NOX COLLEGE,
BY WHOM
FOTUNDED AND1 ENDOWED;
ALSO,
A REVIEW
OF
A PA.  M=PI-Ha:LEiT:E NTITrL:ED
"RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS IN KNOX COLLEGE."
BY X JW.'VB. BAILEY.
CHICAGO:
PRESS & TRIBUNE BOOK & JOB PRINTING OFFICE, 51 CLARK ST.
1860.








BY WHOM
FOUNTDED   D AND ENDOWED;
ALS O,
A REVIEW
OF
PA.:l/iPH3LET  E3NTITLEDl
"RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS IN  KNOX  COLLEGE."
B3Y  J. WV. BAILEY.
CHICAGO:
PRESS & TRIBUNE BOOK & JOB PRINTING OFFICE, 51 CLARK ST.
1860.








INTRODUCTION.
GALESBURG, ILL., July, 1859.
REv. J. W. BAILEY:
SIn: The Congregational General Association of Illinois, at their
last meeting, adopted, and have since published an elaborate report,
presented by a committee previously appointed, entitled "Rights of
Congregationalists in Knox College."  That report professes to give
the results of a thorough investigation by the committee, of the facts
in the case. You know, as we all know, that no such investigation
was made, and that the statements of the report, taken at secondhand, are erroneous in all important particulars. Believing that
such a document, if not publicly disproved, will do much injury to
the College, and injustice to the Board of Trustees, we, as resident
members of that Board, earnestly request you, at your earliest convenience, to prepare a full and well attested statement of the origin
and endowment of Knox College, with special reference to the
denominational character, and the purposes and intentions of its
founders.  We wish, furthermore, that you would review and expose
the fallacies, and misrepresentations of the pamphlet above named,
so far as a vindication of the past action of the Board, and the
future interests of the College may seem to demand. By complying
with this request, you will do an important service to the Institution,
and confer a lasting benefit upon the community, who are interested
and anxious to know the truth.
J. G. SANBURN,
S. F. DOLBEAIR,
GEo. W. GALE,
N. IH. LosEY,
J. BUNCE,
H. CURTIS,
J. BULL,
SILVANUS FERnIs.
The above note sufficiently explains the reasons which led to
the preparation of this pamphlet. Many things have been written of late concerning Knox College, by various parties, none
of whom have based their statements upon a careful personal
examination of those documents relating to the matter, which
alone can be relied upon as containing the exact truth. Some




4-                      KNOX COLLEGE.
have written from  memory, which, however faithful it may be
in presenting main facts, cannot but prove treacherous sometimes in regard to minute  details.   Others, including almost
all who have written against the College, have been content to
put in print as matters of undeniable fact, vagrant rumors and unfounded conclusions, favorable to their purpose, such as always circulate through every community which is at all agitated by the discussion of any important question. In discharging the duty imposed upon me by the Trustees of Knox College, whose names are
attached to the above note, I determined upon these two things:
First, to examine every book and paper belonging to the College, or
to be found elsewhere, which related to its history from its origin
until now. Second, to select and publish such portions of these
documents as were necessary to enable the public to form for themselves an independent judgment of the nature of their testimony.
In performing the first part of this labor, all the records and reports
and correspondence of the original association by whom the College
was founded, and of their agents and committees, have been carefully read. The records of the College, and the many reports of
various committees of its Board, from  its organization until the
present time, have also been read. The books and the reports of
the Treasurer have been examined on all the points involved in the
duty assigned me. The records of the First Presbyterian Church
in Galesburg, which was the first Church established here, have
been read with great care, from the time the first meetings were
held with reference to an organization, down to the last year.
Much miscellaneous matter, bearing upon the history of the College,
has also received an attentive perusal. In all this labor, the sole
object has been to make myself personally familiar with all the facts
which I desired to present to the public, and thus to escape the
charge of having narrated anything important upon second-hand
testimony. I have first examined the documents upon which all
my statements are based in every instance, and then have given
these documents to the public that they may test the accuracy of
my statements. Only in this way can the public be sure that they
are not misled. It is not individual opinions upon controverted
points that is asked for by those interested in this matter, so much
as the facts upon which all correct opinions must be based. With
the facts in their possession, all can form their own opinions. Without these, the public must always remain in uncertainty, especially
when opinions are divided.




INTRODUCTION.                          6
The publication of the pamphlet has been delayed beyond the
time when it was first promised. This has arisen from the pressure
of other duties, and from the amount of labor involved in such an
examination as I had undertaken, which has been mu6h greater than
anyl one can imagine who has never been engaged in a similar
work. The pamphlet is now sent forth to the public with the earnest desire that it may prove instrumental in correcting the many
errors which have of late been widely circulated concerning the
College. That man is not to be envied who can take pleasure in
doing injury to such an institution as Knox College. The extraordinary efforts to impair its usefulness which have been made of late by
more persons than one, indicate a state of feeling on this subject
which cannot be regarded as praiseworthy. The Colleges of the State
of Illinois are among its chief agencies for securing the highest
prosperity of the people. Whoever injures them commits a great
wrong against the whole State. The public will not fail to hold to
a strict accountability, any man, or aly class of men, who for selfish
ends decry and misrepresent and seriously injure their Colleges.
J. W. BAILEY.
GALESBURG, ILL., March, 1860.
The undersigned, Secretary and Treasurer of the Board of Trust
of Knox College, have examined carefully all the references to, and
extracts from, the records and other documents in our possession,
made by Rev. J. W. BAILEY, in a pamphlet entitled " Knox College, etc., etc.," and we hereby certify that such references and ex.
tracts are strictly correct.
S. F. DOLBEAR,
Secretary of the Board of Trust.
0. S. PITCHER,
Treasurer.








KNOX COLLEGE.
ITS ORIGIN.
KiNOX COLLEGE, in Galesburg, Illinois, was founded on the 7th
day of January, in the year 1836, by a number of persons then
living in the State of New York, who were associated together as
Subscribers to a Plan for establishing literary institutions in the
West.  Those Subscribers met on that day, in Whitesboro', N. Y.,
and there, in accordance with their Plan, organized the College,
appointed its Board of Trustees, and then donated to it several
thousand acres of land lying in Illinois, where Galesburg now is,
which they had purchased solely as an endowment for the College.
The sale of these lands has furnished nearly all the money which
has been required to meet the current expenses of the Institution,
including the College proper, an Academy, a Preparatory Department, and a Female Seminary, and also to erect large and costly
buildings; and which has so enriched its treasury that it is now one
of the wealthiest Colleges in our land. The present noble endowment
of this College has been derived almost wholly from the liberality
of its founders.
The credit of the whole enterprise is due in the first instance to
the Rev. George W. Gale, D. D., a Presbyterian, from  whom  the
Plan, in all its details, originated, and to whose persevering efforts
and many personal sacrifices it owed its consummation. His Plan,
in its main features, was to secure by subscription, money enough
to purchase in some desirable location in the Western States, government land to the amount of one township, or thirty-six square
miles.  Out of this land when purchased, enough was to be reserved
for the site of a village, and also of the College which was to be
organized.  The remainder of the land was to be divided into farms
of convenient size, and appraised at an average value of five dollars
an acre, which would be just four times the amount paid for it.
At this increased valuation, the Subscribers were to be allowed to
take farming lands to the amount of their subscription.  The re



8                        KNOX COLLEGE.
mainder was to be donated to the College. The village property
was also to be divided into suitable building lots, and sold only to
actual settlers.  The money thus obtained was to be appropriated
to an Academy and a Young Ladies' Seminary, so far as needed,
and the remainder to the College. The Circular and details of the
Plan are here published, and deserve the attentive perusal of the
reader, as they show the enlarged views of Mr. Gale and of those
who engaged with him in founding the College, and that the enterprise was one of pure Christian benevolence.
CIRCULAR AND PLAN.
"The indications of Providence, as well as the requisitions of
Christ, impose on Christians of this day peculiar obligations to devise and execute, as far as in them lies, liberal and efficient plans
for spreading the gospel through the world.  The supply of an
evangelical and able ministry, is in the whole circle of means, confessedly the most important for the accomplishment of this end: all
other means are the mere aids  and implements of the living
preacher.  And yet, important as it is to the sustaining of the
church, and the conversion of the world, there is reason to believe
that the business of furnishing a devoted and efficient ministry,
has entered less into the calculations of Christians at large, than
any other department of benevolent effort of the present day;
certainly much less in proportion to its magnitude. Perhaps they
have thought this a work peculiarly the Lord's, in which they had
very little to do. But the language of our Saviour,'Pray ye the
Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers,' and the fact that they
are to be furnished, not by miracle, but by the slow process of
education, prove, that we have much to do; especially when we
look at the field which our own country, to say nothing of the wide
world, spreads out before us; a field'white for the harvest.'
Who that loves the souls of men can look on this field and not
feel his heart affected, and not tax his energies to the utmost, as
well as offer his most fervent prayers to the Lord of the harvest,
that he would furnish thelaborers? Who that loves the institutions
of his country, can look upon it without alarm, when he reflects that
in a few, a very few years, they will be in the hands of a population
reared in this field; and reared, unless a mighty effort be made by
evangelical Christians, under the forming hand of those who are no
less the enemies of civil liberty, than of a pure gospel?  What is
done to prevent this ruin must be done quickly. It is perfectly
within the power of evangelical Christians in this country, under
God, to furnish, and that speedily, all the laborers wanted on this
field, besides doing much towards supplying the world. The men
are already furnished; if not,'the Lord of the harvest' will




CIRCULAR AND PLAN.                       9
furnish them. Hundreds of youth of talent, and piety, and enterprise, stand ready to enter upon the work of preparation, whenever
a'wide and effectual door is opened' for them.  The manual
labor system, if properly sustained and conducted, will open to
them that door. It is peculiarly adapted not only to qualify men
for the self-denying and arduous duties of the gospel ministry,
especially in our new settlements and missionary fields abroad, but
to call them out; to induce them to enter upon the work of preparation. It is an important fact that while other institutions
are many of them, greatly in want of students, these, with all
the disadvantages under which they have to labor, are not only
filled, but great numbers are rejected  for want of means to
accommodate them. Let institutions be established on this plan,
having all the requisitions and facilities for profitable labor, in
connection with the advantages for literary acquisitions enjoyed in
our well endowed seminaries, and there will be no lack of students;
especially.if there be added to these the means of gratuitous instruction to the indigent.  Let such  provision be made, and
three-fourths of the indigent young men will ask no other aid; and
should they ask it, the church would do them  a favor to refuse
them, and leave them to their efforts to make up the deficiency.
It is beginning to be believed, and not without good reason, that
females are to act a much more important part in the conversion of
the world, than has been generally supposed; not as preachers of
the gospel, but as help-meets of those who are; and as instructors
and guides of the rising generation, not only in the nursery, but in
thepublic school: it should therefore be an object of special aim
with all who pray and labor for the conversion of the world, to
provide for the-thorough and well directed education of females.
Experiment has already proved, that manual labor may be successfully introduced into Female Seminaries, and that it is highly
conducive to health and piety, and adapted to reduce the expenses
of education, sufficiently to encourage many young ladies to qualify
themselves in such seminaries for fields of usefulness, who, without
that encouragement would never have put forth such efforts. What
has been done on this subject shows the importance, and proves the
feasibility of doing much more. It is perfectly in the power of a
few families of moderate property to rear up such institutions, at
this time, in the valley of the Mississippi, on a permanent basis,
with a great part of the endowment required, and on a liberal and
extensive scale, with great advantage to themselves and families.
Such a plan is here proposed, with the design, if it may please the
Lord, to carry it into effect.
PLAN.
Let a subscription be opened for such Institutions in some part of
the valley to be fixed upon by a majority of the Subscribers, and
when $40,000 shall have been raised, let those who propose to settle
in the vicinity of the Institutions meet and elect a Board of Trustees,




10                       KNOX COLLEGE.
who shall have charge of all the funds, the appointment of officers,
and perform other duties usually belonging to trustees of literary
institutions. Let a committee also be appointed by the Subscribers,
to locate the Institutions, and make a purchase of land under such
instructions as shall be given them.
2. Let a tract or tracts of land be purchased equal in quantity at
least, to a town six miles square, at the government price, if it can
be so obtained, and let this land, or so much of it as may be wanted
by the Subscribers, be appraised at five dollars an acre, on an average; every Subscriber who shall purchase eighty acres, or half a
quarter-section, to be paid for by the money subscribed, shall be
entitled to the gratuitous instruction of one youth in the College,
Preparatory School, or Female Seminary, for twenty-five years,
which right may be used, rented, or sold at his pleasure.  The same
privilege shall be attached to every eighty acres thus purchased by
original Subscribers.
3. After paying for the land, the remainder of the fund of 40,000
dollars, and as much more as the Board of Trustees may judge expedient, shall be expended as soon as practicable in the erection of
College edifices. The title of all land not deeded to the original
settlers, shall be vested in the Board of Trustees. Mill-seats in
the tract shall be at their disposal for the benefit of the College fund.
4. Three contiguous sections, of 640 acres, shall be reserved for
the purposes of' the College and the village, to be appropriated as
the Board shall order.  The village shall be laid out into lots by a
committee appointed by the Subscribers, and appraised in a manner
similar to the farms. Those who choose may have a lot, or lots in
the village at the same rate that the quarter sections of land are
appraised on average, with the same right of gratuitous education
attached.
5. All the land purchased, except that of the village, after
supplying the original Subscribers, shall be sold or rented, as the
Board may deem best, for the interest of the College.  Out of this
land and such other money as may be obtained, a fund of 50,000
dollars should be set apart in scholarships of 400 dollars each, as a
permanent fund, the interest of which shall be applied to defray the
expense of tuition and room rent for pious and indigent young men
who have the ministry in view.
The money arising from village lots shall constitute a fund for the
erection of a Female Seminary, and Academy, or a preparatory
school for male youth, and for the support of teachers.  If the fund
amount to more than 50,000 dollars, it may be applied to the support
of the College.
6. The College to be established shall be on the manual labor plan,
every pupil being required to labor not more than three, nor less
than two hours a day on the farm, in the garden, or in mechanic
shops.  The course of study shall be liberal and thorough; the
Bible, in the original tongue, shall be made a class book; and
among others, there shall be a professor who shall perform  the spe



CIRCULAR AND PLAN,                             11
cial duties of a pastor to the students connected with the College
and preparatory school.
7. The Female Seminary shall be under the care of a gentleman,
as principal, who shall have the general management arid spiritual
instruction of the pupils.  The immediate government and literary
instruction shall chiefly be committed  to ladies.  The Institution
shall be of a high order as it respects instruction, and adapted to
give  such  an  education  as an iintelligent Christian parent would
wish; and the instruction so directed as to qualify the pupils for the
business of instructing, or for missionary  or domestic life.  The
preservation of health by systematic exercise shall receive special
attention.  Manual labor, so far as it may be desired by the parent,
or necessary to reduce expense for the encouragement of indigent
pupils, shall be incorporated with it.
8. A Theological Seminary, and Medical School, shall be established in connection with the College as soon as it shall be thought
best by the Board, and funds can be raised.
9. One half of the subscription money shall be payable when the
sum proposed of 40,000 dollars shall have been subscribed by responsible persons; and the other half in one year after, with interest
firom the time the first instalment is due; a note being given for the
same to the Board of Trustees.
10. These articles may be amended or altered by the Subscribers
comprehended in the original subscription  of $40,000 whenever a
majority of them shall think best; provided no right of property is
infringed, and the essential constitution and design of the literary
institutions are not changed thereby."
With this plan MIr. Gale went almost exclusively among those of
his personal friends who were connected with Presbyterian churches
in Central and Eastern New York, and solicited their cooperation
in his work.  In the early part of the year 1835, he had secured
subscriptions to the amount of about twenty-one thousand dollars.*
Although this was only a little more than one-half the amount required to be raised by the plan, yet it was thought best, by those
most interested, to call a meeting of the Subscribers at this time,
in order to organize and send out at once a Committee of Exploration.  That meeting was held on the sixth day of May, 1835, at
Rome, New York.  The minutes of that meeting  and of all subsequent meetings of the Subscribers to 3r. Gale's plan, are entered
* In addition to this seireral persons,, not Subscribers, agreed to loan the Association a few
thousand dollars if it should be needed. This money was to be paid back, with interest, as soon as
possible. The money was never reqcuired by the Association. In a statement made two years ago,
by parties connected with the College, this sum was added to that pledged by the Subscribers, and
the total given at about $28,000, without indicating that a part was pledged by persons who were
not Subscribers, and pledged only as a loan.'he whole sum pledged by Subscribers was, as stated
above, only about $21,000.




12                      KNOX COLLEGE.
in the first volume of the College Records, and are all recorded as
having been approved by the Board of Trustees after the College
was founded. The following are the minutes of the
FIRST MEETING OF THE SUBSCRIBERS.
"At a meeting of the Subscribers to the Circular of G. W. Gale,
proposing to establish a literary institution in the Valley of the
Mississippi, (see plan annexed to the previous page) held at the
session-room of the 1st Presbyterian Church, in Rome, on Wednesday, May 6, 1835, the following proceedings were had:
After spending a season in prayer, the meeting was called to
order by the appointment of the Rev. John Waters, Chairman, and
T. B. Jervis, Secretary.
On motion of Rev. Mr. Gale,.Resolved, That a committee be chosen to nominate a Prudential
Committee.
Resolved, That the Nominating Committee consist of Rev. Mr.
Kellogg, Rev. Mr. Gale and Mr. Holt.
On motion of Rev. Mr. Kellogg,
Resolved, That Messrs. Blodget, T. B. Jervis and Stedmlan, be
appointed a committee to bring before the meeting in the afternoon
such topics of discussion as, in their opinion, should engage the
attention of the meeting.
Adjourned to 2 o'clock P. M.
At 2 o'clock the meeting convened according to adjournment.
The Committee of Nomination reported that they recommend that
the Prudential Committee should not exceed eleven, and the following persons as members, with power to fill vacancies, viz: Walter
Webb, Adams; Nehemiah West, Ira; Thomas Gilbert, Rome;
John C. Smith, Utica; G. W. Gale, Whitesboro'; H. H. Kellogg,
Clinton.
The report was accepted and adopted.
Resolved, That the Prudential Committee procure the exploration
of the country lying in the States of Indiana and Illinois, between
the 40th and 42nd degrees of north latitude, with reference to
selecting the best location in the district for the projected literary
Institution.
Resolved, That an Exploring Committee of three be appointed by
the Prudential Committee.
Resolved, That the Prudential Committee be authorized to assume
the expense that has been incurred, and also that which it is necessary to incur in raising the fund of forty thousand dollars.
Resolved, That the Prudential Committee be authorized to incur
such expense as may be necessary to accomplish the objects of their
appointment.
Resolved, That the Prudential Committee beinstructed to call a




FIRST MEETING OF SUBSOIBERS.               13
meeting of the Subscribers to the fund, as soon as they shall be able
to communicate such information as in their view is necessary to
enable the Subscribers to instruct a Purchasing Committee.
T. B. JERVIS, Sec'y."
On the same day on which they were appointed, the Prudential
Committee met and organized, and then, according to their instructions, appointed an Exploring Committee, consisting of Nehemiah
West, Thomas Gilbert, and Timothy B. Jervis. They also appointed Rev. G. W. Gale a general agent of the Association, formed
by the Subscribers.
The agent and all the members of both the above committees
were Presbyterians.
The minutes of this meeting of the Prudential Committee are on
file with the Secretary of the College, the main items of which are
as follows:
"May 6th, 1835. The Prudential Committee of the New York
Society, for Establishing a Settlement, College, &c., in the Valley
of the Mississippi, met at the house of the Rev. Mr. Sedgwick, at
Rome, according to appointment. Nehemiah West and Thomas
Gilbert were appointed an Exploring Committee to examine all the
important points for effecting the objects of the Society in the North
of the States of Indiana and Illinois, according to the instructions
suggested by the Society at their meeting this day. Rev. Geo. W.
Gale was appointed a general agent to procure families and funds,
with a salary of $700 a year, and his necessary expenses, to be
borne by the Society. There being no other individual present or
known to the Committee, (as the third member of the Exploring
Committee,) the Secretary was instructed to correspond with gentlemen and report at the next meeting. Timothy B. Jervis was
chosen a member of the Prudential Committee. Adjourned to
meet in Whitesboro', May the 12th, 1835, at the house of the Rev.
G. W. Gale."
" Whitesboro', May 12, 1835. Prudential Committee met according to. adjournment. Mr. Gale reported that he had made inquiries
by letter and otherwise, but had not been able to ascertain definitely
whether any of the gentlemen he had in view would accept an appointment as one of the Exploring Committee. After some deliberation and consultation with Mr. Jervis, a member of the Prudential
Committee, it was resolved unanimously to appoint him."
The three gentlemen above named accepted their appointment as
an Exploring Committee, and immediately proceeded west in discharge of the duties assigned them. Nearly three months were
spent by them in exploring portions of Indiana and Illinois. They
early experienced a difficulty growing out of that part of the plan of




14                       KNOX COLLEGE.
the Association which required the purchase of a whole township of
government land.  It was not easy at that time to find thirty-six
square miles of land, all subject to entry at government price, which
would combine fertility, and healthfulness, and desirableness of location, such as would render it a proper site for a colony and a College.
This committee, in their correspondence with the Prudential Committee, which is on file with the Secretary of the College, clearly
stated the difficulty, and also urgently pressed the importance of securing a modification of the original plan, so far as to allow the purchase of aless amount of land than was at first proposed. If the
Association would consent to such a change of their plan, the committee were prepared, from the survey they had made, to recommend " the Military Tract," in Illinois, as the region which would
"afford altogether the best opportunity for" accomplishing the purposes of their appointment. At a later date the Prudential Committee were informed that "Mr. Gilbert had found a township on the
Military Tract which he thought would answer " as a site for the
College.  This township was the one adjoining the south-east corner
of that within which the Association afterward planted their College. Mr. Jervis recommended, in addition to the proposed change
in the plan, that a Purchasing Committee should be appointed at
once.  In his letter he thus writes: "I can give you no idea of the
flood of immigration that is pouring into this region of the West
this season, and I would earnestly press the importance of the Purchasing Committee leaving you by the middle of August, and of the
funds necessary to purchase the land being placed to their credit as
early as September.  Now is most emphatically the time for the
friends of Zion to come up to the work of giving the means of intellectual and moral instruction to the inhabitants of the great valley."
The Prudential Committee, having become well satisfied, from the
letters of the Exploring Committee, that a whole township of government land could not be found in such a region as they desired, but
that enough to accomplish all the objects of the Association could
be secured upon the " Military Tract," in Illinois, called the Subscribers together in a second meeting, which was held on the 19th
day of August, 1835, at Whitesboro', Naew York.  At this meeting
the original plan was modified so far as to authorize the purchase of
twenty instead of thirty-six sections of land. A Purchasing Comnittee was also appointed, consisting of Rev. G. W. Gale, Silvanus




SECOND MEETING OF SUBSCRIBERS.                  15
Ferris and Nehemiah West. These gentlemen were all Presbyterians. The following are the minutes of that
SECOND MEETING OF SUBSCRIBERS.'At a meeting of the Subscribers to Rev. G. W. Gale's Circular,
proposing the erection of a College in the Valley of the Mississippi,
held at Whitesboro', August 19, 1835, Mr. S. Bond, of Adams, was
chosen Chairman, and I. Holt, of Watertown, Secretary.
The forenoon was spent in prayer and other religious exercises,
and in the afternoon the following resolutions were adopted:
Resolved, That a committee of three persons be appointed to
make a purchase and appraisal of lands in Illinois or Indiana, for
the objects specified in the circular, and that G. W. Gale, H. H.
Kellogg and Silvanus Ferris be that committee; also, that Nehemiah West be a substitute for Mr. Kellogg.
Resolved, That those who visit the land this coming fall, with a
view to remove their families at furthest in the spring, have their
choice of lots, at the appraisal of the Purchasing Committee.
Resolved, That the distribution of lots to Subscribers who do not
go on this fall and make choice under the preceding resolution, shall
be deferred until a meeting of the Subscribers the coming winter,.Resolved, That the Purchasing Committee give such security for
monies received of the Subscribers, as the Prudential Committee
deem safe.
-Resolved, That it is inexpedient to purchase less than twenty sections, and as much more as the committee have funds to appropriate.
lResolved, That if necessary, the location of timber-land separate
from prairie, in the purchase, shall not constitute an obstacle to the
prosecution of our plan.
Resolved, That timber-land be put at the average price of prairie,
and that one-tenth of the purchase be timber, and Subscribers, if
they require it, be furnished with timber in that proportion.
Adjourned."
The reader will take notice that by their action in this second
meeting, the Subscribers bound themselves to meet all the cost of
the twenty sections of land when purchased:  The Purchasing
Committee were acting under their instructions and as their agents
merely.  In order to purchase the amount of land required, and to
meet other expenses, the committee would need somewhat more
than sixteen thousand dollars.  By the terms of the original subscription, the money subscribed was not yet due, and although a
Purchasing Committee had now been appointed, yet the Subscribers
were not all able to advance at once the amount to be paid by them.
A  few of them, however, paid their subscription at that time,




16                       KNOX COLLEGE.
amounting in all to somewhat less than five thousand dollars. To
this was added the proceeds of a note of eight hundred dollars
given by Mr. R. N. Randall, of Whitesboro', a Presbyterian, who
was not a Subscriber, but who had pledged what aid he could give
to the enterprise. The Treasury Books of Knox College contain
the names of the persons who paid this money, and the amount
paid by each one, in the following entry:
Purchasing Committee, Dr., to Trustees of Knox College, for
money received, Oct. 1, 1835,
Of R.;N. Randall.........................     781 75
"   G. W. Gale............................   1,194  1I
H H. H. Kellogg........................... 1,000 00
" Gurdon Grant............................  400 00
" John Waters............................. 1,000 00
" S. Ferris..........................           400 00
" T. Simmons............................  300 00
"    J. Frost.................................   200   00
Total...........................  $5,275   86
In addition to this amount, other Subscribers agreed to advance
the sum of nearly two thousand dollars, which, however, was not
received by the committee in time for their use, as appears from the
agent's report, which will be given in its proper place.
An additional sum of ten thousand dollars was advanced as a
loan by Messrs. Gale and Ferris, two members of the Purchasing
Committee.  This money they obtained on their joint note, made
payable at the Bank of Utica in four months from  date.  By an
arrangement with the bank the money on this note was drawn
from the Bank of Michigan, at Detroit.  The Purchasing Committee
were thus provided with money, which, after deducting exchange
and discount, amounted to fifteen thousand and ninety-four dollars
and eighty-four cents.  As the duties of this committee were important and arduous, they desired, before they left for the West, an
increase of their number. After some inquiry, it was ascertained
that Mr. Thomas Simmons, one of the Subscribers, would be willing
to accompany them, and accordingly he was appointed one of the
Purchasing Committee.  IIe received his appointment from  the
Prudential Committee. Mr. Simmons was a Congregationalist, and
was the only one, among the thirty-four Subscribers, by whom
Knox College was founded, who belonged to that denomination.
The amount of his subscription was eight hundred dollars, of which
only three hundred were now advanced by him toward purchasing
the land; the remainder was paid at a later date.




KNOX COLLEGE.                      17
Messrs. Gale, Ferris and West left in company for the " Military
Tract," in Illinois, on the 16tb day of September, 1835, At Detroit
they were joined by Mr. Simmons. Here they drew from the Bank
of Michigan the money on the note of ten thousand dollars, given
by Mr. Gale and Mr. Ferris. Mr. Gale had been taken seriously ill
before reaching Detroit, and was unable to proceed further. The
other members of the committee left that city on the 29th of September, intending to proceed to Knoxville, in Knox county, Illinois,
where they had been directed by the previous Exploring Committee.
On their way they spent two days at Ottawa, and while there were
joined by Mr. Samuel Tompkins, a neighbor of Mr. Simmons. The
two had travelled in company from their home, in Hamilton, New
York, to Detroit, where they had separated. Mr. Tompkins was an
humble mechanic, a shoemaker, of such limited means that he had
travelled principally on foot from Detroit to Ottawa, looking for a
new home for himself in the great West. At this point he was engaged by the committee to go on to Knoxville, and there assist them
in surveying the land which they were about to purchase. The
compensation to be allowed him was his travelling expenses, and no
more, from Ottawa to Knoxville, and thence to his home in New
York. The committee, having secured his services, then left him
to follow them, as he did, on foot. He afterward rendered them
faithful service in carrying the chain for the surveyors. His only
connection with the committee was that of a hired assistant. These
facts respecting him are stated upon the authority of Mr. S. Ferris,
the principal member of the committee, and his son, Mr. S. Weston Ferris, who accompanied them through their whole journey.
Mr. Tompkins was a Congregationalist. He was never a Subscriber
to the Plan of founding Knox College, and until after the College
was founded, had never had any connection with the enterprise, except that of having been employed by the Purchasing Committee to
carry the chain for their surveyors. Among all the records, and reports and documents of various kinds relating to the founding of the
College, his name never appears except in the bill of expenses of the
Purchasing Committee, who report him as having received $52.75.
In the report of the Purchasing Committee, a portion of which
will soon be given, this language occurs in narrating the action of
the committee in purchasing the lands in Knox county: " On the
30th of October two of your committee left the tract and returned
to Quincy, to complete their entry, and the other returned directly
2




18                      KNOX COLLEGE.
home."  The two who went to Quincy were Messrs. Ferris and
West-the " other" was Mr. Simmons. This shows that the committee did not regard Mr. Tompkins, who was then with them, as
one of their number.  Yet in the face of these facts, so anxious has
Mr. Blanchard, the Ex-President of the College, been to establish the
" rights of Congregationalists " to its control, that from want of
any better foundation, he has on several different occasions publicly
advanced Mr. Tompkins as the principal actor in purchasing the lands
and as the main founder of the College. His argument has always
rested upon the fact that Mr. Tompkins was with the Purchasing Committee when they bought the lands for the Association; but he appears never to have known, or if he didknow he never saw fit to tell the
public what the true relations were between Mr. Tompkins and that
committee. Mr. Tompkins, who now lives in Galesburg, must have
been immeasurably surprised to learn, through Mr. Blanchard, how
much the world owes to him as the chief founder of Knox College.
The committee left Ottawa on the 12th of October, and proceeded
to Knox county, upon the " Military Tract."  Here they soon found,
as they had been led to expect, from the correspondence of the Exploring Committee, a site in every respect suited to their purposes.
They immediately expended their funds in purchasing 10,746 TOl
acres, or about seventeen sections of land. In this amount were included two improved farms of 250 acres, and 160 acres of timber
land, all of which cost $1,900. The remaining 10,336 1oQ acres consisted of most beautiful and fertile prairie land, not dotted by any human habitation, and which cost, at government price, $12,921.01.
The total cost of all the land was ($14,821.01) fourteen thousand
eight hundred and twenty-one dollars and one cent. The two improved farms and the quarter-section of timber land were purchased
in the name of the whole Committee, Messrs, Ferris, West, Gale
and Simmons; but the remainder was all purchased in the name of
Mr. Ferris and of Mr. West. If Mr. Tompkins had been a member
of the committee, his name would have been inserted in those first
deeds. The committee surveyed the land, selected a site for the
village, and also for the College, and agreed to call the town Galesburg, after the author of the whole enterprise. They then, in the
early part of November, 1835, left for their homes in New York.
A meeting of the Subscribers was called to receive their report, to
take possession of the land, and to found the College. That meeting was held on the 7th day of January, 1836, at Whitesboro',




