiich were 
 circulated on this subject at a distance from the Col- 
 lege, every measure to give content to the members 
 of other sects, and to deprive Calvinistic leaders in 
 Boston and its vicinity of the power of misrepresenting 
 the nature of the influence exerted by the College, 
 has been adopted. Every student of full age is per- 
 mitted to worship on the Sabbath with whatever sect 
 
40 
 
 he pleases. Every student under age is permitted to 
 worship on the Sabbath with whatever sect his parent 
 or guardian pleases. So strictly has this principle been 
 carried into effect in relation to students under age, 
 that, when, as in some instances has been the case, 
 applications have been made by them for liberty to 
 worship at the College chapel, they have been syste- 
 matically denied, unless they produced a written re- 
 quest to that effect from their parent or guardian. If in 
 any single instance the contrary has happened, — of 
 which, however, I have no knowledge and no belief, 
 — it was the result of accident or inadvertence, and 
 not of any plan or design. The only exception is in 
 the case of special services in the chapel on the oc- 
 casion of the death of a student, when all who desire 
 to attend are permitted to do so. 
 
 It would be easy to adduce instances, every term, 
 of the hberal spirit exercised at Harvard in all cases 
 touching religious sentiment. I shall state only one, 
 and that of recent occurrence, illustrative of the nature 
 of that spirit. There are in the College four monitors, 
 one for each class, to note absences at Sabbath and 
 daily chapel- services. A small pecuniary compensation 
 is attached to the monitorships, which renders them 
 objects of desire to students whose circumstances are 
 straitened. At the beginning of the present Aca- 
 demic year, there were eight or ten applicants for 
 these offices. Four were selected, who were deemed 
 best qualified for them. Two of the young men thus 
 selected, on being informed of their appointment, 
 after expressing their thanks, observed that they did 
 not know how they could perform the duties of the 
 office on the Sabbath, as they belonged to a differ- 
 ent persuasion and worshipped elsewhere. They were 
 
41 
 
 immediately told that this should make no difference ; 
 if they would find a classmate to take their place on 
 the Sabbath, whom the Faculty should approve, his 
 substitution would be allowed. And accordingly 
 they have been permitted to enjoy the advantage of 
 the monitorships, and at the same time the benefit of 
 the religious instructions which they prefer. 
 
 What I have said of the imputations of sectarian 
 influence, as respects the Corporation, the Faculty, or 
 any of the instructors, applies with equal truth, so far 
 as my observation extends, to the Sabbath services of 
 the chapel. Although those who attend these ser- 
 vices are for the most part sons of parents who are 
 either inclined to, or have no fear of the influence of, 
 what is called Unitarian preaching (those belonging 
 to other denominations in general worshipping else- 
 where), yet the officiating clergymen in the chapel 
 very seldom allude, in their discourses, to any of the 
 tenets peculiar to their faith, or to the opinions of those 
 who differ from them ; and if on any occasion it oc- 
 curs, it is done without sharpness or bitterness, and 
 with no special design to make converts. During the 
 whole period of my presidency, I have never — with 
 the exception of a single half day — been absent from 
 the services of the College chapel. I have a right, 
 therefore, if any man has, to speak with confidence of 
 the mode in which those who preach in that chapel 
 conduct the Sabbath services ; and the result of my 
 observation is this, that they scrupulously endeavour 
 to inculcate gospel truths in the very words of the 
 sacred writings, — believing, as I suppose, that man's 
 inventions can add no force to the language of in- 
 spiration. They avoid controversy, and select topics 
 adapted to make the temper meek and the life holy. 
 6 
 
42 
 
 They reason, after the example of Paul, " of righteous- 
 ness, temperance, and judgment to come." They 
 preach of Christ as the Son of God, sent by him to 
 die for us and be a propitiation for our sins ; — that 
 he was exalted by God to be for men a Prince and 
 Saviour, and was by him ordained judge of the quick 
 and the dead. And in respect of the peculiar opin- 
 ions from which the sect has obtained its name, they 
 do not indeed preach, because they cannot find in 
 the Scriptures, and therefore do not believe, that the 
 Son who was sent was the very God who sent him. 
 But although they cannot preach that doctrine, they 
 seldom refer to it, and never subject those who 
 do believe in it either to censure or contempt. Yet 
 these are the men whom Calvinistic missionaries repre- 
 sent as preaching " nothing but natural religion," and 
 calumniate in terms which are worthy to be applied 
 only to deists and infidels. I owe this acknowledg- 
 ment to the clergymen who officiate in the College 
 chapel, although I do not recognize myself as of the 
 Unitarian sect, or of any sect * ; believing that I can 
 find more truth, and a more heavenly gospel, in the 
 word of God itself, than in the teachings of any sect 
 man ever devised. 
 
 We now come to the grand plan of excluding 
 sectarianism and Unitarianism from the College, by 
 
 * Lest this should be regarded by any one as adopted to serve an occasion, 
 I deem it proper to show that this is not a new position which I assume. In 
 a letter written by the Hon. Francis C. Gray to the Hon. Levi Lincoln, 
 then governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the year 1831, ex- 
 plaining the nature of the sectarianism of Harvard College, is the following 
 statement of the religious position which I then asserted and maintained : — 
 " The President I consider orthodox according to Hollis, and who does not 
 allow himself to be called either a Unitarian or a Trinitarian, or to be desig- 
 nated by any party name." — See Mr. Gray's Letter. Second Edition. 183L 
 p. 45. 
 
43 
 
 separating from it the Divinity School, and also by 
 putting an end to the preaching on the Sabbath, in 
 the chapel, of the professors connected with that 
 School. In respect of the last part of this project, I 
 deem it unobjectionable; and if the laws of the Col- 
 lege should be so modified as to permit all undergrad- 
 uates to attend such public worship on the Sabbath, 
 as their parents or guardians may elect, either in 
 Cambridge, Boston, or any adjoining town, giving evi- 
 dence of regular attendance on such worship, as the 
 sons of parents residing in this vicinity now do, — I 
 apprehend the plan is feasible, and, by closing one 
 source of misrepresentation, may perhaps be useful. 
 
