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 K'kkl Ll-iiri.ii hi i»4- 
 
 B. OCT 14 1929 
 
 JNiVEnS' rv OF ILLINOIS 
 
 THE LAWS 
 
 PUBLISHED JANUARY, 1867. 
 
THE LAWS 
 
 OF 
 
 'Cp 
 
 HAMILTON COLLEGE. 
 
 PUBLISHED JANUARY, 1861. 
 
 UTICA, N. Y. 
 
 D. P. WHITE, PRINTER, 171 GENESEE STREET. 
 
 1867. 
 
LAWS OF HAMILTON COLLEGE. 
 
 CHAPTEK 1. 
 
 OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COLLEGE. 
 
 § 1. The Government of the College is vested in 
 the President, Professors and Tutors, and is styled the 
 Faculty of the College. 
 
 § 2. A regular meeting of the Faculty is held on 
 Thursday morning of each week. The President at his 
 discretion, has authority to appoint a special meeting. 
 All matters to be referred to the Faculty, shall be 
 brought before such meetings, and be determined by the 
 major part of the members present. 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 OF ADMISSION INTO COLLEGE. 
 
 § 1. No person shall be admitted to the Freshman 
 Class, until he has completed his fourteenth year ; nor to 
 an advanced standing, without a proportionate increase 
 of age. The terms for admission into this Class, will be 
 found from time to time on the College Catalogue. 
 
 § 2. No candidate for advanced standing shall be 
 received, unless he shall be found qualified in the studies 
 pursued by the class which he proposes to join, or in 
 branches equivalent thereto. No one shall be admitted 
 to the Senior Class after the close of the Winter Vacation. 
 
4 
 
 § 3. The under-graduate Students are divided into 
 four classes. The first year, they shall he called Fresh- 
 men; the second, Sophomores; the third, Juniors, and 
 the fourth, Seniors. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF DAILY ATTENDANCE IN THE CHAPEL, AND UPON PUBLIC 
 
 WORSHIP. 
 
 § 1. Every under-graduate is required to attend 
 morning and evening prayers, unless he can render a 
 reasonable excuse for his absence. 
 
 § 2. Every Student is required to attend public wor- 
 ship in the chapel, on the Sabbath, unless excused in 
 compliance with a written request from his parent or 
 guardian, for one of the following reasons ; 
 
 1st. That he lives in or near the town of Kirkland, 
 and is therefore expected to spend the Sabbath with 
 his friends at home. 
 
 2d. That he is connected with some other denomina- 
 tion than that of the College Church, and desires to 
 attend its place of worship in the village of Clinton. 
 
 3d. That his services are desired in teaching a Bible 
 Class, or Sabbath School Class, at such hours as preclude 
 attendance at the College Chapel. 
 
 § 4th. Whenever such an application shall be made, a 
 letter shall be addressed to the parent or guardian of the 
 Student, stating the arrangements of the College authori- 
 ties in regard to public worship, and the general unde- 
 sirableness of making exceptions to the usual rule, unless 
 there be cogent reasons for the same. 
 
CHAPTER IY. 
 
 OF THE COLLEGE EXAMINATIONS. 
 
 § 1. There are four regular examinations during the 
 the year ; one at the close of each term, and a final ex- 
 amination for the Seniors during the eighth week of the 
 third term. Each examination embraces the studies of 
 the term during which it is held, except the examination 
 at the close of the Senior year, which includes the studies 
 of the entire year. 
 
 § 2. Each Student is required to pass all the exami- 
 nations, and unless excused by a special vote of the 
 Faculty, is expected to be prepared on every portion of* 
 the studies embraced in the examination of the class to 
 which he belongs. All text books ar$ excluded from the 
 examination room, except those necessarily used by the 
 Student while under examination. The order of exami- 
 nation as to persons, is determined by lot, to be publicly 
 drawn in the examination room. 
 