KNOX COLLEGE.                       19
New York. At that meeting the Subscribers assumed the entire
ownership of the land; they founded the College, calling it " Prairie
College;" they determined the number that should constitute the
Board; they elected ten Trustees to act as a quasi corporation
until a charter could be obtained; they required the Purchasing
Committee to give bonds for the proper conveyance of the land to
the Trustees of the College for its benefit; they gave the name of
Galesburg to their prospective town; and they then, according to
the plan to which they had subscribed, took farm lands of the Association at an average price four times greater than that at which
they had just been bought of the government. This they did in
order to insure the immediate success of their plan. The College
was founded at this meeting. These Subscribers, and they only,
were its founders. They had originated a plan for founding the
College; they had purchased thousands of acres of land in order to
endow it; they then organized it by name; they appointed its Board
of Trustees; they vested the title to the land in its Board; and,
finally, many of them  gave themselves as colonists, forsaking pleasant homes in the East and consenting to endure the privations of
western pioneer life, in order to insure the most perfect success to
their undertaking. The land which they then gave as an endowVment to their College has, in the few years since that time, been
worth to it more than HALF A MILLION OF DOLLARS.
The reader is asked to compare the acts of these Subscribers in
founding Knox College, with the acts of the ten ministers who
founded Yale College, and whose claim as founders was maintained
and established by President Clapp, when disputed in 1763, before
the Governor and Council Qf the Colony of Connecticut. President
Woolsey, in a "Historical Discourse," delivered in 1850, thus
speaks of the manner of founding Yale College:   Some time in
the year 1700, ten ministers, acting by general consent for the ministry and the churches of the colony of Connecticut, held a meeting
at New Haven, for the purpose of founding a Collegiate School;
and this purpose they carried into effect at a subsequent meeting at
Branford, in the same year, when each person presented a number
of books to the body, asing words to this effect as he laid the books
on the table:'I give these books for the founding of a College in
this colony.'"  "The act offounding consisted in their giving forty
folios for the purpose of establishing a College in the colony."
"The ten ministers who met at Branford in 1700, being a society,




20                      KNOX COLLEGE.
and a quasi-corporation by nomination and consent of a body of
ministers and people, and having made a donation to the College,
as well as received property in trust for it before the charter, were
in reality its founders by the common law, and thus had the right
of visitation which they transmitted to their legal successors." If
these ten ministers, who donated forty folios, were thus the founders
of Yale College, then, beyond all question, the thirty-four Subscribers, who, in addition to all their other acts to the same effect,
donated thousands of acres of land to establish and endow Knox
College, were its founders. The following are the minutes of the
meeting of the Subscribers when the College was founded:
THIRD MEETING OF SUBSCRIBERS.
"At a meeting of the Subscribers to the Circular of the Rev. G. W.
Gale, for the purchase of lands on which to locate a College, etc., in
the Valley of the Mississippi, held at Whitesboro', on the 7th January, 1836, John Waters was elected Chairman, and N. H. Losey
Secretary. The session was opened with prayer by Rev. Ira Pettibone. Minutes of last meeting were read. Report of the agent,
G. W. Gale, was accepted."
As the several reports presented at this meeting, are long and
would occupy too much space in this pamphlet, if published entire,
it is necessary to present only such portions of them as relate directly to the facts already stated. These reports are valuable documents, in which may be found almost the entire history of the
founding of the College. The following statements are taken from
the above mentioned Agent's Report:
"It will be recollected by those who attended our meeting to appoint a Purchasing  Committee, that Mr. Silvanus Ferris, Rev.
H. H. Kellogg, and myself, were appointed for that purpose, with
instructions to collect funds and purchase, if possible, twenty sections of land. It being doubtful whether Mr. Kellogg would be
able to go, at his suggestion Mr. West, who had been out as one of
the Exploring Committee, was appointed in his stead. The Prudential Committee, feeling that it was very important to have a full
committee, and some of the committee feeling that the duties would
be arduous as well as highly responsible, thqught best to appoint
Mr. T. Simmons, of Hamilton, in addition. There was one place on
the Military Tract, in Knox county, which Mr. Gilbert had seen,
and in which he had purchased, which he thought would do, and
which was nearly all Congress land. A consultation was held by
the committee and some friends, as to what was expedient to be




THIRD MIEETING OF SUBSCRIBERS.              21
done. A few advanced what funds they could. We raised between
5,000 and 6,000 dollars, and made arrangements for more, but in some
of it we were disappointed, and some that was sent on did not reach
the committee in time. The committee also resolved to effect a loan
through the Bank, if possible, which they did on their own responsibility, of $10,000. This they supposed would enable them nearly
or quite to meet the wishes and instructions of the Subscribers in
the amount of land to be purchased, which it did nearly, and would
have done quite, but for the disappointment just mentioned. Mr.
Simmons arrived soon after the rest of the committee did, at Detroit.
I would add that our list of Subscribers amounts to forty-six.
There were a few who subscribed, but who, discouraged about our
making a purchase, have settled in Michigan."
" Report of Prudential Committee was read by its chairman, II. H.
Kellogg and accepted."
(The following are among its statements:)
The doings of this committee were reported to this body at their
last meeting. They then stated that an Exploring Committee had
been sent out, one of whom, as was expected, had returned and
was then present. Mr. Gilbert had found a township on the Military
Tract which he thought would answer, and after deliberation, it was
thought best to get what money could be obtained, and to send out
the Committee. This was done as reported by the agent. The
amount of money expended in land and the expense attending the
purchase, will be reported by the Purchasing Committee.  The
committee would now recommend that the lots should be distributed
in the way the Subscribers may think best, and that trustees be
chosen to make conveyance of property to Subscribers, after receiving it from the committee, and to take charge of all the business
relating to the College, and other literary institutions. The business for which the Prudential Committee were appointed having
been accomplished, they now tender their resignation."
"Report of the Purchasing Committee was read by Mr. West, and
accepted." [This report is very long, but only the following facts of all
which it contains need be now published:] " On examining the tract
in Illinois, they (the committee) found that it combined more desirable objects than they had heretofore expected to find. They found
it delightfully situated on the height of land, and nearly central between the two rivers, beautifully watered with living springs and
streams, and having an abundance of coal and building stone, and
unquestionably healthful.  Accordingly they decided at once to
plant their feet there, and commenced making the purchase.  In
the first place they purchased two improved farms, the one containing 150, the other 100 acres, for $1,500. They also bought one
quarter-section of timber, adjoining the first purchase, for $2.50 per
acre ($400.) They then left immediately for Quincy, a distance of
one hundred miles, where the land office is kept, to make entries
of what prairie land was needed.  The whole amount of funds




22                      KINOX COLLEGE.
belonging to the company invested was $15,694.84.  The quantity of land purchased is, 410 acres of resident individuals, and
10,336 810 acres of the government, making the whole purchase
amount to 10,746 %8  acres. In addition to the above purchase, your
committee invested private funds sufficient to secure the remainder
of the township, so that now it will be entirely under the control of
the colony, a circumstance highly favorable to our mutual improvement. Thus, we have given briefly the outlines of our expedition
and success. Should the blessing of Heaven attend our labors, and
we succeed in raising up a seminary of learning in the great valley,
and thus be instrumental in sending the Bread of Life to those that
are ready to perish, multitudes in the realms of glory may yet rise
up and call us blessed. Your committee would recommend that this
meeting proceed immediately to divide the land among the Subscribers, agreeable to the original plan, and that we elect nine Trustees,
who shall have the charge of all the property, landed or otherwise,
belonging to the Institution, and who shall, as soon as practicable,
be incorporated by the Legislature of the State of Illinois, by the
name of the'Trustees of Prairie College, Ill.'
Monies received by Purchasing Committee........ 15,094 84
Amount of purchase, 10,746 8-    acres......$.....    14,821 01
Expenses paid by Mr. Ferris.....................   636 20
Exploring Committee..........................   517 41
(Agent)......................................        584   45
$16,559 07
The plan of distributing lots to Subscribers was referred to a committee of three, also the continuance of scholarships, and mode of
conveyance, and Messrs. J. C. Smith, Silvanus Ferris, and Thomas
Simmons, were appointed that committee.
Resolved, That we proceed to appoint a BOARD OF TRUSTEES,
agreeably to the plan to which we subscribed, and that the number of
which the Board shall consist, and the nomination of the Board, be
referred to a committee.
Messrs. Gale, Kellogg and West were appointed that committee.
Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to report what
is to be done for the improvement of the public lands, a name for
the College and village, and what, if anything, shall be done to
guard the morals of the colony.
Messrs. Smith, West and Tompkins were appointed that committee. Adjourned to meet again at 2 o'clock P. M.
2 o'clock P. M. Met according to adjournment. The Committee
of nomination, etc., made the following Report: That the Board
consist of twenty-five, when full; that it is now inexpedient to fill
it; and nominate as trustees the following persons: John Waters,
Silvanus Ferris, H. H. Kellogg, Thos. Simmons, Samuel Bond,
John C. Smith and Walter Webb. The report was accepted and
adopted.




THIRD MEETING OF SUBSCRIBERS.                 23
Mr. Bond requested that his name be stricken out, which was
granted, and G. W. Gale and Nehemiah West were nominated and
appointed.
Isaac Mills and Samuel Tompkins were also appointed.
The committee to whom  the plan of distributing, etc., was referred, reported, That lots as appraised, be received on subscription-choice or preference be decided by  bid-bids for general
fund-80 acres, at any price, entitled to scholarships-and that to
future purchasers, until scholarships amount to eighty if taken in
sixty days, lots shall be entitled to scholarships, and-in other cases,
at the discretion of the trustees-that the Purchasing Committee
be requested to hold the duplicates, and give bonds for the due conveyance, so soon as circumstances will admit, agreeably to the
original plan, to the trustees, and in the mean time, certificates or
deeds to purchasers, when directed by the trustees. The report
was accepted and adopted.
Resolved, That if any one becomes dissatisfied with his choice of a
lot, and wishes to exchange with the trustees, for lots in their possession, designed for settlers, he may have the privilege at the appraisal.
Resolved, That the agent be directed to designate individuals to
select lots for absent subscribers who have requested it.
Resolved, That we proceed to the distribution of lots. See memorandum of sales file No. 4, also treasurer's books.
The committee to whom was referred the plan of improving public
lands, etc., reported,
That the village be immediately laid out under the direction of
the trustees, appraised and thrown into market:
That lots for an academy or preparatory school, ladies seminary,
meeting house and common school, and for other benevolent objects,
as the trustees may deem expedient, be reserved from the village tract:
That arrangements be made by the trustees, for cultivating and
fencing the College land the present year; also for procuring material for a College edifice, so that it be commenced as early as the
spring of 1837:
That provision be made for the erection of a steam  saw-mill,
either from the public fund or private enterprise, giving preference
to the latter:
That the College be named Prairie College, and the village
Galesburg:
That a house be built at the earliest practicable period, by the
trustees, for boarding and entertainment:
That the trustees furnish wood land for each purchaser who requires it, equal to one-tenth of their purchase; which report was
accepted and adopted.
In the course of the meeting, Mr. Losey resigned the office of
Secretary, and J. C. Smith was appointed in his room.
JNO. C. SMITH, Sec'y.
The foregoing records were approved by the board.
J. C. SMITH, Sec'y."




24                       KNOX COLLEGE.,The reader has not failed to notice from the foregoing minutes,
that the persons who held the several meetings recorded, invariably
style themselves "the Subscribers to the Circular of Rev. G. W.
Gale for founding literary institutions'"-that in the reports of the
several committees similar language is used in designating those by
whom they were appointed-that the Prudential Committee, which
was appointed at the first meeting of the Subscribers, presented a
report at the second, and again at the third meeting, and at the
last meeting tendered their resignation-that the agent also, who
was appointed at the first meeting, reported at the last-that all the
transactions, from the first to the last meeting, were an uninterrupted
series, ending in the accomplishment of the original plan-and
that from first to last the " Subscribers," and they only, were the
responsible parties engaged in the work, and by whom the College
was founded,
Those readers who live in. Galesburg and vicinity, and who heard
Ex-President Blanchard, when he introduced himself upon the platform after the inaugural address of his successor, a year and a half
ago, and in a harangue an hour long, assailed that address and the
College Board, will compare the above facts, which are found upon
the very first pages of the College records, with the statements he
then made, and which he has since repeated, concerning the total
failure of Mr. Gale's Plan, and the abandonment of the whole enterprise by the Subscribers cfter their first meeting.
The BOND, required by the Subscribers to be given by the
Purchasing Committee for the conveyance of the land held by
them to the Trustees of the College, is on file and is as follows:
"Whereas a purchase has been made in Township Eleven north,
one East of fourth principal meridian, in Knox county, Illinois, of
certain lands as hereinafter described, by Silvanus Ferris of Herkimer county, and Nehemia West of Caytga county', of the State of
New York, in behalf of certain persons, Subscribers to a fund for
a Western Colony and institutions, on a plan proposed by Rev. G.
W. Gale, the title of which is now  vested in us, and by the said
Subscribers we are instructed to vest this title in their Board of
Trust-now  therefore we bind ourselves, our heirs and assigns
to convey our respective and conjoined interests and titles to the
following persons, viz: [Here follow the names of the ten Trustees
of the College,] and their associates or successors in office, Trustees
of the said Institution, now named Prairie College, in the following
property or sections of land, being a part of the above named township 11 north, 1 east of 4th principal meridian, viz: LDescription of




KNOX COLLEGE.                        25
the land by sections, etc.] so soon as circumstances will admit, and
in the mean time convey to individual purchasers, by direction of
said Trustees; which conveyance shall supersede the conveyance
to the said Trust of such portions as have been conveyed to
individuals.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals
this 8th day of January, 1836.        SILVANUS FERRIS, [L. s.]
NEHEMIAH WEST, [L. S.]"
From the College records, as will soon be shown, it appears that
the title to all the land continued to be held by the Purchasing Committee until after a' charter had been obtained, in 1837; and that
then they conveyed the whole to the corporate Board; and that all
persons who in the mean time had purchased any of the land, including Subscribers as well as others, received their deeds from the
College.
The note of $10,000, given by Messrs. Gale and Ferris, became
due on the last of January, 1836, and was then taken up. Of the
money which paid it, $5,300 came from Subscribers; the balance,
$4,700 was obtained from the Bank of Ontario, at Utica, on another
joint note of Messrs. Gale and Ferris, payable in ninety days.
When this note became due, it was paid in part by money received
as before, from Subscribers, and in part by a new note for $3,139.78,
drawn by the same' parties, payable in four months. This note was
due on the first day of September, 1836, at which time enough
money had been received from the Subscribers to pay the largest
part of it. The balance, amounting. to $1,200, was put into a new
note, payable in four months. This last note, after two partial payments, and two renewals for the balance, was entirely paid in March,
1837, by Mr. Ferris, with his own money. These.facts are set forth
in the books of the Treasurer of the College, and in a letter written
by Mr. Ferris a few days after the last payment had been made.
It is no more than simple justice at this point to remark that
all the records and facts relating to the founding of the College show  that while great credit is due to all the Subscribers
for what was accomplished, yet much the largest share of this credit
is due to Mr. Gale and Mr. Silvanus Ferris. Without their efforts
Knox College would, doubtless, never have been founded. Mr. Gale
originated the plan, secured the Subscribers, andrisked all that he possessed in order to insure success. Mr. Ferris was a wealthy farmer,
and it was his responsible name, joined with Mr. Gale's, which se



26                      KNOX COLLEGE.
cured the largest part of the money required to purchase the lands
for the College. It was his credit, also, that continued that loan
until those of the Subscribers who had not yet paid their subscription, could do so without inconvenience to themselves. After all
this, he then abandoned a pleasant home in central New York, where
he had gathered around him everything that seems desirable in the
declining period of life, and at the advanced age of sixty-four years,
removed, among the first colonists, to Galesburg, there to share in
the privations and cares incident to all pioneer life. This he did
wholly for the sake of the College. Happily his life has been spared
and the clearness and vigor of his mind, until now, at almost fourscore years and ten, he sees Knox College richly endowed, having
large and costly buildings, and promising to accomplish in the
future a nobler mission than even its prayerful and hopeful founders
dared anticipate for it.
It is a fortunate thing that no uncertainty rests upon the question,
who were these Subscribers who founded the College. The original
subscription-book used by Mr. Gale, is in the hands of the Secretary
of the College, and contains the names of all the Subscribers. On
the first pages of this book are the printed circular and plan of Mr.
Gale, immediately following which is this heading:  "We, the
Subscribers, agree to pay the sums set opposite to our names respectively, to such person or persons as shall be designated by the Subscribers, or Board of Trustees elected by them, for the purposes, and
in the manner set forth in the foregoing printed Preamble and Plan
for establishing literary institutions in the West." This is followed
by the names of forty-six persons, as Subscribers.  Some of these
persons had withdrawn from the enterprise before the first meeting
of the Subscribers. It will be remembered that the agent, in his
report, after stating that the number on his list was forty-six, added
that " there were a few who subscribed, but who, discouraged about
our making a purchase, have settled in Michigan." These and some
others, making twelve in all, never met with the Subscribers,, and
never shared either in their counsels or in their pecuniary obligations. They never were regarded by the other Subscribers, from
the time of their first meeting onward, as in any manner connected
with them in their Association. The -remaining thirty-four names
alone designate the persons referred to in the foregoing documents
as the " Subscribers," by whom  the College was founded. Their
names are found, not only in the subscription book, but also in the




ITS FOUNDERS.                      27
"Memorandum of Sales," and in the "Treasurer's Books," which
are referred to in the minutes of the third meeting, in connection
with the distribution of the lands. These last named documents
show necessarily who were the true " Subscribers," for they contain
the names of the persons who at that third meeting received farmlands for their subscription, according to the original plan. The
Records of the College also contain many of their names. The
Records, the "Treasurer's Books" and the "Memorandum of
Sales " give thirty-four of the names that are contained in the subscription book, and they give no others, as the Subscribers. The
College Board opened its treasury books, consisting of a " Blotter,"
a " Journal," and a "Ledger," with the names of those Subscribers.
Fortunately, also, several of the principal men among them, Mr.
Gale, Mr. Ferris and Professor Losey, are now living in Galesburg.
These men were familiar with the names of their associates, and they
all affirm the correctness of the list contained in the foregoing documents. The account books of the College were opened and were
kept for years afterward by Professor Losey, as Treasurer of the
College, and the names of the original Subscribers were entered by
him in those books.
The names of these Subscribers are given below, together with
the amount which each one pledged in return for farm-lands at
their meeting, in January, 1836. The sum of these pledges, as will be
seen, exceeded byseveral thousand dollars the whole cost of the
land and all the expenses attending its purchase. In other words,
these men not only paid for all the land which they donated to the
College, but they also put several thousand dollars of money into its
treasury. The church relations of the Subscribers, at the time they
founded the College, are given in this connection also; but the
abundant and positive testimony upon which the statement is based,
which of necessity is of some length, will not be given until after
some other matters have first been introduced. The Subscribers
were all church members except Mr. Thomas Gilbert, one of the
Exploring Committee. He was at that time, and has always been
since, a Presbyterian in sentiment, and a supporter of a Presbyterian church, of which his wife has, during the whole period, been
a member. Mr. Timothy B. Jervis, at the time he served as one of
the Exploring Committee, was a candidate for the ministry, and
very soon after was licensed and ordained a Presbyterian minister,
by his Presbytery in New York.




28                        KNOX COLLEGE.
FOUNDERS OF KNOX COLLEGE.
PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS:
NAME.                          RESIDENCE.    AMOUNT OF PURCHASE.
1. Rev. Geo. W. Gale,         Whitesboro', N. Y....... 3,980
2.  "  Hiram H. Kellogg,   Clinton,          "....... 2,400.  "  John Waters,            New Hartford,"..     2,480
4.  "  Timothy B. Jervis,   Rome,             ".......  400
5.  "  Phineas Camp,           Norway,        "....       560
6.  "  John Gray,              Troy,.......  320
7.    John Frost,             Whitesboro', ".......   640
Total by Presbyterian Ministers................$10,780
PRESBYTERIAN ELDERS:
8. Nehemiah West,              Ira,        N. Y.......1.,480
9. John McMullen,              Western,    ".......   400
10. John C. Smith,              Utica,        ".......  270
11. I. S. Fitch,                Bainbridge,  "......  400
12. Smith Griffith,             Nassau,.......  480
13. Lewis Kinney,               Greenbush,  ".......  400
14. Amatus Robbins,            Troy,          ".......  400
15. Chauncey Peirce,            Troy,         ".......   400
16. Gurdon Grant,               Troy,         "......   400
17. Samuel Bond,                Adams,        "......   560
Total by Presbyterian Elders.................. $5,190
LAY MEMBERS OF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES:
18. Silvanus Ferris,            Russia,      N. Y.......$3,160
19. Nehemiah H. Losey,          Whitesboro',...... 600
20. Sylvester Bliss,            Adams,'.......   960
21. Roland Sears,               Whitesboro',......   400
22. Silvanus Town,              Troy,.......480
23. H. Troop Avery,             T ew Lebanon, "             1,600
24. George Avery, 
25. James Barton,               Schoharie,    "......   800
26. Sidney Rice,                Troy,......  400
27. Miss Araminta P. Rice, Troy,...          320
28. J. B. Marsh,                Amsterdam,   ".......   400
29. Thos. Gilbert, (see above), Rome,          ".......   480
Total by Presbyterian Church Members..........$9,600
CONGREGATIONALIST:
30. Thomas Simmons,            Hamilton, N. Y........   800
By  Presbyterians......................... 25,570
By  Congregationalists.....................   800
Total.......................$...26,370




ITS FOUNDERS.                       29
To the foregoing list must be added the names of four persons
who were Subscribers, and who aided by their counsels and labors
in founding the College, but who purchased no lands, preferring to
leave their portion to be sold by the College, when it was found
that the other Subscribers had pledged more than enough to pay
for all the land bought by the Association. These persons were all
Presbyterians:
31. Jeremiah Holt,  Watertown, N. Y., an Elder.
32. George Stedman, Rome,          "
33. Benj. P. Johnson,  "
34. Walter Webb,   Adams,
The foregoing statement shows, that of the thirty-four Subscribers
who founded Knox College, thirty-three were Presbyterians, and
one only was a Congregationalist.  It shows, also, that these Subscribers, at their meeting in January, 1836, after having directed
their Purchasing Committee to convey all the lands held by them to
the College, then bought back for themselves a portion of those
lands, at greatly increased prices, pledging to the College treasury,
in payment thereof, the sum of twenty-six thousand three hundred
and seventy dollars. Of this sum, eight hundred dollars were
pledged by a Congregationalist-all the rest was pledged by Presbyterians. The whole sum pledged exceeded the cost of the land,
and all expenses of the Association, by about ten thousand dollars.
The whole amount of farm lands purchased by the Subscribers at
this time was 5,240 acres.
A colony, composed principally of a large number of the Subscribers and their families, removed, as early in 1836 as was'possible, upon the ground where the College was to be located. The
Institutions of learning, which they had come to build up, soon
proved a great attraction to persons who were looking for a new
western home for themselyes, and early began to draw in settlers
from various quarters, and of various shades of religious belief. It
soon became evident that the College would have no difficulty in
filling its treasury by the sale of its lands-and that the more land
it could retain for future sale, the better it would be for its prosperity. Under these circumstances, some of the Subscribers, who
had not removed to Galesburg, were induced to allow their lands,
which they had bought, to go to the College, instead of the money
which they had pledged for them. Eight of them, viz: Messrs.
Griffith, Gilbert, Bond, Peirce, Bliss, Marsh, and Rice, and Miss




30                      KNOX COLLEGE.
A. P. Rice, returned in all 720 acres.  They did this at a pecuniary
sacrifice to themselves, as the land was already worth more than
the price at which they had bought it. But their sole object had
been to establish the College upon a solid basis, and they cheerfully
sacrificed their own interests for its welfare. By their act, the
College received a less amount of money from the Subscribers than
had been pledged by them at first, but it received, instead thereof,
land which was already worth more than the money, and which was
continually increasing in value. After the return of these lands,
there remained, pledged to be paid by the other Subscribers, nearly
twenty-three thousand dollars. The College, however, received
from them a larger sum than this, from the fact that during the two
years that passed before the Corporate Board began to give any
deeds, many of the Subscribers sold a part or the whole of their
lands to other settlers, and generally at advanced prices; and in
many such instances they allowed the new purchaser to pay the
increased amount directly to the College.  In one instance Mr.
Silvanus Ferris allowed the College to sell for its own benefit four
hundred acres of the land taken by him, on the express condition
that it should be sold at an advance of one-third upon the price
which he was to pay for it. The land taken by Mr. J. Barton was
sold very early at an advance of twenty-five per cent. upon the
price at which he had taken it, and the College received the money.
Several others pursued the same generous course toward the College, so that its treasury received from the Subscribers for their
farm lands not less than twenty-five thousand dollars. Less than
one-thirtietkhof this sum came from a Congregationalist-all the remainder came from Presbyterians.  Many of the Subscribers who
removed to Galesburg purchased village property, and in this way
the College received from them several thousand dollars in addition
to the above sum. It has always been the custom of the College to
sell its lands upon time when desired, allowing the purchaser usually
two or three years within which to pay for them. It often happens
that the land thus sold is again sold by the first purchaser, and
sometimes it passes in this way through the hands of several parties,
before the last payment is made to the College, and before any deed
has been given. In such cases the common practice is for the College to give a deed directly to the last purchaser, provided the intermediate parties consent. This practice saves expense, and has
its advantages in several ways. But it is evident at once that




KNOX COLLEFE.                        31
where such a practice prevails the county records of deeds no longer
furnish any correct evidence as to the actual purchaser from  the
College. They show correctly to whom the deed was given, provided it is on record, but not to whom the College sold its lands,
and from whom it received the money paid for them. There are
not a few men in Galesburg whose names appear in the recorder's
office as purchasers of land from the College, while the fact is they
bought of other parties, and paid their money to other parties.
The county records never show with certainty who paid the money
into the College treasury for its lands-its own treasury books
alone show this. Yet, simple as this matter is, it has been strangely
overlooked in a recent published report of the Congregational General Association of this State concerning Knox College; and that
report very sagely presents a list of names, drawn professedly from
the county records, to show who paid money. into the College treasury in exchange for its lands. That list,- as will be shown in due
time, has in it a large apocryphal element; but even if it were
entirely correct it would be of no value for the purpose for which
it is introduced.
The reader will notice from the foregoing facts, that the Subscribers not only paid the full amount pledged by them in their subscription list, but they paid several thousand dollars more. The
statement made of late by Mr. Blanchard and his friends, that only
a very small part of the amount subscribed was ever paid, is so far
from true, that in fact, as the College books show, much more than
the full amount subscribed was paid by the Subscribers. Several of
them paid two or three-fold more than the sum they had at first subscribed. The reader will bear in mind, also, that when these Subscribers divided among themselves a part of thelands which they
had purchased of the government, and pledged the price thereof
to the College treasury, they were only carrying out their original
plan. By that plan they were to keep a part of the lands for themselves, and were to donate the rest to the College. They found at
last that it would be a simpler process to bestow the legal title to the
whole upon their newly organized College Board and then take
their deeds from that Board, rather than from the Purchasing Committee. In this way they appear as purchasers of lands from the
College. But the lands they thus purchased were their own according to the previous plan, and according to a mode of division already
agreed upon, when the College was founded. These Subscribers,




32                       KNOX COLLEGE.
therefore, while nominally purchasers from the College, were in fact
purchasers from themselves, as an Association.  For the land appropriated by themselves they paid enough to cover the cost of all
the lands purchased by their Committee, and also to put into the
College treasury for its own use about eight thousand dollars.  They
also made a free donation of all the land not taken by themselves,
to the College, to be sold at such times and to such parties as it
pleased.
After the College had been founded, in January, 1836, and had
received its donation of lands, several persons, not Subscribers,
came forward and became purchasers of farm  lands.  A -few of
these persons intended to remove West, and bought for their own
benefit-others bought in order to help on the enterprise.  They
all, except the one first named, retained their lands.
The following are their names:
Rev. L. H. Loss, Presbyterian, New York Mills, N. Y.. $  320
"   Ira Pettibone,    "      Whitesboro', N. Y.......   120
R. N. Randall,                     "...... 1,040
Isaac Mills,           "      Elder, Columbia, N. Y.  2,020
S. Pomeroy, Presbyterian, (Dr. Hopkins' Church.) Auburn, N. Y..................................  800
S. Williams, Presbyterian, Russia, N. Y............... 1,040
Samuel Tompkins, Congregationalist, Hamilton, N. Y...  560
R. Root, (not a church member) Camden, N. Y........   320
Total.$...................................6,220
Of this amount the sum of $5,900 was actually paid to the College. One Congregationalist paid $560. Presbyterians paid $5,020.
The agent of the College, Rev. Mr. Gale, came to Illinois earl'y
in 1836, in order to secure a survey of the town plat, and to provide
for the comfort of the colonists. During that year and the next he
sold farm lands for the College to a large number of settlers. These
persons were almost all strangers to the founders of the College and
had known nothing of the enterprise until this time. They came
to Galesburg for the sake of advancing their own personal interests,
and they bought College lands solely for this purpose. Many of
them have been made rich by the lands they then purchased. The
College sold to all purchasers upon exactly the same terms. Some
of them  were Presbyterians, some were Congregationalists, and
some belonged to no religious denomination. The authors of the
pamphlet already alluded to, entitled "Rights of Congregationalists




PURCHASERS OF FARM LANDS.                 33
in Knox College," in order to find some ground on which to rest a
claim for the Congregational body, have entirely ignored all the
action of the founders of the College; and have presented a list of
names of the early settlers in Galesburg, who found the College
already established when they came here, and who never donated
to it one dollar in money or one acre of land; and have given to
these men the credit of having both founded and endowed the College, and for the reason that they bought farm  lands from the
College - not for it, but from it - for their own personal benefit!
That pamphlet claims, in naked terms, that the men who bought
farm lands from the College were, in so doing, its founders, and
endowers! The folly of such a claim needs no other exposure than
its simple statement. The College had already been founded, and
all its lands which have endowed it, had been donated to it, before
these settlers ever saw or heard of Galesburg. As, however, the
question is thus raised, what amount of money has been paid to the
College for its farm lands, and by whom, it may be well to present
here the facts which will fully answer it. The following list embraces the names of all the purchasers of the original farm lands of
the College from the close of the last meeting of the Subscribers in
January, 1836, down to the present time. The list will show at a
glance who were Congregationalists, and who were Presbyterians,
and who belonged to neither party at the time they bought. The
total amount of money to be paid by each class of purchasers is
also given. This list of names and the sums attached are taken
from the treasurer's books, and have been carefully examined by
him  and found to be correct. The cultivated farm in the original
purchase has been sold several times, and as often returned to the
College. It is now in the possession of a German, who has not yet
paid for it. If paid for, it will not realize enough to cover its cost.
For these reasons it is not embraced in the present statement.
There are persons not named below who have received deeds from
the College, but who purchased either of the Subscribers or of other
parties, and paid their money to them or according to their direction.
There are others, also, who bought and made one or more partial
payments, but who afterward returned the land to the College, and
received back the money they had paid. None of these, of course,
are named as purchasers. The list here given embraces all who
actually bought the original farm lands from the College, and not
from the Subscribers or other intermediate parties, and who never
3




34                      KNOX COLLEGE.
returned them. The records of the First Presbyterian Church in.Galesburg have furnished the church relations of all but four of
those among the purchasers who are classed as Congregationalists or
Presbyterians. Two of those four, are W. A. Wood and G. W. G.
Ferris, both of whom  were members of the Second Presbyterian
Church in this city, of which the writer of this was pastor, at the
time they bought.  They were both decided Presbyterians. The
other two are VW. B. Hamlin and H. Wilcox, who are classed
according to their well-known preferences.
PURCHASERS OF FARM LANDS FROM THE COLLEGE.
PRESBYTERIANS. In 1836-7: B. Allen, E. Pomeroy, E. H. King,
Hitchcock Family, H. Conger, A. Tyler, Jr., G. W. Gale, bought
eighty acres of the College, W. Holyoke, H. Wilcox, $5,120. In
1854: W. A. Wood, G. W. G. Ferris, $12,480.14.
Total by Presbyterians, $17,600.14.
CONGREGATIONALISTS. In 1836-7: E. Swift, M. Chambers, E.
Farnham, L. Sanderson, R. Payne, W. B. Hamlin, $7,920.  In
1852: J. Blanchard, $2,400. In 1854: L. Gary, A. B. Clark,
$2,840.
Total by Congregationalists, $13,160.
NON-PROFESSORS. In 1836-7:  C. S. Colton, M. Miller, L. Chappel, J. Duston, J. West, H. Ferris, $3,320. In 1846: J. Jerauld,
$500. In 1850: L. Martin, H. Ferris, $480. In 1852: J. L.
Clay, $800. In 1853: A. G. Pearson, $2,400. In 1854: J. H.
Barnett, H. C. Foote, $2,569.94. In 1856: J. Thirlwell, W. B.
Patterson, $1,500.
Total by Non-Professors, 11,569,94.
OTHER PARTIES. In 1850:  W. D. Lee, Baptist. In 1854: S.
Richardson, Methodist.  Total, $2,000.
Total by all classes, $44,330.08.
In the foregoing list are thirty-seven names. The list of Non.
Professors embraces the names of several persons, who, after they
had bought of the College, became members of the First Church
in this place, while it was purely Presbyterian. Of that number
Mr. C. S. Colton, and perhaps one or two others, but not more, are
now regarded as Congregationalists. During the first two years
after the College had been founded, frequent sales of the farm lands
were made. But from  the early part of 1838, down to 1850, a
period of twelve years, no more farms were sold, except the half of
one quarter-section in 1846. It will be seen that the total amount




