AN 
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 or 
 
 THE REASONS 
 
 FOR TUB 
 
 RESIGNATION OF SOME OF THE PROFESSORS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CITY OF NEW-YORK. 
 
 PRINTED BY JAS. VAN NORDEN, 
 
 N'o. 43 William-street. 
 
 1833. 
 
| o 9-9 
 
 lEx ICtbrtB 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 T^bew you leave, please leave this book 
 
 Because it has been said 
 "£ver'tbing comes t' him who waits 
 
 Except a loaned book." 
 
 ) ■ j I - r < j-^ 
 
 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 
 
TO THE PUBLIC- 
 
 We, the undersigned, proceed to redeem the pledge which we lately 
 gave to the public, to explain to them the reasons why we have re- 
 signed our professorships in the University of this city. The task we 
 have undertaken to perform is of the most painful description, and one 
 which we would gladly have avoided, could we have done so without, in 
 our opinion, a dereliction of duty. Statements must be made involving 
 serious charges against a number of men, and more particularly against 
 one individual, on whom circumstances have devolved the management 
 of an institution, to the success and usefulness of which the undersigned, 
 in common with a large number of the friends of literature and of a 
 sound education, have heretofore looked with anxious expectation. In 
 making those statements there is, however, every disposition to avoid 
 all unnecessary harshness, and, as far as is practicable, to use the lan- 
 guage of courtesy even while exposing offences, not only violating the 
 laws of courtesy, but those likewise of order, of honour, and of morality 
 itself. And the undersigned will endeavour to earn from the public the 
 same commendation which they received from a committee of the Coun- 
 cil of the University with whom they were lately invited to confer, 
 and which was expressed to them at the time by the chairman of that 
 committee, — to wit, that the statements made by them on that occasion, 
 in respect to the matters which are to constitute the subject of the 
 present publication, were made with all proper decorum. 
 
 The University was organized towards the end of the month of Sep- 
 tember, 1832; and, after the examination of the applicants for ad- 
 mission to the different classes, the several courses of instruction were 
 immediately commenced. From that period it was apparent that the 
 " Chancellor" was to be a very different officer from what had been 
 anticipated. It was natural to suppDse, after all that had been written 
 and published on the subject, and after what had transpired in relation 
 to the University, at the meetings, in this city, of the " Literary Con- 
 vention," that it was intended to establish an institution which, instead of 
 being of the same nature as the colleges already existing in our country* 
 
4 
 
 should aim at as near an approach to the Universities of Europe as the 
 demands of the American public would justify. It was natural, too, to 
 suppose that the duties of the Chancellor, from the very name of his 
 office,— borrowed as it is from the English Universities, — would be those 
 of very general superintendence, and that he would, indeed, preside over 
 the body of Professors, or the Faculty, only on extraordinary or cere- 
 monial occasions. These very natural expectations were disappointed. 
 We perceived, at the very first meetings of the Faculty, that the Chan, 
 cellor did not dream of an institution of an order more elevated than 
 that of a college, and that he meant to be its President ; and this not 
 in the sense in which the word is universally understood in our colleges, 
 that is, as the chairman of the Faculty, in whom the immediate admi- 
 nistration of the institution is vested, and as the organ of formal com. 
 munication on their behalf to the students and to the public, but as one 
 invested with a right to superintend and direct, without control, in the 
 minutest particulars. 
 
 With some difficulty the Chancellor was induced to give his assent 
 to that modification of our college systems, which was actually adopted 
 by the Faculty, as the nearest approximation to the true university 
 scheme that could be obtained by them. But although that officer 
 evinced frequently a disposition to relapse into his former views, the 
 matter in question did not become a source of difficulty between him 
 and the Faculty ; and it has been here stated only to give to the reader 
 a more precise understanding of the state of things in the University, 
 when the Professors first came together. Respecting the powers and 
 prerogatives exercised by the Chancellor, the remedy was not so easy ; 
 the more especially because, when spoken to on the subject, the holder 
 of that office (the Rev. Dr. Mathews) was ever ready in words to 
 assent to the views expressed by any of the Professors, as to the pro- 
 priety of all measures being decided by the general voice of the Faculty. 
 Such assent was, however, only verbal, or, at all events, was forgotten 
 in his practice. In his intercourse with, and communications to the 
 students, he continually assumed the exercise of functions that belong, 
 and ought to belong, only to the Faculty in their collective capacity. 
 And in the meetings of the Faculty, not only was the question often 
 artfully evaded and not put to the vote, but the authority of the Coun- 
 cil was occasionally brought to bear upon the Professors, to induce them 
 to come to a decision contrary to their own convictkms of propriety, or 
 not to decide at all on a matter under consideration. This, too, to say 
 the least of it, when there had been no action whatever by the Council 
 on the subject. 
 
 If, under these circumstances, Dr. Mathews had been, in our opinion, 
 
 . [ 
 
particularly skilful in the management of the discipline of the University, 
 the case would not have been so absolutely discouraging as it was. 
 But, on the contrary, his failure on this point was, in our view, most 
 egregious. He was feeble and timid. His ear was ever open to com- 
 plaints of students against the Professors ; and his admonitions to the 
 former were administered in so inefficient a manner, as to be calculated 
 to produce no other effect than to encourage and harden the offender. 
 During the whole of the past year we felt ourselves, in consequence, 
 engaged in a perpetual struggle to maintain the discipline of the institu- 
 tion against the relaxation of it resulting from the maladministration of 
 the Chancellor.* It may here be mentioned, because on our present 
 topic we are anxious not to be misunderstood, that we are no friends to 
 a severe discipline. This only becomes necessary when causes exist 
 of an injurious operation in respect to the preservation of order, or 
 when discipline has been previously too much relaxed. We believe 
 that where good order and propriety of deportment are strictly and 
 uniformly enforced, young men, though congregated together in con- 
 siderable numbers, may be treated very kindly ; but we believe, like- 
 wise, that such treatment can be applied with impunity only then. 
 