 But in respect of separating the Divinity School 
 from the College, and devesting the Corporation of the 
 funds which have been intrusted to their care and 
 management, there are not only legal difficulties, which 
 need not here be discussed, but others of a practical 
 nature, which it may be useful to consider. 
 
 Let us suppose, Sir, that all legal objections are 
 surmounted, that the proposed separation is effected, 
 and that Divinity Hall, with all its bricks, granite, and 
 foundations, like the chapel of " our Lady of Loretto," 
 is transported through the air bodily to Pittsfield, North- 
 ampton, or some more distant part of the State, and 
 Harvard College rid of it for ever. Now let us in- 
 quire, What comes next ? Is no divinity to be taught 
 in Harvard College ? Is every other science to be 
 taught there, and the elements and history of religion 
 to be excluded ? O, no, it is replied ; there must be 
 a Divinity Professor. If so, the question necessarily 
 arises. Of what sect shall he be ? If a clergyman, 
 he must be of some sect ; and of whatever denomina- 
 tion, be fixes a sectarian character on the College. 
 
44 
 
 Well then, it is said, there shall be no Professor of 
 Divinity in Harvard College. Let this, also, be estab- 
 lished. There must be a president and professors. 
 Are none of these to be taken from the clergy ? If 
 you do thus select, they must be of some sect ; and 
 here again your selection fastens sectarianism on the 
 College. Well then, you say, we will have no clergy- 
 men in any of these offices. This, I know, is the point 
 at which some men are driving ; but it is one for which 
 I am not prepared, and I question whether the people 
 of Massachusetts are prepared for it. My objection to 
 the whole scheme of removing the Divinity School from 
 the College is, that it will, in the event, either prove 
 to be a deception, and only a mode of getting one 
 sect out of the College and another sect into it, or else 
 will result in establishing in the College the Girard 
 principle of excluding clergymen of all denominations 
 from all its offices of government and instruction. 
 
 It ought to be the study of every people, who have 
 the management of their own affairs, to control and 
 keep in check the influence of any one species of 
 sectarianism, — to divide, and thus paralyze, its pow- 
 ers, and not permit one sect to obtain a predominating 
 influence in the state over all or a great majority of 
 their seminaries of education. Let the people of Mas- 
 sachusetts understand that the attempt now making 
 by leading Calvinists in Boston and its vicinity is 
 not merely to get Unitarianism out of Harvard Col- 
 lege, but to put Calvinism into possession of it; that 
 this has been their purpose and struggle for these 
 forty years past; and unless their projects be counter- 
 acted and defeated by the vigilance and spirit of the 
 community, they will ultimately be successful, though 
 it cost a struggle of forty years more. The alliance 
 
45 
 
 recently, to all human appearance, entered into on the 
 floor of the Senate-chamber of Massachusetts is a preg- 
 nant evidence of their aim and tact. The predomi- 
 nating influence of Calvinism is stamped, in charac- 
 ters not to be concealed or mistaken, on at least seven 
 institutions for education in New England,— Yale, 
 Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Middlebury, 
 and Burlington. There is also another highly en- 
 dowed institution in Massachusetts, in which every 
 article of the creed of this sect is riveted down for 
 ever on the seminary by a subscription of faith re- 
 quired of the professors, to be renewed every five 
 years. Yet with all this power they are not content. 
 All this influence " availeth them nothing, so long as " 
 Harvard is not also in their possession. 
 
 I know it will be said, in reply, "How unjust is 
 this charge ! Were not the Calvinists the authors 
 of that nobly Hberal scheme by which all sects are 
 at this day eligible to seats at the Board of Overseers ? 
 Shall no credit be given to them for this pure and 
 elevated catholic spirit ? " Certainly, Calvinists were 
 agents in effecting that great change in the elemen- 
 tal principles of selection of members of this Board. 
 And when the project was submitted to the Corpora- 
 tion for their sanction, I personally opposed its ac- 
 ceptance; not, however, from any illiberal or sectarian 
 feeling, but because I foresaw, what events have al- 
 ready proved, that this apparently liberal scheme would 
 result in constructing, out of the hopes and expecta- 
 tions of the members of other sects, a bridge, over 
 which Boston Calvinists might pass themselves into 
 possession of Harvard College. Does any man believe 
 that any one of these would give his vote and influence 
 to introduce an Episcopalian, a Baptist, a Methodist, 
 
46 
 
 a Universalist, into the office of president, or of instruc- 
 tor in any moral, religious, or intellectual department 
 in Harvard College? I think not. And how has this 
 new principle been acted upon by these very Cal- 
 vinists ? Since the change in the constitution of the 
 Board of Overseers, antecedent to the present session, 
 how have four out of five vacancies which have oc- 
 curred in this Board, one in the lay and three in the 
 clerical part of it, been filled ? Did the Calvinists seize 
 the occasion to carry into speedy effect the generous 
 design of introducing into the Board members of 
 other sects ? Far from it. Three out of these four, 
 one layman and two clergymen, were Calvinists. The 
 fourth gentleman elected w^as a Universalist ; and he 
 was indebted for his majority to the Unitarians. With 
 respect to the election of the present session I shall 
 say nothing ; for, although a distinguished Unitarian 
 has been elected, and I have no doubt that some Cal- 
 vinists voted for him, I have no disposition, at present, 
 to remark upon the subject. 
 
 My argument, then, is this, — that Calvinists have at 
 this day, in Massachusetts, more worldly power and in- 
 fluence than any other sect, and probably than all other 
 sects put together ; that they have enough colleges and 
 theological seminaries at their command for the safety 
 and permanence of religious freedom; and therefore, 
 whatever sect it may be deemed advisable to place in 
 possession of Harvard College, let it not be the Cal- 
 vinistic. 
 
