\ 'J 
 
 n 
 
NAUGURAL AdDI^ESS 
 
 OF 
 
 5 JLJ, X^.J 
 
 AS 
 
 I^RESIDEISTT 
 
 HOWARD UNIVERSITY, 
 
 ^b- 
 
 OCTOBER 9, 1877. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. : 
 W. M. STUART, PRINTER^ 
 
 1877. 
 

 (^IT 
 
IISrAUGUBAL ADDRESS. 
 
 The peculiarity of the occasion calls for an appropriate theme, 
 and I therefore invite your attention to The Relation of the 
 Higher Education to a True Civilization, and to the Elevation 
 of a Depressed Race. 
 
 A university fully developed, fitly manned, and adequately 
 endowed is the ripest product of modern civilization. It is 
 at once the outgrowth, the sign, and the guaranty of the highest 
 culture of a land. Sending its roots deep into the soil of past 
 generations, and deriving no small part of its vitalit}^ from the 
 researches and the renown of scholars who have ceased from 
 earthly studies and gone to wider fields of thought, it also draws 
 to itself the life-giving influences of the air and light of con- 
 temporaneous ability and learning. Covering in its various de- 
 partments, academic training, ancient and modern literature, 
 history, philology, natural science, philosophy, art, medicine, 
 law and theology, it ranges over all the past, while possessing the 
 wide present, and touches human thought and action at every 
 possible point. The name itself stands for the idea of complete- 
 ness. Hence since the early part of the twelfth century, Avhen 
 the institutions at Bologna and Paris emerge from their obscure 
 beginnings, the names of the universities suggest the course of 
 European history and the glory of their respective lands. Speak 
 to a man of culture of historical France, and by the side of her 
 military fame he will put the renown of her former university 
 of Paris, with its theological college of the Sorbonne, whose 
 doctors at one time decided the grave disputes of all Europe, 
 and feared not to confront and oppose the infallible Pope himself. 
 Name modern Italy, and the universities of Bologna and Padua, 
 of Ferrara and Pisa, of Naples and Palermo, of Perrugia and 
 Parma, with their illustrious compeers, rush at once into thought. 
 German}^ — I had almost said, what is it, but the product of the 
 centuries of instructions e-iven within the universities of Heidel- 
 
berg, Leipsic, "Wlirtzbur^, Freiburg, Tubingen, Halle, Gottin- 
 gen, and more modern institutions? The influential thinking 
 of G-reat Britain has been done bv the men trained at Cam- 
 bridge and Oxford, at St. Andrews, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh. 
 While our own land has had little but the superabounding 
 name of university, having developed in the place gymnasia, 
 under the title of colleges, yet these, with the higher professional 
 schools, have not been a wholly inadequate substitute, and 
 throughout our brief history they have furnished a large pro- 
 portion of the men who have shaped and administered our 
 national affairs. By the necessity of the case, a university, v ith 
 its several co-ordinate faculties under a common organization, 
 implies variety of knowledge with unity of object, or wide and 
 increasing learning devoted to the advancement of country and 
 mankind. It could exist only as it fell heir to the treasures of 
 the buried past; it could have a right to continue to be, only 
 as it sought to transmit these, with all possible enrichment, to 
 the fast-coming future, and to use them in uplifting the race 
 from the limitations and degradations of ignorance. Slow of 
 growth is such an institution, and it must draw its resources 
 from many quarters, making friends of all lovers of humanity, 
 rejoicing in the smile of the State, and privileged with the 
 blessing of the Church. 
 
 In the Old World such institutions received their earliest 
 inspiration from the Church, springing from the scholastic dis- 
 cussions of the middle ages; but they have also owed their pros- 
 perity largely to the State, which gave them incorporation and 
 revenues, and retained a quite positive control. It was the glory 
 of a king or emperor, to found a university and to build a 
 cathedral. In this New World, the higher institutions of learn- 
 ing have principally sprung from and been supported by private 
 generosity, receiving from the State simply legal recognition iu 
 the form of a charter, with an occasional gift of money or land. 
 It is thus that the colleges of New England and of the Middle 
 States were established. The plan of a State University, under 
 direct legislative control, and supported by the public treasury, 
 which has been attempted at the South and West, has been a 
 