 § 3. Delinquents at any regular examination, having 
 been excused from attending the same, are assigned a 
 separate session for their examination on the delinquent 
 studies, immediately previous to the next regular exam- 
 ination. 
 
 § 4. Any delinquent in actual attendance, who fails 
 without assigning a reason, to attend delinquent exam- 
 ination, shall be charged ten marks on the record, and 
 his examination shall be marked on the merit roll as a 
 failure. 
 
 § 5. No Student shall be dismissed from College 
 without a certificate from the Registrar, that he has 
 passed his examinations, unless by a special vote of the 
 
6 
 
 Faculty, and a certificate from the Treasurer that his 
 College hills are paid, or satisfactorily secured. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 OF THE MERIT ROLL. 
 
 In estimating the scholarship of the Students, and 
 determining their standing in their respective classes, the 
 following rules are observed : 
 
 1st. The numerical value of each recitation is esti- 
 mated by a Scale, on which 10 stands for a perfect reci- 
 tation, 9 for one nearly perfect, and so on down to a 
 cypher which expresses an entire failure. 
 
 2d. The sum of the figures thus given to each Stu- 
 dent for the year, divided by the number of exercises, 
 gives his average standing for the year. In making the 
 average, absences which are unexcused. enter into the 
 divisor, and thus lower the standing of the Student. 
 The result is recorded on the College books. The sum 
 of all the Credits given to any Student during the College 
 course, divided by the whole number of exercises, ex- 
 presses his final College standing. 
 
 3d. Certain exercises are regarded as having more 
 weight than a single recitation. These are as follows : 
 
 1. Declamation in chapel is equivalent to ten Recita- 
 tions. 
 
 2. A Class Composition or Debate is equivalent to five 
 Recitations. 
 
 3. A Chapel Composition is equivalent to ten Recita- 
 tions. 
 
 4. A Report of a Sermon is equivalent to two Reci- 
 tations. 
 
7 
 
 5. A Chapel Oration is equivalent to fifteen Recita- 
 tions. 
 
 In case of Chapel Compositions and Essays, where 
 the Student has performed all the exercises assigned to 
 him for any year, his regularity shall he counted as ten 
 additional Recitations. Any delinquency in Chapel 
 Compositions or Orations, whether excused or not, shall 
 be regarded on the Merit Roll as a failure, without a 
 special vote of the Faculty to the contrary. An appoint- 
 ment as Prize Speaker shall be equivalent to twenty 
 Recitations, marked ten each. Performance at Junior 
 Exhibition is equivalent to thirty Recitations. Each 
 examination in any study, is regarded as equal to ten 
 Recitations. 
 
 5. Work done in competition for any one of the 
 College Prizes shall be equivalent to twenty Recitations, 
 unless its numerical value falls below eight, in which case 
 no estimate shall be placed on record. 
 
 5th. At the close of the Senior year of each class, a 
 graduated scale of College standing is given out, accor- 
 ding to which the class is divided into three divisions, as 
 follows : 
 
 All whose standing is seven and a half or above, belong 
 to the first class, and are regarded as of the first grade 
 of scholarship. All who come up to five, but are below 
 seven and a half, constitute the second class, and belong 
 to the second grade of scholarship. All below five be- 
 long to the third class, and are of the third grade of 
 scholarship. 
 
 Those belonging to the first two divisions, are ex- 
 pected to take part in the exercises of commencement 
 day. The third class is excluded from participating in 
 those exercises. 
 
8 
 
 6th. Upon the standing thus made up ? a system of 
 College honors sis based. All in the second division, 
 shall receive an appointment for Commencement day, 
 termed a Dissertation, and shall be arranged, as far as 
 may be, alphabetically in their divisions. 
 
 Those in the first division, with the exceptions here" 
 inafter stated, shall receive appointments termed Dis- 
 putes, High Orations, Orations, and the two latter shall 
 be arranged alphabetically. 
 