 In this connection it may be well for the members 
 of other sects to consider, and that, too, with some ear- 
 nestness and anxiety, whether, if Calvinism should be 
 substituted for Unitarianism in Harvard College, as is 
 the design, they would be likely to find more liber- 
 
47 
 
 ality, more fair play, less bitterness, and a kinder or 
 more respectful construction and treatment of their pe- 
 culiar religious views than they experience at this day 
 from those who are now in possession of that institu- 
 tion. I ask the question without prejudice. In a sec- 
 tarian sense, I am not, and never was, a Unitarian. 
 Indeed, as I understand Unitarianism, it has no princi- 
 ple of sectarianism in it, — and from its very nature 
 cannot have. 
 
 The question, then, arises. What is meant by the term 
 sectarianism? In common speech, we understand 
 by this term that exclusive spirit which inculcates a 
 belief in certain peculiar tenets in religion, as ajflford- 
 ing either the only or the best hope of salvation. Now, 
 it is true. Unitarians do, in general, entertain certain 
 views relative to the nature and mission of our Saviour, 
 which are not in accordance with those held and main- 
 tained by the Calvinists. But did any man ever hear of 
 a Unitarian, who thought or taught that a belief in that, 
 or any other tenet of this denomination, deemed pe- 
 culiar, afforded the only, or would give a better, chance 
 for salvation ? Did any man ever hear a Unitarian say 
 or teach that a Calvinist could not be a Christian ? or 
 that they who had adopted the Calvinistic creed, after 
 faithful and prayerful research of the Holy Scriptures, 
 were not full as likely to be accepted by the Great 
 Master, in the day of final retribution, as though they 
 had subscribed to every article of the Unitarian faith ? 
 I think not ; although it is possible that some of that 
 denomination, more valorous than wise, may have been 
 tempted to gather up some of the spent shafts of their 
 adversaries, and return them into the enemy's camp. 
 
 The foundations of Unitarianism, as I have been 
 taught and have surveyed them, are as broad as the 
 
48 
 
 New Testament, which it receives as the inspiration of 
 the Divine Mind, neither desiring to add any thing to it, 
 nor daring to subtract any thing from it. All that is mys- 
 terious, miraculous, and beyond the comprehension of 
 the human intellect. Unitarians receive, not to doubtful 
 disputations, but reverently and prayerfully, as an article 
 of faith. Their belief in the birth, death, resurrection, 
 and ascension of our Saviour is as full and perfect as 
 that of any other sect; they rest their hopes of an- 
 other life on the cross, and look to him who suffered 
 upon it as their Saviour, Sanctifier, Redeemer, and 
 final Judge, with as much confidence and trust as 
 any other sect. But the great distinguishing charac- 
 teristic of the Unitarian body is, that they profess to 
 call no man master, upon earth ; and that they act up to 
 that profession. Their master is Christ. Their creed 
 is the New Testament, sealed by the blood of our 
 Saviour, whose teachings they receive and promulgate 
 in the language in which he uttered them ; not en- 
 deavouring to improve it by the use of technical terms, 
 nor perverting it to party purposes with a view to 
 clerical power; not believing, and not teaching, that 
 their views and opinions are the sole or even infallibly 
 the best way of salvation ; and not calling every man a 
 heretic who does not adopt them. Such are the 
 views of Unitarians, as I have gathered them from the 
 preaching of the clergymen of that denomination, in the 
 College chapel and elsewhere. They insist on freedom 
 from creeds of men's invention, and independence 
 of all human dictation in the articles of their faith ; 
 maintaining the right of every man to search the Scrip- 
 tures for himself, and to ''prove all things " for himself, 
 unbiased by party names and technical dogmas. They 
 believe that every man must stand or fall, before the 
 
49 
 
 final Judge, according to the faith he has drawn from 
 the Holy Scriptures by virtue of his own research, and 
 not by his belief in creeds framed by other men, and 
 taken upon trust ; it being every man's duty, as well 
 as right, in the language of that father of New Eng- 
 land, John Robinson,* " to think for himself, and not, 
 like the Lutherans and Calvinists, stop short where 
 their leaders stopped " ; — of consequence, that a 
 way devised by other men is not to any man the 
 way of salvation, unless, independently of human 
 guides, he has found that way by his own faithful and 
 prayerful research. 
 
 The Unitarian denomination, then, is, in my judg- 
 ment, not only not chargeable with sectarianism, but 
 it is fundamentally opposed to the whole spirit of secta- 
 rianism. The essence of sectarianism consists, as I 
 have said, in holding and maintaining one or other of 
 two principles, — either that a belief in the tenets 
 which the sect combine to maintain is the only Scrip- 
 tural way of salvation, or that it is of all ivays the 'most 
 certain of salvation. 
 
 The history of the Church is illustrative of these 
 views. The Romish church assumed to itself the 
 principle, that " out of the pale of our faith there is no 
 Scriptural assurance of salvation." This was the great 
 power which enabled it for so many ages to govern 
 the world. That church, through the instrumentality 
 of this principle, possessed itself of the position which 
 Archimedes sought, — a place out of the world, by 
 which to move the world. This power was figura- 
 tively expressed by the term St, Peter^s keys, which 
 alone were able to open heaven's gate. 
 
 * See Quincy's *• History of Harvard University," Vol. I., p. 50. 
 
 7 
 
50 
 
 When the Reformation came, and sects multiplied, 
 the leaders of every sect realized the advantage the 
 Romish church possessed in St. Peter's keys ; and, as 
 they could not devest that church of those keys, they 
 set themselves to vrork and manufactured little pass- 
 keys, as like St. Peter's as possible, and taught their 
 converts to believe that they were quite as good, if not 
 a little better, than the great keys of St. Peter ; being 
 made of the same material, a little lighter, not quite 
 so burdensome, and altogether as sure. 
 
