LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN IN MEMORY OF STEWART S. HOWE JOURNALISM CLASS OF 1928 STEWART S. HOWE FOUNDATION The person charging this mat( sponsible for its return to the HI which it was withdrawn on or Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining o are reasons for disciplinary action ai result in dismissal from the Universit UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBAh "SEP 02 19 ILLiad: 357242 ILL Number: 7239115 Borrower: IND University of Notre Dame 117HesburghLibrary-ILL Notre Dam e, IN 4 6556 [OS/R] Regular Ship via: OS/R Charge Maxcost: $30lFM Patron: Cortes, Angel Reference: Please return item and this slip to: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champa.gn (U L161 — O-1096 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/yalecollegesketc11king 5 o O cc DO Q _l o til I I- Yale College A SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY WITH NOTICES OF ITS SEVER A I DEPARTMENTS, INSTRUCTORS, AND BENEFACTORS TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF STUDENT LIFE AND AMUSEMENTS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS EDITED BY WILLIAM L. KINGSLEY ILLUSTRATED WITH VIEWS AND PORTRAITS IN TWO VOLUMES Vol. I NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1879 Copyright, 1879 BY HENRY HOLT & CO. NEW YORK : J. J. LITTLE 4 CO., PRINTERS, 10 TO 20 ASTQR PLACE. V*tk V.I TO THE ALUMNI OF YALE THIS ACCOUNT OF THE PLAN OF THE FIRST COLONISTS OF NEW HAVEN TO ESTABLISH AN INSTITUTION FOR THE PROMOTION OF LIBERAL LEARNING, AND OF THE SUCCESSIVE STEPS BY WHICH THEIR EFFORTS AND THOSE OF THEIR SUCCESSORS HAVE CONVERTED THE HOPE OF 1638 INTO THE REALITY OF 1 878, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. PREFACE. In submitting- to my fellow alumni this collection of papers relating to the history of their alma mater, and of its various departments, some few words of explanation seem fitting. In the autumn of 1875, several requests having been simultaneously made by differ- ent persons to the Faculty for their sanction and assistance in the preparation of a pictorial history and description of the College, the subject was taken into considera- tion at a general meeting of the Professors of the different departments. At this meeting, such objections were made to the project that it was abandoned. But, as the result of the consultation, a new plan was devised, and the present editor and pub- lishers — who are all of them alumni of the institution — were informed then, for the first time, of what had been proposed, and were requested to take the work in charge. The labors of the editor were substantially ended in a twelvemonth; but, owing to the depressed financial condition of the country, the final completion and publication of these volumes have been postponed till now. As no history of the College has appeared since the " Sketch" by Professor James L. Kingsley in 1835, it seemed desirable that a new and somewhat extended historical account should be furnished. In its preparation, the writer has thought it best to give, throughout the whole narrative, greater prominence to the contemporary history than has been thought necessary heretofore, from the conviction that a proper understand- ing of the political complications of the times, and especially of the differences at the close of the seventeenth century in the religious and ecclesiastical views of the people of the New Haven Colony from those generally held in other parts of Connecticut, would remove some misconceptions which have been entertained in certain quarters respecting the origin of the College and the early policy of its founders. It fell also within the scope of these volumes to furnish papers relating to the dif- ferent departments of the College, and for this purpose, as it will be seen, the assistance has been secured, in all cases, of persons officially connected with them and who are known to be thoroughly conversant with their affairs. vii viii PREFACE. The descriptions of college life, college institutions, and college amusements, have been intrusted to those who have had the best opportunities of becoming practically acquainted with these subjects, and it is thought that the elaborate papers which they have contributed will be deemed highly valuable, and serve to call up many pleasant associations in the minds of all who remember their New Haven home with affection, or desire to know how and with what success the sports and entertainments which once occupied their leisure hours have been cherished and conducted by the successive classes who have taken their places. The subject of college societies, though of very general interest, has been intention- ally left untouched, for the reason that any history or description of these numerous fraternities must be necessarily imperfect, since their organizations and meetings are secret. Pictures, however, of the halls of those societies which are provided with them, appear in their place in the work. Other omissions will undoubtedly be noticed, for, to present a full account of all the subjects which are of interest to the graduates of the College, it would be necessary to add to these volumes indefinitely ; but with their present contents the work has already reached a size beyond which it is impracticable to go. Ample pictorial illustration, however, has been provided, which leaves scarcely any- thing additional to be desired. The full-page heliotypes are, with few exceptions, taken directly from the objects selected for representation. The same is true of many of the woodcuts ; though there are, besides, a large number which have been obtained from sources so numerous that acknowledgment can only be made for the appreciable portion taken by permission from " Sketches of Yale College, by Ezekiel P. Belden," published in New York by Saxton & Miles, in 1843, and from the number for April, 1876, of " Scribner's Monthly." Of these two classes of illustrations, the quaint archaic buildings copied from the first have an interest not surpassed by that which will be felt in the more highly finished pictures taken from the latter, which present the well-known structures that have been erected in recent times. Some of the vignettes, also, are specially valuable, as they supply views, which have been obtained with much difficulty, of buildings of historic interest, long since demolished, of which no pictorial represen- tations have ever been published before. In conclusion, the editor will state that he has received valuable assistance from a large number of the officers and graduates of the College — so large, that it will be im- possible for him to mention them all by name in this place ; but he cannot forbear to make special acknowledgment to his friends, Professor George P. Fisher and Professor Thomas A. Thacher, for the readiness which they have always manifested to assist him, and for the interest which they have uniformly, and at all times, shown in the work which was assigned to him. WILLIAM L. KINGSLEY. New Haven, December 31, 1878. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. HISTORICAL SKETCH .... By William L. Kingsley. CHAPTER I. — Early Efforts of the New Haven Colonists to found a College. New Haven designed to be a College Town from the first. — The Rev. John Davenport, Vicar of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London. — Incurs the displeasure of Laud. — Flies to Holland. — Conceives the idea of founding in the New World an independent Christian State. — Interests his old Parishioners in Coleman Street. — They form a Company. — Land in New Haven, June, 1638. — The ideas of the Colonists respecting Education. — Ezekiel Cheever. — What was done for the Higher Education. — Financial failure of the Colony. — First definite action with regard to a College, 1647. — Action of the General Court in 1652. — Subsequent action, 1652. — Governor Eaton's bequest of books. — Governor Hopkins's bequest. — Action taken in 1660. — Instruction commenced. — Difficulties. — New Haven annexed to Connecticut. — Indian War. — Sir Edmund Andros. — Results in 1700. — Love of Learning established among the People. — The Hopkins Grammar School founded. — One in ten of the graduates of Har- vard from New Haven. — The way prepared for a College. ....... CHAPTER II.— Foundation of the College, A.D. 1700. Despondency of the People of New England after the Restoration. — Religious declension. — Revival of prosperity after the Revolution of 1688. — James Pierpont, Samuel Andrew, Samuel Russel. — Advantage taken of the new state of things. — The probable revival of the idea of founding a College in New Haven. — Plan delayed by War with France. — Coalition against Louis XIV. — Peace of Ryswick, A.D. 1697. — New efforts to establish a College. — Plan of Rev. Cotton Mather. — Ecclesiastical Establishment Party. — Plan of New Haven Ministers. — Trus- tees nominated. — New Haven influence predominant. — Israel Chauncy, Thomas Buckingham, Abraham Pierson, Noadiah Russel, Samuel Andrew, James Pierpont, Joseph Webb, James Noyes, Samuel Mather, Timothy Woodbridge. — Meeting in New Haven, A.D. 1700. — Meeting by appointment at Bran ford. — College founded by the presentation of books. — Doubts as to the expediency of applying for a Charter. — Experience of Harvard College. — Thought " safe and best " to proceed. — The Sewall and Addington Draft. — Altered to suit the views of the Trustees. — Donation of Hon. James Fitch. — The peculiar phraseology of the Charter. — " Tu- tors or Ushers." — Meeting of the Trustees at Saybrook, November n, 1701. — College estab- ix Paoe Pa g h II CONTENTS. lished at Saybrook "for the present." — Abraham Pierson elected Rector. — "Orders" of the Trustees respecting his duties. — Instruction to be given at Kenilworth. — Plan of Studies. — First Student. — Monument erected A.I). 1 868. — First Commencement.— Election of Tutor. — I Jiscouragement. — Queen Anne's War. — Rector Pierson's death. — Launt Thompson's Statue. — Modern historical criticism. ............. CHAPTER III. — Removal of the College to New Haven. Rev. Samuel Andrew elected Rector, pro tempore. — Senior Class at Milford.— Other Classes at Saybrook. — New efforts of the Ecclesiastical Establishment Party. — These favored by Gover- nor Saltonstall. — The Synod of 1708. — Saybrook Platform. — Officers of the College required to give assent to it. — Liberally interpreted in New Haven. — War of the Spanish Succession. — Effect upon Connecticut. — Ruinous to the College. — Peace of Utrecht, A. D. 17 13. — Brighter days. — Gift of books from Sir John Davie. — Books sent from England by Jeremiah Dummer, Esq. — Governor Elihu Yale's first gift. — Unceasing efforts of Rev. James Pierpont in behalf of the College. — His death. — Students dissatisfied with location of College. — Dissatisfaction encouraged from interested motives. — " Broken condition " of the institution in the summer of 17 16. — Efforts to secure its removal to the northern part of the State. — Last Commencement in Saybrook, A.D. 1716. — The only Tutor resigns. — Trustees discuss the question of removal. — No decision. — New Haven makes an effort to obtain the College. — Favored by a majority of the Trustees. — Vote of October 17, 17 16, to remove the College to New Haven. — Instruction commenced in New Haven for the academic year 17 16-17 17. — Excitement throughout the Colony. — Public meeting in Hartford. — Rival College at Wethersfield. — Action of Legislature, May, 1 7 17. — Vote of Mr. Ruggles challenged. — First Commencement in New Haven, Septem- ber, 17 17. — Building of a College Hall begun. — Trustees summoned to appear before the Legislature, October, 1 7 1 7. — Efforts to secure the College for Middletown. — Vote taken in Lower House. — "Great throes and pangs." — Governor Saltonstall saves the College from destruction. — The Legislature fixes the location in New Haven. — Second gift of Governor Yale. — College Hall in New Haven finished. — Commencement of 17 18. — The name of Yale given to the College Hall. — Rival Commencement at Wethersfield. — Compromise. — A " fitting house " for the General Court to be built in Hartford at public expense. — The final location of the College in New Haven no "accident." .......... 