 From those holding the highest rank in the first divis- 
 ion, the Faculty may in their discretion, select a certain 
 number, who shall receive appointments termed Honors. 
 These appointments shall be regarded as equal in rank, 
 with the exception of the Valedictory and Salutatory, 
 which shall be considered as the first and second ap- 
 pointments, and shall be given to the first and second 
 scholars in the class. In order to recognize peculiar ex- 
 cellence in any of the departments of College instruction, 
 an honorary appointment may be designated by the 
 name of such department. 
 
 Those receiving honorary appointments will be placed 
 at the close of divisions in alphabetical order. 
 
 These appointments shall be announced to the class in 
 the fifth week of the third term of the Senior year, sub- 
 ject to change , if by taking into account the studies of the 
 remainder of the third term of such year, the standing 
 of the Student should on the whole, fall below or rise 
 above the grade previously assigned to him. 
 
 7th. When the Student has no delinquent examina- 
 tions, he can call upon the Registrar for his division stand- 
 ing for any College year, at the commencement of the 
 succeeding year. His numerical standing will be given 
 
,9 
 
 to him at the close of the third term of Senior year. 
 No Student is recommended for a degree, whose final ex- 
 amination falls below the number four. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 OF THE PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS, AND OF GRADUATING. 
 
 The Public Exhibitions of the College are regulated 
 by the following rules : 
 
 1st. Those who take part in these exhibitions are 
 permitted to speak on such subjects as they may choose 
 for themselves, with the advice and direction of the 
 Professor of Rhetoric, 
 
 2d. No Student is permitted to appear in any public 
 exhibition of his class, until after his exercise has been 
 examined and approved by the Professor of Rhetoric. 
 
 3d. No Student is permitted to alter his exercise 
 after it has been examined, or in any way to deviate 
 from the corrections which have been made. A breach 
 of this rule, if it occur at commencement, may be pun- 
 ished by withholding the diploma of graduation. 
 
 4th. The names of the speakers on Commencement 
 day, shall be arranged on the principle heretofore indica- 
 ted, in divisions of four. At Junior Exhibition , the 
 names of the class shall be arranged alphabetically in 
 divisions of like number, as far as may be, and a Com- 
 mittee of the Faculty shall be appointed to estimate and 
 report the merit of the different speakers. 
 
 5th. No Student is permitted to take part in the ex- 
 ercises of Commencement day, who does not spend the 
 third term of Senior year in College, and make his 
 preparation here. 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 7th. To entitle a student to be graduated he must 
 have spent two terms of Senior year in College, and 
 have passed the final examination. He must also have 
 paid his dues to the College Treasurer, and be personally 
 present unless excused. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OF VACATIONS, AND OF ABSENCE FROM COLLEGE. 
 
 § 1. There are three vacations each year. The 
 length of these vacations will be found upon the yearly 
 Catalogue. 
 
 § 2. No under-graduate shall be allowed to remain 
 in the College, during any of the vacations, without per- 
 mission. 
 
 § 3. Upon the expiration of any vacation, the Stu- 
 dents are expected to reassemble at College. Absentees 
 are required to give reasonable excuses for their delay. 
 
 § 4. When a Student returns to College during the 
 progress of the term , he is expected to report himself at 
 once to the President or Class Officer. He is regarded 
 from the time of his return, as in actual attendance, and 
 as liable to be charged as other Students are. Nor can 
 such Student omit to attend any one of the exercises 
 without special permission. 
 
 § 5. When a Student applies in advance to any Col- 
 lege officer, for leave to be absent from any exercise, he 
 will, if excused at all, be excused conditionally : that is, 
 the Faculty may order the excuse to be canceled, if there 
 appears to be good reason why such a course should be 
 taken. 
 
li 
 
 § 6. When an excuse is offered for past absences, it 
 must be presented in writing, and signed by the applicant, 
 and must state fully and precisely, on what day, and in 
 what week of the term, the absence occurred, from what 
 exercises, and for what reason. The Student will also 
 be expected to state with particularity, such circumstan- 
 ces as may tend to show the validity of the excuse. If 
 this regulation be not observed, or there be good reason 
 to believe that the excuse alleged is unfounded in fact, 
 the proper charge will be made without further notice. 
 