 Now I cannot find that the sect called Unitarian 
 ever made to itself a pass-key, — that it ever taught 
 that a sincere believer in the divine inspiration of the 
 New Testament, receiving all its sublime truths, all its 
 mysterious annunciations, all its recorded miracles, the 
 death, resurrection, and ascension of our blessed Sa- 
 viour, with a humble and childlike faith, whatever 
 might be his construction and peculiar views of the 
 other parts of the Sacred Scriptures, was not quite as 
 sure of salvation as though he believed every tenet 
 of the Unitarian creed. 
 
 Such are the grounds on which I said that Unitarian- 
 ism has not the vital principle of sectarianism in it. And 
 yet, I never did and never will call myself a Unitarian ; 
 because the name has the aspect, and is loaded by 
 the world with the imputation, of sectarianism. 
 
 It may here properly, and will naturally, be asked, 
 If you are neither a Calvinist nor a Unitarian, of what 
 sect are you? I answer, in the language of John 
 Milton,* whose conversion from Calvinism was, ac- 
 cording to his own account of the process, effected in 
 the same way as was mine. 
 
 * See " A Treatise on Christian Doctrine compiled from the Holy Scrip- 
 tures alone," by John Milton, Vol. I. p. 9. Boston. 1825. 
 
51 
 
 " For my own part, I adhere to the Holy Scriptures 
 alone ; — I follow no other heresy, or sect. / had not 
 even read any of the works of heretics, so called, 
 when the mistakes of those who are reckoned for 
 orthodox, and their incautious handling of Scripture, 
 first taught me to agree tcith their opponents when- 
 ever those opponents agreed with Scripture, If this 
 be heresy, I confess, with St. Paul, Acts xxiv. 14, 
 *that after the way which they call heresy so wor- 
 ship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which 
 are written in the law and in the prophets,' — to which 
 I add, whatever is written in the New Testament." 
 
 I answer again, in the language of Scripture, I am 
 of the class of "/Ae disciples, loho were called Chris- 
 tians first in Jlntioch''^ Acts xi. 26. 
 
 Whenever men will be content with the name 
 which the Apostles selected and by which they chose 
 to be called, and will use only the language which is 
 to be found in the Scriptures, and in the connection, 
 and with the meaning, when it is clear, and when it is 
 dubious, with the Christian spirit, in which it was used 
 by those Apostles, there will be an end of sectarianism, 
 and with it an end of clerical ambition, with no dim- 
 inution of clerical power ; — all men will worship in the 
 same faith together, and be only, and altogether. 
 Christians. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TABLES 
 
 Of "College Expenses," strictly so called, at Harvard College, — meari- 
 ing thereby those charges which are peculiarly and exclusively inci- 
 dent to life in College, and of course excluding cost of Board, Text- 
 Books, and Fuel, — for the four Academic years 1813-14 to 1816-17, 
 and also for the Acadenoic years 1840-41 to 1843-44. 
 
 Table I. 
 1813-14. 
 
 Steward and Commons,* each class, 
 Rent, Freshmen, .... 
 
 Sophomores, 
 
 Juniors, ..... 
 Seniors, .... 
 
 Instruction, Freshmen, .... 
 Sophomores, 
 
 Juniors, .... 
 Seniors, 
 Instruction in Nat. History, Juniors and Seniors, 
 Instruction, Medical, Seniors, 
 Library, Freshmen, 
 
 Sophomores, .... 
 Juniors, 
 
 Seniors, .... 
 
 Repairs and Fuel of Lecture Rooms, each class, 
 Sweepers and Sand, " 
 
 Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, *' 
 Theses and Orders, Seniors, . 
 Diploma, " 
 
 Fines, average to every student of every class, 2.40 
 
 Assessm'ts for delinquencies in pay't of quarter-bills, average, .98 
 
 
 Averacje. 
 
 . $ 10.00 
 
 10.00 
 
 7.00 ■] 
 
 
 7.00 
 7.00 ■ 
 
 8,00 
 
 . 11.00 1 
 
 
 44.00 ^ 
 
 
 . 44.00 1 
 56.00 ■ 
 
 50.00 
 
 . 56.00 
 
 
 12.00 
 
 3.00 
 
 10.00 
 
 2.50 
 
 0.00^ 
 200 
 4.00 f 
 
 
 2.50 
 
 4.00J 
 
 
 
 3.96 
 
 
 2.61 
 
 
 1.76 
 
 1.21 
 
 .30 
 
 2.00 
 
 .50 
 
 85.13 
 
 3.38 
 
 $ 88.51 
 
 * This charge was entirely independent of the charge for Board in Com- 
 mons. 
 
64 
 
 Table II. 
 
 1814-15. 
 
 Steward and Commons, each class, , . $ 10.00 
 
 Rent, Freshmen, ..... 10.00^ 
 
 Sophomores, .... 10.00 I 
 
 Juniors, ..... 10.00 [ 
 
 Seniors, 12.00 j 
 
 Instruction, Freshmen, .... 45.50'^ 
 
 Sophomores, . . . 45.50 ! 
 
 Juniors, .... 57.50 j 
 
 Seniors, .... 57.50 j 
 
 Instruction in Natural History, Juniors and Seniors, 12.00 
 
 Instruction, Medical, Seniors, . . . 10.00 
 
 Library, Freshmen, ..... 0.00 "j 
 
 Sophomores, .... 2.00 ( 
 
 Juniors, ..... 4.00 j 
 
 Seniors, .... 4.00 J 
 Repairs and Fuel of Lecture Rooms, each class, 
 Sweepers and Sand, " 
 Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, " 
 Theses and Orders, Seniors, . . ,1.14 
 
 Diploma, « ... 7.00 
 
 Fines, average to every student of every class, $ 2. 
 Assessm'ts for delinquencies in pay't of quarter-bills, average, . 
 
 Average. 
 