31 CHAPTER IV. — Rev. Timothy Cutler, Rector, A.D. 17 19-1722. New Difficulties. — The Wethersfield Students. — "A very Vicious and Turbulent Set of Fel- lows." — Lieutenant Daniel Buckingham refuses to give up the Library. — Governor Saltonstall and the Council repair to Saybrook. — The Sheriff ordered to take the Property of the College. — Resistance by " a great number of Men." — Books and Papers Lost. — Wethersfield Students complain of Tutor Johnson. — The Trustees pronounce the Complaints a "Scandal." — Wethers- field Students leave New Haven in a body. — Rev. Timothy Cutler elected Rector. — A House built for the Rector. — Death of Governor Yale, July 8, 1721. — Change in the Religious Views of Rector Cutler and Tutor Browne. — Alarm among the Friends of the College. — Rector Cut- ler and his Friends invited to an Interview with Trustees. — It appears that they are about to apply for Episcopal Orders. — Efforts of Governor Saltonstall to stop the Movement. — Debate. — Rector Cutler excused from further service. ......... 49 CHAPTER V. — Rev. Elisha Williams, Rector, 17 26-1 739. The College for Four Years without a Permanent Rector. — Disorder among the Students. — Rev. Elisha Williams elected Rector, A.D. 1726. — Enlarged curriculum of Academic Studies. CONTENTS. Pace — Rev. George Berkeley, Dean of Derry. — Fortune bequeathed to him by Mrs. Vanhomrig (Vanessa). — Plans a College in the Isles of Bermuda. — Expects aid from the British Govern- ment.— Sails for Newport, Rhode Island. — Buys a Farm. — Whitehall. — Disappointment. — ■ Gives Whitehall to the College at New Haven. — Foundation of three Scholarships. — 111 health of Rector Williams. — Resigns A. D. 1739. .......... 56 CHAPTER VI. — Rev. Thomas Clap, Rector, A.D. 1739-1745 ; President, A.D. 1745-1766. A Period of great religious and political Excitement. — Rev. Thomas Clap elected Rector. — His business Capacity. — Revision of the Laws. — Catalogue of the Library. — Annual Subsidy from the Legislature increased. — Curriculum of Studies enlarged. — Draft for a new Charter prepared. — Whitefield visits New Haven. — The " Great Awakening." — Imitators of Whitefield. — The New Haven Church divided. — A Separate Service set up. — Rector Clap regards it as revolutionary and dangerous. — Formation of political Parties in the Colony. — The Students are forbidden to attend the " Separate " Meeting. — Expulsion of David Brainerd. — The " Old Light " Party control the Legislature. — Ecclesiastical Laws of 1742 and 1743. — " Declaration " against Whitefield by Officers of the College, A.D. 1745.— Expulsion of John and Ebenezer Cleaveland. — Rector Clap high in favor with the " Old Light " Party. — Enabled in conse- quence to obtain a new Charter for the College. — Effect of the War upon the College. — Loss of Life and waste of Treasure in Connecticut. — Rector Clap's Influence with the Legislature unimpaired. — Obtains assistance in building " Connecticut Hall." — Electrical Experiments of Tutor Ezra Stiles. — Linonian Society. — Change in the Relations of President Clap to the political Parties. — Alarmed by the increasing religious indifference of the "Old Lights." — Preaching of Mr. Noyes unsatisfactory. — A Separate Service on Sunday commenced on College Ground. — Foundation of a Chair for a Professor of Divinity. — Test Laws.- — Indignation of "Old Lights." — " The Religious Constitution of Colleges." — Naphtali Daggett elected Profes- sor of Divinity. — A College Church established. — A House built for the Professor of Divinity. — War of Pamphlets. — Commencement of the Seven Years' War. — War Debt of Connecticut. — The "New Light" Majority in the Legislature induced by President Clap to assist in build- ing a Chapel. — Persistence of the Enemies of President Clap. — They appeal to the Legislature to appoint Visitors. — Reply of the President. — His Triumph. — His difficulties with the Tutors. — Disorders in the College. — His Enemies at last victorious. — Resignation. — Death. . . 6$ CHAPTER VII. — Rev. Naphtali Daggett, President pro tempore, A.D. 1766-1777. A Successor to President Clap not easily found. — Professor Daggett elected President pro tempore. — Dawn of the Revolution. — A Succession of Tutors of unusual ability. — A Chair of Natural Philosophy founded. — Rev. Nehemiah Strong elected Professor. — Democratic Ten- dencies of the Times. — A new Debating Society. — The Brothers in Unity. — The College Laws printed in English. — Names of Students arranged alphabetically in the Catalogue. — Growth of a Taste for English Literature throughout the Country. — It is seen among the Students. — John Trumbull. — Timothy Dwight. — David Humphreys. — Trumbull and Dwight elected Tu- tors, A.D. 1771. — Trumbull writes the First Book of the "Progress of Dullness." — Criticises the Curriculum of Studies in the College. — Dwight commences the " Conquest of Canaan."— Trumbull becomes Treasurer of the College. — Writes " MacFingal." — Inspiring Influence of Dwight as an Instructor. — The Students petition for leave to employ him as their Instructor in English Literature. — Battles of Lexington and Concord. — Effect upon the College. — Ebenezer Huntington. — Difficulty of procuring Food.— Students dismissed to their homes, December 10, 1776. — Resignation of President Daggett, April, 1777. . ....... 94 Ml CONTEXTS. CHAPTER VIII.— Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., President, 1778-1795. Page Gloomy Prospects. — Burgoyne's Invasion. — Influential Citizens alienated from the College in consequence of the Religious Test Laws of President Clap. — Others jealous on account of its independence of State Control. — Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., elected President. — He obtains the Repeal of the Religious Test Laws.— Asks for permanent Professors. — Obtains a Promise of Co-operation from prominent Civilians. — His Inauguration. — New Haven visited by a British Force under General Tryon, July 5, 1779. — Ex-President Daggett participates in the Defense of the Town. — He is wounded and dies, A.D. 1780. — Professor Strong resigns, A.D. 1781. — Hon. Silas Deane proposes that Instruction in the French Language should be provided. — A Dining-Hall erected, A.D. 1782. — Rev. Samuel Wales elected Professor of Divinity, A.D. 1782. — Independence of the American Colonies acknowledged by Great Britain, September 3, A.D. 1783. — Difficulties of the College not yet at an end. — Wide-spread Feeling of Hostility to it in the State.— Efforts of President Stiles to allay the Hostility. — His Conference with Commit- tees of the Legislature. — At last he is successful. — Favorable Report of the Committee of the Legislature, October, 1791. — Plan of Hon. James Hillhouse to raise Money. — The long Es- trangement between the Legislature and the College brought to an end. — Funds of the College increased. — A new Dormitory built. — It is called Union Hall. — Endowment of the Professor- ship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. — Mr. Josiah Meigs elected to fill the Chair, A.D. 1794. — Death of Professor Wales. — Death of President Stiles, May 12, 1795. — The extraor- dinary Difficulties with which he had to contend. — His special Claim to the Gratitude of the Alumni.— His reputation as a Scholar. . . . . . . . . . . .102 CHAPTER IX.— Rev. Timothy Dwight, D.D., President, A.D. 1795-1817. General Expectation that Rev. Timothy Dwight, D.D., would succeed Dr. Stiles as Presi- dent. — No one else thought of by the Corporation. — Dr. Dwight inaugurated, September 8, 1795. — The varied Duties which he at once assumed. — A fortunate Moment when he came to the Presidency. — Plans of President Dwight for the Improvement of the College. — Embar- rassed by want of Funds. — His Efforts to procure an additional Grant from the Legislature. — He selects three of the recent Graduates to assist him as permanent Professors. — Jeremiah Day. — Benjamin Silliman. — James L. Kingsley. — Prosperity of the College. — Plans of Dr. Dwight for its material Development. — The whole Front of the College Square purchased. — Berkeley Hall (North Middle) erected. — Connecticut Lyceum. — A House built for the Presi- dent. — Additions to the Library, and to the Philosophical and Chemical Apparatus. — A Collec- tion of Minerals purchased. — The Gibbs' Cabinet. — The Laws revised. — Old Customs, the Relics of a barbarous Age, abolished. — Efforts for the religious Welfare of the Students. — Riotous Spirit developed among the Students.— Affrays between " Town and Gown." — The Bully Club. — President Dvvight's Plans for the Establishment of Professional Schools. — A Theological School. — A Medical School. — Instruction in Law. — Illness. — Death. . . . 112 CHAPTER X.— Rev. Jeremiah Day, D.D., President, A.D. 1817-1846. President Dwight's wishes with regard to his Successor. — Rev. Henry Davis, D.D., elected President. — He declines. — Professor Day elected, and accepts. — Inaugurated, July 23, 1817. — Mr. Eleazar T. Fitch elected Professor of Divinity. — The Rev. Chauncey A. Goodrich elected Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory. — Mr. Alexander M. Fisher elected Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. — President Day's Views with regard to the Administration of the Col- lege. — Changes in Methods of Instruction and in Discipline. — New Commons Hall, erected A.D. 1819. — Chemical Laboratory. — " North College," erected A.D. 1821. — A Theological De- partment established, A.D. 1822. — The Rev. Nathaniel W. Taylor elected " Dwight Professor CONTENTS. xiii Page of Didactic Theology," A.D. 1822. — Professor Josiah W. Gibbs. — Professor Eleazar T. Fitch. — Professor Chauncey A. Goodrich.— A new Chapel built, A.D. 1824. — A Second College ("Washington," now "Trinity") established in Connecticut, A.D. 1823. — Repeal of the Act requiring an Assent to the " Saybrook Platform." — Loss of Professor Alexander M. Fisher in the " Albion," A.D. 1822. — Purchase of the "Gibbs Cabinet," A.D. 1823. — The Rev. Matthew R. Dutton elected Professor, A.D. 1822. — His Death, A.D. 1825. — Professor Denison Olmsted. — Judge Daggett elected Professor of Law, A.D. 1826. — The Law School. — Death of Dr. Nathan Smith. — Attempt to raise the Grade of Scholarship. — A stricter Discipline. — Adjust- ment of the College Community to the new State of Things. — Objections to the Study of the " Dead Languages." — President Day's Defense of the existing Course of Study. — He states its Object. — "Bread and Butter Rebellion," A.D. 1828.— "Conic Sections Rebellion," A.D. 1830. — General Religious Interest among the Students, A.D. 1831. — "Taylorism." — " Illinois Asso- ciation." — The $100,000 Fund. — Mr. Theodore D. Woolsey elected Greek Professor, A.D. 1831. — Paintings of Colonel John Trumbull. — The "Trumbull Gallery" erected, A.D. 1832. — Divinity College erected, A.D. 1836. — Library Building erected, A.D. 1844. — College Maga- zines. — Secret Societies. — Resignation of President Day, A.D. 1846. . . . . .124 CHAPTER XL— Rev. Theodore D. Woolsey, D.D., President, A.D. 1846-1871. Professor Theodore D. Woolsey chosen President. — His Inauguration. — His special Services as President. — Introduction of a broader Culture. — Biennial Examinations. — Freshman Schol- arships. — Studies of Senior Year. — Additions to the Faculty. — Department of Philosophy and the Arts. — Sheffield Scientific School. — Mr. Joseph E. Sheffield. — Theological Department. — Medical Department. — Law Department. — School of the Fine Arts. — Mr. Augustus R. Street. — Change in the Corporation. — Resignation of President Woolsey. ...... 147 CHAPTER XII.— Rev. Noah Porter, D.D., President, A.D. 187 1. Conservative Character of the College. — New Buildings. — Additions to the Corps of In- structors. — The College attains the Form of a University. — The Dream of John Davenport is realized. ................. 160 THE CORPORATION By Leonard Bacon. Charter of 1701. — The Founders incorporated, and they and their Successors made Trustees. — Proceedings under the Charter. — Hiatus in the Records. — Conflict among the Trustees. — Hartford Schism, and Wethersfield Cave of Adullam. — Reconciliation. — Act of 1723 in Expla- nation and Amendment of the Charter. — Difficulty in obtaining a Successor to Rector Cutler. — Attempts to remove obnoxious Members from the Board. — Joseph Noyes. — Charter of 1745. — Elizur Goodrich. — Charter modified in 1792. — The Six Senior Senators superseded by Six elected Graduates in 1872. ............. 