noticeable success in but a single instance, and then at tbe ex- 
 pense of much personal and political contention. The prefer- 
 ence for private control has arisen from a general jealousy of 
 the State, and from the American principle of separating it 
 from everything which concerns religion. A true university 
 must embrace a department of Theology — a fact which, under 
 our American system, at once cuts it ofl'from State support and 
 control, or compels it to exist in a matilated condition, which 
 belies its name; as if a sculptor should carve from the marble 
 an Apollo lacking a limb, or, I might rather say, lacking a 
 head ! Not only so, but it may be predicted that, in the prog- 
 ress of philosophic, scientific, and theologic discussion, as lines 
 shall be more narrowly drawn, and as differing consciences shall 
 come into action. State Universities will find themselves in 
 trouble, even without a theological department; for religion 
 must be taught, or implied, or denied, in all the higher educa- 
 tion ; because its principles run everywhither, and touch human 
 thought and life universally. It is simply impossible to impart 
 a knowledge of philosophy, or history, or classical literature, or 
 modern literature, as these should be studied in university- 
 courses, and in the spirit of a true scholarship, without canvass- 
 ing points which involve religious dift'erences, as between de- 
 nominations of Christians, especially Protestants and Romanists, 
 and as between Christians and the deniers of a supernatural 
 religion. To preserve logical consistency and to avoid serious 
 practical difficulty, it would appear necessary for the State ulti- 
 mately to withdraw entirely from the field of the higher educa- 
 tion, and to confine itself to the secularized common s3hool 
 system for imparting to the masses a knowledge of the needful 
 primary branches. 
 
 But the complete university-training is essential to the de- 
 velopment of any race and nation, and must be a factor in the 
 highest civilization. Every people grows to it wdien rising from 
 barbarism, and then grows by it in the development of the 
 national life. Hence we not only note that the progress of the 
 civilization of modern Europe aijd that of its universities is a 
 parallel progress, but that, at a certain stage of the advancement 
 
6 
 
 of all races, whom we are striving to elevate, the demand is in- 
 evitably made for the establishment of institutions for the higher 
 education. This is found to be necessary to give permanence 
 to the lower stages, as well as to continue the upward movement. 
 Hence, where Christian missions have reached a sufficient de- 
 velopment, they found a college, as a natural result. The 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions have 
 seen five such institutions grow up on tljeir field within twenty 
 years; which will soon be followed by as many more, till amid 
 the benighted races a Christian civilization shall be established 
 upon a firm basis. For every such institution is both reservoir 
 and fountain. It collects from surrounding springs of thought 
 and science whatever tends to human elevatioi:, and it difi'uses 
 this by numberless streams through all classes of societ_y. It is 
 easy and instructive to trace this relation of the University to 
 the development and elevation of the people, which, liowever, 
 we can do but briefly at this time. 
 
 First of all, it establishes the standard of national culture. 
 The " high-water mark" of intellectual advancement is fixed by 
 the university-education, which thus measures and defines the 
 civilization of the people. There are distinct types of mental cul- 
 ture, which are represented by the literati of the various lands, 
 who have their respective standards of learning. Compare, in 
 this respect, the higher education of tlie Chinese, of the Mo- 
 hammedan nations, and of Europe. Each represents a marked 
 advance of the human mind, under such masters as Confucius, 
 Mohammed and Jesus; and in each case the special form of 
 civilization has crystalized m the superior schools or colleges. 
 Hence China never thinks of a progress beyond that attained 
 three thousand years since, as its results are taught in the 
 colleges now maintained in the large cities. In like manner 
 the schools or colleges of the Sottas fix the limit of Moham- 
 medan culture. And even under our own civilization a peculiar 
 stamp is given to the mmd of the individual student and to the 
 conceptions of culture generally entertained, according as the 
 prevailing character of the university-education is Christian or 
 Rationalistic, is Protestant or Romish. In the university is the 
 
tountain-heacl, higher thau which the streams will not rise. 
 Scholarship means acquiring what is there taught. Learn- 
 ing signifies eminent acquisitions in the branches of study 
 there recognized. Thus the difference in the universities ot 
 various lands marks their standards of scholarly culture, which 
 we know to differ precisely in this way, in America, in Great 
 Britain, and in Germany. 
 
 jSText we observe, that these crowning institutions of education 
 excite the enthusiasm and stir the ambition of the best youthful 
 