 For a considerable time the Professors, although placed, in conse- 
 quence of the state of things which we have described, in very un 
 comfortable circumstances, — rendered also in the public view responsi- 
 ble for the right administration of the government of the University, 
 which was, in fact, not administered by them, but by the Chancellor, — 
 and reduced in the estimation of the students, by the perpetual inter- 
 ferences of that officer, to the rank of subordinate teachers in an aca- 
 demy, — yet bore and forbore with patience, looking, but looking in 
 vain, to the gradual effects of a gentle pressure on the mind of the 
 Chancellor. When this was found to be of no effect, several members 
 of the Faculty conversed with him privately on the subject : they 
 urged upon him a different course from that which he had hitherto 
 pursued ; — they did this at first mildly ; afterwards in decided terms ; 
 and at length in terms the most decided. The Chancellor was gene- 
 rally ready, as we have before remarked, to assent to every thing that 
 
 * It is proper to state that Dr. Torrey was absent from the city, from the 
 latter part of February till the second week in August last, when his labours in 
 the University were again resumed. Since his return lie has, however, taken 
 every pains to inform himself of what passed in the institution during his absence, 
 and has heard the fullest statements on the subject from the Chancellor, as well 
 as from all the Professors constituting the Faculty proper. With this full 
 knowledge it is that he comes forward to bear the testimony which he does. 
 

 
 Wa9 required of him. Nevertheless, as has also been mentioned, his 
 assent was altogether a theoretical one : in practice his course conti- 
 nued to be the same as before. The opinions of a majority of the 
 Professors were, in the next place, expressed openly at meetings of the 
 Faculty. It was all to no purpose : the Chancellor continued to be 
 the same individual still, in despite of the promises which he, as usual, 
 did not hesitate to make. 
 
 At length, after every hope of placing the administration of the 
 University on a proper footing, by their own acts, appeared to the 
 Faculty to have vanished, they adopted a resolution, on the 4th day of 
 last October, to bring the subject before the Council. This resolution 
 was singularly moderate ; — it censured no one — it accused no one. It 
 simply stated, that it was manifest, from the proceedings of the last 
 year, that differences of opinion existed between the Chancellor and 
 the Professors, in relation to their respective powers, which they re- 
 spectfully called upon the Council to determine with as much precision 
 as may be. The reader will perceive that the resolution, as described, 
 aimed directly only at the correction of the evils arising from the undue 
 exercise by the Chancellor of those functions that belong to the pro- 
 vince of the Faculty collectively, or of the Professors individually. 
 This was the only part of his conduct that could be reached, without 
 preferring formal charges against him, which we were as yet unwilling, 
 for the sake of peace, to do. 
 
 If nothing had occurred to interfere with the simple action of the 
 Council in the case, it may still be doubted whether it had not already 
 become impossible for the existing Faculty to continue for any length 
 of time to act together. While the utmost good feeling and harmony 
 had subsisted among all the Professors, the confidence in Dr. Mathews 
 of nearly every one of their number who had co-operated with him 
 during the last year in the administration of the University, or, in other 
 words, of nearly every one who had constituted in that period the act- 
 ing Faculty, hung by a very slender thread, which was destined to be 
 speedily snapped asunder. Dr. Mathews resisted most pertinaciously 
 the adoption of the resolution of which mention has been made, on 
 account of its preamble, where reference is had to a difference of opi- 
 nion in the Faculty ; which difference of opinion is inferred from the 
 history of the proceedings of that body during the past year. He 
 stated, that he thought some of the statutes of the University might be 
 amended with advantage, and that he was willing to send a resolution 
 to the Council, requesting them to make such amendments as were 
 desirable; but he did not wish them to be made acquainted with 
 the existence of any difficulties in the Faculty. He moreover stated, 
 
7 
 
 that no differences of opinion, of the kind specified, in reality existed 
 between himself and the Professors. In short, he was entirely of their 
 way of thinking on all points. Now had not Dr. Mathews before 
 repeatedly made similar professions of according in sentiment with the 
 Professors, and had he not repeatedly promised that all causes of com- 
 plaint against him on their part should be removed, — professions and 
 promises, however, as easily forgotten as made, — the Faculty would 
 not only have conceded to him the striking out of the obnoxious pre- 
 amble, but would have withdrawn the resolution altogether. But they 
 were well satisfied that nothing could bind Dr. Mathews excepting an 
 apprehension on his part of displeasing the Council, by a violation of 
 such rules or regulations as that body might think it expedient to enact 
 as a check upon him, if even that could do it ; and it was important, 
 in the opinion of the Faculty, that the Council should know the fact of 
 the existence among them of difficulties, in order that they (the Coun- 
 cil) might not content themselves with acting on the subject of the 
 resolution sent them, either hastily or vaguely. 
 
 When it was presented by the Chancellor to the Council, a commit- 
 tee of three persons was appointed to confer with the Faculty, con- 
 cerning the regulations proper to attain the object proposed. But at 
 the very meeting when this was done, the Chancellor, while he pre- 
 sented the resolution of the Faculty in a manner to produce an impres- 
 sion of his having acquiesced in its passage, succeeded in obtaining a vote 
 to lower Mr. Mulligan's salary from fifteen hundred to a thousand dollars. 
 What the reasons urged by the Chancellor or his friends were for this 
 measure, we are not distinctly informed ; but it is now well ascertained, 
 that the reasons stated were not the true ones which actuated the 
 movers of it. The fact was, that such a discrepancy of views sub- 
 sisted between the Chancellor and Professor Mulligan, as, in the opi- 
 nion of the former, and of a certain committee, denominated the " Com- 
 mittee of Advice," to render it inexpedient, and indeed impossible, for 
 those gentlemen to remain together in the University ; and it was there- 
 fore resolved by the parties just mentioned, to take decisive steps to 
 effect the removal of Mr. Mulligan. The « Committee of Advice," it 
 would seem, did not hesitate to act in the case, on the mere representa- 
 tion of Dr. Mathews. Without preferring charges against Mr. Mulli- 
 gan, and of course without giving him any opportunity of showing why 
 his salary ought not to be reduced, and ichy he ought not to be removed, 
 they proceeded to accomplish their object in as quiet a manner as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Now, inasmuch as Mr. Mulligan's opinions of the Chancellor, and 
 disapprobation of the course pursued by him in the University, were 
 
8 
 
 common to him with other members of the Faculty, it was impossible 
 for them not to feel that the blow struck against him was aimed also at 
 them, and that when he should have been disposed of, their turn would 
 come next. And the reduction of Mr. Mulligan's salary, when viewed 
 in connexion with the raising of that of the only member of the acting 
 Faculty of the last year (Mr. Tappan) who adhered to the Chancellor, 
 could not but be regarded by them as an attempt to rob the Professors 
 generally of their independence, and to render them entirely subservient 
 to Dr. Mathews. Low as the latter had already fallen in their esti- 
 mation, he now fell to a lower depth still. To his incapacity, usurpa- 
 tions, and inaccurate statements of facts, were now to be added a dis. 
 position to remove such Professors as were opposed to his views of 
 discipline and of management, and on the other hand to reward those 
 who should approve of them, — and a disposition, too, to act in this man- 
 ner quietly and in the dark, without disclosing, even to the Council, what 
 his real motives were. We could besides feel very little or no confi- 
 dence in the majority of that body, who could be so ready to do the 
 bidding of the Chancellor, and of his Committee of Advice. 
 