 $ 10.00 
 
 10.50 
 
 51.50 
 
 3.00 
 2.50 
 
 2.50 
 
 9.67 
 1.02 
 1.76 
 .28 
 1.75 
 
 94.48 
 
 3.30 
 
 97.78 
 
 Table III. 
 
 
 
 
 1815-16. 
 
 
 
 Average. 
 
 Steward and Commons, each class, 
 
 
 $ 10.00 
 
 $ 10.00 
 
 Rent, Freshmen, .... 
 
 , 
 
 10.00^ 
 
 
 Sophomores, 
 
 
 10.00 ! 
 
 10.50 
 
 Juniors, .... 
 
 . 
 
 10.00 ' 
 
 
 Seniors, .... 
 
 
 12.00 
 
 
 Instruction, Freshmen, 
 
 , 
 
 46.00^ 
 46.00 
 61.00 ' 
 
 
 Sophomores, 
 Juniors, 
 
 
 53.50 
 
 Seniors, 
 
 
 61.00 j 
 
 
 Instruction, in Natural History, Juniors and Seniors, 
 
 12.00 
 
 3.00 
 
 Instruction, Medical, Seniors, 
 
 , 
 
 10.00 
 
 2.50 
 
 Library, Freshmen, 
 
 , 
 
 0.00^ 
 
 
 Sophomores, 
 
 , 
 
 2.00 I 
 
 2.*i0 
 
 Juniors, 
 
 , 
 
 4.00 f 
 
 <«.cll/ 
 
 Seniors, .... 
 
 
 . 4.00 j 
 
 
 Repairs and Fuel of Lecture Rooms, each ch 
 
 iss, 
 
 
 7.32 
 
 Sweepers and Sand, " 
 
 . 
 
 
 2.57 
 
 Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, " 
 
 
 
 1.76 
 
 Theses and Orders, Seniors, 
 
 . 
 
 1.34 
 
 .33 
 
 Diploma, « 
 
 • 
 
 7.00 
 
 1.75 
 
 Fines, average to every student of every class, $ 2. 
 
 Assessm'ts for delinquencies in pay't of quarter-bills, average. 
 
 49 
 
 95.73 
 
 ? 3.47 
 $99.20 
 
66 
 
 
 Table IV. 
 
 
 
 
 1816-17. 
 
 
 Average. 
 
 Steward and Commons, each class, 
 
 $ 10.00 
 
 $ 10.00 
 
 Rent, Freshmen, 
 
 , , 
 
 . 10.00 ^ 
 
 
 Sophomores, 
 
 . 
 
 10.91 
 
 11.74 
 
 Juniors, 
 
 . 
 
 . 10.91 ' 
 
 Seniors, . 
 
 • • • 
 
 15.16 
 
 
 Instruction, Freshmen, 
 
 , . 
 
 46.00 ^ 
 46.00 
 . 64.00 f 
 
 
 Sophomores, 
 Juniors, 
 
 . 
 
 55.00 
 
 Seniors, 
 
 , , 
 
 64.00 j 
 
 
 Instruction in Natural History 
 
 Juniors and Seniors 
 
 J 
 
 
 Instruction, Medical, Seniors, 
 
 , , , 
 
 12.88 
 
 3.22 
 
 Library, Freshmen, 
 
 • 
 
 2.00^ 
 
 
 Sophomores, 
 
 . 
 
 4.00 
 
 3.50 
 
 Juniors, 
 
 . 
 
 4.00 ' 
 
 
 Seniors, 
 
 , , 
 
 4.00 
 
 
 Repairs, and Fuel of Lecture Rooms, each class. 
 
 
 5.45 
 
 Sweepers and Sand, 
 
 (( 
 
 
 2.55 
 
 Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, " . 
 
 
 1.76 
 
 Theses and Orders, Seniors, 
 
 . 
 
 1.12 
 
 .28 
 
 Diploma, " 
 
 . 
 
 7.00 
 
 1.75 
 
 Fines, average to every student of every class, 
 Assessm'ts for delinquencies in pay't of quarter-bills. 
 
 $1.85 
 
 95.25 
 
 average, .96 ggj 
 
 $ 98.06 
 
 1841-42. 1842-43. 1843-44. 
 
 Table V. 
 
 Expenses at Harvard College (exclusive of Board, Text-Books, and 
 Fuel) for the Academical years 
 
 1840-41, 
 
 Instruction, Library, and Lecture 
 
 Rooms, . . . $ 75.00 
 
 Rent, and Care of Rooms, . 15.00 
 
 Special Repairs, . . 1.04 
 
 Diploma, (Seniors, $ 2.50,) average, .62 
 
 75.00 
 
 1.5.00 
 
 1.71 
 
 .62 
 
 $ 75.00 
 
 15.00 
 
 6.56 
 
 .62 
 
 $ 75.00 
 15.00 
 
 .85 
 .62 
 
 $91.66 $92.33 $97.18 $91.47 
 
56 
 
 Table VI. 
 
 Summary, showing the average expenses of an undergraduate at Har- 
 vard College (exclusive of Board, Text-Books, and Fuel) for four years, 
 from 1813-14 to 1816-17, and for four years from 1840-41 to 
 1843-44. 
 
 .= 5 
 
 t. = 
 
 "o 1 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 Year 1813-14, $85.13 Year 1813- 
 " 1814-15, 94.48 « 1814- 
 « 1815-16, 95.73 « 1815- 
 " 1816-17, 95.25 « 1816- 
 
 bcaj 
 .= fi 
 
 1< 
 J = 
 
 -14, $88.51 ^ 
 -15, 97.78 
 -16, 99.20 
 -17, 98.06 
 
 Year 1840- 
 " J841- 
 » 1842- 
 " 1843- 
 
 §^ . 
 
 ill 
 
 til 
 III 
 
 -41, $91.66 
 -42, 92.33 
 -43, 97.18 
 -44, 91.47 
 
 Total for 4 yrs.,$ 370.59 
 Average for 1 yr., 92.64 
 
 $383.55 
 $ 95.88 
 
 $ 372.64 
 $93.16 
 
 Camhjidge, April 9, 1845. 
 