 minds among a people. They do a double work of selection 
 
 and of training. The selection is of the natural or Darwinian 
 sort. No explorers are sent forth to ascertain who among the 
 youth have genius and aspiration, and to invite or command 
 their attendance within university walls. It is not as when the 
 eye discovers, and the hand grasps, diamonds among pebbles; 
 but rather as when the magnet comes in contact with the sand, 
 and draws to itself the kindred particles. A university exists 
 and does its work in a land, and there are attracted to it, as by 
 a necessity of their nature, the minds that thirst for knowledo-e 
 and that aim at the distinctions known to depend upon knowl- 
 edge. It is in this well-known effect, of suggestion and in- 
 spiration, that at least a partial compensation has been found 
 for the unwise multiplication of colleges in our land. They 
 have doubled the number of those who otherwise would have 
 sought a liberal education. By them the appeal in favor of learn- 
 ing has been brought home to every considerable community 
 urban or rural, by the impressiveness of the buildings, by the 
 sight of the professors and students, by the new topics of con- 
 versation and discussion, and by the influence of the commence- 
 ment occasions and of other public literary exercises. Each has 
 interested a wide circle of friends, on local, reformatory, or de- 
 nominational grounds, has secured endowed scholarships, and 
 has carried the inspiring idea of a possible liberal education 
 down among the people and before the mind of every mechanic's 
 and farmer's boy. Hence come deep and unexpected thoughts 
 the kindling of noble ambitions, and the rousing of latent 
 
powers, resulting in heroic, self-denying effort and triumphant 
 accomplishment. 
 
 In these institutions also is gained the needed preparation for 
 achieving the highest results in each grand department of life 
 and work. The preparation is botli specific and general. The 
 university-education, in the American form, fits specifically for 
 each calling of civilized life in which knowledge and culture 
 and professional acquirements are the conditions of success. 
 To enumerate such departments as the Classical and Scientific 
 Courses, and those of Theology, Philosophy, Medicine, Law 
 and Art, is to represent the leading forces in the politics, 
 literature, religion, science and industry of the world. Hence 
 from the universities will largely come the erudite scholars, the 
 eminent authors, the explorers and discoverers in new fields of 
 thought, the able and accomplished editors, the broad-minded 
 statesmen, the skillful physicians and surgeons, the able in- 
 structors, the eloquent preachers, the competent advocates and 
 judges. Such must have the advantages which a university 
 offers, would they attain to the highest success and fill the 
 entire circle of their responsibilities; for thus alone can they 
 be thoroughly grounded in the principles and details of their 
 respective professions. 
 
 But the general preparation is equally important, as found in 
 the severe intellectual discipline and in the broad literary cul- 
 ture which result from the university-training, and which, aside 
 from professional details, aflord that grasp of mind, solidity of 
 judgment, readiness of faculty, concentration of thought, free- 
 dom from prejudice, and love of truth and beauty, which fit a 
 man for all possible work. This is the result usually least ap- 
 preciated, and yet widest in its bearings. Lord Macaulay gave 
 an admirable illustration of its practical bearings, in his dis- 
 cussion of Civil Service Reform, and of Competitive Examina- 
 tions. In his report he said: 
 
 " Skill in Greek and Latin versification has, indeed, no direct tendency to 
 form a judge, a financier, or a diplomatist ; but the youth who does best what 
 all the ablest and most ambitious youths about him are trying to do well, Avill 
 generally prove a superior man : nor can we doubt that an accomplishment by 
 
9 
 
 whicli Fox and Canuiug, Grreenville and Wellesley, Mansfield and Tenterden 
 first distinguished themselves above their fellows indicates powers of mind 
 which, properly trained and. directed, may do great service to the State." 
 
 So important is his testimony as to the practical character of 
 a liberal education in iitting for official duties of every kind, 
 that I venture on more extended extracts from his speech in 
 1833 on East India Company's Charter Bill: 
 
 " It is proposed that for every vacancy in the civil service four candidates 
 shall be named, and the candidate elected by examination, We conceive that 
 under this systeui the persons sent out will be young men above par— young 
 men superior either in talents or in diligence to the mass. It is said, I know, 
 that examinations in Latin, in Greek, and in mathematics are no tests of what 
 men will prove to be in life. I am perfectly aware that they are not infallible 
 tests, but that they are tests 1 confidently maintain. Look at every walk of 
 life — at this house: at the other house ; at the bar ; at the bench; at the church 
 — and see whether it be not true that those who attain high distinction iu the 
 world are generally men who are distinguished in their academic career. In- 
 deed, sir, this objection would prove far too much, even for those who use it. 
 It would prove that there is no use at all iu education. Why should we put 
 boys out of their way ? Why should we force a lad, who would much rather 
 fly a kite or trundle a hoop, to learn his Latin grammar ? Why should we keep 
 a young man to his Thncydides or his Laplace, when he would rather be shoot- 
 ing ? Education would be mere useless torture if, at two or three and twenty, 
 a man who has neglected his studies weie exactly on a par with a man who has 
 applied himself to them — exactly or likely to perform all the offices of public 
 life with credit to himself and with advantage to society. Whether the English 
 system of education be good or bad is not now the question. Perhaps I may 
 think that too much time is giv(3n to the ancient languages and to the abstract 
 sciences. But what then ? Whatever be the languages, whatever be the 
 sciences which it is in any age and country the fashion to teach, those who be- 
 come the greatest proficients in those languages and those sciences will generally 
 be the flower of the youth— the most acute, the most industrious, the most am- 
 bitious of honorable distinctions. If the Ptolemaic system were taught at 
 Cambridge instead of the Newtonian, the ' Senior Wrangler ' would nevertheless 
 be in general a superior man to the ' Wooden Spoon.' If instead of learning 
 Greek, we learned the Cherokee, the man Avho understood the Cherokee best, 
 who made the most correct and melodious Cherokee verses, who comprehended 
 most accurately the effect of the Cherokee particles, would generally be a 
 superior man to him who was destitute of these accomplishments. If Astrology 
 were taught at our universities, the yonng man who cast nativities best would 
 generally turn out a superior man. If Alchemy were taught, the young man 
 Avho showed the most activity in the pursuit of the philosopher's stone would 
 generally turn out a superior man," — Speeches I, 267, 4''c. 
 