 We speak of a majority of the Council, because we are aware of the 
 existence of a minority of that body, composed of independent men, who 
 have done every thing that lay in their power to administer the affairs 
 of the University on fair and honourable principles ; but we wish also 
 to be understood as not meaning to stigmatize the members of that 
 majority as acting from improper motives. We believe them, however, 
 to be not sufficiently alive to their responsibility, and to be acting 
 inconsiderately, when they are ready to admit the suggestion of a single 
 individual, or of a small number of individuals, without proper inquiry 
 of their own. They may depend upon it, that the excuse rendered for 
 them by one of their own number, in the conference of the Faculty with 
 the committee, appointed by the Council on the presentation to them of 
 the resolution above mentioned, and of which committee that gentleman 
 was a member, will not be regarded as valid, either by the public, or a 
 still higher tribunal. To say, with that gentleman, that a body, con- 
 stituted as is the Council, of thirty-seven persons, mostly men of busi- 
 ness, must find it altogether out of the question to attend to the affairs 
 of the institution committed to their charge, except in a very general 
 manner, and that they must, therefore, necessarily devolve the transac- 
 tion of many matters of importance on a comparatively small number 
 of their body ; — and to say farther, as that gentleman did say, in justi- 
 fication of the course just mentioned, that the Council, nevertheless, 
 always ratified what was done, — is only acknowledging the unfitness of 
 
9 
 
 the Council, as at present constituted, for the guardianship of the im- 
 portant trusts confided, for the public benefit, to their charge. 
 
 But to proceed. A memorial was prepared and presented to the 
 Council by Mr. Mulligan, requesting that Lie resolution to lower his 
 salary should be rescinded, on the general ground of injustice having 
 been done to him by the violation of the contract between him and the 
 University when he was appointed a Professor, — which was, that he 
 should at first receive fifteen hundred dollars per annum, and as soon 
 as the state of the funds would allow, two thousand five hundred 
 dollars, — and on the ground also of its being in direct opposition to 
 the spirit of one of the printed statutes of the University, on the 
 faith of which he had consented to accept a professorship when solicited 
 to do so. The statute referred to declares that no Professor shall be 
 removed except by a vote of a majority of all the members of the Council, 
 and at a meeting a month's notice of which shall be given. Now it is 
 plain that a Professor may ba quite as effectually removed by lowering 
 his sdary, as by a formal resolution to that effect. If reducing, too, 
 his salary to one thousand dc liars be not sufficient for the purpose in- 
 tended, the reduction can be carried to one hundred dollars, one dollar, or 
 one cent. And the measure actually adopted by the Council, — adopted 
 by them because recommended by the Committae of Advice,— -and re- 
 commended by that committee at the suggestion of the Chancellor, and 
 with the object distinctly in view of quietly getting rid of Mr. Mulligan, — 
 was adopted at a meeting called without the prop3i* not'ce of which we 
 have above spoken, and when, as we are on good authority informed, 
 only fifteen members out of thirty. seven were present ; and when, com 
 sequently, had all these gentlemen voted in favour of the measure pro- 
 posed, which they did not, they would not have made up the majority 
 of all the members, as required by the statute. 
 
 Several of the other Professors now did not hesitate to express it as 
 their opinion to members of the Council, that an investigation of the 
 affairs of the University, more particularly in reference to the conduct 
 of the Chancellor, and the difficulties existing in the Faculty, had be- 
 come indispensable to save the institution from ruin; and they also 
 expressed strongly their feelings of sympathy with Professor Mulligan, 
 and their condemnation of the management of the Chancellor, and of 
 the spirit evinced by him. 
 
 A distinct motion for inquiry was rejected in the Council ; and Mr, 
 Mulligan's memorial referred to a c< mmittee, of which James Tall- 
 madge, Esq., was the chairman. Before this committee Mr. Mulligan 
 appeared ; but on being informed that it was not their intention to enter 
 into any investigation of the state of things in the Faculty, and that 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 they declined any meeting with the Chancellor and Professors, he, on 
 his part, declined saying any thing farther on the subject of his memo- 
 rial, but left it, and the justice of the case, to speak for themselves. 
 
 The committee of three, appointed to confer with the Faculty con- 
 cerning the rules and regulations to be passed by the Council, in order 
 to define, with as much precision as may be, the limits of the powers 
 respectively belonging to the Chancellor and Professors, at length re- 
 quested a conference with the Faculty. The Faculty accordingly 
 assembled at the appointed hour ; and not only were the undersigned 
 present, who, with Dr. Mathews and Mr. Tappan, constituted all that 
 remained of the acting or governing Faculty of the last year, (Mr. 
 Douglass having resigned his professorship early in the summer,) but 
 also the three gentlemen who had been very lately appointed Professors, 
 together with three other gentlemen, two of whom (Professors of mo- 
 dern languages) may possibly have been present at some two or three 
 meetings of the Faculty during the past year, but who even then had 
 come to obtain information, or to give information, respecting their parti- 
 cular departments, and not with a view to take any part in the govern- 
 ment of the University, — and the remaining one of the three had not 
 till then attended even a single meeting. Why these three gentlemen 
 should have been present, while others connected with the institution 
 were absent, and were not even summoned to attend, it seems difficult 
 to explain, excepting on the supposition — and it is a supposition which, 
 in reference to the general policy of that officer, it is allowable to 
 make — that the Chancellor was desirous of having as many individuals 
 present, who, from the fact of their having had nothing to do with the 
 administration of the University, as well as from any other cause, he 
 knew would be willing to say to the committee, that they were not dis- 
 posed to make any complaint against him. The truth of the supposi- 
 tion which we have permitted ourselves to make, is rendered extremely 
 probable by the fact, that the committee thought proper to state to the 
 Council, (as we understand,) that it was only a minority of the Profes- 
 sors who were dissatisfied, thus counting the professors per capita, with- 
 out regard to the amount of duties performed, or the responsibilities 
 severally imposed upon them. 
 