163 THE LIBRARY By Addison Van Name. History during the last Century. — Contributions to the Library Fund. — Other noteworthy Gifts in Books or Money. — Statistics of Growth. — Library Building. — Librarians. — Society Libraries. 184 XIV CONTENTS. THE TREASURY By Henry C. Kingsley. Page The Treasurers, 1 701-183 2. — Gifts of Money from the State of Connecticut, 1 701-1830. — Gifts of Money from Individuals, 1701-1830. — Gifts of Land, 1701-1830. — Financial Con- dition of the College in 1830. — Growth of the Funds, 1833 to 1852. — Growth of the Funds, 1852 to 1862. — Growth of the Funds since 1862. — Present Condition. — New Buildings. — Treasury Building 190 THE COLLEGE GREEN By Henry White. Original Allotment of the College Square, A.D. 1639. — The Joshua Atwater Lot obtained for the College, A.D. 17 16. —Purchase of Portions of the Cockerell and Constable Lots, A.D. 1745. — Enlargement of the College Grounds, A.D. 1783.— Opening of High Street, A.D. 1790. — The whole East Front of the College Green secured, A.D. 1800. — The final Purchase made, A.D. 1858 199 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF DECEASED PROFESSORS. Benjamin Silliman, Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy, Mineralogy, and Geology. . .... By Arthur W. Wright. Birth and early Education. — Entrance to Yale College. — Graduation. — Legal Studies. — Ap- pointment to Tutorship. — Appointment to Professorship of Chemistry and Natural History. — Residence in Philadelphia.— First Lecture. — Lecture Room and Laboratory. — Broken-necked Retorts. — Appropriation of Ten Thousand Dollars for Apparatus and Books. — Voyage to Europe. — Residence and Studies in Edinburgh. — Journal of Travels. — Weston Meteorite. — - Beginning of Mineral Collection. — Purchase of the Perkins Cabinet. — Secures deposit of the Gibbs Cabinet. — Organization of Medical Department. — Appointment to Professorship of Chemistry and Pharmacy therein. — Accident. — Founds the American Journal of Science and Arts. — Tour to Canada and published Journal. — Experiments with the Deflagrator. — Purchase of the Gibbs Cabinet. — Proposes Plan of a Scientific School. — Establishment of the Same. — Second Journey to Europe, and published Account. — Resignation of Professorship. — Close of his Life. — His College Work. — Popular Scientific Lectures. — Character as a Scientific Man. — Personal Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210 James L. Kingsley, Professor of the Latin Language and Literature. By Daniel C. Gilman. Selected by President Dwight to be Professor of Languages. — A Typical New England Scholar. — Prominent Events of his Life. — Personal Reminiscences of the Writer. — Chief Representative of the Study of the Humanities in the College. — Dr. Woolsey's Estimate. — A truly Academical Man. .............. 224 Alexander Metcalf Fisher, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. By Hubert A. Newton. Short Period of Service as a College Officer. — Contributions to various Periodicals. — "Journey to Jupiter." — Reviews. — Mathematical Papers. — Printing Press. — Paper on "Mu- sical Temperament." — Estimates of his Character by Professors Silliman, Kingsley, and Olmsted. ................ 229 232 CONTENTS. xv Denison Olmsted, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. By Chester S. Lyman. Page Professor Olmsted's recognized Position. — Grounds of his Reputation. — By Nature a Teacher. — Influences that moulded Him. — Preparation for College. — Admiration for President Dvvight. — Tutor in College. — Studies Theology with Dr. Dwight. — Acts as his Amanuensis. — Accepts a Professorship in North Carolina. — Prepares for it with Professor Silliman. — Success at Chapel Hill. — Elected Professor at Yale. — Disadvantages of the Change. — Meets with Success. — Labors at New Haven. — Character as a Teacher. — Change in Professorship. — Prepa- ration of Text-books. — Their Success. — Courses of Lectures. — Interest in Public Education. — Efforts for its Improvement. — His Labors for Science. — Makes a Geological Survey of North Carolina. — Scientific Work at New Haven. — His Theory of Hail-storms. — Connection with Redfield's Theory of Storms. — Views respecting Auroras and the Zodiacal Light. — His Theory of Shooting Stars. — Relation of his Labors to those of Professor Twining. — They estab- lish the true Theory. — Not anticipated by Chladni. — His Efforts to establish an Observatory. — His Character as a Man and Citizen. — Connecticut Parentage and early Training. — Do- mestic Life. — Christian Character. — Influence on his Pupils who became Astronomers or Physicists : Elias Loomis, F. A. P. Barnard, William Chauvenet, J. S. Hubbard, D. T. Stod- dard, Francis Bradley, E. C. Herrick, H. L. Smith, E. P. Mason. — Mason's Genius and Work William A. Larned, Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature. By Henry N. Day. His Parentage. — Leading Incidents in his Life.— Estimate of his Character as a Man and as an Officer in College. — Special Characteristics of his Labors as Teacher of Rhetoric — Com- parative Results of his Methods on the System of Rhetorical Instruction in the College. . . 250 Anthony D. Stanley, Professor of Mathematics. . . By Elias Loomis. His Birth. — Early Education. — College Course. — Indications of Mathematical Talent. — Elected Tutor in Yale College. — Elected Professor of Mathematics. — Publication of Logarith- mic Tables and Treatise on Spherical Geometry. — -Failure of his Health. — His Death. — Char acteristic Traits. — Estimate of his Scientific Abilities. . . . . . . . .254 James Hadley, Professor of the Greek Language and Literature. By William D. Whitney. Professor Hadley's wide-reaching Activity and Influence as a Greek Scholar. — His Recita- tion-room Work, described by Professor Packard. — His Law Studies and Lectures. — His Pecu- liar Gifts and Capacities. — Early Record of his Studies. — Sketch of his Life. — His Work as a College Officer, described by President Porter. — Notice of some of his Works. — His Character as a Man. .257 THE CHAPEL By I. N. Tarbox. First Chapel Built, A.D. 1763. — Outline of previous College History. — Rector Clap Inaugu- rated, A.D. 1740. — Religious Excitement in connection with Whitefield's First Visit. — Profes- sor George P. Fisher's Sermon. — John Cleaveland's Diary. — Professor Naphtali Daggett. — Separate Worship of the Students. — College Church Organized, A.D. 1757. — Uses of the Chapel. — Dr. Daggett President and Preacher. — Presidency of Dr. Ezra Stiles, A.D. 1777-1795. xvi CONTENTS. Pack — Dr. Samuel Wales Professor of Divinity and Preacher. — Characteristics of President Stiles and of Professor Wales. — Dr. Timothy Dwight, A.D. 1795, President of College and Profes- sor of Divinity. — Dr. Dwight's Power in the Pulpit. — Incidents of his Administration. — Death of President Dwight. — Narrative of Dr. Willard Child. — Dr. Jeremiah Day, A.D. 1817-1846. — Dr. Eleazar T. Fitch, Professor of Divinity, A.D. 1817-1852. — The Age of long Profes- sorships : Professor Benjamin Silliman, Professor James L. Kingsley, Professor Chauncey A. Goodrich, D.D., Professor Nathaniel W. Taylor, D.D.— Second Chapel built, A.D. 1824.— Dr. Fitch as a Preacher. — Characteristics of President Day. — College Singing. — The Beethoven Society. — The Christmas Anthem. — Personal Reminiscences. — The New Chapel. — Contrasts. 264 THE BATTELL CHAPEL By William L. Kingsley. The Gift of Mr. Joseph Battell. — The Place of the Battell Chapel in the Quadrangle. — Description of its Exterior. — Description of its Interior. — Its Memorial Character. — The Memorial Inscriptions. 287 COMMONS By Daniel Butler. Views of the Founders of the College respecting " Commons." — The first Dining Hall. — Early Complaints.— Bill of Fare, A.D. 1742.— The Buttery.— " Rules " of A.D. 1762.— Diffi- culties of obtaining Food during the Revolutionary War. — Students Dismissed to their Homes, A.D. 1776. — New Dining Hall built, A.D. 1782. — Another built, A.D. 1819. — Difficulties in the Management. — Rebellion of A.D. 1828. — Commons Abolished, A.D. 1841. . . . 297 THE LITERARY SOCIETIES By Edward B. Coe. Traditions. — Purpose and Value. — Founding of Linonia. — The Critonian Society. — Earliest Linonian Records. — Questions and Answers. — Debates and their Subjects. — Exhibitions and the Drama. — Linonia during the Revolution. — Internal Discord. — The Brothers in Unity. — The Legend of David Humphreys. — The Constitution. — Questions Settled. — Original Dia- logues. — History since 1800. — The Calliopean Society. — Prize Debates. — The Campaign. — The Libraries. — Dissolution. . 307 THE PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY. ... By Lewis R. Packard. The Origin of the Society in Virginia, and Transfer to New England. — Scheme of Union of Chapters through the Country. — The Yale Chapter. — Attacks upon its Archives. — Questions Debated. — Orations and Toasts. — Decline of Interest in the Meetings. — Survival of the Public Exercises. — List of Orators and Poets. ........... 324 CONNECTICUT ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. By Elias Loomis. Efforts made by President Stiles to organize an Academy of Sciences in Connecticut. — Ob- stacles encountered. — Charter refused by the General Assembly. — A Society organized in 1786. — Its Plan of Operations. — Its partial Success. — The Connecticut Academy organized in 1799, and obtained a Charter. — Objects proposed. — Its Publications. — Transactions published since 1866. — Meteorological Journal. — Efforts to promote Geology. — Effort to obtain a Topo- graphical Survey of the State. — Officers of the Academy. — Its Meetings. — Members, etc. . 329 CONTENTS. xvii COLLEGE MAGAZINES By Franklin Carter. Pace Literary Cabinet. — Athenaeum.— Letter from Rev. Dr. Withington. — Miseries of College Life. — Microscope. — Its Contributors. — The Poet Percival. — Professor Alexander M. Fisher. — Aerial Voyage of Captain Gulliver. — Yale Crayon. — Sitting Room. — Student's Companion. — Its Editor. — David Francis Bacon. — Its Plan and Cleverness. — Little Gentleman. — The Gridiron. — The Medley. — Yale Literary Magazine. — Its Origin. — William T. Bacon's Interest in the Enterprise. — Its External Features. — Its first Editors. — A fair Exponent of the College Training. — Its Scholarship. — Election to Editorship in later years. — Quotation from Hon. William M. Evarts' Valedictory for the first Board.— The Yale Literary Medal. — DeForest Orations. — Hon. F. J. Kingsbury's Mathematical Love-Song. — The Pecuniary Success of the Yale Literary. — Its Epilegomena. — Its Honorable Career. — University Quarterly. — Newspa- pers. — Yale Banner. — The Ephemerals numerous.— Yale Courant. — College Courant. — Yale Record 338 PRESENTATION DAY By Henry A. Beers. Origin of the Name. — The Formalities observed. — Their Disuse in Modern Times. — At present simply a Valedictory Occasion. — Character of the Exercises. — The Planting of the Ivy. — The Parting Ode. .............. 361 COMMENCEMENT By Cyrus Northrop. First Commencements private, and held at Saybrook. — Faculty and Students absent in Term Time. — The First Diploma. — Splendid Commencement at New Haven in 17 18. — Failure of Commencements at Wethersfield. — Public and Private Commencements. — Disorders at Com- mencement from 1735 to 1765. — Reform Measures of the Corporation. — The Day for holding Commencement. — The Literary Exercises. — Number of Speakers. — One Session substituted for Two. — The Commencement Dinner. — A Return to the Old Customs. — Music. — Place of holding Commencement.— Ladies and Gentlemen Separated.— Interest in the Day. . . 366 HISTORIC CONNECTION OF THE COLLEGE WITH THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEW HAVEN By Leonard Bacon Commencements and Inaugurations in the Center Church.—" Mr. Davenport's Company " planning for a Commercial City, with a College.— Mr. Pierpont among the Founders.— Mrs. Coster's Lot and Mr. Hooke's Lot sold to the College by the Church.— The College at first a Part of the Parish.