 These are not only the words of a scholar and a statesman, 
 
 but they appeal to the common sense of every man. 
 
 Further, it should be considered that the university-influence 
 
 ultimately tends to elevate the ideas and guide the action of 
 2 
 
10 
 
 the mass of the people. Thought is like water, which spreads 
 in. every direction upon the earth, sinks into every crevice of 
 the rock, and even moistens the air above. The ideas of the 
 university color, in time, the thinking of the masses. Thus, 
 recently in Germany and France, during an age of scholarly 
 unbelief, skepticism and rationalism have come to leaven the 
 entire nation. Materialism in the philosopher issues as Com- 
 munism m the citizen. But if error in such institutions proves 
 pervasive, so does truth; and the reason that, in our own land, 
 the popular mind thus far has sustained evangelical religion, 
 and also, on the whole, wise and righteous measures of civil 
 government, is found in the extent of liberal education from 
 the beginning, by which a high average intelligence has been 
 preserved. Out of the university come the superior teachers 
 for the various grades of schools, as also the leaders of thought 
 and action around whom the people rally, in Church and in 
 State. For in both of these relations the people will have leaders; 
 and if these cannot be provided through educated men in the 
 various professions and business callings, they will be found in 
 ignorant and ambitious men among themselves, or in the un- 
 scrupulous demagogues of a class slightly above them. A 
 thoughtful observer must have felt, during the recent strikes 
 and riots, that one great need of working men is, to be kept in 
 contact with the intelligence and virtue of the upper classes, to 
 partake of their ideas and principles, and to receive leaders of 
 more honesty and wisdom, who shall have a conception of the 
 solidarity of interests in a community. It requires intelligence 
 to have, in the proper sense of the word, a commonwealth; for 
 unity of aim and effort is always made impossible by ignorance, 
 which, in its suspicion and fear, in its narrow vision and sudden 
 impulse, fails to recognize those great principles which necessitate 
 common action, and those true friends who seek broad results 
 and a permanent welfare. 
 
 But it is time for me to pass from these general considera- 
 tions to their more particular connection with the occasion 
 which has convened this intelligent audience. 
 
 Howard University has, in one respect, but a slender claim 
 
11 
 
 to represent the fact and influence of Universitj-Edacatioa. 
 Being at the beginning of its career, with resources confessedly 
 small, pecuniarly and otherwise, an unfriendly critic might 
 suggest that, as with many other American institutions, its 
 name is the grandest thing about it. Doubtless, also, others, 
 who look with a prejudiced eye upon its thoroughly democratic 
 basis of giving equal educational advantages to all, irrespective 
 (<f race or sex, and its special encouragement of the race which 
 hitherto has been largely excluded from literary institutions, 
 wnll indulge in a sneer of contempt for its object, or in an ex- 
 clamation of incredulity as to its success. ISTevertheless it pro- 
 poses to bear its part in the noble work of human elevation, 
 which has been briefly outlined, and its friends have faith to 
 believe that its object will justify itself to every patriot and 
 Christian. Howard University is a child of Providence, and an 
 heir of the new future, born out of the great civil war, which, 
 in saving the National Union, gave freedom to four millions of 
 slaves. That, be it remembered, was an emancipation of four 
 millions of minds, as well as of so many bodies. The greatest 
 crime of slavery was its virtual annihilation of the minds of its 
 victims. Hence, freedom instantly created a demand for an 
 immense addition to the educational instrumentalities of the 
 land, of every grade — for the common school, the high school, 
 the college, a,nd the professional seminary ; that the new citizens 
 might be fitted to assume their responsible position, and to fill 
 every post to which they might be called, from the lowest to 
 the highest. With a wise forecast it was determined to locate 
 at the JSTation's Capital a University, which should be open, in 
 all departments, to young men and young women of every race 
 and color, upon equal terms. For what has learning to do with 
 distinctions of race or complexion ? Is knowledge Caucasian, or 
 Mongolian, or African ? Is literature white, red, yellow, or black? 
 Surely science, as such, has to do with mind, not with varieties 
 of race; with man, not merely with the white man. Every 
 true friend of learning takes as his motto that famous sentiment 
 of the ancient poet, Terence, who was by birth an African and 
 by position a freedman : "Hom.o sum, et nil humani a me alienum. 
 