 The committee of three, unlike the larger committee, to which Mr. 
 Mulligan's memorial had been referred, had no scruple to transcend the 
 authority granted them by the Council. Though appointed specifically 
 to digest, after consultation with the Faculty, a system of rules calcu- 
 lated to fix, with as much precision as was practicable, the limits of the 
 powers belonging to the Chancellor and Professors respectively, they 
 resolved on entering, as preliminary to the performance of their proper 
 
11 
 
 duties, on the investigation of all the difficulties in the Faculty ; and, 
 
 on some hesitation being evinced on our part to make a statement of 
 those difficulties to the committee, it was urged upon us, that if we de- 
 clined to do so when an opportunity was offered, it would be the duty 
 of the committee to state the fact to the Council. The statement thus 
 asked for was then made ; and it was made the more readily, after a 
 moment's reflection — and more time for reflection was not presented — 
 on the principle that we would not have refused to communicate any 
 information in our possession, concerning the affairs of the University, 
 to any member or members of the Council, who might at any time have 
 made inquiry of us on the subject. But we certainly had not the least 
 idea that what we should say to the committee would be any bar, or 
 ought to be any bar, to our being heard before the Council, should we 
 subsequently think such a course to be desirable. Had we formed the 
 remotest conjecture that our having already had a hearing, such as it 
 was, would be used to check investigation before the Council, we would 
 not only have hesitated, but have absolutely refused, to say a syllable 
 before the committee. 
 
 We knew full well that we had little favour to expect from the gen- 
 tlemen who composed it. To exhibit unequivocally to the reader the 
 bias under which they sat in judgment in the case before them, we 
 shall state a fact or two. When Mr. Mulligan called upon James 
 Tallmadge, Esq., the chairman of the committee, who is also the Vice 
 President of the Council, and, we believe, for some time back, its act- 
 ing President, to urge upon him the necessity of investigation on the 
 part of the other committee, which had been appointed on the memo- 
 rial of Mr. Mulligan, and of which committee, as has been stated, he 
 (Mr. Tallmadge) was also the chairman, this gentleman was so pre- 
 possessed with the statements which had been made from an opposite 
 quarter, and so full of zeal in behalf of the Chancellor, as, — before 
 investigation, it will be recollected, — to inform Mr. Mulligan that the 
 Professors should be treated with severity, and that they would be 
 made to feel their own insignificancy. And this was far from being 
 all ; — for when Mr. Mulligan stated that some of the charges against 
 Dr. Mathews were such as seriously to affect his moral character, Mr. 
 Tallmadge, forgetting the decorum due to a stranger, a clergyman, and 
 a gentleman, replied, that lie hoped there was nothing about women in the 
 case, that they (the Council, we presume) could get along with any thing 
 but that, (at the same time introducing other matter of the kind still 
 more objectionable.) Now as we did not pretend to possess any infor- 
 mation of the kind thus stated, as peculiarly, or rather alone, obnoxious 
 to the censure of the Council, we could scarcelv expect, by any thing 
 
we couid say to produce an impression on the mind of Mr. Tallmadge* 
 But this was not the whole evidence which was exhibited by that gentle- 
 man of his determination to sustain Dr. Mathews at all hazards. On 
 more than One occasion, during the investigation or inquiry instituted 
 by the committee, he forgot the judicial character which he had assumed, 
 and sank down into the advocate of the Chancellor. 
 
 We shall specify one instance, which will, at the same time, serve to 
 exemplify that course of conduct on the part of the last-mentioned 
 individual which has lost him our confidence : — Mr. Tallmadge, ad- 
 dressing himself to Mr. Vethake, said, — suppose that it shall be made 
 distinctly to appear that Mr. Mulligan's salary was reduced solely from 
 motives of economy, would not the conduct of Dr. Mathews appear to 
 you in a different light ? Mr. Vethake seeming surprised at what had 
 just been said, Mr. Tallmadge repeated it deliberately. Mr. Vethake 
 then remarked, that the supposition made was an impossible one, since 
 Dr. Mathews had admitted to him that Mr. Mulligan's salary was 
 lowered for the purpose of removing that gentleman from the Univer- 
 sity. I admitted it ! said Dr. Mathews. Yes, continued Mr. Vethake, 
 you did. On the next day to that on which his salary was reduced, I 
 charged you with having caused it to be done for the purpose of getting 
 rid of Mr. Mulligan you remained silent. I blamed you for so act* 
 ing ; — you stood before me without saying a word. I censured you in 
 the most decided terms ; — still you had nothing to urge in reply. This 
 I call admitting the facts charged. But this is not all : Dr Milnor told 
 me the same thing* What did Dr. Milnor say ? asked Mr. Tallmadge. 
 He said, that it appeared from the statements of Dr. Mathews, that 
 such a state of feeling existed between the latter and Mr. Mulligan, as 
 to put it out of the question for both to remain in the University toge- 
 ther. It had therefore been resolved on in the Committee of Advice, 
 to lower that Professor's salary, in order to drive him from the institu- 
 tion. Take down his (Mr. Vethake's) words, immediately cried Dr. 
 Mathews. Mr. V* then remarked, that he did not intend to vouch for 
 the particular phraseology employed by Dr. Milnor ; that it was quite 
 probaole that that gentleman had not used the term to drive : he thought 
 he had not ; but that Dr. Milnor communicated to him the idea dis- 
 tinctly of its having been intended by the measure in question to effect 
 the removal of Mr. Mulligan, he was sure of. Mr. Vethake's state- 
 ment was now minuted down, by the direction of Mr. Tallmadge. It 
 may be mentioned, that Dr. Mathews took the stand that has just been 
 described, in opposition to what had been stated by Mr. Vethake, al- 
 though he had not only admitted the truth of it to that gentleman, but 
 also to Dr. Torrey. When charged by the latter with having aimed 
 
13 
 
 at the removal of Mr. Mulligan, by reducing his salary, he (Dr. Ma* 
 thews,) as he had done in his conversation with Mr. Vethake, had no* 
 thing to say, and he continued silent while Dr. Torrey said to him, you 
 do not deny this, sir, — you cannot deny this ; and while Dr. Torrey 
 expressed to him his decided disapprobation of the course he (Dr. Ma- 
 thews) had pursued towards Mr. Mulligan* To another gentleman, 
 not connected with the University, Dr. Mathews had not only ad* 
 mitted, but positively asserted, in defending the measure of reducing 
 Mr. Mulligan's salary, that this had been done expressly to remove 
 him from the University. He had said, that he thought it was the 
 quietest way of getting rid of him. 
 