— The successive Meeting-houses.— The Pastors of the First Church as related to the College.— The College Treasurers as related to the Church 37<> THE SOCIETY OF ALUMNI By George E. Day. Origin and History of the Society.— Proceedings at the Annual Meeting.— Obituary Record of Deceased Alumni.— Printed Statement of the Condition of the University.— The Bust of President Day.— The Woolsey Fund.— Orators before the Society.— The Triennial Catalogue. —Class Records 3 Sl xviii CONTENTS. MENTAL AND MORAL SCIENCE IN YALE COLLEGE. PAOE By Noah Porter. 3 8 7 PHYSICIANS AMONG YALE GRADUATES. . By Henry Bronson. 392 LAWYERS AMONG YALE GRADUATES. . By Simeon E. Baldwin. 395 INVENTORS AND PROMOTERS OF IMPORTANT PUBLIC INTER- ESTS AMONG YALE GRADUATES. . By Benjamin Silliman. 401 YALE THE MOTHER OF COLLEGES. . . By Aaron L. Ciiapin. 411 PREACHERS AND THEOLOGIANS AMONG YALE GRADUATES. By Noah Porter. 415 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE PROFESSORS IN THE ACADEMICAL DEPARTMENT. Elias Loom is, Munson Professor of A T atural Philosophy and A stronomy. . . 420 James Dwight Dana, Sillimau Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. . . 423 Thomas Anthony Thachek, Professor of the Latin Language and Literature. 425 Hubert Anson Newton, Professor of Mathematics. ..... 426 Lewis Richard Packard, Hillhonsc Professor of the Greek Language and Literature. ............. 428 Cyrus Northrop, Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature. . . . 429 Arthur Martin Wheeler, Professor of History. ...... 430 Arthur Williams Wright, Professor of Molecular Physics and Chemistry. . 43 1 William McLeod Barbour, Chittenden Professor of Divinity. . . . 433 Eugene Lamb Richards, Assistant Professor of Mathematics. . . . 434 CONTENTS. XIX Page Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Professor of American History. . .435 Edward Benton Coe, Street Professor of Modern Languages. . . .436 Franklin Carter, Professor of the German Language and Literature. . . 437 William Graham Sumner, Professor of Political and Social Science. . . 438 Henry Parks Wright, Dunham Professor of the Latin Language and Literature. ............ 439 Henry Augustin Beers, Assistant Professor of English Literature. . . 440 SOUTH MIDDLE. .... By Frederick J. Kingsbury. A New "College House" needed. — Lottery Granted. — Building Dedicated and Named "Connecticut Hall." — Mr. Baldwin's Diary. — The College Butler. — His Office and Duties. — Some Butler's Accounts. — Student Life then and now 441 THE ATHEN^UM By William L. Kingsley. Built as a Chapel in 1763. — Alterations in 1803. — After the Erection of a new Chapel in 1824, called the Athenaeum. — Recitation Rooms. — Society Libraries. — A Tower added in 1829. — Observatory. — A Revolving Cylindrical Dome added in 1870. . . . . .451 THE LABORATORY By Arthur W. Wright. Origin of the Laboratory Building. — Extracts from Diary of President Stiles. — Designed for College Commons. — First Chemical Laboratory. — Transfer of Chemical Department to present Building. — Enlargement of the Structure. — Subsequent Changes. — Apparatus. — Great Voltaic Battery. — Apparatus of Historic Interest. — Scientific and Educational Results. . . . 453 SOUTH COLLEGE By John D. Champlin, Jr. Speech of President Stiles at the laying of the Corner-stone. — The " Band " of the Class of 1856. — A Pistol Shot. — Co-ca-che-lunk. — The Fence. — The Riot of 1855 457 THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE. ... By William L. Kingsley. A new House needed for the President. — Erected A.D. 1800. — Dr. Dwight. — Dr. Day. — Dr. Woolsey. — The Scientific School. ........... 463 xx CONTENTS. THE LYCEUM By William L. Kingsley. Pac.f A Building needed for Recitation Rooms. — The Lyceum. — Theological Chamber. — Rhetori- cal Chamber. — Clock. — Bell. — Bulletin Board. ......... 465 NORTH MIDDLE By John P. Peters. Vote of the Corporation, November 4, 1800. — Description of North Middle. — Named "Berkeley Hall." — Distinguished Occupants. — Peculiar Customs. — Anecdote. . . . 468 THE PHILOSOPHICAL BUILDING. . . By William L. Kingsley. 472 NORTH COLLEGE By Wolcott Calkins. A Chapter of Reminiscences. — Hon. O. S. Seymour, Class of 1824. — Hon. William G. Bates, Class of 1825. — Hon. William Strong, of the United States Supreme Court, Class of 1828. — Mr. Rollin Sanford, Class of 1 831. —Mr. W. T. Bacon, Class of 1837.— Rev. Thomas C. Pit- kin, D.D., Class of 1836. — Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, Class of 1837. — Professor Jacob Cooper, Class of 1852. — Rev. Isaac Riley, Class of 1857. . . . . . . . . . 474 THE CHAPEL OF 1824 By William L. Kingsley. A new Chapel Built in 1824.— Votes of the Corporation. — Rooms for Theological Students. — Library. — Prayers. .............. 485 GRADUATES HALL By William L. Kingsley. A large Room needed for the Biennial Examinations. — The Literary Societies take measures to erect Halls. — Plan of erecting a Single Building instead. — Graduates Hall built in 1853. — Arrangement of its Rooms. ............. 488 FARNAM COLLEGE. ...... By Noah Porter. 490 DURFEE COLLEGE By Arthur M. Wheeler. 493 EDWARD CLAUDIUS HERRICK By Noah Porter. Librarian, 1843-1858. — Treasurer, 1852-1862 498 APPENDIX 502 CONTENTS. XXI APPENDIX. Pack Valedictorians 502 Salutatorians. ............... 502 DeForest Oration and Townsend Essays. ......... 503 Recipients of Junior Exhibition Prize 504 ILLUSTRATIONS. HELIOTYPES. THE "OLD BRICK ROW" Frontispiece (From the south.) Page REV. JOHN DAVENPORT 2 (From a portrait in the possession of the college, taken the year of his death. Artist unknown.) NEW HAVEN GREEN 4 (From the northeast.) HOPKINS GRAMMAR SCHOOL ■ 7 JUDGES* CAVE, WEST ROCK • . . 9 REV. JAMES PIERPONT 13 (From a portrait painted in Boston, in 1711, now in possession of the Misses Foster, of New Haven. Artist unknown.) MONUMENT AT CLINTON [KENILWORTH] .27 (Commemorating the spot where the earliest Senior Classes were taught by Rector Pierson, A.D. 1701-1707.) STATUE OF RECTOR PIERSON 29 (College Green.) GOVERNOR GURDON SALTONSTALL 33 (From a portrait in the possession of the college. Artist unknown.) GOVERNOR ELIHU YALE 37 (From a portrait in the possession of the college, by E. Seeman, A.D. 1717.) YALE COLLEGE 45 (From an engraving made between A.D. 1742 and 1750, by James Buck.) RECTOR TIMOTHY CUTLER 49 (From a portrait in possession of the college. Artist unknown ) ST. GILES; WITH CHURCH-YARD AND TOMB OF GOVERNOR ELIHU YALE, WREXHAM (NORTH WALES) 5 1 RECTOR WILLIAMS 56 (From a copy in the possession of the college, by Moulthrop, A.D. 1795, after an original portrait by Smybert.) DEAN BERKELEY'S FAMILY 5 8 (From a painting by Smybert, in the possession of the college. The principal figure is the Dean, in his clerical habit. The lady with the child is his wife ; the other lady is Miss Handcock, who accompanied her to America. The gentleman writing at the table is Sir James Dalton. The gentleman standing behind the ladies is Mr. James. The other gentleman in brown is Mr. John Moffat, a friend of the artist. The remaining figure is the artist Smybert. The Dean is resting his hand on a copy of Plato, his favorite author, and appears to be dictating to Sir James, who is acting as amanuensis.) xxiii XXIV YALE COLLEGE. , SHOWING THE DATES OF ACQUIRING DEAN BERKELEY'S HOUSE AT NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND (Photographed June, 1877.) THE PRINCIPAL ROOM IN DEAN BERKELEY'S HOUSE . (Photographed June, [877.) A PLAN OF THE TOWN OF NEW HAVEN, A.D. 1748 . PRESIDENT STILES (From a painting by Moulthrop, in the possession of the college.) PRESIDENT DWIGHT (From a painting by Colonel Trumbull, in the possession of the college.) BUST OF PRESIDENT DAY (By Chauncey B. Ives, in the possession of the college.) PRESIDENT WOOLSEY (From a portrait by George A. Baker, N.A. In the possession of the college.) TEMPLE STREET TEMPLE STREET IN WINTER PRESIDENT PORTER HILLHOUSE AVENUE ANCIENT DIPLOMAS THE LIBRARY .... MAIN HALL IN THE LIBRARY TREASURY BUILDING PLOT OF THE COLLEGE SQUARE TITLE. A.D. 1877 BENJAMIN SILLIMAN (From an ambrotype.) JAMES LUCE KINGSLEY (From a photograph.) ALEXANDER METCALF FISHER (From a painting by S. F. B. Morse, President N.A. In the possession of the college DENISON OLMSTED (From a photograph.) WILLIAM A. LARNED (From a painting by D. Huntington, President N.A., A.D. 1847. In the possession o ANTHONY D. STANLEY .... (From a painting in the possession of the college.) JAMES HADLEY (From a photograph.) A FRONT VIEW OF YALE COLLEGE AND THE COLLEGE CHAPEL, A.D. 1786 BATTELL CHAPEL INTERIOR OF BATTELL CHAPEL JOSEPH BATTELL (From a crayon sketch by J. N. Niemeyer.) THE FIRST CHURCH, NEW HAVEN MEMORIAL TABLET, FIRST CHURCH, NEW HAVEN . JONATHAN EDWARDS (From a copy of an original painting by Smybert, in the possession of Mme. Moreau.) ELIAS LOOMIS .... JAMES D. DANA THOMAS A. THACHER . f the college.) THE Page 60 62 77 102 124 147 149 151 160 162 163 184 187 190 199 210 224 229 232 250 2 54 2 57 264 287 289 296 376 378 387 420 423 425 ILL USTRA TIONS. XXV HUBERT A. NEWTON LEWIS R. PACKARD . CYRUS NORTHROP . ARTHUR M. WHEELER ARTHUR W. WRIGHT WILLIAM M. BARBOUR EUGENE L. RICHARDS FRANKLIN B. DEXTER EDWARD B. COE FRANKLIN CARTER . WILLIAM G. SUMNER HENRY P. WRIGHT . HENRY A. BEERS COLLEGE GREEN, WITH LOCATION OF BUILDINGS . LABORATORY STUDENT'S ROOM IN SOUTH COLLEGE THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, A.D. 1800-1846 THE PHILOSOPHICAL BUILDING NORTH COLLEGE . GRADUATES' HALL EXAMINATION ROOM, GRADUATES' HALL NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE QUADRANGLE, BATTELL NAM COLLEGE HENRY FARNAM (From a portrait by George A. Baker, N.A. In the possession of the college.) DURFEE COLLEGE . B. M. C. DURFEE (From a portrait by Cabanel, in possession of Mrs. Durfee, Fall River.) STUDENT'S ROOM, DURFEE COLLEGE EDWARD C. HERRICK (From a medallion in marble by E. D. Palmer.) CHAPEL, AND FAR- Page 426 428 429 430 431 433 434 435 43 6 437 438 439 440 441 453 457 463 472 474 488 489 490 492 493 495 497 498 WOODCUTS AND OTHER SMALL ILLUSTRATIONS Commemorative Medal. New Haven, 1638-1838 Arms of the Davenport Family Davenport Place, New Haven ....... Autograph of John Davenport ....... House of Rev. Samuel Russel (Branford), in which the College was Founded, A.D. Congregational Meeting-House, Kenilworth, Built A.D. 1700 Rector Pierson's Chair Arms of Governor Yale ........ House of Governor Saltonstall, East Haven, Built A.D. 1708 (From a sketch by Joline B. Smith, A.D. 187S.) Rector's House, Built A.D. 1722 Episcopal Seal of Dr. Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne (Copied from the Memorial Window in Battell Chapel ) Connecticut Hall, Built A.D. 1752. [South Middle] 1700. Page I 10 I I 26 29 31 49 56 63 XXVI YALE COLLEGE. Chapel, Built A.D. 1763. [Athenaeum] Monument of President Clap, Grove-Street Cemetery House of the Professor of Divinity, Built A.D. 1758 Seal of the State of Connecticut .... Union Hall, Built A.D. 1794. [South College] Monument of President Stiles, Grove-Street Cemetery Berkeley Hall and Lyceum, Built A.D. 1804 Monument of President Dwight, Grove-Street Cemetery Library Trumbull Gallery Divinity College, Built A.D. 1836 Monument of President Day, Grove-Street Cemetery Sheffield Hall East Divinity Hall Medical College Farnam College Durfee College Battell Chapel Art School Peabody Museum The College Seal Commons Hall Badge of the Phi Beta Kappa Society Vignette on the Cover of the "Yale Literary Magazine ' Presentation Day Planting the Ivy Class Historian The Telegraph. Invention of S. F. B. Morse The Fence The Pump ..... Going to Prayers in the Olden Time Coming from Prayers Pack 89 93 94 101 102 11 1 1 12 123 124 142 J 43 146 147 154 156 158 159 160 161 162 163 297 3 2 4 338 362 3 6 4 365 400 457 462 485 486 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF YALE COLLEGE. BY WILLIAM L. KINGSLEY. COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL. QUINNIPIACK, 1638 — NEW HAVEN, 1838. HISTORICAL SKETCH CHAPTER I. EARLY EFFORTS OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONISTS TO FOUND A COLLEGE. New Haven designed to be a College Town from the first. — The Rev. John Davenport, Vicar of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London. — Incurs the displeasure of Laud. — Flies to Hol- land. — Conceives the idea of founding in the New World an independent Christian State. — Interests his old parishioners in Coleman Street. — They form a Company. — Land in New Haven, June, 1638. — The ideas of the Colonists respecting Education. — Ezekiel Cheever. — What was done for the Higher Education. — Financial failure of the Colony. — First definite action with regard to a College, 1647. — Action of the General Court in 1652. — Subsequent action, 1652. — Governor Eaton's bequest of books. — Governor Hopkins's bequest. — Action taken in 1660. — Instruction commenced. — Difficulties. — New Haven annexed to Connecticut. — Indian war. — Sir Edmund Andros. — Results in 1700. — Love of learning established among the people. — The Hopkins Grammar School founded. — One in ten of the graduates of Harvard from New Haven. — The way prepared for a College. The ancient school of learning, with its seven faculties of instruction, which is known as Yale College, was founded, according to the statement which has usually been made by those who have written its history, in the year 1 700. What was done at that time, however, is to be regarded rather as the consummation of efforts which had been repeatedly made for the accomplishment of the same end, during a period of more than fifty years. A college was one of the institutions which the Rev. John Daven- port, the leader of the colony which was planted in New Haven, a. d. 1638, deemed essential to that idea of a Christian State, which he had formed before he left his native land, and to establish which he came to the wilderness of this New World. It was a part of his plan, from the first, that New Haven should be a college town; and to secure this result, his labors for many years were persistent and unwearied. No ad- equate history of the circumstances connected with the founding of the "collegiate school" in 1700 can be written without mention of his name, and without a distinct recognition of the important services which were rendered by him at that earlier period vol. 1. — I 2 YALE COLLEGE. for the advancement of the higher education. The tradition of his efforts never faded from the minds of those who succeeded him, and led at last to the carrying out of his original design. John Davenport was born a. d. 1597, in England, in the city of Coventry, in which his grandfather and his great-uncle had each held the office of mayor. The family from which he was descended had long been held in high repute, not only in Coventry, but in the county of Chester, where it is said to have originated.* At the age of six- Jfc,^ jdlv teen he became a member of the University of Oxford. At the I /\ (J age of nineteen he was admitted to orders, and was soon called to the city of London, to take charge of the church and parish in Coleman Street, as its vicar. In the great metropolis, notwith- standing his youth, he soon became distinguished for his "notable accomplishments" as a scholar and a clergyman. Being a Puri- tan, he was admitted to the friendship, and shared the counsels, of the ablest men of that party, and took a conspicuous part in all their enterprises foi the public good. When he had been about seventeen years in Coleman Street, he was led to regard some of the ceremonies which were required in the Church of England as unscriptural, and became in consequence a "non-conformist." The course which he now took at- tracted the attention of his diocesan, William Laud, Bishop of London, whose displeas- ure was so much aroused, that when in the latter part of the year 1633 it was antici- pated that this old enemy of his would speedily be advanced to the primacy, Mr. Dav- enport, knowing the risk he ran if he remained in England, escaped into Holland. The next three years were years of exile, but they proved to be the turning-point in his life. It was a time when the persistency of the English government in requiring conformity in religion to the established church was such, that great numbers of people were turning their thoughts towards the New World, with the idea of making homes on the other side of the Atlantic. It was claimed, however, that the nature of the allegiance which every Englishman owed to the king was such that he could not divest himself of it ; that wherever he betook himself, as long as he had life, he was amenable for his religious faith and practice, as well as for his civil conduct, to the despotic power of the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission. Even the men who had framed for themselves a constitution in the cabin of the Mayfloiver had not become disentangled from old traditions. They recognized the fact that they were still under the rule of the king. They did not even desire to shake off his authority. They subscribed themselves "the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign King James"; and what they did, they declared was done "for the honor of our king and country." The colonists who settled Massachusetts not only made no advance in theory upon the men of Plymouth, but they did not go as far. They went out from England under English charters. Their claim to the rights which they asserted was founded, in their estimation, * Arms of the Davenport Family. — Argent, a chevron sable between three cross crosslets fitch^e of the second. Crest. —On a wreath, a felon's head, couped at the neck proper, haltered Or. OFFICE INDICATED. — Magisterial Sergeancy. s^^iv J&T^n, /) CWZ^eA^z. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 3 on the fact that they were Englishmen by birth. The colonists, too, who settled the towns on the Connecticut river did not forget at once that they were Englishmen. They went out from Massachusetts to establish themselves in territory which was at least indirectly held by a title derived from the crown of England. Not so John Davenport. In his exile he conceived a view in advance of this. It seemed to him that there were rights which belonged to Englishmen, not because they were Englishmen, but because they were men. He fell back on the natural and inher- ent rights which were theirs by virtue of their manhood. It seemed to him that if a company of Englishmen went beyond the limits of any existing government, they were free to expatriate themselves, and found a new and independent state. Very likely this idea had occurred before to others, but he was the first to resolve to carry it into execution. He determined to lead a colony into the American wilderness without asking for any charter, and without recognizing in any way dependence upon the king. He proposed to found a state which should be independent, and should acknowledge allegiance only to God ; a state which should be Christian in the strict sense of the word; in which, as he said, "he would drive things in the first essay as near to the precept and pattern of Scripture as they could be driven"; a state moreover which should be supported and adorned by all those institutions which his wide experience had taught him would give it dignity and strength, and contribute to the well-being of its citizens. With due sense of the importance of laying the foundation of such a state aright, "lest," as he said, "posterity rue the first miscarriages when it will be too late to redress them," he proposed that churches should be established not only free and independent of all control by the state, but that all power, civil as well as ecclesiastical, should be vested in the hands of the members of these churches, in such a way that only church members should act in the choice of those who were to fill the offices of government, or be eligible to them. Furthermore, in order that the Christian citizens of the state so constituted, upon whom all the responsibilities for the conduct of affairs were to rest, might be men of intelligence, and competent to discharge these responsi- bilities, he proposed that the advantages of education should be provided in such a way that the whole body of the children of each successive generation should be "brought up in learning." In the popular estimation, the age of colonization which was now commencing, the age in which the foundations of states were laid, seems less attractive than the age of exploration and discovery which had just passed away. But surely no more glorious vision fired the imagination of the Cabots, of Frobisher, of Drake, of Howard, or even of Raleigh, than this grand conception of a new independent Christian state, resting on intelligence and justice, to be founded outside the bounds of any existing jurisdic- tion, which now stirred the enthusiasm of John Davenport. Accordingly, with this conception of a state in his mind, as soon as possible he returned to England, for the purpose of persuading his old friends and parishioners in Coleman Street to co-operate with him in an effort to make it a reality. Prominent at that time among them was Theophilus Eaton, "a merchant of great credit and fashion," who had been in boyhood his schoolmate, and ever after his de- 4 YALE COLLEGE. voted friend. The father of Eaton had been a "famous minister" in Coventry. The son had gone early to London, had there engaged in trade to the Baltic, had been deputy-governor of the company of merchants to which he belonged, had visited the northern nations of Europe, and had been the representative of Charles I at the Court of Denmark. With the assistance of Theophilus Eaton, and of Edward Hopkins, another wealthy London merchant, who was the son-in-law of Mr. Eaton, a company was formed, which, in May, 1637, set sail from England, and, after a delay of some months in Bos- ton, landed in New Haven, April 25, 1638. Such then was the character of the leader of this colony, and such the circumstances under which he was inspired to come to these shores. The character of the men who made up his company also requires a moment's attention, in order that the traditions of New Haven may be understood, and in order that it may be seen what was the nature of the soil from which the college in due time was to spring. As a body, the men who made up this company were men of superior wealth, cult- ure, and knowledge of affairs. But the thing which especially distinguished them from all the other colonists who landed in any part of New England was the grandeur of the objects which they proposed to themselves. They had accepted the views of their former pastor in Coleman Street, and had come with him to these ends of the earth, not simply that they might escape from religious and political tyranny; not simply that they might find a place where they might worship God according to the dictates of their consciences — though no one of them would probably have left his native land had it not been for the oppression which they had suffered at home for their religious views — but they had come with the distinct understanding that they were to ldy here the foundations of a Christian state which would in time take its place in the world as a free and independent commonwealth. They knew that it was then the day of small things, but the results which are seen to-day they none the less expected. It might take years to have these results developed, but they anticipated them with confidence. Hence in all their public transactions, and in all the institutions which they proceeded to estab- lish, the first planters of New Haven showed, in a remarkable manner, that they appreciated the importance and dignity of what they were doing. They were building for those who should come after them. An illustration of the enlarged views which characterized all that they did is to be found in the foresight which they manifested in laying out their new town, and in the "fine and stately" houses which they erected. They had many of them been men of wealth and position in London, and had seen the great cities of different nations. They knew what a city should be ; and there was nothing in those days anywhere else in New England which for beauty and commodi- ousness would equal their streets and public square. The houses in Boston were said to make a "poor show" when compared with those in New Haven. Another illustra- tion of the enlarged views of these men is to be found in the high sense of justice which characterized all their