 § 7. The excuses should be handed to the Class Offi- 
 cer, on Tuesday of the College week in which the delin- 
 quency took place, or on the succeeding Tuesday. If a 
 Student is in attendance, and does not present his ex- 
 cuse within the time above allowed, it cannot be offered 
 afterwards. 
 
 § 8. When a Student is absent from recitation, and 
 has been excused, his absence shall be entered upon the 
 merit roll as a failure, unless the omitted exercise be re- 
 deemed within hvo weeks after his return to College duties. 
 The time may, for good reasons, be enlarged by a special 
 vote of the Faculty. The delinquent will be expected 
 to recite the omitted exercise, on the Monday next after 
 the preparation is made, at such an hour as may be con- 
 vient to the officer who hears the recitation. When the 
 Student is ready to* recite such exercise, he must com- 
 municate that fact to -the teacher, without waiting to be 
 called upon. 
 
 § 9. Four members only of any Society can be ex- 
 cused from College duties,, to attend as delegates at 
 Society meetings held at other places. 
 
12 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OF THE LOCATION OF STUDENTS AND DAMAGES TO ROOMS, &C. 
 
 § 1. On the last week of the third term, there shall 
 be a general choice of rooms, under the direction of the 
 Locating Officer. This choice shall be made in the order 
 of the several classes, beginning with the Senior. The 
 right of choice is determined by lot, and Students are 
 required to draw lots in pairs. 
 
 § 2. To all Students who enter College after this 
 general choice, rooms shall be assigned by the Locating 
 Officer. 
 
 § 3. After rooms have once been chosen and assign- 
 ed, there shall be no changes without the consent of the 
 Locating Officer. 
 
 § 4. The rooms are subject at all times, to be visited 
 by any member of the Faculty, and may be entered by 
 him at discretion. 
 
 § 7. Whenever any damage is committed in any 
 private room, the same shall be repaired at the expense 
 of the occupants, unless they shall show good reasons 
 why they should not be held responsible. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OF THE PAYMENT OF BILLS. 
 
 It is provided by a resolution of the Board of Trustees : 
 
 1. That no student shall be permitted to enter on a 
 second, or any succeeding term, until he shall have paid, 
 or secured to the satisfaction of the Treasurer, the fees 
 of the preceding Terra. 
 
i3 
 
 2. That no Student can have an honorable dismission 
 from this College, or certificate of his previous attend- 
 ance in it, until all his bills are paid or satisfactorily 
 secured. 
 
 3. That in extreme cases, a Student whose circum- 
 stances render it necessary, and who shall present satis- 
 factory testimonials of that fact to the Executive Com- 
 mittee, if he is a worthy member of College and his under- 
 graduate course is Completed in this Institution, can have 
 his bills for tuition remitted. The application must be 
 made inwriting to the President at the opening of the 
 term, and if approved by him, will be presented with 
 the testimonials to the Executive Committee for their 
 action. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OF THE LIBRARY. 
 
 § 1. It shall be the duty of the Librarian to take 
 good care of all the books and other property belonging 
 to the Library ; to keep a full and accurate catalogue of 
 the same ; to attend at the Library room at least twice 
 in each week, during College terms, for receiving and 
 loaning books ; to register the titles of all books drawn 
 and the name of the borrower ; to report at the close of 
 each term, to the Treasurer, a list of all fines incurred 
 by a violation of the regulations of the Library ; to 
 carefully examine the whole Library at the close of 
 every Collegiate year ; and to present to the Board of 
 Trustees or their Committee, a report in writing of the 
 results of such examination. 
 