 When the Faculty met with the committee on the next day, Mr. Vet- 
 hake was provided with these additional facts, or rather, in so far as 
 the last-mentioned one was concerned, he had received authority to 
 make use of it, for he was acquainted with it before. He would have 
 stated them to the committee, not only for the purpose of exhibiting the 
 character of Dr. Mathews to the committee and to 'all present in its 
 true light, but also in self-defence, as the truth of the statements he had 
 himself made had been called in question by Dr* Mathews. After 
 what had passed, and what has been above related, the reader will 
 judge of our surprise, — for even we, who had seen so much of Dr. 
 Mathews, were surprised,- — when, in maintaining that the reducing of 
 Mr. Mulligan's salary was not an act of vengeance on account of any 
 thing that had been said or done very lately in the Faculty, he assured 
 the gentlemen present, that the measure had been arranged and resolved 
 on, in the "Committee of Advice," so long ago as last JULY, and 
 that, too, with the express object of effecting the removal of Mr. Mulli- 
 gan ! ! ! And, what was almost equally remarkable with this state- 
 ment itself, he seemed, while making it, to be wholly unconscious of his 
 saying or doing any thing that ought to be regarded as in the least 
 degree surprising, by any one who heard him ! 
 
 We shall not stop to inquire how the statement, just reported to have 
 been made by Dr. Mathews, consists with the attempt made by him 
 and his friends to justify their movement against Mr. Mulligan, by the 
 purport of certain conversations alleged to have been held by him 
 with two individuals, one a fellow Professor, and the other an instruc- 
 tor in the University, in the month of AUGUST ! 
 
 We return to the bias in favour of the Chancellor, in our opinion, 
 very unequivocally evinced by the committee. And to conclude our 
 strictures on the course pursued by their chairman ; if he was aware, 
 when he made the remark, and put the question, which has been men- 
 tioned, to Mr. Vethake, of the facts being such as they were at last as- 
 
serted to be by the Chancellor, we will not venture to characterize his 
 conduct, but will leave it to the reader to do so as he may think it de- 
 serves. We, however, cannot for a moment admit this supposition : he 
 was, no doubt, ignorant of the true state of the facts ; but if so, it is difficult 
 to explain his conduct, excepting on the supposition of his having been 
 made a dupe of. The other two members did also very clearly, as we 
 think, show their partialities. One of them was peculiarly sensitive 
 when any measure of the Chancellor was found fault with, which had 
 been approved of by the " Committee of Advice," of which he was a 
 member; and such measures were not few in number. The other 
 gentleman (Mr. Woolsey) suffered his prejudices to bias his mind to 
 such an extent as, after having been absent during the two days in 
 which a statement of facts was made against the Chancellor, to come 
 to hear the statement made in his favour, and afterwards to bear testi- 
 mony to the Council, with the other members of the committee, that 
 none of the charges against Dr. Mathews had been made good, except- 
 ing that on one occasion he stated to the Council that he had not been 
 present at a certain meeting of the Faculty, when he had been so: but 
 which mistatement the committee attributed to a failure of memory. 
 
 It is proper to mention that the Professors had been severally asked 
 by the committee whether, in case Dr. Mathews were continued in the 
 office of Chancellor, they would be willing to remain in the University. 
 The undersigned had answered that they had now so entirely lost con- 
 fidence in him, that they could not think of remaining. Indeed, they 
 thought it altogether impossible for the institution to succeed with him 
 at its head ; and they think so still. With a full knowledge of our 
 views, the committee reported, as we were informed, what it has been 
 mentioned they did ; and they did so without reporting facts. The 
 testimony which had been taken by them was kept back ; and the 
 Council were content with approving of the opinions of the committee, 
 without examining the facts for themselves. 
 
 We now requested an investigation before the Council, that every 
 member of that body might have an opportunity of knowing all the 
 facts of the case. Our request was refused consideration, and we had 
 leave granted us to withdraw it. In these circumstances, the Council 
 refusing to investigate, or, in other words, content with acting on the 
 faith reposed by them in the opinions of a prejudiced committee of only 
 three of their number, and on the ex parte statements made to them by 
 the Chancellor, — our own minds having become thoroughly convinced 
 of the unfitness of Dr. Mathews for the office which he held, and of 
 the impossibility of the University succeeding under his administration, — 
 and rendered uncomfortable by his management and his mismanage- 
 
15 
 
 merit, and by his undue assumptions of authority, — we deemed it to be 
 a duty which we owed to ourselves, to the public, and to the cause of 
 literature itself, to resign our professorships. 
 
 We shall now offer to the public one or two specimens of the mal- 
 administration of the Chancellor ; specimens which will communicate 
 to their minds a much more vivid impression of the state of things in 
 the University, past and present, than any general statements are 
 fitted to do. 
 
 And first, in regard to discipline. What will any one acquainted 
 with colleges, or with the government of young men — what will any 
 person of common sense, say to the following case ? Dr. Mathews 
 stated to the Faculty, at a meeting held at his house some time in the 
 end of last winter, (besides Messrs. Vethake and Mulligan, Mr. 
 Douglass, and it is thought also Mr. Tappan, being present,) that he 
 had succeeded in restoring order in one of the Professors' rooms. He 
 had held a conversation with a student who attended that Professor's 
 class, and represented to him that if the disorder should continue, the 
 Council would be obliged to dismiss — who, reader, do you think ? The 
 troublesome and mischievous students ? Nothing of this sort was 
 lisped. It was the unfortunate Professor who was to be dismissed ! 
 The discipline of the institution had been reduced to so low an ebb that 
 much disorder, in the very presence of the instructors of the classes, 
 frequently occurred ; and which in vain sought for a remedy from the 
 action of the Faculty. Their energies were paralyzed by the ineffi- 
 ciency and management of the head of the institution. Nothing what- 
 ever had been done by them as a body that was at all calculated to 
 produce the proper effect ; and no attempt had been made by them to 
 remedy, in particular, the disorder in the apartment alluded to. The 
 misconduct of the students had long continued there with impunity. 
 At length the Chancellor, roused to make an extraordinary effort in 
 favour of order, fell upon the expedient which we have mentioned. 
 The students were, in fact, told that if they wished to get rid of a Pro- 
 fessor, they had only to be disorderly in a sufficient degree ; for that 
 then he must be dismissed. It is true that the Chancellor, to prevent 
 so disastrous a result in the case on which we are remarking, made an 
 appeal to the compassion and sympathies of the young men. He 
 pressed upon them the consequences that must ensue to the Professor's 
 family, who depended upon him for the means of subsistence, and spoke 
 of the responsibilities and upbraidings of conscience on this account to 
 which they would subject themselves in future, if they persisted in their 
 disorderly course. The Chancellor stated to the Faculty that this 
 appeal had been successful The members, — a considerable propor- 
 
16 
 
 tion, too, as may be supposed from their conduct, very young members, — 
 of the Professor's class had held a meeting, where it was resolved, in 
 the language of the Chancellor, "to turn over a new leaf." On its 
 being suggested that this was hardly the proper mode of managing the 
 case, the latter replied that he was quite certain that it was the right 
 way ; that it might have been wrong if he had addressed himself to 
 some of the students ; but that, when speaking to the individual selected, 
 it was the " very thing," — as if all that he stated to any individual was 
 not necessarily, in order to produce the intended result, to be commu- 
 nicated to the whole number constituting the disorderly class. It would 
 be insulting the common sense of the reader, to go into any thing like 
 an explanation of the reasons why the good effect produced by this 
 exploit of the Chancellor could only be of a temporary nature, while 
 the bad effects would be very bad, and enduring in their operation. 
 