12 
 
 puto"" — " I am a man, and count nothing that is human foreign 
 to me." In this spirit Howard Universit}^ opens its doors to all 
 comers who thirst for knowledge. And if Dartmouth College, 
 now of honorable and wide repute, began but as a humble school 
 for the North American Indian, there may be a glorious future 
 for this institution, which, excluding none, yet has a word of 
 special encouragement for the non-Caucasian races. The value 
 of such an institution in aiding to solve a national problem, and 
 to meet the pressing wants of millions hitherto in the most de- 
 pressed condition of humanity, will be more evident if we bear 
 in mind certain considerations which often are overlooked. 
 
 First of all, it must never be forgotten by. the colored people, 
 or by their friends, that they can be elevated upon no principles 
 and by no instrumentalities other than those which apply to man- 
 kind in general. As "there is no royal road to learning" to 
 suit dullards of kingly birth, so no peculiar and accommodating 
 pathway to wealth and power, to civilization and culture, opens 
 before those of African descent. Their own expectations and 
 the efforts of those who would assist them must be based simply 
 on their manhood. It is only as this shall be developed and 
 brought to bear upon life's duties and opportunities, that 
 progress can be made in outward condition and in the estima- 
 tion of mankind. There are no sudden results to be secured 
 by artificial means. Neither special legislation, nor military 
 protection, nor favor extended by those in power, nor the 
 peculiar regard and eftbrt of philanthropists will, of themselves, 
 avail to procure the abolition of caste-feeling, and the elevation 
 of the colored people to an entire equality with the whites. 
 The effects of ages of slavery are not to be removed in a day, 
 by a mere legislative vote. An amendment to the Constitution 
 alters no fact of ignorance, of poverty, of moral debasement. 
 The prejudices of the whites, descending through generations, 
 imbibed by individuals in infancy and strengthened by uni- 
 versal sentiment, practice, and association of ideas, cannot be 
 easily and soon overcome, and are not, so far as feeling is con- 
 cerned, wholly within the power of volition, so as to be anni- 
 hilated at will. They will vanish gradually in the presence of 
 
13 
 
 inereasiDg evidence of a noble manhood. Developed intel- 
 lectual power, the higher education, success in industrial pur- 
 suits, the acquirement of wealth and culture and character, will 
 cause it to disappear as the sun does the heavy, chilly, obscuring 
 mists which night generates in the valleys. When I deposit a 
 gold coin on the table, it commands a certain degree of respect. 
 No one is obliged to argue in its behalf. It speaks for itself. 
 Having intrinsic value and the added stamp of the national 
 mint, it represents so many grains of precious metal and their 
 equivalent in whatever money will buy. Hence everj^body 
 welcomes it, and looks upon it with regard. Will the result 
 not be analogous, when the colored man shall be seen to have 
 an intrinsic value equal to that of the white man ? When one 
 shall no longer associate with him the ideas of bondage, 
 pauperism, and barbarism, but those of freedom, prosperity, in- 
 telligence, and culture? When he shall not only carry in his 
 person the stamp of American citizenship, but shall come out 
 from a university-training a scholar and a gentleman, like a 
 glittering coin from the die ? 
 
 But in securing this result, so diihcult and yet so essential, the 
 process must be such as to throw the colored man under every 
 possible quickening influence. Hence it is not best to separate 
 him carefully from his white brother, and to raise him in an 
 institution by himself, like a tender plant in a hothouse. He 
 needs the contact with the more advanced race. The 
 acknowledgment of his manhood thus given will add to his 
 self-respect, and will tire his nobler ambitions, while the white 
 man will be essentially benefitted by layin gaside his unrepub- 
 lican and unchristian caste-feeling, and coming into sympathy 
 with Burns's immortal declaration, which is true as regards the 
 color of the skin, as well as of poverty, that 
 
 " A man 's a mau for a' that ! " 
 