PURCHASERS OF FARMi LANDS.                  35
paid by Congregationalists, including Mr. S. Tompkins, who bought
in the State of New York, for farm lands,,purchased previous to the
year 1852, is only $8,480. This is a less sum than that paid by one
Presbyterian purchaser, Mr. G. W. G. Ferris, who paid $8,630.14.
It has been shown that the Subscribers paid for the farm lands
bought by them, $25,000; and that other parties ini the State of
New York paid $5,900. These sums added to that paid by all
classes named above, give $75,230.08 as the total amount paid into
the College treasury for all its original farm lands which have ever
been sold. By recalling the statements already made, it will be
easy to determine how much of this amount has been paid by Presbyterians and how much by Congregationalists.
PRESBYTERIANS.                CONGREGATIONALISTS.
Subscribers......$24,200      One Subscriber.......$  800
Others in N. Y.... 5.020       S. Tompkins, in. Y..   560
In Galesburg, Ill.. 17,600 14   In Galesburg, Ill... 13,160
$46,820 14                         $14,520
The sum paid by Non-Professors, and by others not included under
either of the above heads, is $13,889 94, which is almost equal to
the whole sum ever paid by all purchasers who were Congregationalists.
Much has been said of late about the large amount of money
paid to the College by the earliest Congregational purchasers; and
one of those gentlemen has allowed a statement to be published
over his own name, in which he is represented as having done very
much to give success to the enterprise during its first years. The
following facts will correct the erroneous impressions made by such
statements:  The only two Congregationalists who bought a large
amount of land during the early years of the College,'were Mr.
Swift and Mr. Chambers. The agent very reluctantly sold to them
more land than he had allowed others to take, because they represented themselves as able to control a large amount of capital, which
they would secure to the benefit of the colony. Even then, however, the whole sum to be paid by them was, as already shown, only
a few thousand dollars. Mr. Chambers was allowed to select, at a
merely nominal price, the best business lot in the village, with the
clear understanding that he was to erect upon it, at once, a store,
and engage in mercantile business. As soon, however, as he had
secured the title to his property, he went to the neighboring town




36                      KNOX COLLEGE.
of Knoxville, the county seat, and there bought a lot and erected
upon it a large store, and for five years employed his capital and
energies there, in total indifference to the business interests of Galesburg. He made very little improvement upon his lands, and for
many years a large portion of the amount due on them  remained
unpaid. The College, therefore, was never greatly benefitted by
him. The whole sum engaged to be paid by all Congregational
purchasers, for farm lands, previous to the year 1852, was only
$8,480. Of this, a large portion remained unpaid for many years.
Plainly, therefore, the College did not receive very much money
from Congregational sources. Mr. Blanchard is represented in the
"Rights of Congregationalists" as one of the early purchasers of
College lands, and as having paid for them, greatly to the prosperity of the College. The truth is this: Mr. Blanchard bought his
lands for $2,400, in 1852, seventeen years after the College was
founded.  In 1857, when he was removed from the Presidency, he
had paid the interest on the amount and no more. The College then
donated him $1,400, and credited him with that sum on his note.
After this was done, he brought in a bill of $200 against the College,
which was allowed, and then modestly asked for the balance of his
note. Iis request was not granted, and the note remains unpaid.
In this way he assisted in " starting " the College, with his money.
These trifles would not have been noticed, had not the "Rights of
Congregationalists " claimed that Knox College owes nearly all its
success to the money paid for its farm lands by Congregationalists,
and that it was especially their money " which started the College,"
and which has endowed it. The simple truth concerning all of them
is, that practically the College has endowed them.  Galesburg owes
its intelligence, and enterprise, and consequent prosperity to the
College.
PRAIRIE  COLLEGE.
The Board of Trustees, appointed by the founders of the College, met on the 8th day of January, 1836, the day after their appointment, in Whitesboro', New York, and organized, and transacted some business, of which the following items are of present
interest: "Voted that Gale and Ferris be a committee to provide
for building a College edifice and house of entertainment:" " Voted
that Messrs. Gale and West be a committee to provide for a mill, and
for cultivating College lands:" " Voted that H. H. Kellogg be a com



" PRAIRIE COLLEGE. )                  37
mittee to devise plans, etc, for a Female Seminary."  The Board
met again, in the same place, on the 2nd day of March, following,
when it was "Voted that a boarding-house, of one and a half
stories high, twenty-six by thirty-six feet on the ground, be immediately erected:" " Voted that N. H. Losey be appointed a surveyor for the colony, and that the expense of surveying be paid
out of the College fund." The reader will bear in mind that these
two meetings of the Board were held in New York, before a single
settler had found his way to Galesburg, and before an acre of land
had been sold there. At.these meetings it was determined to proceed immediately to erect a College edifice, a house of entertainment, a mill, a boarding-house, and to prepare plans for a Female
Seminary. These facts show clearly that the founders of the College had already provided the means which would " start it;" and
that they did not depend alone upon future sales of land for the
first movement.
The Board met again at New Hartford, N. Y., August 31st, 1836,
when it was " Resolved that a Committee of five be appointed to
inquire into the propriety of applying to the Legislature for an act
of incorporation, the ensuing winter, and to make such application
if by them it be deemed expedient."
A petition for a charter was prepared, in which the names of
eleven persons were designated as Trustees; the Board when full
was to consist of twenty-five members, including the President of
the College; the remainder of the Board were to be appointed by
those already designated. The petition was acted upon, and a
charter granted by the Legislature of Illinois, in February, 1837, at
Vandalia. In the Charter the name was changed from "Prairie
College" to "Knox Manual Labor College."  (The name was
changed to " KNox COLLEGE " by act of Legislature, in February,
1857; the "Manual Labor" system having been abandoned at an
early date.) The new Board appointed in the Charter, did not meet
and organize until in August, 1837. In the mean time, the Board
of Prairie College continued to act, as it did also for some months
after the new  organization. Under date of March 28th, 1837, at
Galesburg, they "Resolved that a Committee of three be appointed
to fix on a spot for a permanent burying ground for the colony, to
lay out and procure a survey of the same," etc. At the same
meeting, the " Committee on Rents reported that there were six
houses belonging to the Trustees, besides the school house."  It




38                      KNOX COLLEGE.
was also "Voted that a Committee of three be appointed to inquire
into the condition of the funds, lands, etc., belonging to the Trustees, and everything pertaining to the College, that this Board may
be prepared to make a correct statement to the new Board, and to
convey to them the property of this Board."
"April 20th, 1837: Voted that five acres, or the south half of
the ten acre lot, on the west side of the village plat, and extending
north to Main street, be laid out for a burying ground:" also
"Voted that the College buildings be erected directly south of
Broad street, sixty rods from the street running east and west on
the south side of the village."
"June 15th, 1837: Voted that the treasurer be instructed to
loan to Mr. John Kendall two thousand dollars:" also "Voted to
loan the Mill Company a sum not to exceed $1,500."
"July 21st, 1837: Voted that the Chairman call the incorporated Board of Trustees of Knox Manual Labor College to meet on
the second Wednesday of August, at the house of John G. Sanborn
of Knoxville: " also " Voted that all the College lands on sections
fourteen and twenty-three, making three hundred, and twenty acres,
be deeded to persons in trust, for the purpose of a Theological
Seminary." At a subsequent meeting, on the 1st day of August,
1837, the same Board voted " that the south-east block of the village plat, as it now is, be reserved for the site of a Theological Seminary, if it should be wanted for that purpose."  These lands, thus
set apart for a Theological Seminary, were designed exclusively for
a Presbyterian Seminary. This was the intention of the donors, as
they have always claimed, and the committee who held the land in
trust always acted in view of that intention, and always held the land
for the Presbyterian body, and for no other. When it was proposed,
a few years ago, to establish' a New School Presbyterian Theological
Seminary in the North-west, this property was offered as an inducement to locate the institution in Galesburg. The Seminary was not
located there, and in 1853 the land all reverted to the College. The
three hundred and twenty acres had been included, in the mean time,
within. the corporate limits of the city, and nearly all have since been
sold at high prices. A large share of the present funds of the College
has been derived from the sale of these lands.  The town property
has ever been the chief source of wealth to the College. This property has been bought by all classes of people, having all shades of
religious belief. If the control of the College were to be vested, in
accordance with the latest claim, in those who have paid their money
into its treasury in exchange for its lands, the College Board would
embrace the representatives of almost all forms of belief that are
known "under the whole heavens."  And the share of Congregationalists in such a Board, for their portion of money paid, would
be small indeed.




NEW ORGANIZATION.                     39
"NEW  ORGANIZATION."
"August 9th, 1837: Trustees of Knox Manual Labor College met
for the first time, at the house of Matthew Chambers, of Knoxville.
Present-John Waters, George W. Gale, John G. Sanborn, George
H. Wright, Parnach Owen, Erastus Swift, Thomas Simmons, Matthew Chambers, Nehemiah West and N. H. Losey.
John Waters was chosen President, N. H. Losey, Clerk, and
John G. Sanborn, Treasurer, for the term of one year.
On motion, it was resolved that Wm. Holyoke, Peter Butler, of
Monmouth, and Silvanus Ferris be added to the Board of Trustees.
On motion, the following preamble and resolution were adopted:
WHEREAS, an Association of gentlemen, in the State of New
York, was formed with a view of establishing a College, and other
Seminaries, in this State, and having purchased lands and raised
funds for said object, in Knox county, township eleven north, of
range one east, of the fourth principal meridian; and whereas, by a
petition from said Association and others, a charter for a College
and Preparatory School, with power to add Professorships of Law
and Medicine, in said township, has been granted by the Legislature
of this State; we, the persons named as Trustees in said charter,
have been organized this day: And whereas, the said Association
have proposed to make over said property to this Board,
Resolved, That we will receive said property, and all of it, with
the express design of carrying into effect the original purpose of
said Association, so far as the charter and the means in our hands,
or to be received, shall permit.
On motion, Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed
for six months, to execute the orders of the Board of Trustees.
Resolved, That the commnittee above named, who shall be styled
the Executive Committee, be authorized to sell and dispose of the
lands which may be granted to this Board, under such regulations
as have been heretofore adopted by the Association, denominated
the'Trustees of Prairie College,' and that said Executive Committee be governed by the resolutions and orders of said Association
in the management of the property and funds belonging to, or
which may be deeded to this Board."
The Corporate Board having fully organized, the former Board
met "January 19th, 1838," when " on motion, it was _Resolved, That
deeds of all the Colony purchase be made from the Purchasing
Committee to the Corporate Board of Trustees, and from them to
individuals; except such parts of the purchase as were laid out into
village property, and such other property as is designed for the
benefit of a Theological Seminary."
"-Resolved, That the above excepted property be deeded directly
from the Purchasing Committee to a Committee of Trust, who shall
manage it according to the instructions to be contained in the deed
of conveyance."
The same Board, at a meeting held " Feb. 12th, 1838, Resolved,




40                      KNOX COLLEGE.
That it is expedient to deed the village property to the incorporated
Board of Trustees; and that the property designed for the benefit
of a Theological Seminary only be deeded to a Committee of
Trust."
"Feb. 19th, 1838. Resolved, That the south-east.quarter of
block 24, be reserved for a meeting house."
"A meeting of the Trustees of Knox Manual Labor College was
held March 7th, 1838," at which, after enumerating the donations of
lots made by the old Board for a burying ground, a meeting-house,
etc., it was "Resolved, That said burying ground be deeded to the
Trustees of THE PRESBYTERIAN SOCIETY OF GALESBURG; and that
the, meeting-house and parsonage lots be deeded also to said trustees, for the uses mentioned above."
"Resolved, That the President and Secretary be directed to give
deeds to all who have purchased land of the former proprietors, on
the conditions of the purchase as specified in their books: Provided,
the purchasers give sufficient security to this Board for moneys unpaid on such purchase."
"Resolved, That all deeds for lands in this township, given by
this Board, have a clause attached to the same prohibiting the
manufacture or sale of intoxicating drinks."
The last resolution was soon after modified so as to apply only to
village property, and not to farms.
The foregoing records and other facts taken from the College
books, show conclusively that the act of the Subscribers at their
last meeting in founding the College, was not a mere form, but that
the College was in the fullest sense founded at that time. They
show that the Subscribers at that meeting not only founded the
College, but also endowed it-how abundantly we shall soon see.
They show that from the beginning the College had money in its
treasury, and that very little of that money came from Congregationalists. The College funds in 1836, the first year of its existence,
were in such a state that the Board 4vere able to expend in purchasing timber and new prairie lands and other property, a sum exceeding $9,000. The treasurer stated in a report dated May 1st, 1838,
a few weeks only after the date of the last record given above,
that the "available funds" of the College and the interest due
thereon,,amounted to $24,158.58. By "available funds" in these
reports is meant the notes and other securities held by the College,
upon which it received interest: The phrase includes no other
kinds of property.  The next year, "Nov. 5, 1839," the " available
funds" were reported to amount to $29,714.86, cafter paying all the
indebtedness of the Board. In 1843, when the Academy and Preparatory Department had been in complete operation five years,




THE ENDOWMENT.                       41
and the College two years, and when heavy expenses had been
incurred for buildings and other improvements, the "available
funds," which remained unexhausted, were reported as amounting
to $26,068.56. The total value, at that time, of all the College
property, was stated in the same report to be equal to $74,514.56.
From that time until the present, the farm lands and village property
of the College have continually advanced in value, and although
large sums of money have been expended for instruction and for
buildings and other objects, yet the " available funds " have steadily
increased until now they amount to near $206,000. The total value
of all the property'owned by the College at the present time, is
about $400,000.
THE ENDOWMENT.
The following facts will show the sources from which the endowment of the College has been derived, and also the total value of all
the property which it has ever owned:
1. The principal source of all the wealth of the College has been
the lands donated by its founders. Of six HUNDRED THOUSAND
DOLLARS' worth of property, which the College has held, as will
soon be shown, all but about forty-six thousand dollars' worth, has
been derived from those lands. The founders also donated eight
thousand dollars in money-this sum being the excess which they
paid into the College treasury above the entire cost of the whole
enterprise down to the time the donation was made. The public
will judge whether the men who made those donations of land and
money to a College of their own creating are not entitled to the
credit of having endowed it.
2. The Rev. H. H. Kellogg, while President of the College, obtained, when in England, in 1844, at the World's Convention, a
small donation, in money and in books, valued at about $2,000.
In 1844, Rev. G. W. Gale obtained among his personal friends in
New York and elsewhere about 1,600 volumes of baoks for the College
library, and over $2-000 in money, a part of which was expended
for a philosophical apparatus. He also obtained some other articles,
which were sold for the College. Mr. Gale states that the greater
part of these donations came from gentlemen connected with Presbyterian, Episcopalian and Unitarian churches. In New England he
obtained some money, chiefly from gentlemen in Boston, among
whom were Messrs. Lawrence, Appleton, Lowell, Peter Brooks, and




42                     IKNox COLLEGE.
their friends, none of whom were Congregationalists. These donations were about equal to $4,000.
3. In 1844, J. P. Williston, Esq., a Congregationalist, of North
Hampton, Mass., became interested in the College, through Mr.
Gale, its agent at the time, and commenced making small donations,
of a few hundred dollars each year, which he continued for a
period of eleven years. At the end of the eleven years, when his
donations ceased, he had contributed to the College funds, according to the treasurer's books, about $8,000. Mr. Blanchard has
credited him with $2,000 more than this amount, but that sum was
given principally to indigent students, and not to the College. Mr.
Williston had been a donor to the College two years before Mr. Blanchard became its President. After that event, his donations were devoted almost wholly to the salary ofMr. Blanchard. In a letter written
by him  two years ago, since Mr. Blanchard's removal from  the
College, and published at the time in Galesburg, he distinctly declared that in contributing to Knox College, he had no interest in
the  question  whether it was to  be under Piesbyterian or
Congregational control.
The reader will bear in mind that when Mr. Williston commenced
his small annual donations, the College property was worth about
$80,000, of which amount, nearly $30,000 were " available funds."
At the end of eleven years, his donations ceased, because the College was then too rich to need what he could give. It is simply
absurd, therefore, to claim, as the " Rights of Congregationalists "
does, that "in a dark and trying hour, he came forward" and
saved the College; and that the donations made at that period,
principally by him, were so valuable, that without them " all the
previous endowments and property would have been entirely consumed in current expenses, and, the very life of the institution
endangered."  Mr. Williston is a man of honorable sentiments, and
would not willingly suffer his friends to magnify unduly and to
the injury of others, the importance of his benefactions. His donations were made from generous impulses, and his name will ever be
cherished by the College, as one of its benefactors. But the
College did not depend upon him for its life.
4. The Society for promoting Collegiate and Theological education at the West, began to aid Knox College in 1846, and continued
its aid until 1855, when the College had become so prosperous as to
need no further aid from  that source. Rev. Theron Baldwin,




THE ENDOWMENT.                         43
Corresponding Secretary of that Society, in a letter addressed to
the writer, gives "the sum of $5,864.88, as standing on the books
of the Society, charged to Knox College."
5. In 1853, the Hon. Charles Phelps, of Cincinnati, Ohio, donated
to the College, eighteen quarter-sections of land, lying in Illinois.
The donation was made, not to the general funds of the College,
but for the specific purpose of establishing and supporting one or
more new professorships.  The lands were not to be sold until they
would bring ten dollars an acre, or a total of $28,880.  The following statement, made by John G. Sanborn, Esq., of Knoxville, a
member of the Board of Trustees of the College, and agent of Mr.
Phelps for many years, will show the value of the land when the
donation was made.
"I was, for several years, agent for Charles Phelps, Esq., late of
Cincinnati, Ohio, and had a full list of the lands which he owned
in Illinois, and was familiar with the value of them, and regularly
paid the taxes for him; and at the time of his donation to Knox College I estimated the value of the lands donated by him, to be from
twelve to fifteen thousand dollars.
JOHN G. SANBORN.
KNOXVILLE, July 5, 1859.
In the report of the Treasurer presented to the Board at its annual
meeting in June, 1854, one year after the donation had been received,
it was reported as worth $20,356.95. Since that time, all the land,
but four quarter-sections, has been sold. The title to three of these
quarter-sections is disputed, and is, perhaps, worthless. The last
report of the Treasurer, presented in June, 1859, states that the
amount received for the portion of these lands sold, is ($24,672.15)
twenty-four thousand six hundred and seventy-two dollars and
fifteen cents.  The same report estimates the four quarter-sections
unsold as worth $10 an acre, which would make their entire value
equal to $6,400. The College has an undisputed right to only one
of them, the value of which is $1,600.  This sum, added to the
above, gives the entire present value of this donation at $26,272.15.
After these statements by the agent of Mr. Phelps and by the Treasurer of the College, the reader is asked to notice the statement concerning the same matter made in the " Rights of Congregationalists,"
which, it will be remembered, is a report presented at the last annual
meeting of the Congregational General Association of this State,
and adopted, as true, by the unanimous vote of that body, as their
own minutes declare.  That report, after stating truly, but indefi



44                      KNOX COLLEGE.
nitely, that the present endowment of Knox College is' from three
to four hundred thousand dollars in amount," then adds as follows:
" The present endowment of the College is almost entirely THE PROCEEDS of the gift of Hon. Charles Phelps, a Congregationalist."  And
again it says: " We are next called to consider the munificent gift
of the late Hon. Charles Phelps, who gave to the College eighteen
quarter-sections of land, in Illinois, estimated to be worth at the
time $30,000, and now constituting the principalpart of the College
endowment of over $300,000."  The same report represents the
donation as having been made to the College at a time when, without
this " timely aid," the College must have exhausted all its other
property in mere " current expenses," and have become entirely
bankrupt-(p. 26.) If the committee who drew up that report, and
if the Association who adopted it, knew  anything of the matter,
they must have known that Mr. Phelps' donation was not made to the
College until in 1853, after it had become comparatively rich; they
must haye known, also, that the College has received from that donation less than $25,000 in money; they must have known, also, that,
even had the "proceeds " been large, and had the College at the
same time been poor and embarrassed, yet these funds of Mr. Phelps
could, in no manner, have relieved the College and have saved its
other property, for those funds were given for the specific purpose
of endowing new professorships, and could be used for no other purpose; they must have known that their entire statement was false.
But if they knew nothing of the matter, with certainty, then why
publish such statements as "indubitable facts?"  The chairman of
the committee by whom the above report was drawn up has, since
its publication, announced in the " Congregational Herald," that
their " statement that the present funds of the College were chiefly
derived from the gift of land by Judge Phelps is not correct." Yet
he says " the error in no wise afects the position of the report; it
does not vary in any case the general result "  Think of that, dear
reader, an error of over $300,000 is such a mere trifle that " it in no
wise effects the position of the report!" Is not that a sublime selfconfidence!  The report is to be taken as strictly accurate in every
other respect, notwithstanding the admission of so grave an error
in respect to a matter wherein it was so easy to know and state the
exact truth. The admission of so serious a mistake in respect to so
simple a matter does very materially " affect the position of the
report;" it at once destroys all confidence in the whole report. If




LETTER OF SAMUEL W. FISHER.                45
the committee did not know the truth about this matter, how shall
we believe that they knew it about other matters?
The denominational relations of Judge Phelps, when his donation
was made, will appear from  the following statements, made with
direct reference to this point, by Rev. Samuel W. Fisher, D. D.,
President of Hamilton College, New York, but for many years previous to last year, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati.
"HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, Dec. 9, 1858.
"Judge Phelps came to Cincinnati from  Vermont, some little
time before I came to that city, more than twelve years ago. In
Vermont he was connected with a-Congregational Church. He
began to attend my church soon after I took charge of it. I epurchased a pew in it, and attended there until the day of his death.
I attended his funeral. His widow occupies the same pew, and is
still an attendant there. A daughter and a son-in-law, now residing
with their mother, united with my church on profession last July,
just before my leaving. Judge Phelps was an attendant there when
he made the donation to Knox College. I do not think Judge
Phelps, if alive, would be much concerned as to which denomination had the control of the College. His mind did not occupy itself
with the points that distinguish them. His object was to promote
Christian education at the West. Most certainly he had not, nor
has his widow, or any of his children with whom I have an acquaintance, any objection to having the College under Presbyterian control. As members of a Presbyterian Church, several of them would
naturally prefer it.
SAMUEL W. FISHER."
From the' above explicit testimony of Dr. Fisher, it is evident
that, unless it be wholly impossible to fall from the grace of Congregationalism after having once so much as professed it, Judge
Phelps had totally abandoned his connection with that system during at least the last twelve years of his life. This will appear the
more certain from the well known fact that, before he lef Vermont
he had left the Congregational Church there, from some dissatisfaction, and had attended the Baptist Church. He had been some
seven years a constant attendant upon and a supporter of a Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati when he made his donation to Knox
College. In justice to himself and to his surviving family, therefore, his donation is to be credited to the Presbyterian body, and
not to the Congregational. The reader will no doubt be interested
in knowing how this matter concerning Judge Phelps is stated in
the " Rights of Congregationalists."  That report says:  "Mr.




46                      KNOX COLLEGE.
Phelps was in sentiment a Congregationalist, though not a church
member. By reason of a local difficulty, he left and went to the
Baptist Church, with which his wife subsequently united, and in
that denomination he continued to worship at the East, and after
his removal to the West, during the remainder of his life."  Compare that statement with President Fisher's declaration, that during
the last twelve years of his life, Judge Phelps attended the Presbyterian Church, of which he, Dr. Fisher, was pastor.
The logic of the report is not less remarkable than its facts. Its
argument is this: first, that Mr. Phelps was never a member of any
Congregational Church-then, that while in Vermont, he gave up all
attendance upon even the religious services of that body, and became an attendant upon those of a Baptist Church, with which his
wife united as a member-and then, that after removing to the West,
and " during the remainder of his life," he had no further connection
with the Congregational Church, but remained with the Baptistand therefore "he was a Congregationalist!"
The entire amount of property ever owned by the College, has
come from the sources above enumerated, except a few hundred
dollars derived from uncertain sources. It will be seen that no account is made of money received for tuition in the various departments of the institution. There were ninety-four and a half scholarships attached to the first lands sold, each scholarship entitling the
holder to send a pupil for instruction for the period of twenty-five
years, to either the Academy, the Preparatory Department, the
Young Ladies' Seminary, or the College. These scholarships, when
not used by the owners, have commonly been sold to students from
year to year, at a rate a little less than the price of tuition in the
several departments of the College. Hence very little money has
ever been received from  students. The Academy, from  which
nearly all the money paid for tuition is received, has been for several
years an expense to the College Board, although it has had from two
hundred to three hundred students each year.
The Academy and the Preparatory Department of the College,
were opened in 1838. The first class entered the College in 1841.
A "Female Collegiate Department," which is a fully organized
Seminary for young ladies, having its own separate corps of instructors, and its own buildings, has been in successful operation for
several years. All these departments are under the control of the
CollegeBoard, and all alike depend upon the same general funds




VALUE OF DONATIONS.                       47
for their support.  For the management of its property-for insurance-for taxes, which until recently had to be paid-for loss on
buildings destroyed by fire, and by wear of time-for agents-for
teachers-for lands donated to churches and railroad companiesfor village lots thrown open to the public as a park, and not included in
the lands reported by the treasurer, as a part of present property-for
all such expenses, the College has paid out, lost or donated, as estimated by the treasurer-by the former agents-and by several trustees, an amount considerably more than $200,000. That this estimate is very much too small, can be seen from the fact that during
the last fozr years alone, the cost of instruction and the care of
buildings, excluding all other expenses, has been about $60,000.
The last annual report of the Treasurer states the present value of
the College property, including money, lands and buildings, at
8366,095.15. This sum includes $26,272.15, the present value of
the Phelps Fund, which amount, if deducted from  the former, will
leave $339,823.
The reader is now in possession of all the facts relating to the
money and lands ever donated to the College.  That the whole
matter may be taken in at a single view, the several facts above
given are here presented in a brief
RE CAPITULATION.
Donated by Subscribers in money........   $,8000 00
" through Messrs. Kellogg and Gale..   6,000 00
"    by J. P. Williston................    8,000 00
~'   by College Society................    5,864 88
"    by Charles Phelps, present value...   26,272 15
Other College property, at present time......  339,823 00
Am't expended, donated, lost etc., from 1836, 200,000 00
Total............$.........  $593,960 03
It thus appears that the entire value of all the property ever owned
by the College is almost six hundred thousand dollars.  The several
donations made by all parties who were not Subscribers, it will be
seen, amount to $46,137.03. This sum deducted from the total amount
ever owned by the College, leaves $547,823. And this sum of FIVE
HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE DOLLARS, is the product of that donation of land and
money made to the College by the men who founded it. All the other
donations, except that made by Mr. Phelps, which has only become




48                        KiOX COLLEGE.
available within the last three or four years, were exhausted immediatelyin current expenses. The endowment of the College has come
wholly from the donation made by the Subscribers and by Mr. Phelps.
Let the statement be repeated here, that of almost six hundred
thousand dollars, all but about forty-six, thousand came from the
donation made by the founders of the College. The men who gave
that property were all Presbyterians but one, who was a Congregationalist. The money paid by that one, was less than one-thirtieth
of the whole amount paid by the Subscribers, in order to found and
endow  the College.  One-thirtieth of the entire proceeds of the
original donation, $547,823, amounts to $18,260.77, which is to be
credited to Congregationalists; while the balance, amounting to
$529,562.23, is to be credited to Presbyterians.
By crediting each denomination with the amount of all the donations made by parties connected with it, we shall be able to see how
much has been given by Congregationalists and how  much by
Presbyterians.
CONGOE GATIONAL DONATIONS.
By one Subscriber, proceeds of lands.............18,260 77
J. P. Williston............................. 8,000 00
College Society, one half....................  2,932 44
Total by CongregatiQnalists.................$29,193 21
PRESBYTERIAN  DONATIONS.
By Subscribers...............................$529,562 23
Messrs. Kellogg and Gale, as above..........   6,000 00
College Society, one half...................   2,932 44
"  Charles Phelps.............................  26,272 15
Total by Presbyterians.......................564,766 82
Thus it is seen the College has received from Congregational
sources, from the time it was founded, until now, property equal in
value to twenty-nine thousand, one hundred and ninety-three dollars and twenty-one cents. During the same time, it has received
from Presbyterian sources, property equal to five hundred and sixtyfour thousand, seven hundred and sixty-six dollars and eighty-two
cents. These facts will show the " Rights of Congregationalists in
Knox College."  Yet the reader must remember the whole Plan
originated with Presbyterians.   It was their wisdom  and their
energy, that secured the success of that Plan.  They originated
that Plan with no purpose or thought of inviting other denomina



KNOX COLLEGE.                       49
tions to become partners with them in it. They did intend to build
up a College for the wants of the West, and not of a denomination,
but they did not intend to put the control of that College into any
other hands than Presbyterians.   They called no convention
of different denominations to consult about the work, and to take
part with them in its accomplishment. There was no recognized
union of denominations in founding Knox College. It was a private
enterprise, by members of the Presbyterian Church. One Congregationalist joined with them for his own personal benefit; but his
connection did not vary the character of the Plan in any degree.
He made no stipulations for himself as a Congregationalist. Had
he proposed any they would have been peremptorily rejected. The
Plan was developed,-the work was in progress when he united
in it. He did his part worthily among the founders of the College,
and he shall ever receive his full share of the credit which belongs
to those founders. But in the inception and shaping of that Plan,
he had no part. When received as a Subscriber, it was with no
condition, express or implied, that through him  was to be transmitted to the whole Congregational body, for all time to come, a
perfect right of inheritance and control in the College. Such a
right he never claimed; such a right never was granted. Indeed,
it probably was not known to more than one of the other Subscribers, that Mr. Simmons was a Congregationalist when the College
was founded. This appears from the testimony of the founders
given below. While it is true that as a question of right, the
Congregationalists had no partnership in the College, or at most,
only a share equal to one-thirtieth of the whole, it is nevertheless
true that the College has been, and ever will be conducted on most
liberal principles toward them. They have always been generously
represented in the Board and in the Faculty. They have more
members now among the Trustees, than Presbyterians have; and
they constitute a majority of the College Faculty. The Presbyterian
members of the Board have voted unanimously for every Congregationalist in the Faculty.  They have unanimously elected Congregationalists as Trustees.  They did not elect as many of that
denomination as are now found in the Board.  Some of those who
were selected from the Ministry and Eldership of the Presbyterian
Church, and were appointed to the Board because they were Presbyterians, as they professed, have since become the most decided
Congregationalists. In this way has the present strength of Congregationalists in the College Board been secured.
4




50                      KNOX COLLEGE.
TESTIMONY OF THE FOUNDERS.
In determining the denominational relations of the founders of
the College, and the question to whom its control, both legally and
morally belongs, the public can have nothing more reliable than the
testimony of those founders themselves. The founders of a College
have a right, both in law and equity, to determine into whose hands
it shall be placed. They are the most competent witnesses to settle
a controversy as to what their own intentions  were. They know
with certainty to what body of Christians, if to any, they belonged;
and hence their statements on the point must settle the question.
A large collection of letters and certificates has been received from
the founders of Knox College, respecting these questions. The
testimony is uniform and unhesitating, that they were, with but
one exception, Presbyterians; and most of them did not know of
even that one exception. They declare explicitly, that they had
no thought of transmitting the control of the College to any others
than Presbyterians. The recent attempt to make it appear that
these men, even if nominally Presbyterians, were so only by
connection with "Plan-of-Union" Churches, and were in fact
Congregationalists, will be set at rest by the men themselves.
Moreover, as the list of the founders will show, a large number of
them were Elders of churches, and every one who knows what a
"Plan-of-Union " Church is, knows that one of its essential features
is that it has no Elders.
Mr. Blanchard, who  always counts largely-upon either the
ignorance or the credulity of the public, in his statements, has ventured so far as to speak, in a printed letter of his, two years ago, of
a "Plan-of-Union Presbyterian, a ruling Elder."  No man knew
better than he that " Plan-of-Union" Churches had no "ruling
Elders;" and he knew also, that the man of whom he spoke, Mr.
N. West, was a "ruling Elder" in that church which he called
"Plan-of-Union," and was moreover a decided Presbyterian.
In addition to the Elders, the list of founders shows a large number of Presbyterian ministers, and these will hardly be claimed as
Congregationalists, even by those who are able to believe in " Planof-Union ruling Elders." It is worthy of remark in this connection,
that the "Rights of Congregationalists" uniformly assumes that
a member of a Plan-of-Union Church is ipso facto, not a Presbyterian, and is a Congregationalist.