 We proceed to give another specimen, which will shed light, not only 
 on the Chancellor's mode of procedure in reference to the students, but 
 on other points of his character and conduct of Which we complained. 
 The subject of having a public commencement had been fully considered 
 in the Faculty, and the opinion of every one of the Professors who con- 
 stituted the acting Faculty, unequivocally expressed as to its inexpe- 
 diency. That it would not be expected by the public in the first year 
 of the existence of the University, and that the number of graduates 
 would at most amount to only three or four, were among the reasons 
 for this opinion. But it is unimportant what those reasons were. It is 
 sufficient for our purpose that the reader should bear in mind what was 
 the unanimous opinion of the Professors, and that it was distinctly ex- 
 pressed. About a couple of months perhaps after this, the Chancellor 
 brought the subject again before the Faculty, there being present Pro- 
 fessors Douglass, Vethake, and Mulligan, and he prefaced what he had 
 to say on the subject by the words, as nearly as the two last mentioned 
 gentlemen recollect, " Since it is settled that we are to have a com- 
 mencement." It was immediately asked by whom this had been settled. 
 Dr. Mathews answered, by the Council. On a marked dissatisfaction 
 being then expressed, that, under all the circumstances of the case, the 
 Council should have acted in it, without consulting the Faculty, (their 
 right to decide the matter was not contested,) the Chancellor informed 
 the Professors that it was not the Council, but the " Committee of Ad- 
 vice," who had so acted ; and at length it was mentioned by him that 
 all he meant to convey was, that certain members of that committee 
 had expressed an earnest desire to have a public commencement. The 
 Faculty, notwithstanding, persevered in their opinion of its inexpe* 
 diency. They heard nothing more on the subject until a few days 
 
before the examination of candidates for degrees ; when, on Professor 
 Douglass exhorting these young men to use all diligence to improve the 
 time yet to intervene before the examination, and assuring them that 
 their obtaining of their object would depend on the character of thejr 
 performances on that occasion, he was told that the uncertainty implied 
 could not exist, since the Chancellor had already directed one of the can* 
 didates to prepare the usual « Salutatory Address" in Latin, and another 
 to write the " Valedictory Address." Mr. Douglass, in reply, stated 
 that the question of their receiving a degree was certainly not yet de- 
 termined, and could not be until they should have been examined ; and 
 moreover, that it was not yet settled that there should be a public com- 
 mencement. He was asked if the Chancellor was not the proper organ 
 of communication from the Faculty to the students. To this he gave 
 for answer, that such was unquestionably the fact, but that, neverthe* 
 less, he must assure them that, on the subject of conversation, there 
 had been no action on the part of the Faculty. 
 
 Shortly after, this occurrence was related to the Faculty in the pre* 
 sence of Dr. Mathews. We will, to do justice to him, state the expla- 
 nation which he then gave of his agency in the transaction to which it 
 has reference, with all the strength, too, which he subsequently attempted 
 to give to it before the committee of the Council. He said that he did 
 not appoint the young men to prepare the speeches that have been 
 mentioned, and did not, therefore, assign to them of his own motion the 
 honours of the institution ; that he only told A, you are a good Latin 
 scholar, and if we shall have a public commencement, you will very 
 probably speak the Latin Salutatory, and to B, that he would very 
 probably have the Valedictory assigned to him, and to the candidates 
 generally, that there was no harm in their getting ready for a com- 
 mencement if there should be one ; and that inasmuch as it had been 
 mentioned, at some meeting of the Faculty, as a proper thing, even 
 though no commencement should take place, for each of the young 
 men, whom it should be resolved to recommend to the Council for de- 
 grees, to prepare an essay, as an exercise to take the place of his com- 
 mencement speech, — he thought there was no harm in setting the young 
 men to work in the preparation of their speeches, the more especially 
 as he also thought the time allowed them for that purpose might otherwise 
 be rather short. Let the reader, and especially the reader who is 
 acquainted with the usages of colleges and universities, decide on the 
 merits of the excuses rendered. 
 
 The fact was that Dr. Mathews had his mind fully set on having, at 
 any rate, some public display, something ad captandum, even at the risk 
 of the University appearing ridiculous on account of the very small 
 
 3 
 
IS 
 
 number of graduates with whom, and for whose sake, it was to be made. 
 In despite of the opinion of all the Professors, he could not, in conse- 
 quence, forego the object of having a public commencement. At the 
 very meeting, however, of the Faculty last referred to, (on the tenth of 
 June,) a resolution was offered declaring it to be inexpedient, in the 
 opinion of the Faculty, to hold one. He urged upon the Professors 
 the postponement of that resolution, but assigned no reasons for post- 
 poning it more weighty than his own desire for this being done. Had 
 he only informed the Faculty of the Council having a few days before 
 appointed a committee to confer with them on the subject, they would, 
 and he could hardly be ignorant that they would, at once have con- 
 sented to the postponement requested. It is quite probable, we think, 
 that the motive for nothing about the committee being said on the occa- 
 sion was connected with an apprehension on the part of Dr. Mathews 
 that a conference on the subject between the Faculty and the committee, 
 might not so surely lead to a result favourable to his own views, as a 
 system of management would do. But be this as it may, the fact of 
 the appointment of the committee was left untold ; and the resolution 
 offered was not postponed, but passed by a vote of all the Professors 
 present. It should be mentioned, that had it not been that Mr. Douglass 
 was not certain of being able to meet with the Faculty any longer than 
 on the following day, (he had already sent in his resignation to the 
 Council,) the Professors, through courtesy to the Chancellor, would still 
 have agreed to the postponement of the resolution. They thought it 
 important, for reasons which need not be here stated, that Mr. Douglass 
 should be present on its passage ; and on its being about to be post- 
 poned till the next day only, Dr. Mathews himself signified his willing- 
 ness that the vote should be at once taken. As every Professor present 
 voted in the affirmative, while the Chancellor remained silent, it was 
 suggested that, if such was the fact, the word "unanimously" should 
 be inserted. The Chancellor, however, objected, and of course that 
 word was not inserted. We are here somewhat minute ; but the reader 
 will soon perceive the reason of our being so. 
 