actions, and of which proof is to be found in the fairness and consideration with which they invariably treated the neighboring Indian tribes. And it may be worth while to refer here, also, even to those things which have been m $ > < m z a XI m m z HISTORICAL SKETCH. - made a matter of ridicule by shallow critics ; for even in those things they are seen, on an intelligent consideration of their circumstances and the peculiar dangers to which they were exposed, to have taken a course which signally displays an enlightened and comprehensive statesmanship. It has already been stated that among the things which were regarded by Mr. Dav- enport as of fundamental importance in the infant commonwealth was a provision for universal education. His plan included schools for all, where the rudiments of knowl- edge might be gained ; schools where the learned languages should be taught ; a public library; and, to crown all, a college "in which youth might be fitted for public service in church and state." Inspired by him, the colonists came prepared to put their educational system into operation at once. For this end, they brought with them a professional teacher of the classical languages, Mr. Ezekiel Cheever, whose "Latin Accidence" held its place in New England for more than a century as the accepted text-book in Latin Grammar. As a further proof of the importance which they attached to education, it may be men- tioned that before a year had passed, the General Court of the colony ordered a clause to be inserted in the indentures of an apprentice, Charles Higginson, to the effect that he was to be kept at school for a year ; and that this was no mere matter of form ap- pears from the fact that a few years afterwards the indentures of another apprentice, Samuel Hitchcock, were canceled "because he had not been taught to read and write." Very soon, also, before they had yet completed the laying out of the town, they estab- lished a free grammar-school, and a committee was appointed "to consider what yearly allowance is meet to be given to it out of the common stock of the town." In 1643, the fifth year after their landing, at the request of the Commissioners of the United Colo- nies of New England, they took up a contribution of corn, by officers appointed for the purpose, for the support of the college which had already been established in Massa- chusetts ; and they continued to forward a contribution annually for several years. A "cash gift" of £\o sterling is also gratefully acknowledged by the historian of Harvard College, which was sent on, at this time, by Governor Eaton, from New Haven, to assist in the erection of the requisite buildings in Cambridge. Such, then, it should be remembered, was the feeling with regard to the importance of education among the people who settled New Haven at the very first. That the love of learning should be cultivated, and that sacrifices should be made in order that instruction of the highest kind might be provided, were principles which were imbedded in the very theory of the state whose foundations they laid. Unfortunately the colonists did not succeed financially as they had expected. Per- haps the place which they had selected for their town, in their circumstances, and at that time, was unfavorable. Everything seemed to go against them. They met with a series of severe disasters. The prospect in their new abode grew discouraging. Even the tidings which reached them from England was of a character to make them feel unsettled, and to lead them to look back, with longing eyes, to their native land. A brighter day seemed to be dawning there. The word came to them that the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission had been abolished. The Parliament at 6 YALE COLLEGE. last had dared to assert the liberties of the people, and had placed itself in opposition to the: King-. The royal standard had been set up at Nottingham, and the soldiers of the Parliament had crossed swords with the cavaliers at Edgehill. Letters were re- ceived from Cromwell, and others high in the counsels of the popular party, urging Mr. Davenport to return to England to assist in the great revolution which was already begun. Letters were also received, which, as it is supposed, contained an invitation to him to come over and take a seat in the assembly of divines which it was expected was soon to meet for the purpose of remodeling the Church of England ; and which after- wards, when it met, was known as the Westminster Assembly. They wrote him : "The sooner you come the better!" There is evidence that Mr. Davenport was strongly moved to go. Some of his friends did go, and held high office under the Protector. But Mr. Davenport held on, and notwithstanding all discouragements, and the alluring prospects presented in England, in consequence of the new state of things, the great body of the planters held on and showed their unalterable determination to carry out their original plan. At last, in 1647, the tenth year of their settlement, the year in which Charles I was delivered as a prisoner to the Commissioners of the En- glish Parliament, they were ready to begin to take definite action with regard to estab- lishing the college, which, in their estimation, was to crown their educational system. Accordingly a tract of land, to which the name of "college land" was given, was set apart for its support. A house was also offered by Deputy-Governor Goodyear, on the lot now occupied by the hotel known as the New Haven House, and fronting on that public square, which, in the progress of time, was destined to see all their anticipations fulfilled, and to be associated with the memories of so many generations of scholars. This house was, however, never formally deeded, as it became necessary to suspend the enterprise for a season, "in consequence of the remonstrances of the people of Mas- sachusetts, who claimed that the whole population of New England was scarcely suffi- cient to support one institution of this nature, and that the establishment of a second would in the end be a sacrifice of both." But the project was by no means abandoned. It continued to be cherished by the people of the whole jurisdiction with undiminished interest. It came up again four years after, in 1652, in the General Court, and the proposition was discussed there in some form or other nearly every succeeding year. Meanwhile Cromwell, who was now Lord Protector of England, who had been acquainted all along with the condition of affairs in New Haven through correspond- ence with one of his relatives, the Rev. Mr. Hooke, the colleague of Mr. Davenport, made an attempt to induce the colonists to remove. He offered them a new home in Jamaica, and afterwards a place in Ireland "with many privileges." But they not only would not consent to abandon the homes which they had made for themselves here, but they did not even falter in any of the plans which they had proposed. Notwithstand- ing fresh discouragements, the project of the college was brought forward again and again in New Haven and also in the other towns which had grown up in the neighbor- hood. In 1655 they proceeded so far as to take up a subscription in New Haven, which amounted to ^300. ^100 were also promised from Milford. The other towns HOPKINS GRAMMAR SCHOOL. HISTORICAL SKETCH. -j of the jurisdiction raised the amount to ^540, which was considered to be enough to pro- vide for a house. Upon this, the people of New Haven took further measures and assured ^60 a year "out of the town treasury," as a salary for a president. And as additional evidence of the confident expectation that still existed in the community that a college would soon be established, it appeared, on the death of Governor Eaton, in 1658, who had been the chief magistrate of the colony by annual election from the first, that he had already delivered to Mr. Davenport books to the value of ^20 for its use. At last, in 1660, it seemed as if the great object for which so much solicitude had been manifested had been attained. A bequest of money, sufficient as it was thought to make it possible to carry out the enterprise, was left by will for the purpose by Gov- ernor Hopkins. The name of this generous benefactor of the colony has already been mentioned in connection with the formation of the original company in London. He was the son-in-law of Governor Eaton, and one of the original party who had left En- gland in 1637. He, however, had not established himself in New Haven, but had taken up his residence in Hartford, where he had been for many years, alternately with Governor Haynes, re-elected Governor of the colony of Connecticut, from 1640 to 1654. There he had acquired a large property. On the death of his brother in En- gland who was "Warden of the fleet," it had become necessary for him to return to his native land. There he had been welcomed by the Protector, and had been made by him Commissioner of the Admiralty, and had been advanced to other important offices. Mr. Davenport had kept him informed by letter of what was doing in New Haven for the foundation of a college ; and he had expressed his determination to contribute something for its support. But before he was able to do what he had in contemplation, he died. In his will, however, he left a sum of money to trustees, of whom Mr. Dav- enport was one, for its benefit, "that hopeful youth might be bred up in it for the public service of the country in future times." On receiving a copy of this will, Mr. Davenport, after conferring with the other trustees, informed the General Court of the jurisdiction of New Haven of the nature of the bequest, and proposed to them to take the necessary steps to establish the college at once. The Court cordially responded, and did all that was considered desirable to carry out the wishes of the donor. One of the best lots in the town was immediately set apart for it, and like the lot which had been before offered in 1647, it fronted on the "Green," which thus seemed predestined from the first to be ever associated with its history. It was the lot which is now occupied by the house of Governor Ingersoll, at the corner of Elm and Temple Streets. But Mr. Davenport was doomed again to disappointment. The property from which the funds were to come was situated in the colony of Connecticut, and the authorities of that colony placed such obstacles in the way of the trustees that they were pre- vented from settling the estate. Nothing shows more clearly the character of the people of New Haven and their indomitable determination to preserve the independ- ence of the Christian state which they had founded than the course which they now took in this emergency. The Colony of Connecticut, in their estimation, was perpe- trating a great act of injustice and yet they would make no appeal to the English courts. For four years they persisted in prosecuting their claim in such ways as were open to 8 YALE COLLEGE. them, and at last they preferred to purchase the permission to settle the estate by mak- ing a concession of full half of the bequest to the Connecticut Colony, rather than recognize in any way dependence upon the English government, by inviting its inter- ference. This, too, was the very time when New Haven, in its weakness, was braving the wrath of the restored royal government in England by sheltering the regicide judges of Charles I, General Whalley and General Goffe, from the officers who had been sent from England to arrest them. At last, in 1664, the matter was brought to a successful termination. But when the trustees were prepared to pay over, for the benefit of the college, the avails of the be- DAVENPORT PLACE, NEW HAVEN, CONN.* I quest, which as they say had been "something damnified" by the delay, it was a time of deep despondency in the New Haven colony. The commercial plans of the original planters had signally failed. Many of the principal men among them had died. Others had returned to England. Worst of all, the great object of their efforts seemed just about to be frustrated. A new danger was threatening to overwhelm them. The Colony of Connecticut had procured a charter from Charles II, which included in its grant their whole territory, and there seemed great doubts as to the possibility of main- taining the separate and independent existence of the Christian state which had been * The accompanying engraving presents a view of the "Davenport Place," in Elm street. The house occupied by its original proprietor was principally taken down and rebuilt in its present form by the late Judge Pierpont Edwards, about seventy years ago. Some parts of the ancient dwelling appear in the mansion, and the cellar, in which the "regicides" were concealed by Mr. Daven- port, yet remains under the present building. v. , JUDGES' CAVE. HISTORICAL SKETCH. 