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                  51
The first letter given below, from the founders of the College, is
very properly that of Rev. George W. Gale, D. D., who originated
the Plan, and whose efforts were the principal means of carrying it
into successful operation.
LETTER OF REV. G. W. GALE, D. ).
"I was born in the State of New York, and graduated at Union
College. I studied for the Ministry in Princeton Theological Seminary, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Hudson, and
was ordained by the Presbytery of St. Lawrence, now Watertown.
While I have always cherished feelings of great kindness and
brotherly love toward Christians of other denominations, and have
rejoiced in whatever contributed to their true prosperity, yet in all
my preferences, and in all my professions, I have always been a
Presbyterian.  While I have admired many things in the history of
Congregationalism, yet my clearest convictions have ever been,
that the apostolic church was not modelled after that fashion.
The Plan for founding Knox College originated with me. I spent
much time and money in maturing the Plan and in enlisting my
friends in it. The great object of my life, since the College has
been founded, has been to make it an institution second to no other
in its means of furnishing a thorough education to its students, and
one which should be worthy of the most liberal patronage of the
public. It was never my design to found a sectarian College. It
was to be a College open to all the youth of our land, without any
reference to their relations to Christian denominations. But while
the College was founded for all denominations, it was not founded
by all. It was exclusively a Presbyterian enterprise. It was always
so understood among all its founders. The Subscribers to my Plan,
by whom the College was founded, were all secured by myself, and
I was well acquainted with their Church relations. They were all
decided Presbyterians except Mr. Simmons, who was a Congregationalist. A large number of them were ministers and elders in the
Presbyterian Church, and almost all were my personal friends. Mr.
Simmons heard of our Plan and became a Subscriber, but with no
purpose, on that account, of claiming any share in the control of
the College as a Congregationalist. We never expected to yield the
College to any others than those who should represent our own
opinions as Presbyterians. If others were invited to share in that




52                      KNOX COLLEGE.
control, it was only as a matter of comity, and for the sake of the
prosperity of the College, and not from any original right which
they had. The intention of the founders in respect to the future
control of the College is clearly evinced by their action in appointing the Board of " Prairie College," and afterward in appointing
the corporate Board. The men to whom they committed their College in both Boards were almost all Presbyterians. As the cooperation of others was desirable, they elected, during the early years
of the College, some from among the Episcopal, the Congregational,
and the Old School Presbyterian Churches. But their election did
not result from any right those denominations had to be represented
in the College Board. And the number of New School Presbyterians in the Board greatly preponderated over all other parties united,
as it was intended they should. This continued to be the case for
years, until after Mr. Blanchard became President, when he succeeded in bringing about a different state of things in the Board.
The change he aimed at could never have been secured except from
a change of sentiments on the part of some who were in the Board.
Several trustees, who were ministers or elders in Presbyterian
Churches when elected, and who were elected because they were
Presbyterians, have since become very decided Congregationalists.
They united with others who were Congregationalists when appointed, and under the leadership of Mr. Blanchard, have been
laboring for the past few years to secure to Congregationalists a
majority over all others in the Board, and thus to wrest the College
from  its founders. Mr. Blanchard was elected President of the
College in 1845. At the time our thoughts were directed to him for
this appointment, he was a Presbyterian minister of a Presbyterian
Church in Cincinnati. Had we supposed then that he would become a Congregationalist when elected, he would never have been
proposed as a candidate.  Our former President, Rev. H. H. Kellogg, had been a Presbyterian. Mr. Blanchard, just before his election, stated to us that if he became our President, he would prefer
to connect with an Association of Congregationalists, but at the same
time he assured us that this was merely a matter of personal preference, and that he had no zeal for Congregationalism. This announcement gave many of us anxiety lest we should have trouble
for the future, but our negotiations with him had then gone so far
that it was thought best to complete them, and trust our peace to
his honor. We soon found that we had introduced into the College




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                   53
and into the colony a man of unbounded hostility to the Presbyterian Church. Soon after he came here he stated that there ought
to be only two denominations in the State-the Old School Presbyterians, and the Congregationalists. He has labored with all diligence to exterminate the Church which he has forsaken, and to build
up the Congregational Church on its ruins. It was my misfortune
to occupy a position on this ground which placed me directly in the
way of his projects. The College had been founded by Presbyterians. The colony here had been planted by them. The Church
first organized in the place, and which was the only one here for
many years, had been organized purely Presbyterian.  The region
of country about, for a circuit of fifty miles, contained many Presbyterian Churches, and not one Congregational, when we came here.
The whole region was not so much as nominally occupied by an Association at that time.  Congregationalism was then hardly known in
this part of Illinois. In the light of such facts, I did not feel it my
duty to allow Mr. Blanchard to overturn all this work with no better
object than that of the mere propagandist. I could not suffer the work
of my own hands and that of my friends to be destroyed without at
least a remonstrance.  My opposition to Mr. Blanchard for these
causes brought upon me a storm of wrath'seldom equalled for violence, and which has raged against me for the last ten years. In
1848, a little more than two years after he became President, he
addressed to me a letter, in which he distinctly presented to me this
alternative, either to yield the Presbyterian interests here to Con.
gregationalists, and secure their lasting gratitude for so doing,
or else, by maintaining them, to meet with hostility and all its consequences.  At that time there was in Galesburg a paper edited
and published by a Presbyterian minister. Congregationalists were
advised not to give it their support unless the editor would leave
his Presbytery and join the Association. Those of them who were
connected with the First Presbyterian Church, were advised, also,
not to unite in calling or supporting a minister for that Church, unless
the Presbyterian members, who were a large majority, would consent to settle a Congregationalist. The letter of Mr. Blanchard proposed these measures for my acceptance, and also the dissolution of
Knox Presbytery, as the only grounds on which I could be allowed
to live in peace. I quote a few'sentences from that letter, to confirm my statements. The italics were made by Mr. Blanchard:




~54               I~KNOX COLLEGE.'Dec. 11, 1848. To Prof. Gale-Dear Brother:  *  *  *  Now
you can take either one of three courses, in view of facts as they
exist:  1st. You can quietly allow F-, (the Presbyterian editor) to
join Association, and the Congregationalists to adopt his paperallow a Congregational pastor to settle in this Church-our funds to
Home Missions to go under Kirby's direction, to whose field we
belong-merge Knox Presbytery in Peoria, or Schuyler, or one
north-act as our daysman between us and Presbyterianism, in
Chicago, and throughout the West and East-and make yourself,
though not necessary to our existence as a College, yet necessary to
our healthy, and in the highest degree, successful existence; or,
2nd. You can look on with comparative indifference; or, 3rd. You
can prevent brother F- joining Association, and, (for in reason and
nature it is the same thing,) prevent Congregational ministers adopting his paper. You can probably prevent for a time the peaceful
settlement of a Congregational minister in this place. You can
keep Knox Presbytery alive in its distinct existence. *  *  *  I
will suppose you to take the first or last of the above courses. If
the first, in my humble judgment the following would be the result,
to wit: You would be honored and courted as the representative
of Presbyterianism, the good will of which is necessary to us, instead of being dreaded as the weakener of our home operations,
newspaper, missions, etc.  You would give the churches in this
community peace. You would remove out of the way the only obstacle to our having a paper here which would make us respected at
home and abroad.  [The reader will bear in mind that this happy
result would be secured, not by a new editor, but by a mere change,
by the former editor, from Presbytery to Association.-GALE.] You
will remove the only obstacle to our evangelical labors in this
region. *  *  You would increase your own influence, however
great it may now be in the Churches of Central Association, and
make yourself courted as the representative of Presbyterianism
abroad, while you would not be dreaded as the representative of a
disturbing force in our midst. You would have, in short, all the
advantages, from your principles, to yourself personally, which you
can possibly have now, without that friction, which, by irritating the
animal passions of men in the things of their religion, makes them
desperate, and prone to every sort of extreme.
On the other hand, if you resolve to keep up the Presbyterian




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                   55
system in conjunction with the others, *  *  all this is not going
to take place without engendering ill blood, and crimination among
our people.                                  J. BLANCHARD.'
This proposition will, I trust, satisfy those who have heretofore
doubted whether Mr. Blanchard ever openly and purposely made
war upon Presbyterianism in this region. Here we have his own
words. I did not, of course, feel disposed to yield long established
and valuable rights, to one who was seeking with hostile efforts, to
introduce a state of things among us, not known at the beginning.
I refused to accept the very flattering offers made me-rejected the
proffer of' in nce  in the churchesof Central Association'-did
not choose to occupy the position of'representative of Presbyterianism abroad,' when all should be swept away at home-and,
although I knew that, to Mr. Blanchard, our system was indeed'a
disturbing force,' yet I preferred to adhere to it, knowing that I
was only maintaining what had been planted here by good men, and
had been nurtured with many prayers. My steady adherence to
Presbyterianism resulted, as Mr. Blanchard warned me it would,'in irritating the animal passions' of himself and his followers,'in the things of their religion'-and this irritation, I have found
to my cost, has made them  all, and Mr. Blanchard in particular,' cesperate, andprone to every sort of extreme.'
Justice to Knox College, as well as to myself, has seemed to demand this exposure of the true cause of all the wrath with which
Mr. Blanchard has pursued me for so many years. It was because
I would not suffer him, without opposition, to exterminate from this
ground the long established interests of those by whom the College
had been founded-the colony planted-and this whole region made
prosperous and attractive.
The First Presbyterian Church in Galesburg was organized by
myself, and by Bro. Noel, a committee of the Presbytery of Schuyler appointed for that purpose. It was organized as a purely Presbyterian Church, and continued such for about eight years. There
was not, during those early years, the slightest departure from strict
Presbyterianism in its polity or in its administration. When the
Church was formed by direction of the Presbytery of Schuyler, a
majority of that Presbytery were Old School men, and would not
have organized and received into its connection a church that was
not strictly Presbyterian. The only thing brought forward now, as




56                      KNOX COLLEGE.
evidence that the Church was not strictly Presbyterian at first, is
the fact that sometimes the members remained after preparatory
lectures, to witness the examination of candidates for membership
by the Session, and were occasionally asked to express their opinion
of the examination by vote. This practice I introduced myself, as
I had been accustomed to it in New York; and it was never proposed as any part of Congregationalism. When the Second Presbyterian Church was organized by me in 1851, which was done for
the express purpose of having a strictly Presbyterian Church, after
the First Church had ceased to be such, I introduced the same practice, which certainly would not have been followed by that Church,
as it was for a year or two, had it been supposed that it was in any
manner an abandonment of strict Presbyterianism, and a concession
to Congregationalism. The practice was adopted by me in New
York, in place of the common method of'propounding' members
to the Church.  It also gave the Church an opportunity of acquainting themselves fully with the Christian experience of those received
into the Church. As I was pastor of the First Church in Galesburg
for several years after its organization, I speak from personal knowledge, when I declare that from  1837 until 1845 it was strictly a
Presbyterian Church. In 1845 a'compromise' form of government was adopted, by which, while Presbyterian members retained
all their rights, Congregational members received some privileges
not before granted them. This was done as a concession on the part
of the Church to its, Congregational members, who were becoming
somewhat numerous. Their method of gaining that, concession was
not honorable to their leaders. The Church had commenced building a house of worship. Rev. L. H. Parker, and some others, induced
the Congregationalists to refuse to pay their subscriptions and taxes
for the house, unless the Presbyterians would consent to modify the
government of the Church.  By this measure they secured the'Compromise.' Having thus gained an'entering wedge,' they
have driven it perseveringly until the Church for several years past
has been totally separated from all connection with the Presbyterian
body. They, however, continue in possession of the property donated by the Presbyterian founders of the College to'the Presbyterian Society' of Galesburg. To do this, they call themselves a'Congregational Church,' by the name of'The First Church of
Christ,' and'The First Presbyterian Society.' It is a Congregational Church and a Presbyterian Society, if any one knows how




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                  57
such a conglomerate is possible. The very fact that the Church is
willing, for the sake of its property, to occupy such a position, which
would be pronounced dishonorable, if not fraudulent, in any merely
secular corporation or society, shows the character of the moulding
spirits, the master minds, by whom that Church has so long been
educated and controlled.
Since the removal of Mr. Blanchard from the Presidency of the
College, the Congregationalists remain more numerous than Presbyterians in the Board. But with this they are not satisfied. They desire to become a majority over all others-and because disappointed
in this, they have waged an incessant war upon the College during the
last two years. If they cannot rule, they seem determined to ruin.
That the Lord will overrule all this storm, and cause even'the
wrath of man to praise Him,' and to result in the future increased
prosperity of the College, I have no doubt. The foundations of
Knox College are embedded in too many prayers, and fervent desires to advance the cause of intelligence and pure religion, to be
overturned by the ambition and sectarianism of such men as Mr.
Blanchard and his followers.                 GE.. GALE
GALESBURG, Dec., 1809."
The next letter is from Mr. Silvanus Ferris, to whom the College
is more indebted, for its success and present wealth, than to any
other person except Mr. Gale. The property of the College was
managed for a great many years by Mr. Ferris, as agent, and it is
the unanimous opinion of the men in Galesburg bestable to judge
of the matter, that to his prudence and foresight the present wealth
of the College is mainly due.
LETTER OF S. FERRIS.
"I was born in the year 1773, in the State of Connecticut, upon
the borders of New York. When I was six years of age, my father
removed his family into New York, in which State I continued to
live until the year 1838, when I removed to Galesburg, in Illinois,
where I have resided ever since. I was reared from  childhood in
the doctrines and under the influences of the Presbyterian Church.
It was not until I had attained the age of manhood that I made a
public profession of religion. I was then living in the town of Norway, New York. The Church with which I first united was in connection with Presbytery, according to the well-known' Plan-of-Union.'




58                      ENOX COLLEGE.
By this' Plan,' Presbyterians and Congregationalists were able to
unite in the same church without any relinquishment, on the part of
either, of their denominational preferences. I would have preferred
to unite with a purely Presbyterian Church, had there been one in
the place. I often attended the meetings of Presbytery, as a Delegate from the Church, while I was one of its members.
I knew nothing of Congregational Associations while connected
with this Church in Norway. The Church had no relations with
any other body than the Presbytery.
After several years I removed to the town of Russia, New York,
and there found a fully organized Presbyterian Church, with which
I united, and in whose connection I remained several years, until
my removal to Illinois.
When I came with my family to Galesburg, I joined the Presbyterian Church, which had just before been organized in that place.
The Church was known as a regular, fully constituted Presbyterian
Church at that time. I never heard, until several years afterward,
any claims advanced in the Church, in behalf of Congregationalists.
In 1845, the Constitution of the Church was modified, by adopting
what is called the'Compromise,' whereby Congregationalists were
allowed some privileges they had never enjoyed before. Until the
time of the' Compromise,' the Church was, in the full sense, Presbyterian. In allowing to Congregationalists, as such, some privileges, it was not intended to take from Presbyterians any of their
own. The Church retained its elders, and its connection with Presbytery, as before. In a few years, however, it was found that
Congregational practices were undermining the original polity of
the Church, and that Mr. Blanchard and others were determined to
carry this on until the Church should lose all the distinct features of
Presbyterianism. Finding that this result could not be prevented,
without much confusion and strife in the Church, I proposed to the
leading Presbyterian members of the Church a peaceable separation
on our part from the others, and the organization of another fully
Presbyterian Church. This was done in the year 1851, when the
Second Presbyterian Church of Galesburg was formed.
These facts are mentioned by me, that it may be known how
wholly unfounded is the statement, which has of late been given to
the public, that I was formerly a Congregationalist.  I have never,
in sentiment or in profession, been a Congregationalist in my whole
life.




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                   59
I was well acquainted with the Rev. Geo. W. Gale at the time
he originated the Plan whereby Knox College was founded and endowed. He was a relative of my wife, and for many years had been
a warm friend of mine. The whole plan of the enterprise originated
with him, as I know perfectly well. In 1835, he stated his plan to
me, and from that time I engaged heartily with him in it, giving to
it my time, and money, and personal efforts, as far as they were required. Mr. Gale was a Presbyterian. Rev. Mr. Waters, Rev. Mr.
Kellogg, and others, who engaged in the enterprise, were also Presbyterians. At the time the land was bought and the College founded, every man who had subscribed money to aid in the work was,
so far as I knew, a Presbyterian. I did not, at that time, know that
there was even one Congregationalist among them all. I was one
of the committee who purchased the lands. At Detroit, Mr. Thomas
Simmons joined the rest of the committee, and traveled with us to
Knox county. But not until long after that time did I know that
he was a Congregationalist. It was well understood, by all who
knew anything about it, that this was a Presbyterian enterprise. It
was so understood after the College was founded, and no other claim
has ever been advanced until within the last few years. It was the
design of all who founded Knox College, to build up an institution
which should be open to the youth of our country, without regard
to denominational relations of any kind. At the same time, it was
their design to transmit the control of their Institution mainly to
men who would represent their own sentiments as Presbyterians. It
was expected fully that while various denominations might be represented in the Board, yet the majority of Trustees would be men
sympathizing, in ecclesiastical matters, with its founders. And
therefore, for many years after the College was founded, a majority
of its Trustees were Presbyterians. After Rev. Jonathan Blanchard became President of the College, it became apparent that he
intended, if possible, to wrest it from Presbyterians, and give it into
the hands of Congregationalists. For efforts of this kind, and for
other reasons, he was, as early as 1849, on the point of being removed from the Board. The matter was adjusted, however, in a
manner which led us to believe that no more causes of complaints
of this kind would be given by him. The present large number of
Congregationalists in the Board has not come through the appointment of so many.of that denomination by the Board. Several of
those who now are among the Congregational members of the Board,




60                      KNOX COLLEGE.
were Presbyterians by profession, when they were elected as Trustees, and they were elected because they were Presbyterians. They
have since become Congregationalists, and have given their influence
and votes to wrest the College from the hands of those by whom
they were appointed. Against all such efforts I have, with other
founders of the College, continually protested, AND DO PROTEST. If
Congregationalists had founded Knox College, I should insist that it
ought to be theirs. But as it was founded and endowed by Presbyterians, it ought to be theirs.
I have heard read with care, the pamphlet entitled,'Rights of
Congregationalists in Knox College,' published by order of the Congregational General Association of Illinois. From my own personal
knowledge, I declare that publication to be false in all its essential
points.
~points. ^SILVANUS FERRIS.
GALESBURG, ILL., Dec. 10, 1859."
The next letter is from Professor N. H. Losey, who was one of
the founders of the College, and who has been in its Faculty from
its organization. His efforts have contributed largely to elevate the
grade of scholarship in the College, and to make it, in that respect,
truly an alma mater to its graduates. He was for eleven years the
Treasurer, and for seventeen years the Secretary, of the College.
No man is better versed in the early history of the College than he.
LETTER  OF PROF. N. H. LOSEY.
" I was born in the State of New York, and was a teacher in the
Oneida Institute in that State, when Rev. G. W. Gale originated
the Plan for founding Knox College. I was well acquainted with
Mr. Gale at that time, and also with a large number of those who
became Subscribers to his Plan. I was myself a decided Presbyterian then, as I had been many years before, and have been always
since. All the Subscribers by whom the College was founded were,
so far as I then knew, Presbyterians.  I afterward learned that one
of them, Mr. Simmons, was a Congregationalist.  The whole enterprise was well understood at that time to be exclusively Presbyterian. Their claim has never, to my knowledge, been questioned,
until very recently. I have always opposed all measures which
looked like an effort to transfer the control of the College to any
other than Presbyterians. It has always been the desire of the
founders, as our action clearly shows, to secure a fair representation




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                    61
of various denominations in the College Board. The recent efforts
of Congregationalists to secure to themselves a majority of Trustees, and thus perpetuate the management of the College to their
own denomination, is in direct opposition to the well-known wishes
of the founders, and is justly characterized as an attempt at a gross
usurpation. The present number of Congregational members in the
Board is the result of a change of sentiment, on the part of several
who were supposed to be Presbyterians in heart, as they were in
profession, at the time they received their appointment.
I was present at the organization of the First Presbyterian Church
in Galesburg, in 1837. It was voted unanimously that the church
should be fully Presbyterian. I was elected one of its Elders at the
time, which office I held until 1845, when the' Compromise' was
adopted. The Session administered the government of the Church,
during all that time, as fully as in any Presbyterian Church in the
world. The members of the Church often remained, after a prcparatory lecture, to witness the examination of candidates for admission
to the Church, and in some cases, especially when peculiar views
were advanced by the candidate, respecting slavery, and other questions of reform, they were asked whether they were satisfied with
the sentiments expressed. But the church never, previous to the'Compromise,' voted upon the reception or dismission of members, or
in any manner departed from the usages common in the Presbyterian Church.
N. H. LOSEY.
DECEMBER, 1859."
The letter that follows is from Rev. Hiram H. Kellogg, a Presbyterian minister, well known in the State of New York. He was the
first one who subscribed to Mr. Gale's Plan. He became the first
President of the College in 1839, and remained in that office until
1845, when he resigned. He has always cherished a deep interest
in the College, and has looked with no little alarm upon the efforts
of Congregationalists to secure for themselves its control. His letter
was written before the removal of Mr. Blanchard from the Presidency, and had reference to that result.
LETTER OF EX-PRESIDENT H. H. KELLOGG.
"MARSHALL, ONEIDA Co., May 5, 1857.
*  *  *  As to ecclesiastical relations, you know I am not a
strong sectarian. I am of conviction and choice, a moderate New




62                      KNOX COLLEGE.
School Presbyterian; but I have no sympathy with denominational
strife, and no desire for denominational aggrandizement. If I was
a Congregationalist, I should be a moderate one, and if so, I think
I should still be, as Ino'w am, of opinion that Knox College should
be under a leading Presbyterian influence. I would have the two
denominations represented in its Boards of counsel and instruction.
Yet I would have the Presbyterian a leading interest. My reason
for this is not as a matter of choice, or elective affinity, but of simple
justice and right. It was so projected-so understood from  the beginning. Its main parents, authors of its existence, were Presbyterian, and their whole action, including the plan for a Theological
School, shows this. MJutatis mutcandis, if the Institution, in these
respects, had been as much Congregational as it has been Presbyterian, I should say as decidedly that its leading influences should
continue to be Congregational.  *  *  I would have the President
a Presbyterian, as a matter of principle.
II. H. KELLOGG."
The reader has not forgotten the part taken by Mr. T. B. Jervis,
as one of the Exploring Committee, in securing the present location
for the College. Mr. Jervis was a Subscriber, and, soon after the
College was founded, became a minister in the Presbyterian Church,
in which connection he still remains. His letter, which follows, will
show what were his expectations as to the denominational character
of the College which he labored so diligently to establish.
LETTER OF REV. T. B. JERVIS.
"NEWPORT, NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 1858.
*  *  *  You will remember that I was appointed one, of a committee of three, to explore the central part of Illinois, for the purpose of ascertaining the most suitable location of such an Institution.
With regard to the Institution, I can only say, that while it was not
my supposition that it was to be of a sectarian character, I did think
that it was to be placed under decidedly Presbyterian auspices.  I
knew that all the friends of the enterprise, with whom I was personally acquainted, were members of the Presbyterian Church.
T. B. JERVIS."
Mr. Thomas Gilbert was also a member of the Exploring Committee, and in his reports to the Prudential Committee indicated so




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                   63
nearly the present site of the College, that the Purchasing Committee came immediately to Knoxville, five miles from  Galesburg, in
the full expectation of finding in the neighborhood, as they did, a
suitable location.
LETTER OF THOS. GILBERT.
"I certify that I was one of the original Subscribers to a Plan for
founding an institution of learning in the West, agreeably to a Plan
which was drawn up and advocated by Rev. G. W. Gale; and that
I was appointed and served, as one of an Exploring Committee,
which was sent out to find a suitable location for the said institution. The Plan of the enterprise was drawn by Mr. Gale. Ialways
understood that it was to be strictly a Presbyterian Institution.  The
enterprise resulted in the establishment of Knox College.
KNOXVILLE, July 5, 1859."                 THOMAS GILBERT.
Benjamin P. Johnson, Esq., now residing at Albany, New York,
is widely known in this country as the Secretary of the New York
State Agricultural Society. He was a Subscriber to the Plan by
which Knox College was built up, and aided by his counsels in
securing the result. This is his testimony:
LETTER OF B. P. JOHNSON.
"ALBANY, August 11, 1858.
I knew well the early history of the Galesburg effort. Knowing,:as I did, the men engaged in the enterprise, I was not a little surprised at the assurance with which it has been put forth, that Congregationalists are the men who should have the control of this
great work.  Certainly in its inception they had little or nothing to
do with it. It appears that the great object has been to avail themselves of other men's labors to further their own, I fear, merely
sectarian schemes. I trust, however, God in His providence has
opened a way of deliverance, etc.  *  *  If my life should be
spared, I hope to visit Galesburg, and witness what has been done
by those godly men with whom I once took counsel, and whose success has ever been dear to me.              B.P. JOHNSON."
Jeremiah Holt, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio, was a Subscriber, and
thus writes to Rev. Mr. Gale:




64                      KNOX COLLEGE.
LETTER OF J. HOLT.
"CLEVELAND, Aug. 18, 1858.
I was greatly interested in the enterprise which you originated in
the State of New York, from which Knox College has resulted, and
have deeply sympathized with those who have sought its prosperity,
during its whole history. I was an Elder of the First Presbyterian
Church of Watertown, New York, at the time when the meetings
were held in reference to the Plan you proposed for the establishment of institutions at the West, and was the Secretary, of the
meeting at Whitesboro', on the 19th of August, 1835.  Those who
felt an interest in the matter and who subscribed to the fund were
members of the Presbyterian, Church, so far as I knew.  And while
none of us contemplated a sectarian institution, it was understood
that as you were a Presbyterian, this would be the general character
of the College. I shall hope and pray for its future prosperity with
much of the feeling that I first cherished in its behalf.
JEREMIAH HOLT."
LETTER OF REV. J. FROST.
Rev. John Frost, another Subscriber, who is not now living, was
widely known for many years in Central New York, as an efficient
and devoted Presbyterian minister. In a letter written by him to
Mr. Gale, dated "Elmira, June 29, 1837," a year and a half after
the College was founded, and a few days only after the famous
" Exscinding Acts" of the majority of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, he used this language:  " I rejoice that you
have the prospect of doing so much good in connection with your
associates as may reasonably be expected from the Plan if carried
out. As we are likely to be cut off from  most of the Colleges and,
Theological Seminaries which are controlled by Presbyterians, we
must be awake to the establishment of new ones," etc. In other
words, Mr. Frost rejoiced in the prospective success of Knox College, because it would be a "new one" in the place of those from
which its founders had been driven, and which had always been
" controlled by Presbyterians."  He expected Knox College to supply the place, in part, of those they had lost, and to be " controlled
by Presbyterians," as they had been.
Thomas G. Frost, Esq., a Trustee of the College, and a prominent
lawyer, living in Galesburg, is a son of Rev. John Frost, and assures




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                     65
the writer that the sentiments of his father were correctly represented in the language of the letter just quoted.'He also stated in
writing, before he removed to Galesburg, "that when Mr. Gale
formed the Plan of founding a colony and establishing a College in
Galesburg, Illinois, his father took a deep interest in the scheme,
manifested at the time by contributing to its funds, and subsequently
by constant and earnest countenance and support, until the day of
his death. His anticipations of the results of the enterprise were of
the most ardent and enthusiastic character. His hope rested not
only upon the vast and enlightened Christian influence secured by
the institution thus established, but also upon the tried Christian
fidelity, experience and wisdom of the founder of the enterprise,
and which, under the smiles of Providence, he fondly trusted would
continue, unimpaired by alienation, or distrust, to guide and control
its destinies."
Rev. Phineas Camp, now in the Presbytery of Utica, a Subscriber, and a warm friend of the College enterprise, thus writes:
LETTER OF REV. P. CAMP.
" I hereby certify that I have known the Rev. G. W. Gale for
many years. A year or two before he commenced operations toward founding a literary institution at the West he communicated
his design and the plan to me. I was in favor of the plan, and
subsequently put in funds to aid in its establishment.  It was regarded as an enterprise of Mr. Gale, originating wholly with him.
Those who united with him were chiefly of the Presbyterian denomination, and it was considered a Presbyterian enterprise. Its founders
and friends in this region have looked upon it with great interest,
and I believe would exceedingly regret any effort to divert it from
its original purpose and regard it as an act of injustice to its
founders.                                   PHINEAS CAMP,
SEPT. 15, 1855.          Minister in connection with the Presbytery of Utica."
Sidney Rice, Esq., and his sister, Miss Araminta P. Rice, were
both Subscribers to the plan for founding Knox College.  Mr. Rice
thus writes in behalf of himself and also of his sister:
LETTER OF S. RICE.
"I was a Subscriber in 1835 to a plan drawn up by Rev. G. W.
Gale, for establishing a College and other literary institutions in the
5




68                     KNOX COLLEGE.
West. That plan resulted in founding Knox College, Illinois. My
sister, Miss A. P. Rice, was also a Subscriber to the same plan. We
both took farm lands, in accordance with the plan, equal in value to
the amount of our subscriptions. These lands we returned to the
College when it was found that they would be of more value to it
than the money.  We were Presbyterians, and were members of
the First Presbyterian Church, Dr. Beman's, in Troy, N. Y., at the
time the College was founded.  The enterprise was understood by
us to be exclusively one of Presbyterians. We did not know that
Congregationalists had any part in the work of founding the College. It was the intention of those who engaged in the work, to
found a College which should be liberal, and which should offer its
advantages for education alike to all. But we never supposed that
the College would be controlled by any other denomination of Christians than the one to which the founders belonged. An attempt by
any party whatever, to wrest the College from the control of Presbyterians, would be regarded by us as in open conflict with the expectation of those by whom it was founded.
SIDNEY RICE.
CINCINNATI, OHIO, March 3, 1860."
STATEMENT OF THOMAS SIMMONS.
Mr. Thomas Simmons, the Congregational Subscriber, in personal
conversation with the writer of this, somewhat more than a year
ago, admitted fully that all the founders of the College were Presb'yterians except himself. He justified the attempts of Congregationalists to secure the control of the College, on the ground that
the Congregational denomination was more numerous in this part
of Illinois, as he supposed, than the Presbyterian, and the strongest
party ought to rule. This sort of logic may answer at a Congregational church meeting, but it will hardly avail to settle questions involving the rights of founders of Colleges. The views of Mr. Simmons are also stated by his son-in-law, Mr. E. S. Hitchcock, an
Elder in the Second Presbyterian Church in Galesburg, in the following language:
"I am the son-in-Jaw of Mr. Thomas Simmons, one of the founders of Knox College.  Mr. Simmons has admitted, in conversations
on the subject with me, that the College originated with Presbyterians. During the present week, in reply to a question by me, with
direct reference to this point, he stated distinctly that so far as he




TESTIMONY OF FOUNDERS.                    67
knew, all the Subscribers, by whom the College was founded, were
Presbyterians, except himself.
Betore I removed to Galesburg among its early settlers, I was
well acquainted with the history of the enterprise for founding'a
College here, and with some of its founders, and I understood that
it was a work undertaken by Presbyterians. I have never heard
any other claim advanced, until within a few years.
JANUARY 2, 1860."                          E. S. HITCHCOCK.
The Rev. L. H. Loss was deeply interested in Mr. Gale's plan,
although not a Subscriber, and aided in drafting the plan, while he
was pastor of a Presbyterian church at New York Mills. As he is
well known throughout this State and elsewhere, his testimony is
here given, as follows:
LETTER OF REV. L. H. LOSS.
"In reference to what I know of the origin and founding of Knox
College, I have to say that I was acquainted with this enterprise
from its commencement. In the summer of 1834, Rev. Geo. W.
Gale, with whom I had been intimately acquainted for many years,
called on me at my house at the New York Mills, while I was pastor
of the Presbyterian church there, and laid before me a plan which
he had conceived, of founding an institution of learning somewhere
in the West. We had repeated conferences on the subject, and at
his request, in accordance with his suggestions, I made a draft of the
plan, which, after some modifications, was adopted, and is tke PLAN
upon which the Galesburg Colony and Knox College, of Illinois, was
founded. Although not a Subscriber, I was deeply interested in the
success of the enterprise, and gave to it most cordially, all the aid I
could. I was personally acquainted with most of the ministers who
embarked in it. They were members, with me, of the Oneida (now
Utica) Presbytery. I was also well acquainted with many of the
Elders and other gentlemen who were the original Subscribers of
the Company. I was present at the meeting of the Subscribers held
in Whitesboro', N. Y., in January, 1836. At that meeting the committees all reported-the College and town were named-the Trustees chosen, and the farming lands distributed. Up to this time, and
as far as I know, for many years after, the Presbyterian paternity
and character of the enterprise were undisputed and undoubted.
L. H. Loss."