 I hereby certify that the foregoing tables, numbered from I. to V. in- 
 clusive, are abstracts, carefully made, from the original Q,uarter-bill 
 Books and Term-bill Books remaining in the Steward's office. Table VI., 
 as will appear upon inspection, shows the result derived from the addi- 
 tion of the several sums total of the preceding tables. The abstract 
 which follows, marked B., showing the sums total of certain College 
 bills, is carefully made from the original entries in the Bill Books above 
 mentioned. 
 
 W. G. Stearns, Steward of Harvard College. 
 
57 
 
 B. 
 
 Aggregate of the Quarter-bills of two students at Harvard College, 
 (Mr. Bancroft and Mr. Gushing-,) during the four Academic years 
 J8 13 -14 to 1816-17; and of one student, (Mr. Charles J. Capen,)* 
 during the four Academic years 1840-41 to 1843-44. 
 Footings of Quarter-bills, four years, from 1813- 14 to 1816- 17. 
 
 
 Geo. Bancroft. 
 
 Caleb Cashing. 
 
 Freshman yr., 1st Quarter, 1813-14, 
 
 , $ 14.34 
 
 $ 17.08 
 
 
 2d « « 
 
 16.52 
 
 40.54 
 
 
 3d « « 
 
 22.95 
 
 45.47 
 
 
 4th « « 
 
 13.71 
 
 42.97 
 
 
 
 $ 67.52 
 
 i 
 
 $ 152.06 
 
 Sophomore year, 1st Quarter, 1814 - 1 
 
 15,18.79 
 
 53.49 
 
 
 2d " " 
 
 55.25 
 
 66.37 
 
 
 3d " « 
 
 64.38 
 
 74.21 
 
 
 4th " " 
 
 53.01 
 
 60.71 
 
 
 
 191,43 
 
 
 
 254.78 
 
 Junior year, 1st Quarter, 1815-16, 
 
 55.77 
 
 68.95 
 
 
 2d " « 
 
 53.82 
 
 64.91 
 
 
 3d « « 
 
 89.92 
 
 82.55 
 
 
 4th « « 
 
 61.52 
 
 67.24 
 
 
 
 261.03 
 
 
 
 283.65 
 
 Senior year, 1st Quarter, 1816-17, 
 
 62.42 
 
 66 80 
 
 
 2d « « 
 
 64.17 
 
 89.98 
 
 
 3d « « 
 
 67.04 
 
 84.42 
 
 
 4th « « 
 
 63.59 
 
 69.53 
 
 
 Codicil to 4th Quarter-bill, 
 
 38.19 
 
 45.89 
 
 
 
 295.41 
 
 
 
 356.62 
 
 Total for the four years, $ 815.39 $ 1,047.11 
 
 Footings of Term-hills, for four years, from 1840-41 to 1843-44. 
 
 Charles J. Capen. 
 
 Freshman Year, 1840-41, 1st Term, . ; $99.47 
 
 2d « . . 92.62 
 
 $ 192.09 
 
 Sophomore Year, 1841-42, 1st Term, 
 2d « 
 
 Junior Year, 1842-43, 1st Term, 
 
 2d " 
 
 Senior Year, 1843-44, 1st Term, 
 2d « 
 
 . 99.01 
 93.25 
 
 . 104.28 
 104.16 
 
 . 97.69 
 92.70 
 
 Total for four years. 
 
 192.26 
 
 208.44 
 
 190.39 
 $783.18 
 
 * The reasons for selecting Mr. Capen were, that, like Mr. Bancroft, he was 
 the son of a clergyman in moderate circumstances, and (adds the Steward) 
 *' that he lived in College and boarded in commons, during his whole College 
 life ; a very rare thing in these days. He is charged in every term-bill with 
 every one of the six items of Instruction, Rent, Special Repairs, Books, Fuel, 
 and Board." 
 
 8 
 
58 
 
 It appears, however, by the subjoined letter, that Mr. Bancroft, during 
 the first year of his College life, and the first quarter of the second year, 
 lived out of commons; whereas Mr. Capen, with whom he is compared, 
 boarded in commons during every term of his four years. In order, 
 therefore, to a just comparison of the present expenses of a College ed- 
 ucation with those when Mr. Bancroft was in College, the cost of the 
 College board for five quarters ought to be added to the account of Mr. 
 Bancroft's expenses, thus: — 
 
 Footing of Mr. Bancroft's Q,uarter-bills, as stated in the Tables, $ 815.39 
 Add for Board during five quarters, as by letter below, ] 05.66 
 
 $ 921.05 
 But the amount charged to Mr. Bancroft, for Text-books, 
 
 was ...... $78.15 
 
 While the amount charged to Mr. Capen for the same was 
 
 only 35.09 
 
 Deducting the difference, . . . . 43.06 
 
 Mr. Bancroft's College expenses amount to . . $877.99 
 
 Mr. Capen's College expenses were . . . . 783.18 
 
 So that the real excess in the cost of an education at Harvard, 
 in 1813-17, beyond that at the present day, according to Mr. 
 Bancroft's and Mr. Capen's expenses, is . . . $94.81 
 
 instead of $ 32.21, as stated in the text. 
 