9 the object of such high anticipations, and to found which they had worked so bravely, and had undergone so many hardships. The stout-hearted Davenport himself said : "In New Haven, Christ's cause is lost." The people of New Haven, weakened in so many ways, were actually now in no condition to avail themselves of the bequest of Governor Hopkins, so as to make the college what they had intended. However, all that could be done was done. The "college lot" on the public square, which had been reserved for its use, was made over to it by the town, and the "college land" which had been voted sixteen years before, was placed at its disposal. But when the attempt was made to commence instruction, it was found that it was impossible to arrange for any- thing but instruction of a very humble kind. There is evidence that this was the occasion of great grief to the friends of the college. But they did the best they could, and three years after, the institution was at last, through the efforts of Mr. Davenport, placed on a more respectable footing, and it appears from public documents that he still hoped that it might maintain its rank as a college, and that the original plan might be carried out. So he continued to watch over its interests and labor for its prosperity till, in 1668, when he made his last formal grant to it, preparatory to his removal to Massa- chusetts, he still spoke of it as the grammar-school or college "already begun." But after he had left New Haven for Boston, where he died in less than two years, March n, 1670, the times grew still more unpropitious. It was not long before the attention of all New England was wholly absorbed by that disastrous and exhausting war with the Indians, in which the native tribes combined their forces in order if possible to exter- minate the whole white population. When that war was brought to a conclusion, the people were still kept in a constant state of alarm by the fear that their chartered rights might be taken from them to satisfy the greed of the needy courtiers and favor- ites of Charles II. And then in 1686, when Charles II had been succeeded by his brother, James II, all again was thrown into confusion by the revolution which was ac- complished in New England by Sir Edmund Andros, who had been commissioned by James II for the purpose of overthrowing all the existing governments of New England and organizing the whole country under one royal governor. At a time when the charter of Connecticut was lying concealed in the friendly shelter of the famous oak in Hartford, which was to become forever known as the "Charter Oak," it could hardly be expected that much would be done for the promotion of the higher education. Yet, notwithstanding these troubles, the school maintained its existence, and although all hopes of its attaining to the rank of a college were given up, a succession of learned teachers continued to give classical instruction and to fit youths for college ; and the town of New Haven, also, continued to show that it still felt the importance of bring- ing up "hopeful youths" for the public use and service of the country, as is shown by the records, where it appears that, "for the encouragement of such persons as showed a disposition to bring up their children in learning," money was voted repeatedly from the public treasury to maintain them at Harvard College in Massachusetts. Such then were the results of the efforts of Mr. Davenport. No one of the colonies of New England had apparently started under such favorable circumstances, or with such high hopes of success as the colony of wealthy merchants which he had led from vol. 1. — 2 IO YALE COLLEGE. London to New Haven. All that riches, and education, and culture, and knowledge of affairs could do to perpetuate themselves in the American wilderness, was done. The story of the struggles of those brave men is a sad one. It is one that has been often repeated in the long history of the colonization of this country. It is the old story of the fate which has befallen so many of the generous, the aspiring, and the self-sacrific- ing, who, in the great crises of affairs, have been ready to choose the part of clanger and to go to the front. A near kinsman* of Mr. Davenport remained at home, and held high station through a long life, at the court of his sovereign; first in that of Charles I, and afterwards in that of Charles II. John Davenport left England to carry out here a magnificent idea; and instead of an independent Christian state, supported by all the institutions which can make a state glorious, New Haven had been brought into subjection to Connecticut, and the college which was to have been a beacon in this western world, a centre for all refining influences, and which was to have diffused light and truth — lux ct Veritas — to the ends of the earth, never in his life rose above the grade of a grammar-school. It would seem as if his life had been a failure. Yet not altogether, for as one result the love of learning has been planted deep in the hearts of the peorjle of New Haven, never to be eradicated; and as another of the results, the school which he had been enabled to found, through the liberality of Governor Hop- kins, had gained firm root, and has continued to this day, and has flourished to such a degree that probably no school on the American continent, in these two hundred and sixteen years, has done more for the promotion of elementary classical education. As still another of the results, it appears that of the graduates of Harvard College from its foundation in 1636 to the year 1700 as many as one in thirty, at least, were from the distant town of New Haven, when even at the close of this period the total number of its inhabitants scarcely exceeded five hundred. And yet another result of what he ac- complished is found in the fact that when the fullness of time came, the seed that he had sown sprang up, and to-day the college, which should have been known by his name, stands in New Haven as the fruit of the traditions of his plans, and of his hopes and of his unwearied labors. As long as the college stands, the name of John Daven- port, that pioneer in the promotion of the higher education, should be remembered by its alumni with reverence and gratitude. * This was Christopher Davenport, or Father Francis de St. Clare (to use his religious name), who was a nephew of John 1 >avenport. S^t>^ /) cW&tyjrfk,. /if 5 ?!?- -P= . UjJJ! [--^IT 8 B HBB HOUSE OF REV. SAMUEL RUSSEL (BRANFORD), IN WHICH THE COLLEGE WAS FOUNDED, A.D. I7OO. CHAPTER II. FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. Despondency of the people of New England after the Restoration. — Religious declension. — Revival of prosperity after the Revolution of 1688. — James Pierpont, Samuel Andrew, Samuel Russel. — Advantage taken of the new state of things. — The probable revival of the idea of founding a college in New Haven. — Plan delayed by War with France. — Coalition against Louis XIV. — Peace of Ryswick, A.D. 1697. — New efforts to establish a college. — Plan of Rev. Cotton Mather. — Ecclesiastical establishment party. — Plan of New Haven ministers. — Trustees nomi- nated. — New Haven influence predominant. — Israel Chauncy, Thomas Buckingham, Abraham Pierson, Noadiah Russel, Samuel Andrew, James Pierpont, Joseph Webb, James Noyes, Samuel Mather, Timothy Woodbridge. — Meeting in New Haven, A.D. 1700. — Meeting by appointment at Branford. — College founded by the presentation of books. — Doubts as to the expediency of ap- plying for a Charter. — Experience of Harvard College. — Thought "safe and best" to proceed. — The Sewall and Addington Draft. — Altered to suit the views of the Trustees. — Donation of Hon. James Fitch. — The peculiar phraseology of the Charter. — "Tutors or ushers." — Meeting of the Trustees at Saybrook, Nov. ii, 1701. — College established at Saybrook "for the present." — Abra- ham Pierson elected Rector. — "Orders" of the Trustees respecting his duties. — Instruction to be given at Kenilworth. — Plan of studies. — First student. — Monument erected, A.D. 1868. — First COMMENCEMENT. ELECTION OF TUTOR. DISCOURAGEMENT. QUEEN ANNE'S War. RECTOR PlERSON's DEATH. — LAUNT THOMPSON'S STATUE. MODERN HISTORICAL CRITICISM. The gloom and despondency which had begun to settle down upon the people of New England on the accession of Charles II had reached a climax at the commence- ment of the year 1689. The acts of trade and navigation, passed by the home govern- ment in 1663, had borne hard on all their industries. They had been forced to engage in a desperate struggle for life itself with the original inhabitants of the soil. The whole power of the Indian tribes within their borders had been united under that re- nowned chieftain who is known as King Philip, and as the result of the war which ensued, "there was hardly a family or an individual in any of the colonies who had not been called to mourn the loss of some near friend. Every eleventh man in the militia had fallen. Every eleventh family had been burned out. The cultivation of the soil had been in a great measure suspended. All resources were exhausted, and every colony and town was loaded with debt." Scarcely had they emerged from this disas- 1 1 I2 YALE COLLEGE. trous conflict, when their charters were declared to be forfeited. Sir Edmund Andros received a commission as Governor- General of all New England, and after taking on himself the administration of government, announced that the titles of the inhabitants to their lands were of no value. He declared that "Indian deeds were no better than the scratch of a bear's paw." The historian of Connecticut, Dr. Trumbull, says: "Not the fairest purchases and most ample conveyance from the natives, no dangers, disburse- ments, nor labors in cultivating a wilderness, and turning it into orchards, gardens, and pleasant fields, no grants by charters, nor by legislatures constituted by them, no dec- larations of preceding kings, nor of his then present majesty, promising them the quiet enjoyment of their houses and lands, nor fifty or sixty years' undisturbed possession, were pleas of any validity or consideration with Sir Edmund and his minions. The purchasers and cultivators, after fifty or sixty years' improvement, were obliged to take out patents for their estates. For these, in some instances, a fee of fifty pounds was demanded. Writs of intrusion were issued against persons of principal character who would not submit to such impositions, and their lands were patented to others." The result was that: "All the motives to great actions, to industry, economy, enterprise, wealth, and population, were in a manner annihilated. A general inactivity and lan- guishment pervaded the whole public body. Liberty, property, and everything which ought to be dear to men grew more and more insecure." At last, when all was at its worst, and fear and distrust had spread over the whole country, in April of the year 1689, the tidings reached Boston that on the preceding 5th of November the Prince of Orange had landed at Torbay in England. At the first intimation of a prospect of relief, even before the announcement that William and Mary had been proclaimed King and Queen, the people rose against the authority of Andros, placed him and his officers in confinement, and recalled their former magis- trates to authority. Then, upon the restoration of their old government, there was soon everywhere seen a revival of public confidence and a return of prosperity. This long period of anxiety and trouble, brought about by the usurpation and vexa- tious interference of the English government, had been attended by a wide-spread religious declension. The descendants of the first