 § 2. The Library shall be open for the delivery and 
 
14 
 
 return of books, on Tuesday and Friday of each week, 
 during College terms, from 12 to 1 o’clock. 
 
 § 3. The Trustees, Faculty, Graduates and Under- 
 graduates of the College, shall be entitled to the use of ^ 
 the Library without expense. 
 
 § 4. No Book shall be taken from the Library of the 
 College without the knowledge and presence of the 
 Librarian; and no person except an officer of College, 
 shall have more than three volumes out at one time. 
 
 § 5. No person except an officer of College, shall 
 retain a book longer than three weeks, and no book can 
 be renewed to any graduate or under-graduate, unless it 
 be brought to the Library, 
 
 § 6. All books drawn by graduates and under- 
 graduates, must be returned to the Library on the Friday 
 preceding the close of the Fall and Winter terms ; and 
 all books whatsoever annually, on or before the Saturday 
 preceding commencement. 
 
 § 7. Every Student who detains a book from the Li- 
 brary, contrary to the above rules|’shall be subject to a 
 fine of five cents for every week’s 'detention. 
 
 § 8. If any book borrowed from the Library, be in- 
 jured or lost, the Librarian shall make report of it to the 
 Treasurer, who shall oblige the borrower to replace it 
 with one of equal value, and if such volume be part of 
 a set, the borrower shall be obliged to replace the whole 
 set; and until this be done, he shall not be allowed to 
 borrow any other book. 
 
 § 9. The Librarian shall have power to designate 
 and retain in the Library, such books and articles of 
 value, as in his opinion ought not be loaned. 
 
15 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OF DELINQUENCIES AND EXCUSES-OF OFFENCES AND THEIR 
 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 1st. Of Delinquencies. — A. Where a Student fails 
 to attend to his College duties, without a satisfactory 
 excuse, he receives Marks upon the College record., 
 
 B. The way in which these Marks may be incurred, 
 is as follows : 
 
 Absence from Recitation, Prayers, or from any Rhe- 
 
 torical exercise, or miscellaneous reading in the same, 
 is marked ....... 2 
 
 Tardiness at any such exercise, is marked . 1 
 
 Absence from room in the hours of study, is marked 2 
 Failure in Recitation, is marked 1 
 
 Failure in Debate, Composition or Declamation, is 
 marked ........ 4 
 
 Absence from public worship on the Sabbath, or 
 reading in the same, is marked ... 5 
 
 In all cases where it is practicable, the excuse must 
 be rendered before the delinquency occurs. The follow- 
 ing excuses are in no case received : 
 
 Failure to hear the bell. 
 
 Distance from College. 
 
 Company, whether from out of town or not, unless by 
 a special vote of the Faculty. 
 
 Time occupied in preparing for another College exer- 
 cise. 
 
 C. Each officer shall retain in his own hands, his ac- 
 count of delinquencies for one week, and after they have 
 been reported and entered upon the College record, they 
 
16 
 
 shall not be removed except by a special vote of the 
 Faculty. 
 
 D. When the marks thus incurred by the Student, 
 and entered on the record, amount to ten, he shall be 
 notified by his Class Officer. When they amount to 
 twenty, he shall be subject to a warning, and shall be 
 called before the Faculty to show cause why it should 
 not be given. Notice of* every warning shall be trans- 
 mitted to the parent or guardian. Successive warnings 
 shall be given for every subsequent accumulation of 
 ten marks during the same term. Where less than 
 twenty marks are incurred in any one term, ten are 
 removed at the close of the term, and the balance go 
 into the account for the succeeding term. 
 