68                      KNOX COLLEGE.
The reader must be fully satisfied by this time, that the Subscribers who founded Knox College were Presbyterians, and that they
intended to transmit its control to Presbyterians. To multiply testimony of the same kind as the foregoing, would add nothing to the
completeness of the proof. We have here the testimony of the one
Congregational Subscriber, as well as that of others. All state exactly the same thing concerning the denominational character of the
men by whom the College was founded.
Here then, it is settled by,the founders of the College, that they
intended to transmit the control of the College to Presbyterians;
and that the supremacy of Congregationalists in its control would
be a usurpation, in direct opposition to the rights and wishes of those
founders. And yet, during the lifetime of those founders, in total
disregard of all their intentions, and in conflict with all their early
acts, Mr. Blanchard and his friends had almost accomplished that
usurpation; and because the majority of the College Board, composed
of men of four different denominations, and of others who are connected as members with none, would not suffer them to consummate
their designs, they have raised a great outcry, and thereby have
greatly embittered a large part of the Congregational body against
the College. But Truth will spread, and when the public come to
understand that Presbyterians founded, and also endowed Knox
College, they will see that, the war waged against it during
the last two years, by certain Congregationalists, has scarcely its
parallel in sectarian injustice and outrage. The Congregational
body will condemn at last the great wrong which has been perpetrated under its name.
It ought here to be stated, that no one has ever pretended to
claim, until recently, that the College was not founded by Presbyterians, and of right belonged to them. Plots enough have been
carried on, for several years, to wrest it from them; but only since
the removal of Mr. Blanchard, and the consequent defeat of those
plots, has any one had the boldness to assert that it was mainly
founded and endowed by Congregationalists. Mr. Blanchard well
knew it to be a Presbyterian College, when he became its President,
and on that account felt it necessary to assure the Board, that in
connecting himself with the Congregational body, he had no special
zeal in that direction, which need alarm them. In the year 1844,
the Board made application for aid from the Society for Collegiate
and Theological Education at the West.  Mr. Gale, who was




TESTIMONY OF MR. BLANCHARD.                 69
instructed to make this application, in a letter written at the time, to
a leading Director of that Society, among other reasons why aid
should be granted, stated particularly the evangelical character, and
consequent religious importance of the College, in these words:
" We are Presbyterians in connection with the Constitutional Assembly. While we feel it a duty as Christians to cultivate friendly
and kind relations with evangelical Christians of all denominations,
and particularly with our Congregational brethren, with whom we
are so closely allied in everything but church polity, we are by
education and deliberate preference Presbyterians,"
The application for aid was not granted at that time, the Society
having engaged in a strenuous effort to build up Illinois College, and
also wishing to found a new College at Davenport, Iowa. In 1847,
Mr. Blanchard, who was then President of the College, was directed
to renew the application, which he did. He presented a written
report of his efforts to the Board, in which he uses this language,
which is certainly very remarkable, if the College was then understood by him to be Congregational.  "Knowing," Mr. Blanchard
says, "that there is, in many parts of the East, a great and growing
dissatisfaction, that funds given by Eastern Congregationalists,
should be applied in the West to the promotion of other principles
of church government than those of the donors, I yet felt it my
duty, being myself a Congregationalist, to inform those concerned,
of my intention, in case Knox College was rejected by the College
Society, to appeal to Eastern Congregationalists against the decision."  Here Mr. Blanchard clearly states that any "funds given
by Eastern Congregationalists" to Knox College, at that time,
would have been given "to the promotion of other principles of
church government than those of the donors."  We have here his
own written testimony that the College was not then a Congregational institution. In the same report, Mr. Blanchard stated that
" when our application was argued before the Board of the College
Society, Dr. Bacon strongly insisted that it was necessary to take
up Knox College, to prevent the appeal which would be made to the
rising spirit of Congregationalism at the East."  In other words,
Dr. Bacon apprehended that this PRESBYTERIAN College, unless protected by the sheltering wing of the College Society, might, through
the appeal of its own President, become a prey to " the rising spirit
of Congregationalism at the East." Happy would it have been for
Knox College, had Mr. Blanchard been as effectually prevented,




70                     KNOX COLLEGE.
since that time, from making his appeal, not to secure aid for the
College, but to arouse prejudice against it, to "the rising spirit of
Congregationalism" at the TWest.
THE COLLEGE BOARD.
When the College was founded, in January, 1836, a temporary
Board of ten members was appointed, of whom, all but two were
founders. Eight of the whole number were Presbyterians, and two
were Congregationalists. During the year, Mr. Matthew Chambers,
a Congregationalist, was added. In February, 1837,,the Legislature
of Illinois granted a Charter, in which the following eleven persons
were named as the Corporate Board:
Rev. John Waters, Presbyterian.
"  Geo. W. Gale,       "
Nehemiah West,   "        Elder.
Parnach Owen,      " "
R. H. Hurlburt,    "         "
N. H. Losey,       "
Geo. W. Wright, Non-Professor, afterward Pres. Elder.
John G. Sanborn, Episcopalian.
Matthew Chambers, Congregationalist.
Erastus Swift,            "
Thomas Simmons, 
The two last named Congregationalists, before the Board was
organized, became members of the Presbyterian Church in Galesburg. Mr. M. Chambers removed from Vermont to Knoxville, the
town adjoining Galesburg, in 1836, and united with the Presbyterian
Church there, of which he was a member when he was appointed
in the Charter. He became a ruling Elder in that Church before the
Board had organized, and continued to hold the office during the
five years he remained in the Knoxville Church. He then removed
to Galesburg, and again for many years was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church there. He now, however, chooses to regard all those
professions, and solemn oaths as an officer in the Presbyterian
Church, as no true index to his real sentiments, and so he is here
accounted as a Congregationalist. The persons enumerated in the
above list as Presbyterians were all sincerely such then, and have
continued to be such until now.
Thus it will be seen the corporate Board consisted of eight men
taken from the Presbyterian Church and connection, and two from
the Congregational. Seven of the number were in sentiment Presbyterians and three were Congregationalists.




THE COLLEGE BOARD.                     71
The following list includes all the additions that have ever been
made to the original corporate Board:
In 1837, Wm. Holyoke,       Presbyterian Elder, In Cincinnati and
in Galesburg.
"  "  Peter Butler,        Baptist.'"  "  Silvanus Ferris,    Presbyterian.
"1838, Rev. H. H. Kellogg,       "             President and ex
officio Trustee.
"1843, Hon. James Knox,  Not Ch. Member.  Resigned soon.
" 1845, Rev. Aratus Kent,  Presbyterian.       Did not accept.
"  "    "  Horatio Foot,  Congregationalist.." "    "  Flavel Bascom, Presbyterian.
"  "    "  Milton Kimball,       "
"  "  Eli Farnham,               "      Elder.
"  "  James Bunce,' "   James Bull, 
"L "  Rev. H. H. Kellogg,       "             Res'd Presidency,
elected Trus.
"    "  J. Blanchard,  Congregationalist. Pres't and Trust.
"1848, Hon. James Knox,  Not Ch. Member.
"  "   C. S. Colton,       Congregationalist.
":  "   S. F. Dolbear,     Presbyterian.
"  "  Levi Sanderson,      Congregationalist.
" 1850, Hon. 0. H. Browning, Not Ch. Member.
" "  Marcus B. Osborne, Presbyterian Elder.
"  "  VWm. E. Withrow,           "        "
"  "  Levi S. Stanley,          "        "
"s  "  Rev. S. G. Wright,  Congregationalist.
" 1852, Wm. J. Phelps,             "
"   "  Rev. W. E. Holyoke,        "
1856, Caleb M. Pomroy,  Baptist.
"' 1858, Thos. G. Frost,   Presbyterian.
"  "  Rev.. Curtis, D.D.,      "              Pres't and Trust.
In the above list, Mr. Eli Farnham is named as an Elder in a Presbyterian Church, at the time he was elected a Trustee. He had
been a member of a Presbyterian Church more than eight years
before that election, and during several of those years had been an
Elder, which office he continued to hold long after he became a
Trustee of the College. He is now a Congregationalist, and claims
that he was at that time also in sentiment a Congregationalist.  Perhaps he was, but when men have been for years members of the
Presbyterian Church, and have held office as Elders in that Church,
and have been appointed as Trustees in the College while thus connected, and because they were supposed to be, what they professed to
be-Presbyterians, they cannot reasonably ask to be allowed to




72                      KNOX COLLEGE.
credit their election to the benefit of the Congregational body. Mr.
Farnham was elected to the Board because he was supposed to be
a Presbyterian. Yet, from the fact that all in the above list were
in sentiment, as well as in profession, what they are there stated to
have been, except Mr. Farnham, he will in what follows be reckoned
among the Congregationalists. Thus that denomination is credited
with all who have ever claimed to be in sympathy with it when
elected to the Board, even although they professed to be Presbyterians, and were elected on account of their profession.
The above list shows that twenty-eight persons, including the
Presidents, have been elected to the Board since its organization
under the charter.  Of this number, fifteen were honest Presbyterians when elected, and eight were Congregationalists, including
among them one Presbyterian Elder. The list shows that previous
to the election of Mr. Blanchard, in 1845, a period of more than
eight years, nine Presbyterians had been elected, and exactly Two
Congregationalists, one of whom was a Presbyterian Elder! The
list shows what changes were wrought in the Board by Mr. Blanchard, after his election. In the corporate Board, it has been
shown, were seven true Presbyterians, and three Congregationalists,
including among them, also, one who for years from that time was a
Presbyterian Elder. Previous to the election of Mr. Blanchard as
President, there had been appointed to the Board, including corporate members, sixteen Presbyterians, and five Congregationalists,
two of whom professed to be Presbyterians. Including charter
members, there have been thirty-nine Trustees, of whom twenty-two
were sincere Presbyterians, and eleven were Congregationalists.
Two of the Trustees were never members of any church, but both
of them were when elected, as they have continued to be ever since,
supporters of the Presbyterian Church.
The reader thus sees that previous to the election of Mr. Blanchard to the Presidency of the College, the Board was almost wholly
Presbyterian.  Indeed, of the Congregationalists elected during
that period only three were at the time of their election professedly
Congregationalists. In the foregoing statements, that denomination
has been credited with all the Presbyterian members and Elders,
whom they have ever claimed as being, in personal preference, their
own.
It has so happened in the history of the Board, that only one
of all the places filled by Congregationalists had ever been vacated,




THE COLLEGE BOARD.                     73
previous to the removal of Mr. Blanchard, while a large number of
places filled by Presbyterians have been made vacant by the removal from  the State or by the death of the incumbents.
Notwithstanding this fact, however, the Congregational party in the
Board would be a small minority at the present time, if it were
composed of those only who were elected as Congregationalists.
The present strength of that party has been caused by the fact that
several Trustees who were by profession Presbyterians when elected,
and who were elected to represent Presbyterian interests, have since
become Congregationalists. Rev. Flavel Bascom had been for many
years previous to his election, a prominent Presbyterian minister in
this State. He was elected to the Board as a Presbyterian. He
now leads the Congregational party in the Board. Mr. Eli Farnham was an Elder in the Presbyterian church when elected a
Trustee of the College, and he was elected because he professed to be
a Presbyterian. He is now a Congregationalist. Other members,
who were professed Presbyterians when elected, are now claimed
as Congregationalists. They were elected as Presbyterians and not
as Congregationalists. They have a right to change their denominational relations if they desire to do so. But they have no right
to carry over with them to the Congregational body rights which
were intrusted to them  as Presbyterians. This they have done.
They have taken advantage of their own change of relations to invest the Congregational body with rights in Knox College, which
were never granted to that body by its founders, or by its Board of
Trustees. And because the Board will not allow them to complete
their purpose, which they had so nearly accomplished, they now
labor through the General Association of Illinois, and through the
Congregational Herald of Chicago, to injure the prosperity of the
College. They complain that their rights in the College as Congregationalists have been invaded. To several of those who thus
complain, the College never intrusted any rights as Congregationalists. The rights now in their hands were committed to them  as
Presbyterians.  Moreover, what rights have they lost?  Mr.
Blanchard is the only man of their number who has been removed.
Had they a right to retain him as President of the College against
the majority of the Board? It is time the public understood that
this outcry, about the loss of rights in the College by Congregationalists, is wholly without foundation in facts. It would be well, also,
not merely for Knox College, but for other Institutions and Societies




74                     1KNOX COLLEGE.
in our land, to have the question clearly settled, as early as possible,
whether Congregationalists, who were once members of Presbyterian churches, intend to claim for their own denomination all
rights and interests which were committed to them when they were
Presbyterians. That they are justified in doing this, seems at present to be the doctrine indorsed by the General Association of Illinois.
If that doctrine is to prevail in that body, it is time it was known, at
least by the Presbyterian church.
THE FIRST CHURCH IN GALESBURG.
A church was organized by the Christian settlers of Galesburg in
the early part of 1837. That church was, as its own records state,
"fully Presbyterian."  From its organization until 1845, it was as
entirely Presbyterian in all its polity as it is possible for any church
to be. It was in connection with Presbytery, and its government
was administered exclusively by its Session. This is asserted by
all those now living, who were among its leading members at that
time. It is clearly proved by its records. Professor Losey, who
was one of its Elders from its organization until the " Compromise,"
in 1845, asserts that the church was during all that time wholly
Presbyterian.  The same thing is proved by the "Compromise,"
which granted to the church, as a concession to Congregationalists,
the privilege of voting with the Session upon the reception of members and, in certain cases, of trying members accused of wrong
doing. The fact that these privileges were granted as a "Compromise" shows that they were not previously held as an original
right.
That it was Presbyterian is evident from the fact shown in its
own records, that more than two-thirds of those who first united
with the church, and whose vote determined its polity, were Presbyterians. The " Rights of Congregationalists " asserts that from
a very early date the church records, whose language it professes to
quote, state that members, were always received by "vote of the
church and session." How far from correct the assertion is will appear fiom the following certificate of Mr. Norman Churchill, the present clerk of the church and session: " I certify that until the time of
the Compromise in 1845, the church records do not state in a single
instance that members were received into the church by'vote of
the church and session.'-N. CHURCHILL."  The writer of this




THE FIRST CHURCH IN GALESBURG.                75
knows from a careful examination of the records of that church
that there is no evidence in them of any practice not strictly Presbyterian before the adoption of the  Compromise.   The recent
attempt to prove that from the beginning the Church was semi-Congregational is contradicted by its own records-by its early members-and by the very terms of the Compromise.  When that
Church was organized there was not a Congregational Church within
fifty miles of Galesburg, nor a Congregational Association in all
this region of Illinois; while at the same time, Presbyterian Churches
were scattered over the whole region, and the Church was formed
by a Committee of Schuyler Presbytery, within whose bounds the
colony had settled.  Only a little more than two years ago Mr.
Blanchard published a letter in the Galesburg Newspaper in which
he confirms the above statements. In that letter he says: " You
remember when the First Church in Galesburg and when Churches
in Peoria, Farmington, Canton, Virgil, Henderson, Lafayette and
Victoria, were all New School Presbyterian Churches.  They have
changed their polity without even a split. There are now no New
School Presbyterian Churches in either of the above places except
in this city."  The world grows wise with rapid strides! Two
years ago Mr. Blanchard was certain that all here could "remember when the First Church in Galesburg was a New School Presbyterian Church"-and that it had become Congregational by a change
from  its original polity! Within these two short years, however,
the whole Congregational Association of this State, including Mr.
Blanchard, have discovered that this Church was never a New
School Presbyterian Church in its polity.
The church adopted its Compromise, in1845, a few weeks before Mr.
Blanchard became President of the College. They were led to do this
through the efforts of Rev. L. H. Parker, a Congregationalist, who
acknowledged at the time, that the " Compromise " was a magnanimous sacrifice on the part of the church to its Congregationalmembers.
It was a sacrifice in the largest sense, for the advantage then secured
by Congregationalists was used as a means of securing still greater
advantages, until at last the Church has become wholly Congregational.  The change, however, was not secured from an original
preference on the part of the majority of its members for the Congregational polity, but from the notion that all the sins of American
Slavery would be charged upon that particular Church, if they did
not " come out" and " separate " themselves from the Presbyte



76                     QKNOX COLLEGE.
rian General Assembly. In 1851, the Church petitioned the whole
Presbytery with which they were connected to separate from the
Assembly solely on account of Slavery. In 1853, they resolved to
send no more delegates to Presbytery until that body would comply
with their former request. In 1855 they voted themselves out of all
connection with the Presbytery, because their former petition had
not been granted, and for no other reason. In 1856 they dropped
the word Presbyterian from their name. Their present position
and polity is shown in the following language of the printed Manual
of the Church published about two years ago: " Its Church polity
is that of independence. All power resides within the Church. It
recognizes no right of appeal, by any of its members, from itself to
any ecclesiastical body or bodies." This is its present polity. In
the light of this declaration of the Church, consider the following
facts: The Presbyterian founders of the College donated building
lots to the "Presbyterian Society of Galesburg."  This Church
received those lots, being then the " Presbyterian Church of Galesburg."  They have now changed their name and call themselves
the "First Church of Christ in Galesburg;" and they have separated entirely from  the Presbyterian body in this country-have
changed their polity radically-and declare their " Church polity
to be that of independence."  Yet they retain possession of the
property given to the " Presbyterian Society," and they do it through
the following miserable fiction: They call themselves a " Congregational Church "-independent in polity, by the name of "The
First Church of Christ" and " The First Presbyterian Society."
Henceforth there will be needed a new chapter in Ecclesiastical
History, showing the rationale of a single body constituting at once
both a Congregational Church and a Presbyterian Society! The
" developement" of that Church into its present position is mainly
due to Mr. Blanchard.  The early records of the Church and the
" Compromise " are here published, that all may judge for themselves,
whether or not the Church first established here was " fully Presbyterian."
CHURCH RECORDS.
(1.)          "FEBRUARY 15, 1837.
The professors of religion in Galesburg met agreeably to appointment, at the School House in Henderson Grove, for the purpose
of conferring on the subject of forming a Church in this place. The
meeting was opened with prayer. Ministers present: Rev. John




CHURCH RECORDS.                       77
Waters, who presided, and Rev. Geo. W. Gale, both from the Presbytery of Oneida, New York.
" After free conversation and prayer, it was Resolved unanimously
that it is expedient, as soon as practicable, to form a Church in this
place.  2d, It was Resolved, that it is expedient, for the sake of becoming better acquainted with each other's Christian character, to
have each one give an account of the reason of his hope-those who
present letters, as well as those who design for the first time to make
a profession of religion. The meeting was interesting and harmonious. Adjourned, to meet in the same place on Friday of the present
week.  Closed with prayer."
(2.)
"FEBRUARY 17, 1837.
The congregation met agreeably to adjournment, and was opened
with prayer. Members present as at previous meeting. Thirty-one
persons presented letters from different churches in New York and
New England, and were examined agreeably to the resolution on
experimental religion. The meeting was deeply solemn and interesting. Closed with prayer."
(3.)
"FEBRUARY 21, (Evening).
Met for the purpose of continuing the business of the former
meeting, which was spent, as were several other evenings, in receiving letters and hearing the Christian experience of such, and of
examining those who desired for the first time to connect themselves
with the Church."
"SATURDAY, FERRUARY 25.
Met again at the School House. Meeting opened'with prayer.
Present: Rev. J. Waters, who presided, Rev. Geo. W. Gale, and
Rev. Mr. Noel, of the Presbytery of Schuyler, Ill., who had been
appointed by his Presbytery to aid in the formation of a Church in
this place.  The examination of candidates for Church fellowship
was continued and finished, when addresses were made by the ministering brethren, and a Confession of Faith and Covenant presented
for consideration. After explanations and remarks in regard to the
Confession of Faith and Covenant, the same was unanimously approved.  It was resolved that the Lord's Supper be administered
on the ensuing Sabbath, and all who had presented letters and been
examined with a view to their making a profession of religion, be
received aid required publicly to give their assent to the Confession
of Faith and Covenant.  Closed with prayer."
(4.)
" SABBATH, FEBRUARY 26.
It being inconvenient for the Rev. Mr. Noel to be present, the
Rev. Geo. W. Gale.preached in the morning. The afternoon was
occupied in adopting the Confession of Faith and Covenant, and in




78                      KNOX COLLEGE.
the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper." (Here follow
some remarks about the solemnity of the occasion.) "Sixty-four
united with the Church by letter, and eighteen on confessionmaking eighty-two in all that united on this occasion."
(5.)
"WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1837.
The Church members met at the School House agreeably to
appointment, and the meeting was opened with prayer. Present:
Rev. John Waters and Geo. W. Gale. After remarks by the ministering brethren present, and prayer, it was Resolved UNANIMOUSLY
that it is expedient to organize the Church FULLY as Presbyterian,
and to choose three Elders and two Deacons at the present time.
The following persons were then chosen Elders and Deacons by ballot: Nehemiah West, Nehemiah H. Losey, and John Kendall, Elders; and Thomas Simmons, and Abel Goodell, Deacons. Closed
with prayer."
(6.)'( SABBATH, APRIL 9, 1837.
The above mentioned officers, viz: N. H. Losey and John Kendall were ordained to the office of Ruling Elders, and with N. West,
who had been ordained previously, were installed in office; and Abel
Goodell, who was ordained as Deacon, and Thomas Simmons, who
had before been ordained, were also installed in office.
"A Sermon was preached on the occasion, and the questions put
to the candidates and Church by Rev. Geo. W. Gale, and the prayer
offered by the Rev. John Waters. The Church was then declared
organized by the name of the'PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH of Galesburg."'
"Session met after the congregation was dismissed, and designated
John Kendall as their delegate to the Presbytery of Schuyler, with
the request that this Church be taken under the care of that
Presbytery."
"APRIL 25, 183'.
Session met. Rev. Geo. W. Gale reported that he and John
Kendall had attended a meeting of the Schuyler Presbytery, and
that this Church was received under its care."  (Members received.)
COMPROMISE.' At a meeting of the Presbyterian Church of Galesburg, held at
the Academy, June 25, 1845, called for the purpose of uniting upon
a Plan of Union, to meet the preferences of those in the Church
who were partial to the Congregational as well as the Presbyterian
form of government, Motion made by Mr. C. S. Colton, that the
Plan of Union adopted by the General Assembly in 1801, be the
basis of a Plan to be adopted by this Church. A Plan was then
presented as follows:




THE PRESIDENCY.                       79
1st. That no member shall hereafter be received into this Church
except at a Church meeting, when every member may have an
equal voice in the case.
[2nd and 3rd articles relate to alternation in office of Elders and
Deacons.]
4th. That when any member shall come under censure of the
Church, such member may elect whether to be tried by the Session,
or by the adult members of the whole Church, and have the same
right of appeal as granted by the Presbyterian and Congregational
Churches in their respective bodies.
5th. That the Church may be represented in Association and
Presbytery."
These articles were adopted July 5th, 1845.
" I hereby certify that I have for many years kept the records of
the Church and Session of the' First Church of Christ,' formerly
the'First Presbyterian Church' in Galesburg; and that the foregoing are true copies of the records, embracing the minutes of all
the meetings held before and up to the complete organization of the
Church. I further certify, that until the time of the' Compromise,'
in 1845, of which the above is a true copy, the Church records do
not state in a single instance that members were received into the
Church by'vote of the Church and Session.'
N. CHURCHILL,
DEC. 31st, 1859.                        Clerk of Church ad Sessio."
THE PRESIDENCY.
The causes which secured the present strength of the Congregational party in the Board have been spoken of already. By death,
and by removals from the State, and by a change in denominational
relations, the Board, which consists of twenty-five members, was
during a few years preceding the removal of Mr. Blanchard, divided
in respect,to Church connections as follows: Twelve were Congregationalists, nine were Presbyterians, one was an Episcopalian,
one was a Baptist, and two were not members of any church. The
Congregationalists thus needed only one more member to constitute
them a majority of the whole Board.  They had in fact been an
acting majority for three or four successive years preceding 1857,
owing to the absence of other members. This had encouraged
them to hope that soon the entire control of the College would be
secured by their party. Mr. Blanchard was especially desirous of
securing this result, because he well knew that he was so objectionable to the majority of the Board, that whenever they should all
meet, he would be requested to resign.
Many serious objections existed against him, as President of the




80                      xiOX COLLEGE.
College. Some of those who have been loudest in their denunciation
of the members of the Board who removed him from office, are known
to have expressed freely, before that act, the opinion that his peculiar
characteristics as a man, and the strong prejudices against him,
which were wide-spread through the State, rendered him unfit to
be at the head of the College. Even Rev. Dr. Beecher had expressed such an opinion. It was a fact presented at the meeting of
the Board, when Mr. Blanchard was requested to resign, that during
the previous five or six years, the College had made no advance in
its average number of students, and that, too, when the population
of this region of the State had doubled, and in Galesburg, had more
than quadrupled during that time. Large numbers of the students,
who  entered  the  lower classes, left before they  reached the
senior year of studies. While these facts were not all charged
against the President, it was believed that they were in part attributable to him. His long continued hostility to some of the older
members of the Board, and in particular to the founders' of the
College, were grave objections to him as President:  Mr. Blanchard
had long been aware of the feelings of the actual majority of the
Board toward him and had anticipated his removal whenever there
should be a full meeting. That time occurred at the Annual Meeting of the Board in June, 1857. The matter was introduced by the
following resolution: " Resolved, That in the opinion of this Board
the dissention and want of confidence, existing between President
Blanchard and Professor Gale, are exerting a malign influence upon
the interests of the College, and that the prosperity and efficiency
of the institution require that their connection with it should be
dissolved, and their places supplied by other persons: Therefore be
it further -Resolved, That President Blanchard and Professor Gale
be, and they hereby are, respectfully requested to resign their places
in the Faculty of Knox College."  These resolutions were introduced in the morning, and were freely discussed through the whole
day, President Blanchard participating in the discussion, and voting
upon every question connected with the resolutions, until the final
vote by which they were passed. As soon as the resolutions were
passed, Mr. Blanchard and Professor Gale resigned. By this act
Mr., Blanchard ceased to be a member of the Board. On the following morning, when one of the Trustees, who had voted in favor
of the resolutions, was compelled to be absent from the meeting,
one of the friends, of Mr. Blanchard brought forward a resolution to




THE PRESIDENCY.                     81
reinstate him for one year as President of the College. This was
lost, some of Mr. Blanchard's party uniting with the others in voting
against it. A motion was then made and carried appointing three
Trustees' "a Committee of Correspondence, with a view to supply
the Presidency and Professorship just made vacant." The Chairman of this Committee was taken from among the supporters of
Mr. Blanchard. The Board adjourned to meet again on the second
Thursday of August following, at which time they met and received
the Reports of the above Committee. The majority of the Committee, who represented those members in the Board by whose
united action Mr. Blanchard had been removed, presented the following Report:
"The undersigned, a majority of the Committee appointed to
correspond with suitable persons to fill the vacancies occasioned by
the resignation of President Blanchard and Professor Gale, hereby
beg leave to report, that we have had, through one of the Committee, correspondence with several distinguished scholars of the East,
any one of whom, in the estimation of the Committee, might be
procured. But as a positive answer could not of course be expected,
we recommend a series of names, in the order hereto appended, for
the Presidency of Knox College:
Rev. Asa D. Smith.
Prof. (D. Howe) Allen, Lane Seminary.
Rev. Albert Barnes, Philadelphia.
Prof. J. B. Condit, Auburn Seminary.
Rev. M. L. R. P. Thompson, Buffalo.
And we also hereby recommend as the successor of Rev. G. W.
Gale, Rev. Jno. W. Bailey.
W. E. WITHROW,
G. W. GALE."
Rev. F. Bascom, Chairman of this Committee, who is the acknowledged leader of the Congregational party in the Board, presented a minority report as follows:
"The minority of the Committee would respectfully recommend
the appointment of Rev. J. Blanchard as President, and Rev. J.
W. Bailey as Professor, to fill the existing vacancies. The recommendation of Mr. Bailey is based upon the expectation of Mr.
Blanchard's restoration. If the Board refuse to re-elect Mr. Blanchard, then it is recommended that the vacant Professorship be
filled only temporarily."
At the meeting of the Board when these resolutions were presented, one of the members, who had voted'in favor of the resignation of Mr. Blanchard, was absent, confined on a sick-bed at Pepin,
6




82                     KNOX COLLEGE.
Wisconsin.  Another Presbyterian member, who had acquiesced
in the removal of Mr. Blanchard, had been induced afterward to
favor his restoration at this meeting, merely however as a conciliatory
measure, and only on the express condition that Mr. Blanchard
should resign again of his own accord at the close of the year.
From these causes, the party who had removed Mr. Blanchard, and
who believed that only embarrassment and mischief would result
from his temporary restoration, and who were therefore determined
if possible to appoint a new President, found themselves in an accidental minority of one, at this meeting.
The two Reports of the Committee were accepted, after which
the "Board adjourned until three o'clock P. M., to hold an informal
meeting, with a view of uniting in some definite action."  The
members of the Board immediately assembled in this informal meeting, and the friends of Mr. Blanchard were then asked to select,
from the list of names presented in the majority report, the name of
any one who would be most acceptable to them as President, in
order that he might be elected by a unanimous vote. They refused
to make such a selection, but expressed their full determination to
reinstate Mr. Blanchard. The Faculty of the College, at that time,
was composed of four Congregationalists, and only one Presbyterian. It was manifestly just, therefore, that a Presbyterian should
be appointed to the Professorship made vacant by the resignation
of Mr. Gale, and which had always been filled by a Presbyterian.
Yet, as a measure of peace, at this meeting, the Presbyterian party
proposed to yield the Professorship to the Congregationalists, provided they'would unite in electing to the Presidency any one of the
gentlemen named in the Majority Report, and provided also, they
would present some unobjectionable name for the Professorship.
This proposition was presented in writing by the Hon. O. H. Browning, in these words: "Resolved, that when we re-assemble as a
Board of Trustees, we will proceed to elect Dr. A. D. Smith, of
New  York, or Professor Alien, of Lane Seminary, President of
Knox College; and will, at the same time, proceed to elect any
qualified and unobjectionable gentleman of the Congregational
Church, who may be named by the Congregational members of this
Board, to the Professorship  of Moral Philosophy and Belles
Lettres."
They were assured at the same time, that they would not be restricted to the two names contained in the resolution, but might




THE PRESIDENCY.                     83
select from the whole number presented in the majority report.
This proposition was rejected at once by the Congregationalists, who
insisted upon Mr. Blanchard as President. Before the vote was
taken upon the resolution, one of their nnmber stated, that if the
proposition should be accepted, he should present the name of Rev.
Charles Beecher, for the vacant Professorship. To this it was replied, that it was well known that Mr. Beecher was very objectionable to a majority of the whole Board-that his name had once
already been before the Board at a regular meeting, and had been
rejected-that he could not be the only man in the Congregational
Church, who was qualified for the Professorship-and that if they
would present only two names for the place, one of them would,
without any objection, be accepted and elected. To this offer no
response was made. A motion was then made by a Congregational
member, that Mr. Browning's resolution be laid upon the table, which
was carried, by the unanimous vote of all the supporters of Mr.
Blanchard.
Rev. F. Bascom then moved that the informal meeting be adjourned, and that they re-assemble in the regular place of meeting,
and then, in accordance with the recommendation of his minority
report, proceed to elect Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Bailey. This motion
was carried by the united vote of those who had rejected the liberal
resolution presented by Mr. Browning. Thus the informal meeting
was adjourned.
There remained to the party who had removed Mr. Blanchard
only this simple alternative,-either to go into the regular meeting,
and thus allow the Congregationalists who were then an accidental
majority, to force Mr. Blanchard upon the College again, or else to
remain away from the meeting, and thereby deprive the other party
of a quorum, and thus save the College from what they believed
would be a great calamity. They did not hesitate to adopt the latter course, believing that their action would be justified by all good
men who knew the facts in the case. The other party met, but
were without a quorum. They, however, recommended to the Executive Committee of the Board, the appointment of Mr. Blanchard
and Mr. Bailey to the vacancies during the coming year, and then
adjourned. The Executive Committee, composed of five Trustees,
made the appointments recommended; and thus Mr. Blanchard,
after having been once removed and again rejected by the Board,
became the acting President of the College for the next collegiate
year.