 March 11. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 The following statement shows the amount which would have been 
 charged to Mr. Bancroft for Board, if he had been in Commons during 
 the early part of his College life : — 
 
 Freshman year, 1st Quarter, . . . $ 3.24* 
 
 2d « . . . . 28.00 
 
 3d « ... 24.57 
 
 4th « . , . . 24.50 
 
 Sophomore year, 1st "... 25.35 
 
 $105.66 
 
 The whole of this amount, $ 105.66, should be added to the gross 
 amount of Mr. Bancroft's bills in your possession, in order to find what his 
 expenses would have been, had he been always a boarder in Commons. Mr. 
 Bancroft ought also to be credited vi'ith the sum of $ 43.06, that being 
 the difference between the amounts charged to him and Mr. Capen for 
 Text-books. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, 
 
 W. G. Stearns. 
 President Quincy. 
 
 * At the period referred to, the quarter-bills did not correspond at all with 
 the terms of study. There were three terms and four quarter-bills. The 
 first quarter ended, and the second commenced, a little more than a week after 
 the commencement of the College year. This fact accounts for the small 
 charge, in the first quarter-bill of the Freshman year, for board in Commons, 
 and also for the Codicil at the end of the Senior year. 
 
59 
 
 lAst of Professors, Lecturers, and Tutors, who instruct at Yale. 
 President Day, — Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Political Econ- 
 omy. 
 Professor Daggett, — Constitutional Law. 
 
 " Silliman, — Chemistry. 
 
 " Kingsley, — Latin and History. 
 
 " Knight, — Anatomy. 
 
 " Fitch, — Moral Philosophy. 
 
 " Goodrich, — Criticism. 
 
 " Olmsted, — Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. 
 
 " Wpolsey, — Greek. 
 
 *' Larned, — Rhetoric and Logic. 
 
 " Stanley, — Mathematics. 
 
 " Thacher, — Latin and Greek. 
 Lecturer Shepard, — Natural History. 
 Instructor North, — Elocution. 
 
 The above constituting an aggregate of Professors and Instructors, 14 
 In addition to the above, there are Tutors, who teach Greek, Latin, 
 and Mathematics, ...... 7 
 
 and an assistant Lecturer in Chemistry, ... 1 
 
 22 
 
 I put aside, in Yale, Professors Ives, Taylor, Beers, Gibbs, Hitchcock, 
 Hooker, Bronson, Salisbury, and Instructor Townsend, because I cannot 
 find that they either instruct or lecture to undergraduates. 
 
 List of the Professors, Lecturers, and Tutors, in Harvard College. 
 Professor Warren, — Anatomy. 
 
 " E. T. Channing, — Rhetoric and Oratory. 
 
 " Webster, — Chemistry and Mineralogy. 
 
 " Walker, — Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil 
 Polity. 
 
 " Sparks, — History. 
 
 « Beck,— Latin. 
 
 « Felton, — Greek. 
 
 " Peirce, — Astronomy and Mathematics. 
 
 " Gray, — Natural History. 
 
 " Levering, — Natural Philosophy and Mathematics. 
 Constituting an aggregate of Professors, . . .10 
 
 In addition to the above, there is one Tutor who instructs in Elocution 
 and Constitutional Law, ...... 1 
 
 and in teaching Latin and Greek, .... 2 
 
 13 
 
 I put aside, in Harvard, Professors Jackson, Story, Greenleaf, Bige- 
 low, W. Channing, Hayward, Bond, Francis, and Noyes, because they 
 neither lecture to nor instruct undergraduates ; and also Ware and 
 Treadwell, who lecture on subjects on which there is no corresponding 
 lecturing in Yale. Also, in respect of both institutions, the professors 
 and instructors in modern languages are put aside. 
 
60 
 D. 
 
 At a meeting of the President, Professors, and Tutors of Harvard 
 College, March 15,1786,— 
 
 John Q,uincy Adams, of Braintree, born July 11, 1767, son to his Ex- 
 cellency, John Adams, Esq., Ambassador from the United States at the 
 Court of London, now applied for admission into the Class of Junior 
 Sophisters in this University, and, after examination had, — 
 
 Voted, That, upon his complying with the laws respecting admission, 
 he be admitted into such class. 
 
 N. B. No money was required from Adams, for his admission to this 
 advanced standing ; the Corporation and Overseers having voted, some 
 time before, as a mark of gratitude to his father for the important ser- 
 vices rendered by him to the United States, that he should be admitted, 
 free from all charge, to whatever standing he should, on examination, 
 be found qualified for. 
 
 E. 
 
 Vote passed, June 29, 1839, by the Corporation. 
 Voted, That the Treasurer be authorized, on the application of any 
 candidate for advanced standing in the College, to postpone any demand 
 of the usually required fee, for one year; and if such applicant shall 
 prove himself to have need and merit, after trial of one year, that he be 
 authorized to remit it altogether. 
 
EXTRACT FROM MR. BANCROFT'S " MINORITY REPORT," 
 
 so FAR AS IT IS THE SUBJECT OF COMMENT IN THE PRECEDING 
 SPEECH. 
 
 The undersigned, as one of the Committee of Visitation, attended to 
 the duty assigned him, by repeated visits to the College, by personal 
 observation, and by continued inquiries. 
 
 The undersigned dissents totally from the suggestion that higher 
 qualifications should be the requirement of admission. Such additional 
 requirements could easily be made a part of instruction in the excellent 
 public school in Boston, and in some few academies and private schools. 
 They could not be made general in the preparatory schools of the 
 country ; and they would, therefore, shut the doors of Harvard College 
 still more effectually against almost all but the sons of residents in Bos- 
 ton, and a few favored places. The adoption of the elective system of 
 studies diminishes the motive to such additional requirements. 
 