 E. Whenever a Student becomes habitually irrregular, 
 and appears not to be securing the objects of his con- 
 nection with the College, though it be in consequence of 
 sickness or other causes usually received as excuses, 
 notice of the same shall be communicated to the parent 
 or guardian by letter, and if the Faculty are convinced 
 that such excuses have been frivolous or feigned, they may 
 require such parent to withdraw the Student from Col- 
 lege. The same course may be taken, when in any case 
 it appears that it is no longer useful for the Student to 
 remain in College, or that his example has become inju- 
 rious to his fellow Students, even though he be not guilty 
 of any acts punishable by suspension. 
 
 F. On the day of the State election, Thanksgiving 
 day, Feb. 22d, and 4th of July, the duties of the Col- 
 lege are suspended, and the classes excused from their 
 ordinary exercises. After these legal holidays, the 
 morning recitation, (but not the morning prayers,) of 
 the following day shall be omitted. After special holi- 
 
17 
 
 days granted by the Faculty, the usual exercises of the 
 following morning will be held. 
 
 2d. Of Offences. — The Students in this Institution, 
 are expected to manifest in speech and action, all prop- 
 er respect and obedience to the Government of the Col- 
 lege ; a gentlemanly deportment toward each other ; and 
 in all their conduct, a practical compliance with the dic- 
 tates of morality and the laws of the land. 
 
 § 1. In addition to these general rules the following 
 things are particularlarly prohibited. 
 
 1. The keeping or using fire arms or gunpowder; 
 kindling fires in the College yard or near the College 
 buildings, and use of fire-works of every kind. 
 
 2. The use of ardent spirits, and intoxication from 
 any cause. 
 
 3. Injury to College buildings or fences. 
 
 4. Improper deportment towards citizens and injury 
 to their property. 
 
 5. Boarding in any place where a bar is kept. 
 
 8. The circulation of burlesque schemes or handbills 
 at any of the public exhibitions of the College. 
 
 7. And in general, any violation of the rules of good 
 order and propriety, whether in the hours of study or 
 not, may be charged with marks or warnings, as may 
 accord with the judgment of the Faculty. 
 
 8. Ordinary absences from College duties, without 
 excuse, are charged on the College record, as before 
 stated. But absence by concert or combination with oth- 
 ers , is deemed a College offence, and punishable by a 
 warning or warnings, as the case may be. 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 § 2. The penalties consequent on a non-compliance 
 with the rules of the College, are a series of warnings, 
 five in number, preparatory to the separation of the 
 offender from College — his separation taking place on 
 the giving of the sixth. 
 
 § 3. For offences requiring more than a single warn- 
 ing, the offender may be placed on any part of the scale, 
 or dismissed at once, if the nature of the offence require it. 
 
 § 4. Every warning is accompanied with a letter to 
 the parent or guardian. 
 
 § 5. Unexceptionable deportment and regularity dur- 
 ing one term, remove one warning from the record. 
 
 § 6. No person who has five warnings standing against 
 him on the College books, is entitled to a dismission of 
 any kind ; if he have a less number than five, he may 
 have a dismission, but not an honorable one. 
 
 § 7. After a Student has been suspended from College, 
 he may after the lapse of one term, unless a shorter 
 period is fixed, apply for readmission, whereupon the 
 Faculty may in their discretion, receive him or not. 
 Satisfactory testimonials as to scholarship and conduct 
 during the tinje of suspension, will be required, and the 
 number of marks fixed, which shall still remain on the 
 College books. 
 
 §8. All damage done to property, must be paid for by 
 him who commits it, if known ; and for wilful damage, a 
 fine of twice the amount shall be assessed in addition. 
 If not known, it may be assessed upon the whole body 
 of Students. 
 
HAMILTON COLLEGE 
 
 AND THE 
 
 YORK 
 
 SYNOD 
 
 The attention of the ministers and members of the 
 Presbyterian Churches and Congregations in the Synod 
 of New York, is earnestly solicited to the following 
 action of that body, taken during its session in Utica, 
 October 20, 1882 : 
 
 ACTION OF SYNOD. 
 