84:                    KNOX COLLEGE.
Soon after this meeting of the Board in August, letters were received from Rev. A. D. Smith, D. D., in which he stated that it
would not be possible for him, with his present relations and duties,
to allow his name'to be brought before the Board for election to the
Presidency of the College.
The previous Committee of Correspondence, and other gentlemen interested in securing a suitable President, then pressed the
matter upon the Rev. Dr. Thompson, of Buffalo, who was one of
the gentlemen named in the report of the majority, presented at the
late meeting of the Board. He was earnestly entreated not to reject
the matter hastily, but to give to it a careful consideration. This he
consented to do. Efforts were then made to persuade the friends of
Mr. Blanchard to unite in electing Dr. Thompson. His well-known
Christian courtesy and urbanity-his attainments as a scholar-and
his eminence as a pulpit orator, it was thought, must commend him,
even to the most violent partizan, as one eminently qualified for the
Presidency. In the hope that all parties would unite in electing
him, a special meeting was called by the acting President of the
Board, to be held on the 15th day of October, 1857. It was well
understood by the Congregationalists that the Presbyterians of the
Board intended to bring forward the name of Dr. Thompson. When
the day for the meeting arrived, every member of the Board was in
Galesburg, and accordingly, the supporters of Mr.-Blanchard were
no longer in the majority, as they had been at the last meeting.
They therefore resolved to remain away from the appointed place
of meeting. The other members of the Board met at the appointed
time and place, and remained in session during the whole day, which
time was also spent by the Congregationalists, in a private caucus.
The only reason for their refusal to come into the meeting, and unite
in electing Dr. Thompson, was that he was a Presbyterian. They
had, after the last meeting, despaired of electing Mr. Blanchard,
and at this time, they had no candidate of their own to present.
They were governed merely by their sectarian prejudices, which
made them hostile to any man, however eminent, who did not belong to their own Congregational body.
Just before the close of the day, they sent into the meeting a
notice that they would all come in, on condition that no election
should then be held for President, and no other business transacted
except to appoint a new committe to report the names of candidates
for the Presidency at a future meeting. Although it was believed




THE PRESIDENCY.                       85
that this proposal was made for no other reason than to prevent an
election at that time, and while it was certain that no more unobjectionable name than that of Dr. Thompson, could ever be presented, yet so anxious were the majority of the Board to secure
a full vote for the President, whoever he might be, that they accepted the proposal.
The full Board then assembled, when " on motion of 0. H. Browning, the following resolution was passed:  Resolved, Tnat John G.
Sanborn, Esq., Rev. S. G. Wright, and Wm. E. Withrow, Esq., be
appointed a committee to select and recommend to the Board a suitable man for the Presidency of Knox College, and that they report
to the Board at a meeting hereafter to be called."
That next meeting was held on the 30th day of April, 1858, at
which all the Trustees were present.  The majority of the committee appointed at the last meeting presented a report, recommending "Rev. Harvey Curtis, D. D., of Chicago, as a suitable person
to be elected to the Presidency of Knox College."  A minority
report was presented by Rev. S. G. Wright, a Congregationalist.
"Mr. Browning moved that both reports be accepted, and that we
proceed to the election of President." The Congregationalists, who
constituted a party by themselves, in opposition to all other denominations and parties in the Board, then began a series of systematic
efforts, by various motions, to delay, and if possible to hinder an
election. They then for the first time professed a willingness to
unite in electing Rev. A. D. Smith, D. D. But they were reminded
that Dr. Smith's name had once been urged upon them, and that,
too, when they were in a majority, and that they had deliberately
voted to lay upon the table the proposition to elect him-and further,
that they knew perfectly well, that since that time, Dr. Smith had
positively refused to allow his name to be presented as a candidate
for the vacant Presidency.  They then proposed Rev. Dr. Thompson. But again they were reminded of the fact, that only a few
months before, the Board had been called together, in a special
meeting, for the express purpose of electing Dr. Thompson, and
that they, in order to prevent his election, had factiously absented
themselves from that meeting, until they had extorted a pledge
from the other members of the Board, that they would not elect
him at that time. They were reminded also that Dr. Thompson had
refused, since then, to be a candidate for the office.
Becoming well satisfied, after a large portion of one day had been




86                      KNOX COLLEGE.
spent in this manner, that the Congregational members were fully
resolved not to vote for any man as President who was a Presbyterian, unless he were one who had already assured them he would
not accept if elected-and that their only object in desiring a Congregationalist as President, was that they, as Congregationalists,
might control the Board and the College-and that no good could
result from any longer delay, the majority of the Board proceeded
to elect Rev. Harvey Curtis, D. D., as President. Every Congregationalist voted against him. All the other members of the Board,
consisting of representatives of four different denominations, and of
two who had no church relations, voted for him. Yet these same
Congregationalists, who rejected successively, Doctors Sipith, and
Thompson, and Allen, and Barnes, and Condit, solely because. they
were Presbyterians, have not, to this day, ceased their outcry
against that majority, whom they denounce before the public as
"intensely sectarian!"
Let the foregoing history of the action of both parties in the
Board, taken from the College records, show which party was
guilty of "intense sectarianism."
The College Board is at present divided as follows: Eleven
Congregationalists, ten Presbyterians, one Episcopalian, one Baptist, and two Non-professors. The College Faculty consists of
seven Professors and  one Tutor, of which number, three are
Presbyterians and five are Congregationalists. These Congregationalists in the Faculty, have all been appointed by the unanimous
votes of all the Presbyterian party in the Board, and they have the
full confidence and support of that party. The question was never
raised, in appointing them, to what denomination they belonged.
They were appointed solely because qualified for their position.
Since the removal of Mr. Blanchard, the Presbyterians in the Board
have created an Assistant-Professorship, and have filled it by a
Congregationalist, nominated by themselves. These facts show
that the majority of the Board have no sectarian plan to accomplish.
How can a party, composed of so many elements, in which four
different denominations are represented, be called sectarian? The
word can apply only to that party, which consists wholly of men
of one denomination, and who all act in concert to gain a denominational end.  There is one such party in the Board of Knox
College.' The end sought for is apparent. If they are not content
with a larger number of Trustees than any other denomination,




FACTS ESTABLISHED.                    87
and with more than one-half of the College Faculty, what would satisfy them? They profess to desire only a fair representation in the
administration of the College.  They have now the lion's share.
To ask more for themselves than they now have, is simply to ask
for all power in the College. Whether they ought to have that,
let the foregoing facts determine.
The public are now in possession of the records and various
documents belonging to the College, which will enable all to judge
of the questions by whom  it was founded and endowed, and to
whom it of right belongs. They have the testimony of the men
who founded the College on these very points. From the foregoing
statements, the following facts among others, are fully established:
i. The Plan of the College originated with Mr. Gale.
2. The College was founded by him and the Subscribers to his
Plan.
3. They did this as Subscribers to that Plan, and not in any other
relation.
4. They paid, in money, to accomplish their Plan, more than the
whole sum at first subscribed by them.
5. The founders of the College endowed it with property which
has been worth to it already, almost five hundred and fifty thousand
dollars.
6. Less than one-thirtieth of the money, which bought the land,
which has so enriched the College, came from Congregationalists;
all the rest came from Presbyterians.
7. The College has received since it was founded, donations
amounting in round numbers to $46,000. Less than one-fourth of
this amount was donated by Congregationalists; all the rest by
Presbyterians.
8. The founders of the College, thirty-four in number, were all
Presbyterians except one, who was a Congregationalist.
9. Of these founders, a large number have declared in writing
that they intended to transmit the control of the  College to
Presbyterians.
10. In fact, the College was during many years governed almost
wholly by Presbyterians, and an overwhelming majority of all its
Trustees have been chosen from that denomination.
11. The present number of Congregationalists in the Board is the
result in part of a change in denominational relations of some who
were Presbyterians when elected Trustees. So many Congrega



88                     KNOX COLLEGE.
tionalists as are now in it, were never appointed, as such, by the
Board.
12. Congregationalists have been divested of no rights whatever
in the College, and their dissatisfaction with their present power is
proof that they desire the entire supremacy.
13. The whole course of the majority of the Board in appointing
a successor to Mr. Blanchard was wise, and liberal, and forbearing.
They proposed the very man, Rev. A. D. Smith, D. D., whom the
Congregationalists now profess to have desired as President of the
College; and their proposal to elect him was laid upon the table by
Congregational votes.
14. The appointments made by the Board to the College Faculty,
indicate fully that no sectarian or narrow policy governs the majority. That majority is composed of men who are members or
supporters of New School and Old School Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Baptist churches. The elements of which the party is
composed show that they can never be governed by any mere prejudice for a sect. They have been governed by their knowledge of
what was right, in view of the fact that the College was founded and
endowed by Presbyterians. They intend to be governed by that
fact, hereafter, in all their action as a Board.
"RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS IN KNOX
COLLEGE."
This is the title of a Report presented at the annual meeting of
the Congregational General Association of Illinois, held in Bloomington, in May last, and which was adopted unanimously by that
body, and ordered to be printed and distributed. The Report was
presented by the following seven gentlemen, who had been appointed
the year before: Rev. W. W. Patton, C. G. Hammond, Esq., Hon.
Owen Lovejoy, Rev. Wm. Carter, Rev. S. H. Emery, Willard Keyes,
Esq., and Rev. J. Emerson. The Report was professedly occasioned
by the action of the Presbytery of Peoria and Knox, at their meeting in September, 1857, when the controversy respecting Knox
College was raging in its greatest violence, and when Dr. Edward
Beecher, in particular, had been so far overcome by excited feeling
as to forget both the courtesies and proper province of public controversy, and was using the press, East and West, and the Congregational pulpits of the principal cities in this State, in an ungenerous




~RIGHTS OF CONGIREGATIONALISTS.'             89
and wholly unprovoked onset upon the character of those members
of the College Board by whom Mr. Blanchard had been removed, and
f all their Presbyterian supporters. In their action, the Presbytery
stated that they had "incontestable evidence of the following facts,
viz: That the idea of founding Knox College originated among
Presbyterians; that it was successfully carried into execution by
them; that almost the whole amount of property, by means of which
the College has been carried on successfully for twenty years, and
which now constitutes its large endowment, was given by them;
that it was, for more than ten years after its foundation, under their
entire control; and that its founders desired and expected that the
Presbyterian body should have a larger share in the control of the
Institution than any other body."
The Presbytery also took action respecting the assaults of Rev.
Dr. Beecher upon their members, which action will be given in its
proper place hereafter.
To inquire whether these statements of the Presbytery were true
or not, and whether their action concerning Dr. Beecher was well
founded or not, was the professed object for which the above named
Committee were appointed by the Association. To accomplish the
object of their appointment, in learning the facts concerning the
founders of Knox College, and the sources and amount of the money
by which it has been endowed, would require, as every one can see,
much time spent in examining the records, and Treasurer's books,
and all other documentary evidence belonging to the College.
These are the principal sources to which any one must apply for
full and reliable information on the points to be investigated by the
Committee. To examine these documents with proper care is the
work, as the writer hereof knows from experience, not of hours, but
of many laborious days. The important nature of the facts to be
investigated demanded of the Committee the most patient and faithful examination of all the evidence to be obtained. The fact that
their Report would affect materially the interests of the College concerned, and the relations of Presbyterians and Congregationalists
throughout the State, made it the imperative duty of that Committee to leave no book or paper unexamined, which related to the matter committed to them. Whether that Committee were faithful to
their trust, and pursued that laborious process of careful investigation which the nature of the case, and the importance of the matter
demanded of them; and whether they even made any investigation




90                      KNOX COLLEGE.
whatever, shall be answered by their own published records, which
are as follows:
"The Committee, by appointment of the Chairman, met Tuesday,
at 10 o'clock A. M., September 28th, 1858, at the Lecture Room
of the First Church of Christ, in Galesburg, Ill. Rev. Wm. W.
Patton, and brother Charles G. Hammond, of Chicago-Rev. S. H.
Emery, and brother Willard Keyes, of Quincy, a majority of the
Committee, were present." [The minutes then give the items of the
organization of the Committee, and other matters preparatory to
their work, including "an order of investigation and business to
be pursued in the public meeting." This consumed the morning
hours, and the Committee adjourned until after dinner.  The
minutes then state as follows:]
" 1I o'clock P. M. The Committee met and the exercises were
opened with prayer by Rev. S. H. Emery. The Chairman stated
that in their investigation the Committee would pursue the order
of subjects found in the action of the Presbytery of Peoria and
Knox taken at its meeting in Galesburg, Sept. 10th, 1857, and published by its direction in the secular and religious papers. The
messenger reported that he had delivered the note of invitation
into the hands of Mr. Bailey, and that no reply was sent back.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent in listening to arguments by Rev. J. Blanchard, Ex-President of Knox College, against
the positions of the Presbytery, and in examining witnesses upon
the various points raised, among whom were Rev. Messrs. Blanchard,
E. Beecher and L. H. Parker, and Messrs. Colton, Simmons, Tompkins, Henry Ferris and De Long.
Various printed and written documents were also placed in the
hands of the Committee, among which were certified copies of the
plot of the farm lands which had been sold by the College, and of
the records of the county, showing to whom such lands had been
deeded by the College. Adjourned till 7 o'clock P. M..
7 o'clock P. M. The session was opened with prayer by the
Chairman. The meeting was held in the church to accommodate
the great number in attendance, and the edifice was filled by a large
and deeply interested congregation representing all parties. The
investigation was resumed, and President Blanchard heard still
further, and the following witnesses examined, viz.: Rev. L. H.
Parker, and Dr. E. Beecher, and Messrs. H. Ferris, W. Ferris, E.
Farnham and Paine. Additional printed and written documents
were introduced.
The Chairman and other members of the Committee repeatedly
called upon those present to bear any testimony, make any statement, or offer any suggestion relevant to any of the topics that had
been brought forward.
Rev. Edward Beecher, D. D., was then heard in defense of himself against the charges made in the official paper of the Presbytery,
vindicating his motives and conduct in the part which he had taken
in the controversy respecting the College.




RIGlHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS."             91
At a late hour, after the Chairman had made a final call for further evidence or suggestions from any quarter, the Committee adjourned to meet in Chicago, at the call of the Chairman, at some
time during the sessions of the Triennial Convention, to meet Oct.
20th.
Oct. 21, 1858.  The Committee met in Chicago at 9 o'clock
A. M., and spent an hour in an interchange of views and in hearing
the first part of the Report which had been drawn up by the Chairman. Adjourned till to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock.
Oct. 22, 9 o'clock A. M. The Committee met and the session
was opened with prayer by the Chairman. The consideration of the
Report was resumed, which was very carefully read and considered,
paragraph by paragraph, with the evidence sustaining each position.
After the unanimous adoption of the Report, the Chairman was
directed to prepare a copious Appendix, containing the evidence
upon which the Report was based, said Appendix to be submitted to
the Committee for approval at a future meeting.
April 25, 1859. The Committee met at the call of the Chairman,
in Chicago, and heard the Appendix, which was approved. Adjourned till meeting of General Association, at Bloomington.
May 27, 1859. The Committee met at Bloomington, Ill., for a
final consideration of the Report and Appendix, which were unanimously approved and ordered to be laid before the General Association.
Attes,        WM. W. PATTON, Chairman.
Attest, i          S. H. EMERY, Secretary."
The foregoing records show the following facts:
1. That the Committee spent only one afternoon and evening,
after they were organized, in accomplishing the great work committed to them by the General Association.
2. That the whole afternoon, and a part-the principal part in
fact-of the evening, were "spent in listening to arguments by
Rev. J. Blanchard, Ex-President of Knox College, against the positions of the Presbytery, and in examining witnesses upon the various
points raised." I ask the reader if " listening to an argument by
Mr. Blanchard" was an INVESTIGATION?  The Committee well
knew  what Mr. Blanchard's feelings toward the College were.
They knew what his views were on the questions in controversy,
for he had published them more than a year before. The Presbytery had made a statement fully denying the truth of Mr. Blanchard's declarations. This Committee were sent to Galesburg to
learn the truth of these matters, and they spent almost their whole
time in listening to an argument from Mr. Blanchard. A few witnesses were examined on unimportant points-a few papers, prepared




92                     KNOX COLLEGE.
principally by Mr. Blanchard, or under his direction, were received
by them; but the records of the College-the books of the Treasurer-the valuable reports and other documents on file with the
Secretary, were not examined, even for one moment. This Committee did not investigate at all the matters in controversy. Do the
public wonder now why leading Presbyterians in Galesburg did not
come before that Committee and state what facts they knew in the
case? Had the Committee applied to the College Board, or its
proper officers, for permission to examine the documents in their
possession, and thereby indicated a determination to investigate
thoroughly the whole question in controversy, then would Presbyterians have aided them gladly. But when the Committee assumed the
position of a COURT, as they did, and left to Presbyterians the alternative of coming before them  and proving their own case, or else
of losing it by mere default, then it was resolved that the Committee
might grope their own way, under their own chosen guides, "blind
leaders of the blind."
3. The Minutes show  further, that when Mr. Blanchard had
ended his argument against the Presbytery, then "Rev. Edward
Beecher, D. D., was heard in defense of himself!"  In this way
the Committee investigated this part of the case; as though they
did not know already what Dr. Beecher thought of himself. And
then-the labors of the Committee ended-they adjourned " at a
late hour, to meet in Chicago" in three weeks from that time.
4. The Minutes show that when the Committee met again in Chicago, after the day spent in Galesburg, they spent "an hour " in
conversation, and in hearing the first part of the Report, which had
already " been drawn up by the Chairman."  The Committee made
no investigation while in Galesburg, but spent their time in listening
to Mr. Blanchard and Dr. Beecher. The first time they met again,
their Report was already prepared, written by the Chairman, Rev. W.
W. Patton. They met again the next day, when the remainder of
the Report was very carefully "read and considered, paragraph by
paragraph."  The CHAIRMAN was then directed to prepare an Appendix, which he did, and which was read to the other members of
the Committee at a future meeting. And then the work of the
Committee was done.
5. It appears that the Hon. Owen Lovejoy, Rev. J. Emerson, and
Rev. W. Carter, were not present at Galesburg, when the other
members of the Committee met-never saw any of the documents




"RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS."              93
which must be appealed to in such a question as the one which led
to their appointment-and yet that they afterward signed the Report
with the others, declaring as their closing words, that their Report
was a "statement of indubitable facts." HIow did these gentlemen
know the statements of that Report to be " indubitable facts?"
Did they ever see the documents-those only which would be received in a court of justice-as proof that theirs was a statement of
facts?
Here, then, we see how faithful the Committee were to their trust.
Their Report, instead of rising to the dignity of a candid and careful
investigation, sinks down to nothing more than a labored indorsement of Mr. Blanchard's story. Their Report, as to its substance,
was prepared for them and put into their hands by Mr. Blanchard.
The Association were, doubtless, all too willing to accept a Report,
whose " indubitable facts " showed, what they had never known or
dreamed of before, that Knox College had been founded and endowed by Congregationalists. The Committee confided in the judgment of their Chairman, and were willing enough to sign his Report,
when it was so favorable to their cause. And their Chairman, in
the fervor of his zeal against Presbyterianism, was blinded to the
important fact that his Report was based upon no investigation or
knowledge of his own, but that the strong-willed Ex-President had
been using him as a mere Amanuensis. The result exhibits itself in
a Report, every one of whose essential points flatly contradicts the
Records and Treasury books, and the clear intentions of all the
founders of the College. It was never before the fortune of any one
man to persuade so many men, wiser and better than himself, to indorse and publish, on their own authority, so much error in so small
a compass. The Committee introduce a large amount of miscellaneous matter in the appendix to their Report, as proof of their
statements. They no doubt believe their own Report. Their misfortune consisted in not investigating properly the questions
submitted to them. They took whatever Mr. Blanchard put into
their hands, and inquired no further. They were in Galesburgtheir business was to go to the College and examine its documents. This, as business men, they must have known was their
duty. A large part of the public suppose they did this, as a matter
of course. Their own Minutes show that they did no such thing.
Every person in Galesburg knows that they did no such thing.
Their " investigation " was a farce, as to its character, and an impo



.94                     KNOX COLLEGE.
sition upon the public as to its results. Their pretended "indubitable facts" are not facts. Their Report, however, is now doing its
daily work of wrong against Knox College. That Committee have
a serious account yet to settle with the Church, the general public,
and their own consciences, for sending forth such a Report, based
on such an investigation, to injure such an Institution.
The history contained in the foregoing pages of this pamphlet,
derived from the archives of the College and from the testimony of
its founders, is itself a complete answer to the Report before us.
Yet, that the reader may more clearly perceive the gross errors
which the Committee were so unfortunate as to indorse, I propose to
compare some of the most important of their statements with the
documents belonging to the College. Before doing this, the attention of the reader is asked for one moment to the confidence with
which the Committee assert the truth of their Report. In their closing remarks, " the Committee unanimously declare that the allegations of the Presbytery are in every respect unfounded, and are
indeed so opposite to the facts as to threaten to bring great discredit
upon the statements emanating from  ecclesiastical bodies."  The
Presbytery, it will be remembered, stated that Knox College had
been founded and endowed mainly by Presbyterians.  The Committee submitted their Report as a " statement of indubitable facts."
They declare in their minutes, that " the Report was very carefully
read, and considered paragraph by paragraph, with the evidence
sustaining each position."  Thus they plight their honor as men to
the Christian public and the world, for the truth of their Report.
1. On page 23 of the Report, and in the appendix H, the Committee endeavor to show that the " original subscription," obtained
by Dr. Gale, was never collected, and that those Subscribers had a
very small share in founding the College. They say, " the subscription, as such, was abandoned, and but a fraction of the actual
endowment was ever contributed by the original Subscribers." And
again, " as a matter of fact, whatever money came from the original
Subscribers forms a very small part of the funds of the College,
while the original subscription, as such, fell through and never was
collected."
Will the reader compare this bold statement of the Committee
with the College records and other documents published in the first
part of this pamphlet. Those records show that it was the "Subscribers" to Mr. Gale's Plan, who held the several meetings there




~ RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.7             95
reported-who appointed the Exploring and Purchasing Committees-who raised the money which bought all the land-who founded
the College-and who then donated to it land, which has since then
been worth to it more than half a million of dollars. These men
called themselves "Subscribers to Mr. Gale's Plan," in their
minutes, and they are the same men whose names are found in the
original subscription book.
2. But, say the Committee, page 58, "If the original subscription was paid, the money has never been accounted for to the Trustees of the College. The accounts are satisfactory and square with
the facts without this sum; but if this amount be added to the
money obtained by loan and otherwise, there is a large deficit, for
which somebody is responsible."  How do the Committee know
what the " accounts" are concerning this matter? Did they ever
examine them or get any statement from the Treasurer showing
what they were? Their statement is absolutely false. The earliest
account books of the College, consisting of a "Blotter," a " Journal," and a "Ledger," contain the names of all the Subscribers,
except the four who took no lands. They are there credited with
more than the whole amount of their original subscription. These
books show that the College received from them all its original lands.
They show that these Subscribers paid for all the lands given to the
College. They show that they paid several thousand dollars more
than the whole original cost of the land. The accounts of the College at the beginning are based wholly upon the donations made by
those Subscribers. All these facts are the opening items of the
College treasury books. There they stand facing every man who
opens these books. Yet this Committee were duped into the reckless statement that the accounts do not show that anything was ever
paid by the Subscribers.
3. In order to prove that the original subscription was abandoned, the Committee give, to use their own language, page 59, " the
names of the original Subscribers."  This list of names, they say,
is a "certified copy," and was obtained "through the kindness of
Professor Losey."  Read what Professor Losey says:
"I have never given any copy of the names contained in the subscription book to the Committee, or to any other person. I have
never certified to the correctness of any copy of those names. M1r.
Blanchard, at one time last year, asked to see the book, and I went
with him to an office where the subscription book then was, and




96                       KNOX OOLLEGE.
requested him to examine it, that he might see how false were some
of the statements which he had publicly made not long before,
respecting that subscription.  He examined the book and wrote
something at the same time. What he wrote I know not, although
I supposed he was copying the names.
DEC. 1859."                                     N. H. LOSEY.
It turns out, then, that the " certified copy " did not come from
Mr. Losey. From whom did it come?
4. That list of "the names of the original Subscribers," embracing fifty-six in all, as given by the Committee,* contains fifteen names
that are not found in the list of Subscribers in the subscription book!
They are names added to those of the Subscribers, to make out the
proof that the subscription fell through. The original subscription
book contains, on its first page, th'e printed Plan of Mr. Gale. This
is immediately followed by the following heading:  " We, the Subscribers, agree to pay the sums set opposite to our names respectively, to such person or persons as shall be designated by the Subscribers or Board of Trustees elected by them, for the purposes, and
in the manner set forth in the foregoing printed Preamble and Plan
for establishing literary institutions in the West."  This is followed
by the names of the Subscribers, all in their own handwriting, except
in two or three cases, when they were written by some one else,
which fact is always denoted with the initials of the person who
wrote them. These names follow each other in the subscription
book in close order.  They are then followed by fourteen blank
pages of the book, after which we come to a private memorandum,
made by Mr. Gale while acting as agent of the Association. This
memorandum is in pencil mark-all of it in the handwriting of Mr.
Gale, and is thus headed:  " Families who will go as soon (as) they
can sell."  After this follow fifteen names, more than half of them
without any Christian name or initials prefixed. Now these fifteen
names under this heading, "families who will go," etc., and separated from the Subscribers by fourteen blank pages, are all reported
by the Committee as original Subscribers. Moreover, they had a
" certified copy " that the list they give is correct. If any man certified to the correctness of such a list, from  an examination of the
subscription book, he was guilty of something worse than a mistake.
5. As further proof that the subscription fell through, the'Committee say, page 59, "that but ten persons" of the original Subscribers "actually engaged in the enterprise and made any pay* The Subscription Book contains only forty-six names as Subscribers.




"RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.)                97
ments;" that "more than three-quarters of the original Association
purchased no farms, and their subscriptions were neVer paid." The
Day-book, and Journal, and Ledger of the College, are all before me
as I write, and I see on their pages the names, not of ten only, but
of thirty of these Subscribers, charged with lands bought of the
Association, in January, 1836, according to the Plan. These thirty
names embrace all but four of the Subscribers who founded the
College. These Subscribers are charged with their lands as bona
fide purchasers, and only eight of them ever returned their lands,
which were only a small fraction of all that had been bought; and
this most of them did, at the earnest solicitation of the agent of the
College, and solely for its benefit, and not because they were unwilling to pay for them. Had the Committee taken the trouble, while
in Galesburg, to step into the office of the Treasurer and examine
his books, they might have learned all these facts, and thus have
saved themselves from an imposition, and have spared the College
and its founders the great wrong their Report has done them.
6. The Committee next endeavor to show that the sale of farmlands to the Subscribers in Whitesboro', N. Y., in January, 1836,
was only a "professed sale "-a "sale only in name "-and "the
memorandum of it is entirely unreliable as showing actual, pecuniary transactions."  Most unfortunate Committee! The "memorandum" of that sale, which they think is so "entirely unreliable,"
chances to be, first, the College records; second, a list of the lands
sold and the names of the purchasers, made by the Secretary of the
meeting at which the sale took place, and now on file among the
papers of the College; third, the Day-book; fourth, the Journal;
fifth, the Ledger of the College treasury. The whole matter stands
on the opening pages of these books, and it stands there just as it
has been given in the early pages of this pamphlet. The College
opens its books-commences its accounts-by recording the sale
made at that meeting, in the State of New York. That sale was
a part of the original Plan, and until then, the College, which had
just been founded, had received no endowment.
And here I pause and ask what do this Committee mean by such
frequent and positive assertions concerning matters which they
know nothing about, and which are contradicted in the plainest
manner by the records and account books of the College? Not
only has the College been injured by such unpardonable errors of
statement, but the public have been grossly imposed upon, and that
7




98                      KNOX COLLEGE.
too, by men from whom they had a right to expect a clear understanding of the things which they declare to be "indubitable facts."
7. The Committee, having shown in their Report, that the
"Subscribers, as such," neither founded nor endowed the College,
next endeavor to enlighten us upon the question, who were its founders and endowers? The reader will remember what the College
records have said on this point. According to them the College
was founded by the Subscribers, at their meeting in January, 1836,
in Whitesboro', N. Y., who then appointed its Board of Trustees.
It was also endowed at that meeting by the same " Subscribers"
who donated to it lands from which almost all its wealth has been
derived.
Now this Committee are not men who are ignorant of what is
meant by founding and endowing a College. They know that the
act of the Subscribers, in New York, was in every sense-in the
fullest legal, technical, and moral sense-an act of founding and
endowing. Then, and then only, was any action ever taken, by
any one, to found Knox College. And the history of the College
begins, in its own records, from that day. It was at that time also,
as its own books show, that its lands, which have made it so rich,
were given to it, and given for the express purpose of sustaining it
in accomplishing the ends of a College. The men who originate
the Plan for a College-who organize it-who appoint its Board of
Trustees-and who then enrich it by their donations, are its founders and endowers. No men know this better. than this Committee.
Yet see how they represent this matter! They gravely tell us that
the men who came as early " settlers " into Galesburg, (a place
that had no existence until after the College was founded)-who
never donated one dollar in money or one acre of land to the College-who bought lands, notfor the College, but from it, for their
own private interest-these are the men by whom Knox College
was founded and endowed. The men who came to Galesburg
"and purchased the original lands" then owned and offered for sale
by the College, "with scholarships attached, at a high rate," did
it, say the Committee, p. 24, "for the express purpose of FOUNDING
the College."  Again they say, on page 77,  there is no doubt that
the original endowment of the College was by the sale of the farmlands to those settlers who came during the early years of the enterprise and who chose to pay five dollars there in order to ENDOW
the College, instead of purchasing at a less price elsewhere." tere




" RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS."             99
we have the views of this Committee, and these views run through
the whole of their Report. The men who found and endow a College are not those who originate the plan —who organize the institution
-who appoint a Board of Trust-who secure for it a Charter, naming in that Charter the corporators-and who donate to it lands
out of which it may realize an annual income equal to all its wants;
but they are those "who  came as settlers during the early
years of the enterprise," who buy for their own private speculation
the farm-lands which the College offers for sale to any man who is
willing to pay its price. Honorable, magnanimous, "non-sectarian"
Committee!  In order to drag in some names that belonged to
Congregationalists, and hinge upon them a claim to the College,
they put aside the "Subscribers " and ignore all their acts as founders, and then represent the College as having been founded and
endowed by the men who bought its farm-lands-a representation
which is as absurd as it is false. Never was there a more ungenerous attempt, for mere party purposes, to falsify history, and deprive
noble men of the honors due them, than this of the Committee, in
endeavoring to transfer the credit of having founded and liberally
endowed Knox College, from  the "Subscribers" to the mixed
multitude, with various interests, who constituted the early settlers
of Galesburg.
8. I come now to the most important part of the Report-that
upon which the Committee base almost wholly the claim of Congregationalists to Knox College. On page 29 of their Report, the Committee show that the College has received from Presbyterians, in
donations and for lands sold them, only about $8,000, while it has
received from  Congregationalists, more than $67,000.  "It thus
appears," say they, "that where New  School Presbyterians have
contributed one dollar to the support and endowment of Knox College, Congregationalists have contributed eight dollars! "  "If, then,
a denominational claim is to rest upon a pecuniary basis, it is evident that the Institution should be in the hands of Congregationalists."  In respect to "pure donations " made to the College, the
matter stands thus in the Report: " Congregationalists have furnished forty-nine dollars to one of the real donations!"  This Committee seem never to have known that the whole amount of lands
which the College owned at first, was a "pure donation" from the
founders. Or, if they knew it, they are careful that their readers
shall never know it. The above " facts " of the Report are based