 We heard nothing farther on the subject of a commencement until 
 about a month after. We were just at the end of the University ses- 
 sion : nothing had been said to us by Dr. Mathews, or by the com- 
 mittee appointed by the Council to confer with us ; but rumours reached 
 us, through the students, that the commencement was only postponed, 
 and that it would take place at the beginning of the next session. In 
 this state of things it was thought right by the Professors to pass a 
 resolution, directing their previous resolution of the 10th of June, 
 declaratory of their opinion of the inexpediency of holding a public 
 
19 
 
 Commencement, to be transmitted to the Council. The resolution sd 
 directing was passed at a meeting of the Faculty, regularly held, from 
 which, however, the Chancellor was absent. Its passage would have 
 been delayed on account of his absence, had the Professors not been 
 aware that the Council were to meet in the afternoon, and had it not 
 been very probable, and indeed almost certain, that no other meeting 
 of the Council would be held, previous to the separation of the Facul- 
 ty for the vacation. The Chancellor, on hearing from the secretary 
 of the Faculty (Mr. Tappan) what had been done, immediately col*, 
 lected the Faculty again together, and urged the rescinding of the 
 resolution which had just been passed. He then, for the first time* 
 communicated to the Faculty the appointment of a committee of the 
 Council more than a month before, to confer with them on the subject 
 of a commencement, a fact with which some of the members had be- 
 come acquainted through other channels than the official one of the 
 Chancellor. Partly on account of the concealment by him from the 
 Faculty of the fact in question, partly from a desire to guard against 
 the possibility of his carrying his object, by management, against the 
 unanimous opinion of the Professors, and partly, also, that the Council 
 might understand that the Faculty had not neglected to consider the 
 subject to which the resolution related, its being sent to the Council 
 was persisted in. 
 
 The secretary of the Faculty had received instructions to send it td 
 the Council in time, for their meeting of the afternoon. It did not 
 reach the Council on that day ; and Dr. Mathews being inquired of 
 concerning what had been done by the Faculty, in relation to a public 
 commencement, answered, as we are informed, very vaguely, in a 
 manner to lead to an impression that the Faculty had talked over the 
 matter, but had not expressed any very decided opinions in relation to 
 it. This led to the question being pointedly put to him by a member 
 of the Council, — whether they had not passed a resolution declaring a 
 public commencement, in their opinion, to be inexpedient ? Dr. Ma- 
 thews replied, that some such resolution had been passed, at a meeting 
 of the Faculty, when he was not present. This is the mistatement 
 already mentioned as having been excused by the " committee of 
 three," and attributed by them to a lapse of memory. It is for this 
 reason that we have dwelt so long and so minutely on the circumstances 
 connected with it. That lapse of memory must, indeed, have been a 
 remarkable one, which took place on the afternoon of the very day on 
 which so much discussion was had on the subject matter forgotten. 
 During that discussion, let it be observed, that not a word was uttered 
 by Dr. Mathews implying that he was not perfectly familiar with the 
 
30 
 
 resolution of the 10th of June, and with all the circumstances relating 
 to what passed at the meeting on that day, when, too, the conversation 
 in the Faculty, in the presence of Dr. Mathews, and between him and 
 the Professors, was so full as has been above detailed. 
 
 We have given the history of only two cases illustrative of the mode 
 in which the Chancellor has conducted the administration of the Uni- 
 versity, and we have already occupied much more space than we had 
 intended doing, and much more than, perhaps, was expedient, for we 
 are aware that to be read we ought to be short. We shall therefore 
 merely add, that cases innumerable might be adduced, and all of a 
 similar character ; all of them indicating either incapacity, a spirit of 
 assumption and of self-sufficiency, or a tendency to inaccuracy of 
 statement from whatever cause arising, and together producing a state 
 of things in regard to discipline, almost disastrous, which, even at the 
 close of the last session, when, through the strenuous exertions of the 
 Professors, in opposition to the measures of the Chancellor, the disci- 
 pline of their classes was in a considerable degree restored, will be 
 rendered perfectly intelligible to all who are practically acquainted 
 with colleges and college government, by telling them, that on a stu- 
 dent being censured in a way that he did not like by one of the Pro- 
 fessors, for impropriety of conduct, (making use in the class of an 
 English translation from a Latin author,) he (the student) said to the 
 Professor, that he would tell the Chancellor of him, We may ask, — • 
 Where, in our country, is the college to be found , in which a student 
 could say to a Professor, that he would tell the President of him ? 
 Nothing of the kind has probably ever before occurred ; and the oc- 
 currence, with us, of the case that has been mentioned, will, in the 
 opinion of most Presidents and Professors of colleges, be indicative of 
 the peculiarly degraded condition to which the Professors in the Uni- 
 versity were and are reduced, through the injudicious management, to 
 say the least of it, of the Chancellor* 
 
 How the " Committee of three" contrived to get over some of the 
 facts stated to them, it is difficult to say. The only class of facts, in 
 reference to which they undertook to advocate the cause of the Chan^ 
 cellor, at their conference with the Faculty, was the class of restate- 
 ments. We have seen how one mistatement has been since attributed 
 to a failure of memory ; but then a number were attempted to be ex* 
 plained away, where there was any room for so doing, by stating that 
 when the Chancellor should have said that a certain matter had been 
 settled by the Council, he was perfectly justified in expressing himself 
 as he did, provided the " Committee of Advice" had legislated upon it ; be- 
 cause that committee was a very important committee, and was clothed 
 
21 
 
 with extraordinary powers ; and moreover, because the Council seldom 
 failed to ratify whatever that committee thought proper to do. For 
 example, when the committee ("of three") were told that Dr. Ma. 
 thews had said that the Council had settled the question of the wearing 
 of gowns by the Professors and students, although the Council had not 
 in fact settled any such thing ; and although Dr. Mathews admitted the 
 matter to have been determined, not by the Council, but by the " Com- 
 mittee of Advice ;" they justified him in the language he had employed, 
 as substantially correct. Again, when the case of Professors Norton 
 and Hackley were brought before them, and it was stated that Dr. 
 Mathews had written to those gentlemen during the summer, informing 
 them of their appointment to the situations which they now hold in the 
 University by the " Committee of Advice ; " that they had declined resign- 
 ing their commissions in the army on such an appointment, but had re* 
 quired, as a preliminary to their doing this, an appointment from the Coun- 
 cil ; that they thereupon received a communication from Dr. Mathews, 
 conveying to them distinctly the impression that they had been appointed 
 as they wished ; that they had thereupon resigned their commissions, and 
 come to the city ; that they were inaugurated as Professors of the 
 University on the 30th day of September last ; that, surprising to tell, 
 they were only appointed by the Council ten days afterwards ; and that, 
 consequently, Dr. Mathews eould not have before stated to them cor- 
 rectly that they had been appointed by the Council ; they (the " com- 
 mittee of three") had again the same ready answer as in the previous 
 case, — an answer amounting to this, that the "Committee of Advice" 
 was in reality the Council; and besides that, in this instance, Dr. 
 Mathews had acted by the express direction of the " Committee of 
 Advice." 
 