 ‘•The Synod of New York, at its first convention, calls the special 
 attention of all its ministers, and the officers and members of all its 
 Churches, to the relations of the Presbyterian Church to the cause 
 of higher education. In the provisions we have made for the Christian 
 education of our sons and daughters in the academy and college, 
 we are behind the other great denominations with which we are 
 accustomed to co-operate in Christian effort. For the special work of 
 ministerial training, the appliances that we possess as a church put 
 us in the very first rank. For that higher education which is not 
 professional or ministerial, we are altogether in the rear. 
 
 The universities and colleges in this land that may in any sense 
 be called Presbyterian, only number 13, and have an annual income 
 of but $212,000. What are these in comparison of the 26 col- 
 leges connected with the Congregational Church, or the 31 con- 
 nected with the Baptist Church, or the still larger number, 37, con- 
 nected with the Methodist Episcopal Church ? And in this neglect 
 of higher education, the Presbyterian Church has been untrue both 
 
2 
 
 P 
 
 to her doctrine and history. Calvinism has always had a strong 
 affinity with learning, and after the planting of Presbyterianism in 
 the soil of this new continent, not more than two decades of years 
 passed before it established for itself a college. 
 
 The recognition of our neglect as a Church of Christ, in these 
 days of higher education, and the attempt which is now being made 
 of stimulating inquiry and effort to remedy this defect, are among 
 the most promising signs of the times. “ In view of the patent 
 fact,” says our last general assembly, “that by the secularizing of 
 academies and colleges the source of supply for our theological 
 seminaries have been either vitiated or cut off, the assembly enjoin 
 upon the Presbyterian Church and ministry the urgent duty of en- 
 dowing and building up the Presbyterian academies and colleges 
 already existing, and of wisely planting, endowing and fostering 
 others as they become needed, in order to avert and make provis- 
 ions against, the impending dearth of candidates for the ministry, 
 and that the Presbyterian Church may overtake its sister churches 
 in the work of Christian education, and regain the place of suprem- 
 acy of which it is entitled, by its grand system of doctrine and its 
 equally grand history.” 
 
 Your committee, in quoting this action of the assembly, desire to 
 add their full approval of all the sentiments it expresses, and also 
 the hope that this Synod will make this action its own. 
 
 Your committee are also pleased to know that the assembly 
 appointed upon this subject a special committee, and that its mem- 
 bers were urged to give early and earnest attention to the important 
 subject committed to their care. The college society, as it is called, 
 among our Congregational brethren, fostering the feeble and strug- 
 gling educational institutions of that faith in every part of the land, 
 contributed during the past year very efficient aid to ten dif- 
 ferent colleges, and during the thirty-eight years of its existence, has 
 brought up other institutions of learning to the point of entire self- 
 support. The entire sum contributed by this Society to Collegiate 
 education is $1,352,011.73. The number of Institutions aided is 
 twenty-nine. Why may not our great Presbyterian Church institute a 
 charity that in the same field will be equally efficient ? The special 
 recommendation on this subject that your Committee would make 
 to the Synod, is as follows : 
 
 The six Synods into which the ministers and Churches of this 
 State were formerly divided, and which by the Assembly’s act of con- 
 solidation are now embraced in the Synod of New York, having all 
 united in the earnest recommendation of Hamilton College, to the con- 
 
3 
 
 fidence and liberality of their churches in the effort to secure an addi- 
 tion to its endowment of $500,000, and upon that event to become 
 more closely related to them, in accordance with an official act of its 
 Board of Trustees, this Synod repeats and makes its own, those 
 recommendations, and pleased to learn of the gratifying progress 
 that has already been made in securing such an endowment, ex- 
 presses its earnest desire and hope that the whole sum may be 
 speedily realized. 
 
 And to this end the committee recommend that one minister and 
 one elder, the elder to be appointed by the minister, from each of 
 the Presbyteries connected with the Synod, be appointed to cooper- 
 ate with the officers of the college, in their efforts to secure this en- 
 dowment. 
 