100                     KNOX COLLEGE.
mainly upon that part of the " Appendix" embraced under the letter R., pp. 77-79. They there give a " certified list of the purchasers of the farm-lands of Knox College." They there show that
Congregationalists have paid for farm-lands, above $25,000, while
Presbyterians have paid for farm-lands only about $7,000. On'page
25 they say, "to this part of the Appendix the Committee would
call the patient attention of every reader." The list of names which
they there give, is declared by them to be " drawn from the County
Records."  The list was also " certified to be correct by Thomas
N. Ayres & Son, Real Estate Agents."  Then the list was "examined by six of the early settlers, men of standing in Galesburg,"
who certify that the list of names, the amount purchased, and the
price per acre paid by each purchaser, and also their Church relations, are all correctly stated. These six gentlemen, who vouch for
the truth of the Committee's statement, are Messrs. Eli Farnham,
Henry Ferris, C. S. Colton, R. Payne, L. Sanderson, and Matthew
Chambers. Four of them  are Congregational members of the
Board of Knox College. A portion of the Report so important as
this is, in its bearings upon the argument of the Committee, and so
well supported by vouchers, and " County Abstracts," deserves the
"patient attention" which the Committee invite to it. The reader
is asked to examine it with me, in the light of the College Treasury
books, and of the County Recorder's certificate, and of other undeniable facts, that it may be seen how utterly blind this Committee
were, and into what depths of error they were led by the " argument" to which they listened too credulously in Galesburg.
(1.) The list furnished by the Committee contains the names of
those who "purchased the farm-lands of Knox College," and because they did this they are claimed as the actual " founders " and
" endowers " of the College. To this point it is enough to say, that
if the list were perfectly correct, it would have nothing to do with
the question before the Committee. It requires no great amount of
sense to know that the College must have been founded before it
could own lands to sell to " early settlers," or to any one else. The
real question is, who were those founders? Certainly they were not
those who bought lands from the College. Then, it requires no more
sense to know that the men who bought these landsfrom the College, did not, in so doing, endow it. The men who gave those lands
to the College were the men by whom it was endowed. Does the
reader suppose our Committee were so ignorant as not to know these




i RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.            101
things? And if they did know them, what are we to think of their
attempt to mislead the public on these points? They have committed a great fault. It must be charged either against the head or
against the heart. The Committee may choose for themselves which
it shall be. If the Committee honestly believed that the purchasers
of lands from the College, and not those who donated the lands to
the College, are its " founders and endowers," why were they not
consistent with themselves in their Report? They state that Judge
Phelps gave to the College eighteen quarter-sections of land, and
therefore he is credited with almost the whole present endowment
of the College. But, according to their previous representations,
Judge Phelps did nothing toward endowing the College with his
lands: The men who bought those lands from the College are the
men to whom that credit belongs. Is not this something worse than
nonsense?  But again, if the men who bought College lands for
themselves, are its only real benefactors, then why have the Committee inquired only concerning the purchasers of farm-lands?
The village property has been worth far more than the farm-lands of
the College.
The College has at interest, at the present time, above $200,000.
It has expended for buildings more than $100,000. It has expended in other ways above $200,000. The College lands have thus
furnished it with money, or its equivalent, to an amount exceeding
half a million of dollars. The Committee have endeavored to show
us the sources whence only $43,000 of this amount have been derived. But if the men who furnished $43,000, by buying College
lands, are to be regarded as its endowers, are not those who furnished
more than $450,000, in exactly the same way, to be regarded also
as having done something toward its endowment?  It seems
puerile to labor to meet such positions as the above, and yet they
are the essential points in the Report of the Committee.
(2.) The list furnished by the Committee contains fifty-nine
names of persons, all of whom are represented as having been
among the " early settlers " of Galesburg, and who bought " during
the early years of the enterprise."  " They paid the money which
started the College."  "They were the men who bought of the
Association," and none of them are included among those who
came in at a later day and " bought of the College, since it has been
endowed."  How much truth there is in this part of the Report, will




102                     KNOX COLLEGE.
appear from the following facts, taken from  the College books, concerning some of the names in the list of the Committee:
W. A. Wood, purchased in 1854, 19 years after College was founded.
S. Richardson,   "         "   "       "        "          "
A. B. Clark,     "   "         "       "       "
G. WV. G. Ferris, "        "   "       "       "
L. Gary,         "         " 
J. Jerauld,      "       1846,11           "         "
A. G. Pearson,   "        1853,18      "       " 
W. D. Lee,       "       1850,15       "       "
J. Blanchard,    "        1852, 17     "       "           "
The above facts show that the Committee knew nothing about
the matter of which they wrote.
A large number of those reported in their list as having purchased
at " an early date," purchased only within the last few years. And
their list embraces some who never purchased any farm-lands of the
College at any time.
(3.) Every one of the fifty-nine purchasers is reported as having
paid exactlyfive dollars an acre for his land. " They bought at five
dollars an acre:" " They chose to pay five dollars instead of purchasing at a less price elsewhere."  Now the simple fact is, that
hardly one of all the actual purchasers in that list bought at exactly
five dollars an acre. Every one of.the six men, who vouch for the
correctness of the list, paid on an average more than that price for
the land they bought.  To see how remote from the truth this Committee are, look at the following names as they stand on the College books:
L. Gary,        paid per acre,      $25
A. G. Pearson,       " "      "30
W. A. Wood,        "  "   "          25
S. Richardson,    "  "   "           22
A. B. Clark,       "  "   "          21
G. W. G. Ferris,  "  "   "           30
J. Blanchard,      "  "   "          15
The number of names might be increased with a like result as this
until it embraced full three-fourths of all reported by the Committee
who were actual purchasers of the College lands. But my only
object is to present enough to convince the Committee of the grave
errors into which they fell.
(4.) As the price per acre, according to the Committee, was exactly five dollars, while according to the College treasury it was in
almost every case much more than that, so the amounts paid by




aRIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.               103
each one, as given by the Committee, are, in most cases, much less
than those credited on the Treasurer's books:
W. A. Wood, paid as per Report, $600  as per Treasurer, $3,850
S. Ferris,      "  "  "    "    1,200  "  "                3,160
G. V. Gale,        ""   "   "    ],200  "  "      "        3,980
G. W. G.. Ferris, "  "  "    "    1,560  "  "              8,630
N. West,        "  "  "    "       600  "  "'    1,480
A. G. Pearson,  "  ".400  "  "      "        2,400
L. Gary,        "  "  "    "       400  "  "      "        2,000
J. Blanchard,   "  "  "    "       800      "      "       2,400
The reader can see how much credit is to be given to the claims
of the Committee in behalf of Congregationalists when they are
founded upon such statements as theirs above. The Committee find
that all the Presbyterian purchasers together paid only about $7,000.
In the above list the first five names are those of Presbyterians,
who, it Will be seen, paid more than $21,000. One of those Presbyterians alone paid more than the Committee have credited to
that whole class in their entire list.
(5.) According to the Committee only nine of all the fifty-nine
names in their list were Presbyterians, and they only purchased to
the aggregate amount of $7,400. Now if these nine were all the
purchasers who were Presbyterians, which they are not, still the
treasury books show that these same nine bought farm-lands to the
amount of $16,910.
(6.) The Committee profess to give only the names of purchasers
at an early day. In classifying them as Congregationalists or Presbyterians they credit to the former class all who now  " sustain
the two Congregational Churches in Galesburg." This is certainly
an easy method of settling a question about matters that occurred,
as they claim, twenty and more years ago. Many of those " who
now sustain the two Congregational Churches" in this place, were
Presbyterians twenty years ago, and never then had even a dream
that they would ever become Congregationalists. Some of them
are yet Presbyterians. As proof of these points read the following
certificate from one of those reported as Congregational purchasers:
"I hereby certify that I was a Presbyterian when I bought my
land of the Agent of the College, and have never changed my sentiments.
H1ENRY WILCOX.
GALESBURG, July 28, 1859."




104                     KNOX COLLEGE.
This gentleman "supports one of the Congregational Churches
in Galesburg." What he declares to be true of himself is true of
not a few of those claimed by the Committee as Congregationalists.
(7.) In the list of the Committee are a number of names, as purchasers from the College, who in fact did not buy of the College,
but of some other party. As proof of this point read the following
statement from one of the " supporters of one of the Congregational Churches " in this place:
"I hereby certify that I had been for many years previous to
coming here, an officer in a Presbyterian Church, and that I united
with the Church in this place as a Presbyterian. The land which
I purchased had passed through several hands after it was sold by
the College before I came in possession of it. I assumed a'part of
the indebtedness to the Trustees, and as was customary in such cases,
I received my deed from them.
JOEL MARTIN.
GALESBURG, Aug. 1859."
(8.) The Committee throw out of the account seven names embraced in their list because their "sentiments are not known."
At first view this seems very fair, but when it proves to be a fact,
well known to others if not to the Committee, that all of these
seven were Presbyterians, except one, who was not a Congregationalist, then the ignorance of the Committee assumes a suspicious
hue. Their ignorance occurred at that fortunate moment when it
would have been " folly to be wise."  They thereby deduct several
thousand dollars from the Presbyterian column.
(9.) The Committee, in this list, have been compelled to give the
names of some of the "Subscribers" as purchasers, who are said
in their Appendix "H," not to have purchased of the College. But
that a careful reader may not discover the discrepancy, the list now
under examination gives some of those names without anyinitials
or Christian name prefixed, and others with the initials changed
from those of the real purchaser. Did the Committee know this
when they published that list of names?
(10.) The Committee show that Congregationalists paid at "an
early day " for " farm-lands " above $25,000. The treasury books
show that from the day the College was founded, in 1836, until now,
Congregationalists have paid for farm-lands only $14,520.
(11.) According to the Committee there were fifty-nine who
purchased at an "early day" to "start the College," only ten of
whom were "original Subscribers," as appears in Appendix "H."




C CRIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS."           105
The College treasury shows that thirty of the original Subscribers
became purchasers of farm-lands, and then that the whole number
of purchasers, including these thirty, during the firstfourteen years
of the College was not as great as that given by this Committee.
(12.) But, say the Committee, "this list has been examined by
six of the early settlers, men of standing in Galesburg," and they
" certify that the same is, according to their best knowledge and
belief, correct."  Let me inform  the Committee of what some of
these same gentlemen say about that list. They indignantly deny
having ever certified to the list as it is published in the Report.
They were asked to give a list of the names of the purchasers of
the College farm-lands without reference to the time of the purchase or the price to be paid. This they did as well as they were
able without any documents, and trusting to their memory, which
had to extend over a period of more than twenty years. And to
such a list they appended their certificate. That list was changed
in several important respects after it left their hands. This is what
some of these gentlemen declare, and this statement is published by
permission from one of them. No effort has been made to learn
the views of the others, but my knowledge of those gentlemen
leads me to believe that none of them certified to the correctness of
the list in the form published by the Committee. They knew that
list to be incorrect. And here let me ask this Committee why they
went to these gentlemen to learn who had bought College lands at
an early day? Did they not know that the College books were the
proper sources of information on that point? Did not such a gentleman as C. G. Hammond, Esq., who manages one of the largest
and most complicated business interests of this country, know that
it was sheer folly to go about the streets of Galesburg asking for
information as to who bought the College lands, when the College
Treasurer was in possession of every fact, and as a Congregationalist would cheerfully have given any information needed? The truth
is, the Committee simply published what had already been prepared
for them by another party-and the man who prepared the materials
of that Report dared not go to the College books for facts. All
Galesburg guesses who that man is.
(13.) Not only did six gentlemen certify to the correctness of the list,
but, say the Committee, it was " drawn from the county records,"
it is a "certified abstract from the county records, pp. 77, 24."
If this were so, it would not show that the persons there named




106                     KNOX COLLEGE.
actually bought of the College and "paid the money" to the College. Many persons here have deeds from the College, who never
paid to its treasury a dollar. This has already been explained. But
now mark what follows: A few names were selected from the Committee's list, enough to test the point involved, and were given to the
County Recorder, who was directed to certify under the seal of his
office whether they are found upon the county records as purchasers
of farm lands from the College at any time, whether at an "early"
date or at any date. This is his certificate:
"STATE OF ILLINOIS,                                    
Knox County,  ss' I, Cephas Arms, Clerk of the Circuit
Court; and Ex-Officio Recorder in and for said Knox county, do
hereby certify that the names of Jones Harding, W. E. Holyoke, Hugh
Conger, Sherman Williams, William Lee, -    Dutton, S. Richardson
and W. A. Wood, are not found upon the Records of Knox county, as
purchasers of farm-lands from the Trustees of Knox M. L. College.
In witness thereof, I have hereunto affixed my name and the seal
of said office, at Knoxville, this 9th day of August, A. D., 1859.
CEPHAS ARMS, Clerk. [SEAL.]"
Now, as a matter of fact, some of the parties named by the
Recorder did buy lands of the College, and paid the money for
them; but before their payments were completed, they sold to some
one else, and that person to whom they sold received the deed, and
his name is the one that will be found on the. county records. Our
Committee, however, assert that the foregoing names are taken
from the county records. The certificate of the Recorder shows
that they are not upon those records, as purchasers from the College.
(14.) But once more, say this sagacious Committee, the list is not
only taken from the county records, and vouched for as correct,
by' six gentlemen of standing in Galesburg," but it is also
"certified to be correct by Thomas N. Ayres & Son, Real Estate
Agents."  Read now what Thomas N. Ayres & Son say on that
point:
"GALESBURG, Jan. 17th, 1860.
We do hereby certify, that the statement of the'purchasers of
farm-lands from Knox College,' purporting to have been certified
to by Thomas N. Ayres & Son, Real Estate Agents, in'Appendix
R.,' to'a Report of the Committee of Investigation of the General
Association of Illinois,' entitled'Rights of Congregationalists in
Knox College,' is materially different from the statement furnished
by us, heretofore, to Rev. J. Blanchard.
AYRES, BATES & Co.,
Successors of Thos. N. Ayres & Son."




L RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.             107
These gentlemen were not willing to risk their reputation for
business accuracy, by allowing the statement of the Committee
concerning them to go uncorrected.  The secret is all out, too,
through their certificate, as to who furnished the Committee with
their extraordinary list of names! That list is incorrect in every
essential respect. Yet upon that list of names is built up almost
the whole argument in behalf of the "Rights of Congregationalists
in Knox College." In leaving this part of the Report, I must say
that I know not whether to wonder most at the audacity of the
man who ventured to impose that statement upon such men as composed this Committee, or at the unaccountable credulity of the
Committee in receiving it. No "camel" appears to have been too
great for their receptive powers, provided it favored their cause.
They proved every statement, they say, "paragraph by paragraph,"
and yet they reported, in their list of names, that of Mr. Blanchard,
as one who bought of the College, at an early day, at five dollars an
acre, to the amount of $800, which he paid, to "start the College."
Yet Mr. Blanchard did not come to Galesburg until ten years after
the College had been founded, and he did not buy any of its lands
until almost seven years after he came'here, and he was to pay for
them $2,400, at $15 an acre, and the College indorsed upon his
unpaid note, as a donation, two-thirds of the whole sum, since his
removal from its Presidency. Truly the Committee have stated
" indubitable facts! "
9. I have already called the reader's attention to a statement of
the Committee, respecting the value of the donation made to the
College by Hon. Charles Phelps. They say, p. 26, that donation
was " estimated to be worth at the time $30,000," and it now constitutes "the principal part of the College endowment of over
$300,000!"  I have shown that the donation was not estimated to
be worth $15,000 when made, and that it is not yet Worth $30,000.
How could the Committee have made such a mistake?
But I have a special object in recalling this matter at this time.
When the Report of the Committee was adopted bythe unanimous
vote of the General Association, there were present, as members of
the Association, according to its Minutes, the following Trustees of
the College: Rev. F. Bascom, Rev. W. E. Holyoke, Rev. S. G.
Wright, Rev. H. Foote, and E. Farnham, Esq. Now these five
gentlemen have been in attendance upon all the meetings of the
Board of the College, from the time the donation of Mr. Phelps




108                     KNOX COLLEGE.
was made, to the present. They were present when that donation
was made. The College records show this to be true. They heard
the report of the Treasurer the next year, 1854, when he gave the
value of that donation at $20,356.95. They accepted his report, at
that time, as true. They have heard his annual reports from that
time until the present year. Some of them have served on a Committee to determine the manner of using the money received from
the sale of those lands. I ask these gentlemen how, as ministers of
the Gospel, and Christian men, they could vote for the Report of
the Committee, when they knew that part of it relating to the
Phelps donation to be so untrue? How can they justify themselves
to the Commitee, saying nothing of the public, for allowing them
to fall into so immense an error?  Are we to think that they are
willing to allow any statement, however untrue, to go forth to the
public, that will damage Knox College, and the interests of Presbyterianism? But let us view the matter fiom another stand-point. In
less than four weeks after these Trustees had voted for the Report
of the Committee in the Association, and directed it to be" printed
and distributed," they met in Galesburg, in the annual meeting of
the College Board. At that meeting, the Treasurer presented his
annual report, in which he gave, as an item by itself, the present
value of the Phelps donation at $26,272.15.
This report was accepted without a word of objection. Yet
according to the Report of the Committee, for which these five
Trustees had only a few days before voted, the Treasurer made the
enormous mistake of at least $300,000, in his estimate of the value
of the Phelps' donation. Did these Trustees charge him with this
mistake? Did they object to the Report on that account? Did they,
as honest guardians of a great trust, inquire at all, what had become
of the " munificent bequest of the late Hon. Charles Phelps, now
constituting the principal part of the College endowment, of over
$300,000 "?  Not a word of the kind was heard from one of them.
Yet the published Report of the Committee, containing these errors,
was very busily circulated during that meeting of the Board, and at
the Commencement exercises of the College.
10. On page 51 of the Report is a certificate, signed by Mr. Blanchard and seven Congregational Trustees of the College, that in
1854 a " compromise resolution" was adopted by the united votes
of the whole Board, "binding the Board, in all future elections, to
abstain from any party action."  But, say they, when the party




s RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS."            109
opposed to Mr. Blanchard " obtained an accidental majority they
denied the force of the said resolution, and did not hesitate to violate it by the election of men to the Board by a strictly party vote."
Now, since 1854 there have been but two Trustees elected to the
Board, viz.: C. M. Pomroy and Thomas G. Frost. On examining
the College records, I find the following minutes respecting these
elections: "Voted, that the place of Peter Butler (a Baptist,) in
this Board, be declared vacant."  "Several names were proposed,
and voted upon, without effecting an election, when a recess of
fifteen minutes was taken for consultation."  " After the expiration
of the time above named, the members again took their seats, when
Mr. Browning nominated Caleb M. Pomroy, of Quincy, (a Baptist,)
who was then unanimously elected a Trustee of Knox College."
This was in 1856. In 1858, Mr. S. Ferris resigned his place as a
Trustee. His place, according to the records, was filled as follows:' Thomas G. Frost was then nominated and unanimously elected a
Trustee of Knox College."  So much for the violation of a compromise " by the election of men to the Board by a strictly party
vote."  The only two men elected, have been elected by the votes
of the whole Board.
The same Trustees, who gave the above certificate, have also, on
pp. 51, 52, certified that the party opposed to Mr. Blanchard, did, in
1849, leave a meeting of the Board, in order to deprive it of a
quorum-and that in 1857 they absented themselves from another
meeting, for the same purpose. They certify, also, that "we (the
Congregationalists) proposed to them (the rest of the Board) that
we would vote for a non-sectarian President, such as Rev. Asa D.
Smith, D. D., which proposition they refused to accept."  Dear
reader, did you ever think why Paul joined together those two
asseverations, "I speak the truth and lie not"?
As a commentary thereon, notice these facts:'The meetings in
1849 and in 1857, were broken up in the manner certified. But from
the honest indignation which these gentlemen, who sign the certificate, express for such acts, do you not understand them to claim
entire exemption from all acts of the same kind? Yet, in October,
1857, they absented themselves a whole day from a meeting of the
Board, solely in order to prevent the election of Rev. Dr. Thompson,
of Buffalo, as President of the College.
It is true, also, that they did offer to elect Rev. A. Iq. Smith, D.D.,
but that was in 1858, when Dr. Curtis' name was before them for




110                    KNOX COLLEGE.
election, and when they knew that Dr. Smith had, long before, positively refused to be a candidate for the Presidency, and when they
had, the year before, being then a majority, voted to lay on the table
the motion to elect Dr. Smith I
11. The Congregational Trustees complain that the other parties
in the Board have violated a "compromise resolution," which, they
claim, bound "the Board, in all future elections, to abstain from
any party action." No compromise resolution having such a sense
as they put upon it, has ever been passed by the Board. But if
such a resolution had been passed, I leave the reader to judge for
himself which party has violated it, by " party action," after recalling the fact that the Congregationalists have been a party, by themselves, in the Board, during all the attempts of the Board to fill the
vacancies occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Blanchard and Mr.
Gale.' They rejected Doctors Smith, and Allen, and Condit, and
Barnes, and Thompson, and voted against Dr. Curtis on no other
ground than that they were Presbyterians. They were the only
party who were composed of men of one denomination, and no
more. And yet, with amazing blindness, they charge "party action" and " intense sectarianism," upon all the other members of
the Board, who represent four different denominations.
12. The Committee are equally determined to prove that the
majority of the Board are wretchedly "sectarian," although it numbers, among its members, a Baptist, an Episcopalian, and both Old
and New School Presbyterians, They, however, very conveniently
style them  all New School Presbyterians, and then, by a sort of
Aristotelian process, prove them to be sectarian, because, as they
assert, the whole denomination is so. In this line of argument they
refer to the recent "unanimous votes in the General Assembly, on
the subjects of Church Extension, Church Erection, Home and
Foreign Missions, the Publication of books and tracts, and Ministerial Education."  This "sectarian spirit," the Committee say,
"has led to the establishment of sectarian Presbyterian Colleges, in
this and contiguous States," and to a determination "to institute a
Theological Seminary for themselves alone."  Saying nothing of the
logic or the truthfulness of this part of the Report, one must suppose,
from the pious horror with which they announce the above misdeeds
of the New School Presbyterian Church, that the Committee have
never heard of any exclusively Congregational plans for Church
Erection or Church Extension, or Publication, and the like. They




RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.             I
have, doubtless, never heard of the " Illinois Home Missionary Association," whose Corresponding Secretary is Rev. W. W. Patton,
which last fact is sufficient proof that it is a Congregational Society.
They never have heard of the Congregational "American Missionary Association" for Foreign Missions. They never have heard of
" Church Erection Funds" contributed by their own denomination,
and solely for their own use. They are no doubt totally ignorant of
the existence of the " Congregational Board of Publication."  They
are not aware of any exclusively Congregational Colleges, in Iowa,
and in other parts of the West, saying nothing of afew Institutions,
belonging to their denomination, in that remote region of our land,
which the Committee may have heard about, by the name of New
England. And this Committee, certainly, are not yet informed of
the fact, that Congregationalists have instituted "a Theological
Seminary for themselves alone," in the city of Chicago, and that its
library has pledged for its benefit all " the net profits!" of that preeminently non-sectarian paper, the Congregational Herald, whose
principal editor is the Chairman of our Committee! I hope this
Committee may become informed of these facts before they expend
any more indignation about the "sectarianism" of the New School
Presbyterian Church. As containing a full reply to all this mere
verbiage of the Committee about sectarianism, I commend to them
these words of an inspired Apostle:  "Wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the
same things."
Before dismissing this matter I must ask the reader's attention to
the following facts: Congregationalists have the President, nearly
all the Faculty, and at least an equal number, if not a majority of the
Trustees of Beloit College. They have the President and their full
share of the Faculty and Trustees of Illinois College. They have a
majority of the Faculty, and a larger number of Trustees than New
School Presbyterians have, in Knox College, Yet, solely because
they cannot have the entire control of Knox College,'they wage.a
furious war upon it. They have entertained, in their Association,
proposals from the Wesleyan Methodists, to receive as their own,
and build up the Wheaton Institute; and Mr. Blanchard has,
through their agency, been appointed its President, and has already
entered upon the duties of his office. This Wheaton Institute is
twenty-five miles west of Chicago-has no endowment-and but
little more than twenty thousand dollars' worth of property of all




112                     KNOX COLLEGE.
kinds. It is in the center of a region which embraces the Baptist
University-the Methodist Institutions at Evanston-Lind University-and Beloit, and Knox, and Illinois Colleges. A College at
Wheaton is not demanded by any public interests whatever-it can
be sustained and endowed only by extraordinary efforts-and if it
should ever be successful it must be at the expense of at least some
one of the Colleges that so closely encircle it, in which Congregationalists are already interested. No reason whatever exists for
building up that Institution, except that it will enable these " cooperative " Congregationalists, who have such a large share in the
control of so many other Colleges, to call one College exclusively
their own. If they think it wise to do this, no one objects. But
for the sake of common sense as well as of honesty, while they are
doing this, let them give up this whining cant about " sectarianism."
13. Having proved that the whole New School General Assembly
is sectarian, and that therefore the majority of the Trustees of Knox
College are so, the Committee next proceed to establish the same
conclusion, by reporting what the Rev. Mr. Spencer, and the Rev.
Dr. Patterson, of Chicago, have said about the College, although
neither of these gentlemen have anything to do with its control. In
the Appendix tothe Report, letter "G," is this statement:
"Rev. L. H. Parker, of Galesburg, testified before the Committee
as follows:' Last spring I was at Geneseo, in my capacity as Trustee
of the Academy in that place. There were propositions under consideration, with reference to its coming under the distinctive control
of N. S. Presbyterians. I met there Rev. Mr. Spencer-N. S. Presbyterian minister, now resident in Chicago-who said that it was now
the design and settled policy of his denomination to bring all the
schools, academies and colleges, in which they were interested, under
their distinctive ecclesiastical control. In accomplishing this, Knox
College, he remarked, had given them more trouble than any-other
institution.'"
Truly, "ambition" is not the only thing that " o'erleaps itself."
I suppose every reader, unless it be the Rev. L. H. Parker, knows
exactly what is meant by "distinctive ecclesiastical control."  A
College would be under "ecclesiastical control" when controlled
directly by a religious denomination, or by Trustees elected by a
religious denomination. The Congregational Theological Seminary
of Chicago is an instance of such control. But Knox College is,
by its Charter, a close corporation, a self-perpetuating body, which
appoints within itself all its Trustees, and therefore cannot possibly
be under "ecclesiastical control."  Mr. Parker knew  this well




~ RIGHTS OF CONGRIEGATIONALISTS.             113
enough. But in his anxiety to prove something against the College,
he has proved too much. Mr. Spencer could hardly have talked
about the actual " accomplishment" of the purpose of Presbyterians
to bring Knox College under "distinctive ecclesiastical control."
The thing is simply impossible, even if there were such a desire.
Mr. Parker will do well to refresh his "ecclesiastical" knowledge,
before he gives another certificate about "ecclesiastical control."
But alas! for the Committee, Mr. Spencer denies having said what
Mr. Parker has attributed to him. In a letter written to me on this
subject, during the past summer, Mr. Spencer says:
" I am constrained to contradict the very explicit testimony of the
Rev. L. H. Parker. I did not say that it was now the design and
settled policy of my denomination to bring all the schools, and academies, and colleges, in which we are interested, under our ecclesiastical
control. I knew that such a statement would be false. The subject of
bringing existing co-operative institutions under ecclesiastical control was not mentioned. I was opposed to entering into any cooperative arrangement to sustain Geneseo Academy, and gave it as
my opinion that such efforts would in future be discountenanced.
The only reference to Knox College made by me, was to discourage
the idea that a similar union of denominations might sustain
Geneseo Academy. A frank opposition to a union effort in the case
of that Academy, based upon a somewhat troublesome co-operative
experience in Knox College, was a very natural occurrence. The
difficulties in Knox College were referred to merely as a warning
against future efforts of that kind. It is of no importance, whatever,
to correct Mr. Parker's misapprehension of my personal views on
this subject. But as one of three men chosen to prove the existence of a'settled' denominational'policy,' concerning all schools,
academies and colleges, in which New School Presbyterians are
interested, it is important for me to deny that I ever said there is
such a policy as Mr. Parker speaks of, or that this was the cause of
the troubles at Knox College.                W. H. SPENCER."
Fearing that Mr. Parker might not be a witness of sufficient
"standing," the Committee next introduce Rev. Edward Beecher,
D. D., who is made to testify as follows:
"Before the election of Dr. Curtis to the Presidency, I had an interview with Rev. Dr. Patterson of Chicago, to see whether some
investigation of facts, or reference to arbitrators, or basis of adjustment, could not be secured prior to any election by the Board of
Trust. But such an effort at an accommodation of differences was
wholly objected to and refused, both by Dr. P. and by Dr. Gale.
Dr. P. asserted that the College belonged to the N. S. Presbyterians, and that they ought to have the entire control of it."
8




114                     KNrOX COLLEGE.
Now if the above statement were in all particulars correct, yet it
may well be asked what Dr. Beecher had to do with these affairs of
Knox College? He had no connection with the College whatever.
He was not one of its Trustees. He was not commissioned by its
Board to intercede with Dr. Patterson or any one else in their behalf.
The Board were about to elect a President. Dr. Beecher attempted
to prevent it. Why? Solely because they were about to elect a
Presbyterian. As long as there was any hope of securing a Congregationalist as President, Dr. Beecher never thought any " investigation of facts " necessary. His proposal now was merely an attempt
to delay present action by the Board, and thus, of course, get rid of
Dr. Curtis as a candidate, as had been done with other candidates.
But again, why appeal to Dr. Patterson? He had nothing to do
with the control of the College. All who know him know that he
would not dictate to the Board of Trustees what their action should
be, even with the example of Dr. Beecher to encourage him. Dr.
Patterson does know, if Dr. Beecher does not, what the rights of a
Board of Trustees like that of Knox College are, and he would be
the last man to attempt to control such a Board by outside pressure.
Let us hear, however, what Dr. Patterson says concerning the truth
of Dr. Beecher's statement.
"PROF. J. W. BAILEY:
Dear Bro.-In the pamphlet entitled'Rights of Congregationalists in Knox College,' p. 56, I find a statement from Dr.
Edward Beecher, in which a report is given of a conversation between Dr. B. and myself, that is truly surprising. Dr. B. represents
that he proposed to me a reference of the difficulties in Knox College,
to arbitrators; but that'such an effort at an accommodation of
differences was wholly objected to and refused, both by Dr. P. and
by Dr. Gale.' Dr. B. then adds, as an explanation of the ground
on which I'refused such an effort at accommodation,' that'Dr.
P. asserted that the College belonged to the N  S. Presbyterians,
and that they ought to have the entire control of it.'
I am sorry to be obliged to pronounce these representations utterly untrue.  The facts are as follows: A few months after President Blanchard, by request of the Board, resigned, Dr. Beecher
came to Chicago and delivered a public lecture on the affairs of
Knox College, which abounded in bitter denunciations of the majority of the Board, and of Dr. Gale in particular. This lecture I
heard. On the next day after its delivery Dr. B. called on me, and
introduced the subject of his lecture, laboring, as I thought, under
great mental excitement. He asked what I would think of a reference of the difficulties in the College to arbitrators, with a view to




C RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.'           115
some accommodation of differences. I replied, that I thought his
lecture was a very unfortunate preparation for such an accommodation, adding, that the College was wholly under the control of its
legally constituted Board of Trust, and that it appeared to me that
we in Chicago would be guilty of impertinence in attempting to
interfere with its affairs, unless the Board should request our counsel or interposition. This is the substance of all that I said on that
point, and Dr. B. knows it perfectly well. After that point was
passed in the conversation, I remarked, that I did not think it possible to maintain an exact balance in a Board of College Trustees between two religious denominations, and that if one denomination
must have a majority, it should be that one which had done the
most to found the institution, as was very properly true in the case
of Beloit College, on the Congregational side. I added that, as I
understood the facts, the Presbyterians would be entitled, on this
principle, to a majority in the Board of Knox College. At the
same time I said, and repeated the remark, that no one, so far as I
knew, wished that the Presbyterians should have' the entire control'
of the College; that the Congregationalists ought to be liberally represented in the Board, etc. But I reminded Dr. B. that the Congregationalists had, as yet, more Trustees than the Presbyterians,
after all the noise that had been made about the revolutionizing of
the College.
I am confident that the statements which I now make are correct,
both from my own distinct recollection and from the confirmatory
recollection of another person who was present. I can only account
for Dr. Beecher's egregious errors in the'testimony' which he has
given touching this matter, by attributing them to his extraordinary
mental excitement, which must have led to some strange confusion
in his thoughts and impressions. It may be proper to add here,
that I know of no man in our Church who desires or would consent
to the exclusion of Congregationalists from participation in the government of Knox College or of any other Institution which has
been established in any measure on the'co-operative' principle.
I have known Rev. W. H. Spencer intimately for many years, and
I am sure that he entertains no such views or feelings as have been
attributed to him by Rev. L. I. Parker. Our experience has led
us to doubt the expediency of establishing any new Institutions on
the co-operative basis. But we are for keeping all engagements,
already made, in good faith.
Very truly yours,
CHICAGO, Aug. 1, 1859."                 R. W. PATTERSON.
This letter of Dr. Patterson was written last summer. The
Report of the Committee had then been doing its work of misrepresenting him for more than two months. No word, however, had
come from Dr. Beecher correcting or in any way modifying the
statement ascribed to him in that Report. No such word has yet