 We were about to state that the case of Dr. Gale had been likewise 
 explained away on similar principles. But this was not the fact* 
 Neither Dr. Mathews, nor the committee, thought it expedient, if we 
 recollect right, to attempt any explanation of it. Dr. Gale was de- 
 nominated by Dr. Mathews a Professor in the University, during the 
 last summer, in a letter of recommendation written in his behalf to an 
 institution at the south. He was induced to appear as a Professor in his 
 gown at the ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the University 
 edifice in July ; he was introduced into the Faculty, and took part in 
 its deliberations at the opening of the present session of the University ; 
 and yet, was only subsequently nominated as assistant to Dr. Torrey. 
 
 But enough of this unpleasant business. We shall conclude with an 
 observation or two concerning the " Committee of Advice," and the 
 Council. 
 
S3 
 
 If we are correctly informed, that committee had its origin in another" 
 tbmmittee, which was appointed with powers to make, in the season of 
 the cholera, (1932,) all the preparatory arrangements for commencing 
 operations in the University in the following autumn. The circum- 
 stances under which they were appointed were certainly very peculiar ; 
 and the Council were perhaps justified in appointing them, in the diffi- 
 culty, and, indeed, impossibility that must have existed, of assembling 
 a quorum of members for the transaction of business. When the in- 
 stitution was organized, their extraordinary functions of course ceased, 
 and their occupation was entirely gone. The Council, having ratified 
 their acts, should then have entered upon the regular career for which 
 they were ordained by their charter of incorporation. They should 
 not only not have devolved their powers formally upon any portion of 
 their body, but should also have resisted every attempt on the part of 
 a portion of their body to usurp practically those powers. Against 
 this they did not sufficiently guard. The committee of organization* 
 as we may call it, was unfortunately resuscitated as a " Committee of 
 Advice," though with very different functions to perform. What those 
 functions were, we are not sufficiei.tly informed to be able to state. 
 Whatever they may, however, have originally been, the committee, it 
 seems, while it has itself become the mere creature of the Chancellor, 
 acting at his suggestion, and adopting generally whatever he suggests* 
 has gradually assumed upon itself the whole authority of the Council* 
 That body has become a mere registering chamber ; and it meets 
 for scarce any other purpose than to ratify the decrees of the " Com* 
 mittee of Advice." 
 
 Thie state of things will go far to explain to the public how it has 
 happened that the Council have acted in the manner we have described, — 
 how it is that they have so perse veringly shut their eyes against all 
 statements of the affairs of the University, excepting such as came from 
 the Chancellor, and have shown such a determination to uphold him at 
 all events. To attach blame to the Chancellor, was to attach blame 
 to the "Committee of Advice," who had gone along with him in his 
 measures ; and to question the correctness of what was approved by 
 the " Committee of Advice," was to cast censure on the Council, who 
 " always ratified" the acts of the committee. The Council very natu- 
 rally regarded themselves as one party in a contest, and the undersigned 
 as another. They were thus induced to think that we ought to be 
 " treated with severity," and " to be made to feel our own insignificancy." 
 
 We do, however, candidly confess, that we do not think what has 
 just been said affords a sufficiently satisfactory explanation of the course 
 pursued by the Council. We do not think so ill of that body, or of the 
 
23 ■' 
 
 strength of our case, even when presented to them through the at 
 dental channels, and in the scanty measure, in which it has been per 
 mitted to reach them. There is no doubt on our minds, that did. n ^ ' 
 the Council feel that the University " wanted money, and must have it," 
 and had they not a conviction that Dr. Mathews is particularly valua- 
 ble to them as a procurer of that indispensable commodity, they would 
 very soon come to have the same views in respect to that individual as 
 ourselves. 
 
 It is our decided impression, that more subscriptions by far are with* 
 holden from the University, on account of the general want of confidence 
 in the Chancellor, than can be expected to be furnished by his immediate 
 friends. But be this as it may. it is almost exclusively on the ground 
 we have mentioned, that we have heard his being continued in office 
 defended. In no instance have we heard ascribed to him the proper 
 qualifications such an officer might be expected to have. We have, 
 on the contrary, been told, and the " committee of three" were told, by 
 one of his most devoted friends, of his "amiable weaknesses," — a 
 strange expression to be used in reference to the presiding officer of 
 such an institution as the University was intended, and ought, to have 
 been ! 
 
 We have understood that members of the Council, too, have taken a 
 similar ground ; and we are charitable enough to suppose that Mr, 
 Tallmadge, when he held his memorable conversation with Mr. Mulli- 
 gan, did not mean to state the absolute standard of morals maintained 
 by himself or the Council, but rather that, in his and their opinion, the 
 question was one of fife and death to the institution, — of dishonourable 
 life, or of immediate death for want of the golden life-blood, which Dr. 
 Mathews was supposed to be alone capable of extracting from the veins 
 of the community, — and that life, however dishonourable, was the 
 preferable choice of the two. 
 
 On these principles we believe the question at issue between the 
 Chancellor and Professors to have been decided. On these principles 
 the undersigned have been reduced to the necessity of resigning their 
 Professorships, or remaining in an institution administered in a manner 
 which they utterly disapprove, and governed arbitrarily by an individual 
 in whom they have lost all confidence. 
 
 The public can now judge how far they will be able to ratify the 
 practical resolution arrived at by the Council of the University, to 
 sacrifice the undersigned for the sake of Dr. Mathews. 
 
 With an apology for the length to which this address has been re- 
 luctantly extended, — and with a renewed expression of the pain which 
 we feel in stating what must necessarily be offensive to the feelings of 
 
24 
 
 number of individuals, even when this is done purely for the purpose 
 ">f self-justification, and in order that the public may understand, and 
 bv tfee force of their opinion rectify, if it be possible yet to rectify, the 
 mismanagement of an institution in which they have a deep interest, — 
 we conclude by subscribing our names. 
 
 HENRY VETHAKE, 
 JOHN MULLIGAN, 
 JOHN TORREY, 
 
 New-York, Nov. 2lst, 1833.