 The Presbyterial Committee thus provided for shall be as follows : 
 
 Albany, John McC. Holmes, D. D.; Binghamton, G. P. Nichols, 
 D.D.; Boston, C. C. Wallace, D. D.; Brooklyn, J. G. Butler, D.D.; 
 Buffalo, R S. Green ; Cayuga, C. C. Hemenway ; Champlain, C. S. 
 Richardson ; Chemung, C. C. Carr ; Columbia, George A. Howard, 
 D. D. ; Genesee, C. H. Dibble; Genesee Valley, David Winters; 
 Geneva, J. W. Jacks; Hudson, J. R. Lewis; Long Island, William 
 H. Littell; Lyons, W. H. Bates; Nassau, L. Lampman ; New 
 York, Howard Crosby, D D. LL. D. ; Niagara, J. S. Bacon ; 
 North River, Francis B. Wheeler, D. D.; Otsego, H. W. Swinerton, 
 Ph. D.; Rochester, C. E. Robinson, D. D.; St. Lawrence, L. M. 
 Miller, D. D. ; Steuben, J. M. Platt; Syracuse, H. H. Stebbins ; 
 Troy, Stephen Bush, D. D.; Utica, Thomas J. Brown, D. D.; 
 Westchester, Nelson Phraner, D. D. 
 
 At any joint meeting of these Presbyterial Committees that may 
 be called, eleven shall be a quorum, competent to transact all 
 business pertaining to their appointment.” 
 
 ADDITIONAL RESOLUTION. 
 
 To this action of the Synod, reported by its Stand- 
 ing Committee on Education, the Synod unanimously 
 added, as an earnest and spontaneous expression of 
 its deep interest on this subject, the following reso- 
 lution : 
 
 Resolved, That all the ministers of this Synod be requested to 
 present the interests of Hamilton College to their respective con- 
 gregations on the first Sabbath after the day of prayer for colleges, 
 and take a special collection in its behalf. 
 
4 
 
 HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT. 
 
 That the meaning of this action, and its historical 
 reference may be understood, the following brief 
 statement is subjoined : 
 
 A conference of Christian gentlemen, to consider 
 the relations of the Presbyterian Church to “ Higher 
 and especially to Collegiate Education,” was held in 
 the City of Utica, on the 31st of March, 1879. 
 
 The conference was one of deep interest, and re- 
 sulted in the appointing of a Committee to call a more 
 general meeting, to be held in Syracuse, on the 21st 
 and 2 2d of April. 
 
 At this meeting, after much discussion and delibera- 
 tion, it was thought that the end so much desired, 
 could better be accomplished by the utilizing of some 
 existing collegiate institution, than by the establish- 
 ment of a new one ; and hence it was 
 
 Resolved , 1. That the Board of Trustees of Hamilton College at 
 Clinton, Oneida county, N. Y., be respectfully requested to consider 
 the practicability of such a change in the charter of the College, 
 whether by a provision which shall empower the Synods to fill va- 
 cancies in the Board as fast as they may occur, until two-thirds of 
 the Board are made to represent, and thereafter to continue to repre- 
 sent, the Synods ; or, by some other provision which shall more 
 clearly identify the institution with the Presbyterian Church, and 
 render endowments made in the interests of said church inalienable ; 
 and, if found practicable, that such change be secured by applica- 
 tion to the Regents of the Unversity. 
 
 Resolved, 2. That in the event of such a change in the charter as 
 is contemplated in the above resolution, an effort be immediately 
 inaugurated by our ministers and churches, to raise Five Hundred 
 Thousand Dollars for Hamilton College. 
 
 Resolved , 3. That the Rev. Dr. Darling, of Albany, and the Rev. 
 Dr. Johnson, of Auburn, be a Committee to bring this matter before 
 the Trustees of Hamilton College, at their next meeting. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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