 The undersigned, acting as one of your Committee, has been more 
 deeply impressed than ever with the disproportion between the magnifi- 
 cent endowments of Cambridge and the comparatively small number 
 who derive a benefit from them. The increase of students has not 
 kept pace with the increase of the population of the Commonwealth. 
 The resort to the College is also becoming more and more con- 
 fined to the sons of residents in Boston and its immediate vicinity. 
 Were the whole Commonwealth as well represented there as this city, 
 the number of students would be at least three-fold greater than at 
 present. It is a serious fact, well worthy the most grave consideration 
 of this Board, that eight prosperous and intelligent counties, which 
 elect a majority of the Senate of this Commonwealth, send to Harvard 
 College fewer pupils than they return Senators to this Board. The 
 counties of Worcester, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, and Berkshire, 
 Norfolk, Bristol, and Barnstable, send this year, through the Senate, 
 more Overseers to Harvard College than their constituents send of their 
 sons. This desertion of the College, by half the Commonwealth, is 
 most deeply to be regretted. The excellent apparatus for instruction, 
 the scientific collections, the library, and the merits of the professors, — 
 among whom are men venerable for their ability, learning, and consci- 
 entious fidelity as instructors, — conspire to nourish the wish, that the 
 resort to the College may be quickened. 
 
62 
 
 The present year, the students from Massachusetts are but one hun- 
 dred and eighty-four. Of these, one hundred and four are from Boston 
 and its three suburbs of Roxbury, Cambridge, and Charlestown ; and 
 but eighty from the rest of the Commonwealth. Leaving out of the 
 account the three counties of Suffolk, Middlesex, and Essex, and all 
 Massachusetts sends but twenty-nine pupils to Harvard College. Yet 
 the Constitution of this State makes it the duty of the Legislature to 
 cherish the University at Cambridge, in order that knowledge may be 
 diffused generally among the body of the people. 
 
 Two causes conspire to diminish the throng to Harvard College. An 
 apprehension exists, that a sectarian character attaches to its govern- 
 ment. Harvard College belongs to no sect. It is the child of the Com- 
 monwealth. It is the house of learning which the people have erected, 
 and which they have founded on the Constitution itself. No sect has a 
 right to the possession of it. No party, religious or political, should 
 control it. In the selection of its teachers, a single eye should be had 
 to capacity and fidelity ; in the selection of the clerical part of the per- 
 manent board of its overseers, ascendency should be given to no one 
 religious denomination. Were every apprehension on this subject dis- 
 pelled, it would go far tow^ards winning for the College universal confi- 
 dence. 
 
 The second cause of the diminution of public favor is the increasing 
 expense of education at Cambridge. The habits of economy at a place 
 of education are affected by the character of the collective body of the 
 pupils. As expenses increase, the sons of the less affluent begin to 
 remain away, and the absence of their influence aggravates the ten- 
 dency to expensive gratifications. But the old-fashioned frugality and 
 rustic simplicity are the best allies of discipline. The undersigned, as 
 one of the Board of Visiters, is not prepared to confirm the remark, 
 that, "in point of disposition to good order and assiduity in study, little 
 more is to be hoped or even to be wished." There remains great room 
 for desirable improvement, which would be promoted by the greater 
 influx of recruits from the country, and from the families of the less 
 wealthy. 
 
 The expenses of tuition have been increased at least fifly per cent, 
 beyond what they formerly were, and for some of the classes thirty- 
 three and a third per cent, beyond what they were when the under- 
 signed was a student. Yet the College has all the time been growing 
 more opulent. The charge for tuition is greater at Cambridge than at 
 those institutions where there are no endowments, and where the pro- 
 fessors depend for their whole livelihood on their success in attracting 
 pupils. It is preposterous to say that this is necessary. 
 
 A diminution of the expense of tuition might bring with it, perhaps, 
 a very small diminution of the number of those engaged in the govern- 
 ment and instruction of the College ; and perhaps a slight increase of 
 
63 
 
 duty to some who are now the least burdened ; yet not such an increase 
 as would affect the character of their places as the most agreeable, 
 most desirable, and least onerous in the country. Or it might leave 
 some inconsiderable portion of their salaries contingent on the number 
 of pupils whom they might draw around them. If so, it would only 
 require them to share, in some little degree, the lot of every lawyer, 
 physician, editor, and private teacher in the community. 
 
 In regard to expense, the undersigned must add a reprobation of a 
 practice of the College, of demanding from students admitted to an ad- 
 vanced standing the tuition, in part, of the previous instruction, which 
 they did not enjoy. In European Universities, such a thing, it is believ- 
 ed, is not heard of. It is extortion, and ought instantly to be abolished. 
 
 To give the Board an opportunity of expressing an opinion on the 
 subject discussed in this report, the undersigned concludes by offering 
 the following resolutions. 
 
 Resolved^ That this Board do not advise an increase in the require- 
 ments for admission to Harvard College. 
 
 Resolved, That, in filling up vacancies in the clerical part of the per- 
 manent Board, care should be taken to avoid giving a majority to any 
 one religious denomination. 
 
 Resolved, That the charge for tuition, in Harvard College, where most 
 of the professorships are endowed, ought not to exceed the charge for 
 tuition in those Colleges which are wholly or principally dependent for 
 support on the tuition fees from students. 
 
 Resolved, That, where students are admitted to an advanced standing, 
 the Board do advise that no charge whatever should be made to them 
 for tuition which they have never received. 
 
 Resolved, That a special committee of three, from the Board, be ap- 
 pointed by the nomination of the chair, to mature and report a plan for 
 the immediate reduction of the expense of tuition in Harvard College, 
 and that the President and Fellows of Harvard College be requested 
 to cooperate with said committee. 
 
 All which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 Boston, January, 1845. 
 
 Lest it should be suggested that full justice has not been done 
 to Mr. Bancroft's statements and views, in the preceding Speech, I 
 have deemed it proper to publish the above extract, which in fact con- 
 tains the whole of the Minority Report, so far as it relates to Har- 
 vard College. The part omitted being introductory, and relating 
 to a controversy, of a somewhat personal nature, between Mr. Bancroft 
 
64 
 
 and Mr. Morey, the Chairman of the Sub-committee of Visitation, 
 it could not, with propriety, be retained and published, without also 
 publishing a long letter from Mr. Morey, controverting the statements 
 of Mr. Bancroft. As the subject of that controversy is not alluded to 
 in the preceding- Speech, I have deemed it more proper to omit whatever 
 related to it in the Minority Report 
 
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