116                    tKRNOX COLLEGE.
come from him, so as to reach the public ear. That, of course,
could not be expected of him if he actually made the statement
which the Committee ascribe to him. But now mark what follows:
In October last, the Synod of Peoria met in Galesburg, and then
Dr. Patterson had an opportunity of meeting Dr. Beecher face to
face, and of inquiring of him on what grounds he had made such a
statement concerning him. The results of that interview will be
seen in the following letter:
"REV. J. W. BAILEY: -Dear Brother-I have recently had an
interview with Dr. Beecher. He assures me that the document put
forth as his'testimony,' was never submitted to his inspection, or
read to him, before its publication; and that he never intended to
make such statements as it attributes to him. As I understand him,
he and I do not differ much as to the substance of his former conversation or conversations with me respecting Knox College. So
much the worse for the framers of the document which appears in
the pamphlet as Dr. Beecher's testimony.
Yours truly,
CHIcaGo, Nov. 1, 1859."                 R. W. PATTERSON.
So much for the "indubitable facts" contained in the Report
drawn up by Rev. W. W. Patton, signed as true by himself and the
other members of the Committee associated with him, and adopted
and published by the "unanimous" vote of the whole Congregational General Association of Illinois and scattered over the whole
country!
14. It would have been most grateful to my feelings had the
Report which I am examining permitted me to close my work without any special statements respecting Rev. Edward Beecher, D. D.
The Committee, however, have not left me the privilege of remaining entirely silent concerning him, unless, indeed, I consent to leave
some important interests of the College to suffer through their extravagant laudation of him for his open and long-continued warfare
upon it. The Committee have not been content to assert their
belief in his good intentions while he was engaged two years ago
in breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the majority of
the College Board and all their supporters, but they have, with
evident relish for such work as his, pronounced his whole course of
personal denunciations " a defense of the highest interests of the
College and community-yea, of religion and morality."  This
Committee are of the opinion that "the spirit displayed by Dr.
Beecher in his statements and arguments " against the College Board




~ RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS."           117
" was eminently Christian."  They have fully sanctioned all that he
has written against the College. Dr. Beecher has also re-affirmed
all his former statements, and renewed all his denunciations, by
voting in the Association for the Report of the Committee. He thus
virtually challenges criticism.
Dr. Beecher came to Galesburg about five years ago, and took
charge of a new Church just organized for him-the "First Congregational Church of Galesburg."  He has never been connected with
Knox College in any manner, either as a member of its Faculty or
its Board of Trustees. His public championship of Mr. Blanchard
and the Congregational minority of the Board, in 1857, was wholly
voluntary. He was a "passer by" and "meddled with strife not
belonging to him," and I apprehend has had abundant reason since
then to believe in the truth of the Proverb which announces the
unfortunate results of such intermeddling: (Prov. 26: 17.)
He was not content to discuss principles and questions of policy,
but he set himself resolutely to the work of damaging the character
of every man in the Board who voted for the resignation of Mr.
Blanchard. After the removal of Mr. Blanchard, the Board appointed Rev. Mr. Gale to visit the East and secure a candidate for
the office of President. Before he reached New York City, Dr.
Beecher sent a communication to the Independent, which was published, warning the public not to place confidence in Mr. Gale, whose
conduct in removing Mr. Blanchard, he charged as "unwise, dishonorable and unjust."  He aimed to prevent the success of Mr.
Gale's mission by a distinct announcement, that any one who should
consent to become President of the College, would "involve himself
in a conflict with the moral sense of the whole body of students and the
community in Galesburg."  He represented his views as those that
were shared by "a very large majority of the entire community" in
this place.
How truly he represented the community here may be gathered
from the fact, that the four leading Evangelical Pastors of this place,
representing as many different denominations, immediately sent to
the Eastern papers a card, in which they declared that Dr. Beecher's
statement in the Independent was not true of themselves, nor, as
they believed, of any considerable portion of their fellow-citizens.
Dr. Beecher, not content with this attack upon Mr. Gale, while he
was abroad upon a mission for the College, next prepared a long and
labored document, in which the majority of the College Board, and




118                     KNOX COLLEGE.
Mr. Gale in particular, were denounced in such terms as I trust only
Dr. Beecher knows how to use. His address was published and scattered wide-spread through the land. The secret motive of all his
violence may be guessed from the following sentences in his address:
"President Blanchard, by resigning his office, of course ceased to be a
Trustee; and this act destroyed the balance of power, and by the
substitution of a Presbyterian President, would give the College
wholly into the hands of Presbyterians."  "It was simply a
proposition that President Blanchard and the Congregationalists
should lose all power, and that Mr. Gale and the Presbyterians
should gain all power in the Institution." The awful spectre that
so frightened him was a "Presbyterian President."  Twelve Congregationalists, including the President, and nine New School
Presbyterians constituted a very equitable "balance of power."
The substitution of a "Presbyterian President " was a jarring of the
"balance" which too greatly shocked the "moral sensibilities" of
the author of the " Conflict of Ages."  The reader may infer the
character of his address from the impressions produced by it upon
those who heard it. It was first delivered to an audience of nearly
a thousand persons in Galesburg. During the two hours spent in
its delivery there was no token of approval, from first to last, from
that great assembly.  On the contrary, many a man there hung his
head with sorrow at such an address from such a man. When the
address was ended there was no demonstration in its favor.  But
when a son of Mr. Gale arose, and in behalf of his father, who was
yet absent for the College, denounced the address as false and slanderous, then almost the whole assembly burst forth in long continued
applause. When quiet was restored, a friend of Dr. Beecher moved
that the audience return him a vote of thanks for his address, which
motion was not even put to vote, but was substituted by a motion to
adjourn, which was carried by a very large majority. In this manner did a Galesburg audience receive this " eminently Christian"
address.
Dr. Beecher next went to Chicago, to deliver the same address,
determined to make the world acquainted with the "moral assassination" committed by the majority of the Board of Knox College.
Whether his address appeared to be at all personal and injurious to
the character of those whom he opposed, may be gathered fiom the
letter of Rev. Dr. Patterson already quoted, and also from the fol



C RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS."             119
lowing remarks made by the editor of the North- Western Christian
Advocate, in that paper, under date of August 5, 1857:
"We were a little surprised and humbled that this address, before a
public audience, should be made up so largely of personal matters.
In listening to Dr. Beecher's address one would be led to suppose
that the parties whose conduct he described were ignorant of the first
principles of New Testament religion. Nor would we conclude
that the standard of civilization and morality was very elevated.
These disclosures are indeed painful, nor can we admire Dr. Beecher's taste in thus consenting to publish them  from the house-top."
This is the impression produced by the address upon the mind of a
stranger, concerning the majority of the Board of Knox College, of
whom  some were Presbyterian ministers, some were members of
Presbyterian, Baptist and Episcopal churches, one was an ex-member of Congress, another was one of the most eminent lawyers in
the State, and all were gentlemen of much more than ordinary intelligence and worth.
Dr. Beecher delivered his address in several of the towns of
Northern Illinois with results most unfortunate to his own reputation.
Even when men did not doubt the truth of his story, it was a question which they could not answer, why he should go retailing such
matters through the pulpits of the State? That question has not
been satisfactorily answered to this day.
He went also to Quincy, and rehearsed the address in a Congregational Church in that city. Among his hearers was the Honorable
0. H. Browning, who resides in Quincy, a member of the Board,
and one, in Dr. Beecher's opinion, next in moral depravity to Mr.
Gale. The sagacious Doctor, knowing, his auditor, heroically suppressed, as he admitted afterward, those sentences in his address
that were most offensively personal concerning Mr. Browning,
which he had delivered everywhere else. When his address was
ended, however, the friends of Mr. Browning requested the audience
to remain to hear him in reply. But Dr. Beecher and his friends
took counsel together, and decided that it would not be wise to allow
Mr. Browning to reply, and so they refused the use of the house for
that purpose, and the audience were compelled to retire. The pastor of that church, who had lent his pulpit to Dr. Beecher to assail
the Board, and who refused even the floor of the house to Mr.
Browning, a Trustee of the College, for a reply, was one of the
Congregational members of the College Board. The impression




120                     KNOX COLLEGE.
produced by the address in Quincy will be gathered from the following
quotations from the Daily Republican of that city. In speaking
of it, the editor says:
"We think it is in bad taste to carry this matter before the uninterested public, and stir up a bitter controversy between denominations when it can do no good whatever.  Who is President
Blanchard, that he should create such petty disturbances?  What is
Knox College, that we should have its affairs retailed to us through
the press and from the pulpit, in a manner to create unhappy feeling,
where nothing but kindness and calmness should exist? Among
those who seem to be particularly exercised about the action of the
Trustees, is Rev. Dr. Beecher, of Galesburg, who is now perambulating the State, stirring up this feeling in the churches. Last
evening he addressed our citizens at the Center Church, on the
subject of the difficulty, and in defense of President Blanchard. In
the course of his remarks, we are told, he invited an answer, but
when he got through, that privilege was refused the friends of the
Trustees of Knox College. We look upon this discussion as one
calculated to do no manner of good. Let it be settled quietly at
home. Do not bring it here to fret and torment our people, and
give the irreligious occasion for their scofing and derisive comments."
The same paper contained a communication from a leading citizen
of Quincy, who spoke of the address as having charged Dr. Gale
"with deception, and malice, and great wickedness."  "Is there
any man," asks that writer, "not absolutely dead to every sentiment of justice and honor, that does not condemn this lending of a
church for the purpose of defaming a minister and then refusing it
for his defense?"  "If Professor Gale be guilty of the things
charged upon him last evening, he is liable, on conviction before his
Presbytery, to be deposed from the ministry."
1 have stated enough to show that wherever Dr. Beecher delivered his address, he shocked the sensibilities of his hearers by the
violence of his denunciations of the College Board, and of Mr. Gale
in particular. Everywhere he gave the impression, either that he
was himself enraged beyond all self-control, or else that those whom
he denounced were men of much more than common depravity.
To believe Dr. Beecher would require every one, in his own language, "utterly to abhor, repudiate and condemn " the majority of
the Trustees of Knox College.
And what other impression could be produced by an address in
which such language as the following abounds:  "Moral degradation and the anger of God," if the Trustees are not resisted. " There




C RIGIHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.            121
is no one thing upon which God looks with more indignation than
upon a low and torpid state of the moral sensibility, which can see
and tolerate ATROCIOUS acts of dishonor and injustice without re-.
monstrance or rebuke, and continue to associate and co-operate
with their authors, as if the performance of such deeds, unrepented
of, were not deserving of disgrace and infamy."  Will the reader
think for a moment what must have been the state of mind of this
distinguished clergyman, when he could characterize the action of
the Trustees, in merely requesting a man, with whom they were not
satisfied, to resign, as " atrocious acts of dishonor and injustice?"
Was that word " atrocious" when applied to such men " eminently
Christian?"  Was it no assault upon them to go through the pulpits
of the State and into the public press, and declare that they were
"deserving of disgrace and infamy?"
Dr. Beecher sweeps all the sympathizers of the College Board to
a common destruction with the Trustees. "They," he says, "who
can coolly look on and see atrocious deeds," by which he means the
removal of Mr. Blanchard, and nothing else, "without rebuke and
even with pleasure, are totally rotten and corrupt. Without the
poor excuse of temptation, and from their own inherent baseness and
corruption, they take pleasure in evil for its own sake." This language, when uttered in plain English, refers to all Presbyterians,
Episcopalians, Baptists, and others who think Mr. Blanchard was
wisely and righteously removed from  office by their representatives in the Board. "Now these men," the Trustees, "have put us
in a position in which we are bound utterly to abhor, rebuke, and
resist their deeds, or else sink to their moral level and fall beneath
the wrath of God."  The reader will bear in mind that all these
Trustees, of whom Dr. Beecher speaks, except two, are members of
evangelical churches two of them are ministers of the Gospel.
But although they were Christian brethren, yet he never wearied of
denunciation against them. "If there be anything that God abhors,
it must be such injustice as this "-the vote to request Mr. Blanchard
to resign! -"If this is not moral assassination, I know not what
is."  It was actuated by "enmity, hatred and malignant revenge."
" A state of society in which such things can be done without rebuke and abhorrence would reduce us to the lowest grade of moral
degradation, and expose us to the righteous judgments of God."
The address contains several columns of matter directed especially
against Mr. Gale. Dr. Beecher finds even himself; however, ex



122                    KNOX COLLEGE.
hausted on this point at last, and thus magnanimously disposes of
his victim: " But enough-the subject is too painful and humiliating to pursue! I leave Mr. Gale to the just judgment of God!"
Dr. Beecher seemed to fear that he might not carry his hearers
with him in his opposition to the Board, and so he resorted to "the
terrors of the law " for assistance:  " Has the fear of man," he exclaims, "gained so portentous an ascendancy and risen to a height
so impious and heaven-daring that men quiver like an-aspen before
human combinations and plottings, and are not afraid of the withering and blasting curse of Almighty God?"  "What would God
think of such a base and cowardly indifference to wrong?" " Would
not his curse rest upon us?"  That is, if the people should be willing
to allow a Presbyterian to become President of the College!
These are but a few specimens of that address-and my whole
soul loathes the rehearsal of even these few! Is it any wonder that
a Galesburg audience of a thousand persons listened to that address
in silent amazement, and then overwhelmed with applause the man
who arose and told Dr. Beecher to his face that it was false and
slanderous?  Do we wonder that they refused it the very cheap
praise of a vote of thanks? Do we wonder that Doctor Beecher
has never recovered and never will recover in this community, from
the damaging effect of his own document?
Yet this address was only the beginning of a warfare which he
carried on during the summer and autumn of 1857, after the removal of Mr. Blanchard. Week after week witnessed his articles
in the newspapers published in Galesburg. His aim was to create
here, if possible, a prejudice against the College Board and against
Presbyterianism so great that no " Presbyterian President" would
be willing to trust himself in our midst. The same spirit pervaded
these later writings which had pervaded the address. In one of them
Dr. Beecher says: "the majority in removing Mr. Blanchard can
no more be defended than they could if they had poisoned or stabbed him."  And yet Dr. Beecher had before that time declared his
opinion that Mr. Blanchard was not a proper man to be President
of the College. In another he speaks of the Trustees as exhibiting
a " spirit malignant and revengeful." In a third they are represented
as seeking "to gratify personal hatred and revenge and sectarian
bigotry." A statement eminating from the majority is said by him
to be the "obvious offspring of malignant hatred and revenge." The
English language, fortunately, is not fertile in terms adapted to ex



~ RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.            123
press so much wrath as Dr. Beecher had in his heart at that time.
Its vocabulary furnished him with a few such terms as " atrocious
acts, malignity, hatred and revenge"-but they have no equivalent
synonymes. Hence he could do no better than repeat the same
language over and over again. Yet Dr. Beecher asserts-and this
Committee assert-and the General Association assert, that all this
was in no manner a "personal assault," either upon Mr. Gale or
upon the College Board, but on the contrary was in spirit and in
diction "eminently Christian."  They free him from the charge of
a " personal attack upon Mr. Gale " by saying that " the criticisms
which he passed were upon Dr. Gale as a public man and not as a
private individual."  Scholastic Committee! If Dr. Gale as "a
public man " has been guilty of " atrocious acts of dishonor," guided
by a spirit full of "malignity and revenge," and is "deserving of
disgrace and infamy," what remains worth saving of the "private
individual" of the same name?
On the 10th day of September, 1857, the Presbytery of Peoria
and Knox met in Galesburg. Dr. Beecher had then been engaged
two months in pouring out his wrath against those who had removed
Mr. Blanchard, and against all who approved their action. Of
those members of the majority of the College Board who were
Presbyterians, nearly all were connected with the Churches of this
Presbytery. The assault of Dr. Beecher was thus an assault upon
this body of such a character that they could not be indifferent to
it. Moreover, there was not probably in all the Churches of that
Presbytery a member who did not feel that the removal of Mr.
Blanchard was a wise and righteous act. Their objection to him
was not grounded upon the fact that he was a Congregationalist,
but upon strong personal objections to him as a man. They approved fully the action of the Board in removing him from his office.
Yet Dr. Beecher had hurled maledictions, not only against the Board,
but against all who sustained them in their action. He had even
gone so far as to assert that those who approved of their action
were more guilty than the members of the Board by whom the action had been taken. He had characterized the action of the Board
as an "atrocious act of dishonor and injustice," and then immediately added, "God even makes it a higher grade of guilt to take
pleasure in those who perform atrocious deeds than to do them."
"Those who can coolly look on and see atrocious deeds, without
rebuke and even with pleasure, are totally rotten and corrupt."




124                     KNOX COLLEGE.
When Dr. Beecher uttered these sentences through the principal
cities of the State he knew  to whom  they applied. They were
uttered with special reference to the Presbyterian supporters of the
College Board.
Under these circumstances, that Presbytery met. They spent
the principal part of two days in a calm and careful inquiry into
the facts of the case, and then adopted the paper of which the
Committee so bitterly complain. In that paper, they took the following action:
"The Presbytery have noticed with great grief, the violent, personal assaults which have been made by the Rev. Edward Beecher,
in the public papers, and also in public addresses, upon the Rev.
G. W. Gale, who is a member of this body.  We regard the
assault, in manner and in spirit, as an open violation of the law
of Christ, as to the treatment of Christian brethren.  Whatever
may have been his own opinion concerning the correctness of the
charges he has made, it is certain that he has not pursued the
course prescribed in the New Testament, toward an erring brother.
In view  of the fact, that these very grave charges have been
brought against Mr. Gale, without any inquiry from him as to their
correctness, or any effort to lead him to a proper acknowledgment
of them if correct, and that very extraordinary efforts have been
made to-extend the knowledge of them, far and wide over our
whole land, we are compelled to say that, until the Rev. Edward
Beecher shall undo the wrong he has committed in this matter,
we must, as a Presbytery, regard him as unworthy of our confidence and Christian courtesy as a minister of the Gospel."
Could that Presbytery have retained its own self-respect, and
not have done what it did?  Could they have asked into their pulpits, and invited to share in their deliberations as a Presbytery, a
man who had published them to the whole world as " totally rotten
and corrupt?"  Yet, Dr. Beecher complains of this action as tending to damage his Christian standing throughout the country. Of
course it does and just so long as he continues to vindicate his
conduct, and thus compel that Presbytery to hold him where they
now do, he must expect to suffer more and more damage from that
action. He has been invited again and again to meet the Presbytery and explain his conduct if he could, so as to allow them to
recall their action against him. But he refuses to do it. He must
rest assured, that just so long as he continues to be "joined to his
idols," just so long will this Presbytery "let him  alone."  A most
unhappy affair this is, but the whole responsibility of it rests entirely upon Dr. Beecher. The Committee, in their Report, ask with




"RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS.'             125
an exultant tone, "Did the Presbytery think that their mere
assertion would destroy the reputation of Edward Beecher?"  To
this question I reply that the Presbytery had no ambition to rival
Dr. Beecher in the work of destroying reputations. They were
and are content to leave him alone in his glory, so far as that
work is concerned. But not even "the reputation of Edward
Beecher! " can deliver him from the crushing weight of that action
of Presbytery, so calm and so just, until " he shall undo the wrong"
which he has committed.
15. The Committee have labored very earnestly to prove that Dr.
Gale has been guilty of many " inaccuracies and self-contradictions"
in the statements which he has made at different times, concerning
the College. Their efforts to destroy public confidence in his statements show very clearly that they regard him as an important
witness. He originated the Plan which resulted in founding Knox
College. He has been here, closely connected with it, from the beginning of its history. He is better acquainted with all that history
than any other man. Hence, his testimony will have great weight
with the public, unless in some way its force can be weakened.
This the Committee have worked hard to do. Whether this effort
on their part, toward a man who has done the public so much good
service, is magnanimous, I leave that public to judge. However, if
Dr. Gale has been as unwise and inconsistent as this Committee
represent him, I will offer no apology for him, except merely to remark that the men who could publish as truth such a document as
this "Rights of Congregationalists," ought to be the last men in
the world to taunt him with "inaccuracies and self-contradictions."
The public will be able to judge correctly concerning his statements
when the following things are taken into account:
First, then, it is not denied that, in a few instances, Dr. Gale has
been inaccurate in some of his statements. But these inaccuracies
are of trifling importance, and do not relate in any case to the main
fact involved. They are confined wholly to details and matters of
minor moment. They are just such inaccuracies as almost every
man would fall into, who related matters which had occurred many
years before, without first consulting documents. As an instance
of this kind, over which the Committee make quite an ado, Mr. Gale
stated in one of his published articles, that Mr. Simmons had started
to go West on his own business, before he was appointed on the
Purchasing Committee; when the truth was, as Mr. Simmons testi



126                     KNOX COLLEGE.
fies, he was notified of his appointment before he left his home.
This is one of the most noted instances of actual inaccuracy pointed
out by the Committee! "LRidiculus mus!"
Again, it is admitted here that Mr. Gale has sometimes stated
facts in general terms, and also amounts in round numbers,
which were either a little more or a little less than the exact fact,
although true in substance. As a marked instance of this sort of
general statement noticed by the Committee, Mr. Gale once wrote,
a year and a half ago, that " the names of Simmons and Tompkins
were not inserted in the title to the land" bought by the Purchasing
Committee; when the truth was, that the name of Simmons, but
not of Tompkins, was inserted in the deeds for the 410 acres of
cultivated and timber land first bought, but in no others. More
than 10,000 acres were bought afterward, in the deeds for which,
neither of their names appeared. Mr. Gale's reputation will probably
survive that "inaccuracy" which appeared so great in the eyes of
the Committee that they devote to it one entire article, under the
capital letter "K" in their Appendix. But now notice this, that the
Committee, after showing that Mr. Simmons' name did appear in
the deeds for 410 acres, then leave the public to draw the broad
inference that his name is found in the deeds for all the other
10,000 acres! Who was most "inaccurate" in this matter?
Again, it must be borne in mind, that much of the pretended
" inaccuracy" of Mr. Gale consists in the mere fact that his statements do not agree with those of the Committee. This Committee
"investigated" so thoroughly all the points involved in their Report,
and proved them  so clearly, by comparing them  "paragraph by
paragraph with the evidence sustaining each position," that any
man whose statement differs from theirs is, of course, " inaccurate."
I can say nothing in defense of Mr. Gale, on this charge. The
Committee will find him "inaccurate " beyond all hope of remedy,
if they make their Report the standard of truth.
But once again, it is a serious fact that the most important errors
charged against Mr. Gale, result wholly from a studied perversion of
his language, whether by the Committee, or by some one else for
them, I do not say. For instance, when Mr. Gale declares the fact
that the Subscribers were not all prepared to pay their subscriptions
at the time the Purchasing Committee were sent out, the subscriptions not yet being due, and that therefore he and Mr. Ferris borrowed at the bank $10,000, the Committee so pervert this clear




B RIGHTS OF CONGREGATIONALISTS."            12T
statement of the exact truth as to make Mr. Gale prove that those
Subscribers never paid their subscription! On pp. 58 and 59 of the
Report, occur several just such instances as the above. I cannot be
persuaded that the man who drew up that Appendix was ignorant
of the fact that he was making Mr. Gale prove the very opposite of
what he has always explicitly claimed to be true. The statement
of Mr. Gale was clear enough. It was possible to pervert it,
and accordingly it was perverted.  As it is not my object to
answer every charge of this kind of inaccuracy brought against Mr.
Gale, but only to indicate where the answer may be found in all
these cases, I will leave this remarkable Report without further examination. The reader must feel by this time that the Report is
totally unworthy of confidence. The men who drew it up never
investigated, as they were required to do, and as the public have
supposed was done, the great questions which they have nevertheless
ventured to answer so positively. The materials of that Report were
prepared for them when they came to Galesburg. While here they
carefully avoided the office of the College Treasurer and Secretary,
where they could have found documentary evidence for every important point to be determined. They preferred rather to collect
here and there such random statements of interested parties as could
be used to prove a conclusion already adopted. These materials
they wove into a Report which has been scattered through all the
West and the East, wherever it could possibly do injury to Knox
College.
And now I ask this Committee, what they will do with their Report?  Will they continue to circulate it as they have done thus far,
with all its errors, to perpetuate the wrong against the College which
has already been wrought by it? The Committee cannot free themselves from responsibility in this matter. They have wronged the
College-undesignedly, "through ignorance," I trust. But now,
when they read the College records-when they see the facts contained in the books of its Treasury-when they hear the voice of
its founders, will they disregard all this, and still allow their Report
to go as though it were true? They cannot deny the truth and
force of the documents published in this pamphlet. If they think
they are not correct, or do not correctly represent the facts of the
case, they are bound to show it by examining those documents for
themselves. The Secretary and Treasurer of the College would
gladly have given them the opportunity to do this when they were




128                     KNOX COLLEGE.
in Galesburg. They will as gladly give them this opportunity hereafter if they desire it. Those officers certify that the documents
here published are correctly given, and do present the true history
of the College. It is not, therefore, a question of judgment, or of
veracity, between me and the Committee. The question lies between the Committee, and the College and its founders. If the
College records and other documents are not correct, and if the
founders of the College are mistaken concerning themselves, the
Committee must show it; or else they must not only recall their
Report, but also inform the public that they were mistaken, and that
the Report is not true. If the Committee mean to deal honestly with
the College they must do this. If they mean to deal honestly with
their own denomination and with the public, they must do this. The
College, the Church, and the whole public, will turn their eyes upon
this Committee to see what they will do.
Knox College was founded by wise and good men, who consecrated it to the interests of sound learning, and of manly culture in
the service of " Christ and the Church." They founded it in order
that it might aid in establishing the kingdom of Christ among men.
To accomplish this noble mission it must be administered with wisdom and justice and the highest Christian principle. Its founders
were not ignorant of this fact, nor were they indifferent to it. That
it might be directed always toward the end for which it had been
established, they expected and intended that it would be controlled
mainly by men belonging, like themselves, to the Presbyterian
Church. By this, however, they did not mean to subject it to any
" ecclesiastical" control, nor did they mean that it was to be in any
sense a   "sectarian" College. No denomination, as such, was ever
to have any voice in its control. It was to be used, not to build up
a sect, but to educate youth, of every and any sect. It was to be a
College for the benefit of the whole Church and the whole State.
That it may become such a College, it must be elevated above the
reach of sectarian and denominational strife. Its Board must not
be the scene of angry struggles between jarring sectaries for party
pre-eminence. There must be no such equipoise of rival sects as to
cause the Board to hesitate to appoint any evangelic man to its
corps of instructors, who is exactly qualified for the post, from any
fear that his weight will be thrown into the one scale or the other,
and disturb the " balance." ~ The word "' sect" or " denomination"
must not be heard or known in its Board, except merely to keep that




KNOX COLLEGE.                      129
Board true to the Church from which the College sprung, and thus
keep the College true to the end for which it was called into existence. This is what its founders intended for Knox College. It was
administered true to this principle during its early years. After a
time, secretly and steadily, a rival "sect" sprung up within its
Board, and, in the hour of its strength, struggled hard to make the
College " sectarian."   Against this attempt the majority of the
Board, men of various denominations, set themselves, resolutely and
righteously. They were and are determined that Knox College
shall be what its founders intended it to be. It will thus be planted
upon the same platform as that which has so long given stability and
success to our Eastern Colleges. In-New England, every College
but one, is so under the predominating control of some one denomination, as to lift them  above all danger from sectarian strife.  In
Harvard alone, do we hear the sound of war, and the cause there is the
departure from the broad principle which gives peace to all the rest.
Unitarian Congregationalism and Orthodox Congregationalism in
New England, although one sprang out of the other, as did Minerva
from the brain of Jove, cannot live peacefully together, and cannot
harmonize, even in the control of a College. Hence Harvard is the
arena of strife. Yale, and Williams, and Amherst, have no such
trouble, because Orthodox Congregationalists are in them the supreme power. While human nature remains anywhere near what it
is now, no equal division of denominations in a College Board, unaccompanied by strife, will long be possible. Slowly, it may be,
but surely one party will gain the permanent ascendancy over the
others.  In the last number of the Xew Englander is an article
headed " Denominational Colleges," by a writer well known as
President of one of our Western Colleges. The arguments of that
writer, while evidently aimed at some other institution than the one
over which he presides, are, nevertheless, like that famous weapon of
the warrior of Madagascar, which, when hurled, however far away,
is said always to return and strike at the very feet of him who hurled
it. In that article the writer uses this language: "It is within the
memory of men yet not far from  the meridian of life, that the
thought had scarcely been entertained by any mind, that a College
should be in any sense the representative of a sect; or, that such
Colleges as Princeton, and Columbia, and Yale, were not suitable
for the education of any American youth, whatever might be the
religious views of his parents."  Leaving the writer to reconcile, if
9




130                     KNOX COLLEGE.
he can, this language with the evident bearing of his whole argument, I desire heartily to commend all that is involved in the reference he has made to the three Colleges named. Those Colleges
have long been eminently successful. They have deserved, as they
have received. abundantly, the confidence and patronage of the
public. No discord disturbs the harmony of their operations. And
the reason is, that each one is under the controlling influence of
members of a single denomination. Princeton is well known as
Presbyterian, Columbia as Episcopalian, and Yale as Congregational. We ask only that Knox College may be planted upon that
same foundation, which has proved so strong and immovable in the
case of Yale and Columbia, and Princeton.  Its founders placed it
upon exactly such a foundation. There it will be kept by its Board
hereafter.  That which renders Eastern Colleges stable will give
stability to Colleges at the West. And nothing else will.
Knox College is open to all denominations and to all classes alike.
It offers to educate a Congregational youth just as fully as it does
one who is Presbyterian. And this offer extends to all denominations. Congregationalists complain that they can no longer patronize it-that they are driven fiom it. How this can be I do not
know, unless it be impossible for them to patronize a College not
wholly their own. Presbyterian young men find no difficulties of
conscience in attending the Congregational Colleges of New England.  Why may not a Congregational youth attend a College that
is largely controlled, though not wholly, by his own denomination
here at the West?  Does the partial Presbyterianism of the Board
affect the quality of the studies, so that the very same course of instruction, which was of measureless benefit under a Congregational
Board, ceases to be valuable when the " sect" loses power?  Have
our Congregational brethren in Illinois at last come to that?  I do
not think so. The Congregational body of this State has been misled
by a few men, who have wished to avenge themselves upon the College
for refusing to be perverted from its original design. They have been
persuaded that they have been deprived of all their rights here.
They have been led to believe that the College is henceforth to be
used for narrow and sectarian ends. All this is false. The narrowness and "sectarianism," that for a few years past were sinking it
in the popular esteent throughout the State, are now removed. The
College now is devoted to a higher mission than that of merely reflecting the opinions and peculiarities of one man. It has a noble




KNOX COLLEGE.                     131
endowment, which is becoming more fully available every day. It
has a Faculty more in numbers and wiser in experience than it has
ever had before; and they are all of one heart, and are all devoted
to the prosperity of the College. The dividing line of denominations is not known within the sphere of the College Faculty. The
College buildings are new and massive structures-an ornament to
the city, and an honor to the Institution. The course of studies is
the same as that of the first Colleges of New England. Knox
College is an honor to the State of Illinois. If Congregationalists
cannot patronize such an Institution, the fault is with them and not
with the College. The College was founded in prayer-it was consecrated to the good of man-it has secured an endowment by a
marvellous providence-it has advanced with rapid strides to the
front rank of similar institutions-it has manifestly a noble destiny
before it. The sympathies of the people, who dwell on these broad
prairies, cannot be turned away from such an institution. ITS PROSPERITY IS THEIR GLORY-ITS ADVERSITY WILL BE THEIR MISFORTUNE.
Whoever, therefore, may oppose it, and whatever temporary evils it
may suffer, it will still move onward, in unwavering faith in that
sublime truth unfolded in those hopeful words-JEHOVAU-JIREH!