 Colored youth educated wholly apart from the whites lose the 
 stimulus of the competition which they need to have; for it is 
 well known that the progress of a scholar depends upon his 
 classmates as well as upon his teacher. An ea<>;er, industrious, 
 
14 
 
 ambitious, and able class will tone up every mind wbich is in 
 it, while a set of dull, apathetic, slothful students will hanoj as 
 a dead weight upon each individual associated with them. 
 Hence it is not so important to have institutions of learning 
 expressly for the colored race, as it is to have those which are 
 open to them ou equal terms with otliers. And such is the 
 true character of Howard University, the charter of whicb 
 makes no allusion to race or color, but simply says that there 
 "is hereby established, in the District of Columbia, a University 
 for the education of youth in the liberal arts and sciences, under 
 the name, style, and title of 'Howard University.' " There is 
 therefore no charter-hindrance to its developing into a truly 
 grand National University, filled with students from all parts 
 of our widely-extended country, and drawn from all the races 
 which compose its varied population. For when the United 
 States made over to the University property of great value, the 
 Trustees properly pledged the institution never to make any 
 distinction, in its treatment of students, based upon race, color, 
 or previous condition of bondage. It can never, therefore, pro- 
 scribe a man because he is white, or because he is black ; because 
 he was descended from Shem, or from Ham, or from Japheth ; 
 because he was born a king or a slave. And already not a 
 few students of Anglo-Saxon blood, have availed themselves of 
 its privileges, while the North American Indian, the Chinese, 
 the South American, and the Greek have here joined the Negro 
 in the zealous pursuit of knowledge. In one department (the 
 Medical) for several years the majority of the students have 
 been white. By such a proper recognition of the colored man 
 in the higher branches of learning, and his consequent necessity 
 of competition with those whom he aspires to equal, there will 
 be secured for him a rapid elevation in intellect and character. 
 Every case which is at all parallel, confirms the validity of 
 our reasoning. The classical scholar will, perhaps, remember 
 that Cicero, in writing to one of his friends, advises him, when 
 he has occasion to purchase a slave, not to buy one of those stupid 
 Britons. Doubtless, after the Roman wars in Britain, thousands 
 of captives had been sent to Italy and exposed for sale, accord- 
 
15 
 
 ing to ancient custom ; and those who bought them had learned 
 that they were intellectually inferior to slaves obtained from 
 other sources. Why does a Briton no longer bear such a repu- 
 tation ? Because generations of favorable influences have 
 brought him out of the barbaric condition in which he then was, 
 and have educated him into the representative of civilization. 
 Take the case of the Jew, who, in the middle ages, and even till 
 within a century, was regarded with universal odium through- 
 out Christendom, was excluded from society, wns compelled to 
 live in a separate part of every European city, and was insulted 
 on the street with impunity by any vulgar ruffian. Why has 
 he now almost universal recognition, on an equality with his 
 Gentile brethren ? Because he has not only acquired wealth, 
 but has displayed ability in every department of human 
 achievement; because he has furnished Europe with leaders in 
 philosophy, in history, in philology, in statesmanship, and in 
 arts. A modified illustration may even be drawn from the 
 feelings entertained towards certain classes of immigrants in 
 this country. In every land a foreigner is viewed with a 
 measure of disfavor ; but for a long time the American popular 
 feeling was one of special aversion towards ttie immigrant 
 Irish and Germans. The mass of them were of the lower 
 classes, and in their poverty, coarseness, and ignorance seemed 
 below the average American. But since the educated classes 
 have arrived, and since the children of the earlier comers 
 have been to the common schools, and have risen, in many 
 cases, to wealth and to political position, the current of opinion 
 and feeling has rapidly changed, and one less often hears 
 contemptuous references to " the Irish " and " the Dutch." 
 There can be no reasonable doubt, then, that educational 
 forces, rightly brought to bear upon tlie colored people, will 
 in time work a change in the matter of prejudice; which is only 
 partially an incident of difference of feature and complexion, 
 and is principally a manifestation of caste-pride. 
 
 And here the privileges of a university-training will show- 
 marked results, not only in individuals, but also in the general 
 mass. For, in order to such a result, all classes of men need 
 
16 
 
 appropriate leaders, who shall honorably represent them before 
 others, and who, possessing tlieir confidence, shall wisely guide 
 their aims and efforts in every department of action. The mass 
 of men must and will have leaders. They are gregarious by 
 instinct, and they have not the intelligence to judge and act 
 independently. The ignorant become the victims of ambitious, 
 self-sufBcient and incompetent, even if well-meaning leaders. 
 It is the case of the blind leading the blind, with the proverbial 
 result. They also fall an easy prey to designing and hypocritical 
 demagogues, who flatter their vanity, work upon their fears, 
 feed their hopes, appeal to their unenlightened prejudices, and 
 use them as tools with which to work out personal and selfish 
 ends. He must have been a superficial student of human nature 
 in general, and an unsophisticated admirer of negro character 
 in particular, who can persuade himself that the ignorant and 
 unexperienced freedmen of our Southern States have not suf- 
 fered extensively in these very ways. Only a perpetual miracle 
 could have preserved them. Beyond question they have often 
 been deceived and led astray, religiously and politically,, by 
 white men and by those of their own race, who abused their 
 confidence. It is no more certain that emancipation carried to 
 the South a large body of self-denying Christians and philan- 
 thropists, anxious to instruct and elevate the freedmen, and 
 who had their true interests at heart, than it is that there wont 
 thither also ambitious and unscrupulous adventurers, who cared 
 for the colored race only as some northern politicians care for 
 the Irish, courting them to obtain their votes and to use them as 
 tools for selfish and corrupt ends. It is this fact, with its natural 
 results, which occasions such a malignant utterance as that which 
 the newspapers ascribe to Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, who is repre- 
 sented as recently saying of the colored people: " They are to be 
 governed as every race of paupers are governed — by those who 
 own the property and give them bread, and just the same as 
 the red man is governed. No inferior man, no man without 
 civilization, has a chance in this race, and I want to save this 
 people from their worst fortunes in the contest. As his friends 
 tried to control him by force and by fraud, we will control him 
 by fraud and force, to prevent him from bringing ruin to us." 
 
17 
 
 If the colored people remain in ignorance, poverty, and degra- 
 dation, and thus become the natural prey of false friends and 
 open enemies, what can prevent the sentiment of Mr. Toombs 
 from becoming general ? The only certain corrective for this 
 evil is general and special education, which shall raise the 
 average intelligence of the masses, so as to make them more 
 capable and independent in their judgments of men and 
 measures, and which shall also provide appropriate leaders 
 worthy of their confidence from among themselves. These 
 leaders must be such as naturally come to the front in 
 organized and cultivated society — the men in all professions 
 and pursuits who to native talent add superior education. 
 There must be a speedy addition of cultivated mind to the 
 colored population if it is to be saved from follies which will be 
 fatal. That grade of mind must operate not only directly and 
 purposely through public addresses and by the press, but in all 
 those quiet, incidental, and unconscious ways of daily and hourly 
 intercourse, which are equally or even more etiective. Hence 
 we must have colored lawyers, physicians, editors, authors, 
 clergymen, artists, statesmen, and teachers, whose attainments 
 shall be equal to those of white men in similar occupations, and 
 whose expressed opinions shall have just weight with their race 
 on the various mooted questions which may arise in Church 
 and State. 
 
 But, as the Theological Department of our University em- 
 phatically intimates, we include the religious among the most 
 powerful and necessary of the educational forces needed to 
 elevate a depressed race. And herein is our advantage over 
 any university supported and controlled by the civil State ; 
 which is not only precluded from having a department of 
 theology, but is much fettered in its attempt to recognize and 
 use the Christian religion. Howard University seeks to imbue 
 its students with the principles of the gospel, and to surround 
 them continually with a Christian atmosphere; believing that 
 there can be no genuine success which does not include char- 
 acter, and that there is no such power to regenerate character 
 as the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing else so purifies the 
 motives as well as the life, presents so high an ideal, and de- 
 
18 
 
 velops such a sense of responsibility for maldng the most of a 
 man, for his own sake and that of the world. We attach a 
 special importance to the Theological Department, therefore, be- 
 cause the colored people need an educated ministry, to deliver 
 them from degrading superstitions, to preserve the more in- 
 telligent from the errors of infidelity, and to furnish all their 
 communities with those who shall favor genuine progress in 
 whatever tends to the elevation of their race. As the institution 
 receives aid and students from all denominations of Protestant 
 Christians, this department is conducted in the way of genuine 
 catholicity. Four denominations are represented in its Faculty, 
 and it is under the special supervision and care of the Presby- 
 tery of Washington and the American Missionary Association 
 at New York, who unitedly provide the instructions and the 
 pecuniary support. Prominence will be given, in the instruction, 
 principally to the doctrines common to evangelical Christianity, 
 rather than to the peculiar tenets of the rival sects; which latter 
 are viewed historically and descriptively rather than for polemic 
 purposes. Here the friends of the freedmen may unite on a 
 broad Christian ground, above the contentions of party zealots, 
 to secure for the best minds a liberal training which yet shall 
 be true to the positive teaching of the New Testament. And 
 we lay the greater stress on this feature, because the chief foes 
 of our evangelical faith, at the present time, among the freed- 
 men, as elsewhere, are Romanism and Skepticism; against both 
 of which it becomes Protestant Christians to stand in solid 
 phalanx rather than in divided companies. 
 
 It may be appropriate here to state, for the information of 
 the public, that Howard University has now in operation, pre- 
 pared to receive students, these several departments; 
 
 I, The Academic, which includes five courses of study, from 
 that of the elementary English branches to the usual Classical 
 College course. 
 
 n. The Medical, with a large and finely equipped building, a 
 connected hospital of three hundred beds, and an able facult}^ — 
 a department having so many professional advantages, that the 
 majority of its students are usually white, and the numbers are 
 continually increasing. 
 
19 
 
 III. The Legal. This was last year temporaril}' discontinued, 
 owing to various difficulties, personal and pecuniary; but it has 
 been reopened this autumn on a small scale, and with hopeful 
 indications for the future. 
 
 IV. The Theological, (tf which I have already spoken, and 
 where may be found a goodly company of pious men, usually 
 of quite mature age, some of whom are already preachers in 
 their own denominations, and whose previous advantages have 
 been ver^^ small, but who desire to gain what additional knowl- 
 edge they may, to fit them to be the religious teachers of their 
 race. With their meager previous preparation we cannot usually 
 carry tliem through as high and thorough a course as we could 
 desire, but we aim to do good work with them so far as their 
 limited time and training will allow. 
 
 Through divine favor, the generous and enlightened action 
 of the United States Government, and the liberality of the 
 Christian public, Howard University has been furnished with 
 spacious grounds and numerous buildings, costing over half a 
 million of dollars, ample for its purposes for jenrs to come, and 
 which not inelegantly crown their commanding site, whence 
 the eye takes in a prospect of peculiar beauty, including the 
 entire city of Washington. There are, besides, valuable vacant 
 lands, adjoining and in other parts of the city, from the sale of 
 which the University hopes eventually to secure partial endow- 
 ments, but which, in these times of depression, cannot be put 
 upon the market. Its productive property affords but a small 
 income, insufficient to pay the current expenses on their present 
 restricted scale, and requiring to be liberally supplemented by the 
 gifts of the friends of the institution. It has also no permanent 
 scholarships for the aid of indigent students, but is compelled to 
 rely, for this purpose, upon the annual contributions of the 
 charitable. Yet it will be seen that such broad and deep 
 foundations have been laid, as to make it safe and wise for the 
 benevolent and patriotic to build largely upon them in the 
 future. It was the misfortune of the University to commence 
 when the country was in the intoxication of supposed wealth, 
 when large plans were laid and corresponding expenses were 
 
20 
 
 incurred, when not only was the present used, but also the 
 future was discounted, and debts were everywhere the order 
 of the day; and also when the enthusiasm for the elevation of 
 the negro was at its height, immediately upon the close of the 
 war. It has consequent!}' shared in the reverses of the times, 
 while a partial reaction has t..ken place in the feelings of the 
 North with, respect to the freedmen, and it has had also the in- 
 ternal changes of administration which accompany fluctuating 
 fortunes. But its friends now feel that the tide is to turn once 
 more in its favor. The floating debt of over one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, of three years since, has been entirely discharged, 
 and the only permanent debt on its valuable property is one of 
 eleven thousand dollars. There is reason to believe that it will 
 soon begin to share in the large benefactions of living philan- 
 thropists and Christians, and that it wall be liberally remembered 
 in the wills of those who may be desirous of leaving behind, at 
 their death, a perpetual fountain of blessing for coming gener- 
 ations. 
 
 In closing, the speaker may be permitted a few words persona! 
 to himself. In the latter part of a life which has always devoted 
 a large share of thought and action to the welfare of the colored 
 race, he iinds himself called, in the providence of God, to pre- 
 side over the interests of this rising and important institution, 
 of whose object and resources he has been speaking. He is 
 conscious how inadequate are his powers and various attain- 
 ments to the full discharge of the duties of this position, and it 
 is therefore with humility rather than with pride that he enters 
 upon them. His trust is in the kind indulgence and active co- 
 operation of those who shall be associated with him in the various 
 departments of instruction and in the Board of Trustees, while 
 above all he would crave tlie blessing of that God whose is all 
 truth, in every department of learning; who delights in the 
 progress of his rational creatures in knowledge and holiness; 
 who is ruling this world in the interests of the kingdom of his 
 Son, Jesus Christ; who, for some great purpose, has brought out 
 of bondage the millions of the freedmen; and who, for a coinci- 
 dent end has established Howard University! 
 
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