colonists, demoralized by war and the consequences of war, distracted by fear and anxiety, had in great measure lost the strong religious convictions which had been entertained by their fathers. A change also in their doctrinal views had gradually crept in, which was soon to lead to the prac- tice of receiving all baptized persons who were not openly immoral into the church as church members under what was called the "half-way covenant," and admitting also the children of such persons to baptism. The results of these altered views were already to be seen in the contentions and divisions by which the churches were everywhere distracted. The towns of the old New Haven jurisdiction had felt all these unfavorable influ- ences as much as those in any part of New England. Religion and morality, and the cause of education had all suffered. There had been a period of some years, in the churches of New Haven, Milford, and Branford, when from various causes there had been no settled pastor. Dissensions and quarrels had arisen among the people which Jj Ci+vyAA iJLl'jl^p J 6*i4- FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. ,3 had proved ruinous to spiritual religion. But a few years before the Revolution of 1688 in England, when everything seemed full of discouragement, these churches had been so fortunate as to secure as their pastors three young men whose names were des- tined to be memorable in the history of American education : James Pierpont, Samuel Andrew, and Samuel Russel. The Rev. James Pierpont was born in Roxbury, in Massachusetts, Jan. 4, 1659. His father, who came to that colony from London, was of the younger branch of a noble family in England, the earls of Kingston. The son graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1 68 1, at the age of twenty-two. Three years after, he was invited to come to New Haven to preach, and after filling the pulpit for eleven months as a candidate, he was ordained, in July, 1685, pastor of the church which had been gathered by Rev. John Davenport. It would seem that he won the confidence of the people at once by his gentleness and amiability, and the prudence which he manifested in the treatment of the old causes of difficulty and disagreement. Very soon after his ordination, the ancient church edifice was found to be too small for the number of people who thronged to attend public worship, attracted by the fervor of his manner. His doctrinal sound- ness, and his wisdom in counsel, soon gave him a commanding influence throughout the colony, and he was looked up to with veneration. The Rev. Samuel Andrew was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1656, and graduated at Harvard College, at the age of nineteen, in 1675. He remained at the college for a number of years as a resident fellow or tutor, and gained great reputation as a scholar and as an instructor. In 1685, a few months after the ordination of Mr. Pierpont at New Haven, he was ordained over the neighboring church at Milford. It was not long before he married the daughter of Governor Treat, who was one of his parishioners, and had served the colony thirty-two consecutive years, either as Deputy- Governor or Governor. Such was the character of Mr. Andrew, that it is said the people who, before his coming among them, had been in a divided and distracted state, soon became happy and united under his ministry. Two years after, in 1687, the Rev. Samuel Russel was ordained in Branford, the town adjoining New Haven on the east. This town had been almost depopulated twenty years before by the removal of the larger part of the church and its minister, the Rev. Abraham Pierson, to New Jersey, where he had laid the foundations of the town of Newark. During these twenty years there had been no settled minister in Branford, and Mr. Russel became the second father of the town. He was the son of the first minister of Hadley in Massachusetts, and had been a classmate of Mr. Pierpont, in Harvard College, in the class of 1681. Thus it happened that these three ministers were established in three of the impor- tant towns of the old New Haven jurisdiction, just about the time of the revival of business and public confidence, which commenced with the accession of William and Mary, and were all ready to take advantage of the new impulse which was felt every- where in the country. It appears further that these ministers were men who were not disposed to be con- tented with simply going through the established routine of ministerial labor. They , 4 YALE COLLEGE. were on the alert, and eager to try new methods for advancing the public good. As an evidence of it, we find that it was not long before they were active in a new plan which had been suggested for holding a series of public religious lectures by rotation in the neighboring towns, "to further religion and reformation in these declining times." Such men as these were not likely to be long neglectful of the interests of education. With the return of prosperity, the population of Connecticut was increasing. The back country was filling up. Churches were being established in the new towns. There was everywhere a call for educated ministers. Educated men were also needed in civil life. A college would do much to supply these wants, and would help to diffuse literature and piety among the people. It has already been stated that Mr. Pierpont, Mr. Andrew, and Mr. Russel were settled in towns which had shown from the first ex- traordinary interest in the higher education. The memory of the purpose of Mr. Davenport to establish a college in New Haven was fresh in the minds of all. From their childhood the people had been familiar with the idea of a college. The grammar- school founded by the bequest of Governor Hopkins was in successful operation, where young men were being fitted for college. Students were being sent at the public expense to Harvard College to complete their studies. But the journey to Massachu- setts was long and expensive. The cost of maintaining a young man at Cambridge, at such a distance from home, was great. It must have been seen that in this way money was carried out of the colony which might be retained if a college was estab- lished in New Haven ; and, if this were done, that students would be attracted to it from the colonies to the south and west ; from New York, and New Jersey, and Penn- sylvania ; and that thus such an institution would be even of pecuniary advantage to the town. According to all accounts, the idea of making a new effort to set up a college in New Haven started with Mr. Pierpont; and, throughout, it would seem that he took the lead in all that was done. On coming to New Haven, he had made his residence with the family of the widow of the son of the Rev. John Davenport. There he could not have failed to become acquainted with the design of that remarkable man to make New Haven a college town. After a few years, he had married the granddaughter of Mr. Davenport, and thus not only succeeded him in the church, but by this marriage be- came as it were the heir of the traditions and hopes of the family. How early the plan of reviving the design of establishing a college in New Haven occurred to Mr. Pierpont, it is impossible now to say. But it can hardly be doubted that under the circumstances it could not have been very long after his settlement that it was made the subject of discussion between him and his two nearest ministerial neighbors. If so, the plan was probably delayed in consequence of new troubles in which the colony became involved. The prosperity which followed the accession of William and Mary was doomed to receive a sudden check. The thoughts of all were distracted by new dangers. A war had broken out, across the ocean, between England and France. William III had formed a coalition of the Continental Powers against the ambition of Louis XIV. But the French arms were everywhere, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, all along the line, proving victorious over those of the allies ; and FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. r c while Tourville was chasing the English ships out of the Channel, and Luxembourg was driving the Prince of Waldeck before him in the Low Countries, after his victory at Fleurus, and Catinet was ravaging Savoy with fire and sword, the English colonists in America, in their distant homes, became involved also in the great struggle. For years they were obliged to put forth their utmost strength to protect themselves against the attacks which were made upon them from Montreal and Quebec by the combined forces of the French and the savages whom they incited to fall upon the border settle- ments. The cost of this war to Connecticut alone was ^12,000. The colony also suffered in numberless other ways, and was especially harassed by needless requisitions from the royal Governor of New York, who was all the time plotting against its liber- ties, and seeking to get control of its militia. It became necessary for the colony at great expense to send General Fitz John Winthrop to England to counteract the un- derhand attempts which were made to despoil them of their rights. But at last peace was concluded at Ryswick in 1697. General Winthrop returned from England, after having succeeded in his mission. The great sources of anxiety were removed, and now the occasion was seized as a favorable time for commencing the college. We are told that there were many consultations and conferences among the neighboring ministers, in which Mr. Pierpont, Mr. Andrew, and Mr. Russel were prominent and active. Various plans, as it would appear, were discussed. But it should not be forgotten, that in all these consultations it was well understood that their plans were necessarily liable at any moment to be delayed or rendered impracticable by the effects of new complications in English and Continental politics. Evidence of this appears even in the letters which were written respecting the founding of the college, which contain such allusions as these: "I cannot learn that the danger is yet over of our being all slain at once by act of Parliament, nulling the American charters." Again: "It is said that the Emperor's army have had a battle with the French in their passage into Italy, and the Imperialists have had the best of it : " and still again : "The match seems to proceed between the King of Spain and Duke of Savoy's daughter, which makes me fear lest Geneva be not at last broken in upon." At that time, every public interest in New England was as liable to be affected by the results of the movements of armies even in Italy and Spain as, in our civil war, the people of Pennsylvania were by the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. As the first colonists gathered in their rude meeting-houses for divine service on Sunday with muskets in their hands, so in this age the eye and the ear of every one were still on the strain to catch the first rumors of the recommencement of hostilities across the ocean, which would be sure to draw them into the vortex ; and, in fact, the college, when it was finally set up, was destined to feel in a few short months the effects of the very storm of which the information in this letter, as an inconsiderable cloud in the horizon, gave premonition. But for the moment all was quiet. It was, then, in this short interval of peace, that the plan of a college, which these ministers had devised, was first, as far as we can learn, talked of in public. It would seem as if they had already settled what their plan should be. But, as might have been expected, efforts were at once made to induce them to modify it, in accordance with X 6 YALE COLLEGE. some of the peculiar views of the times which were now gaining strength. For thirty years, or more, as the advantages of a political union among the different colonies had been seen, there had been a feeling in Connecticut that there was need of some closer ecclesiastical union among the ministers and churches, for their mutual improvement, for the regulation of their differences, and for the advancement of the religious interests of the colony. This feeling was the reaction against the extreme independency of the original churches. The people of Connecticut agreed substantially in doctrine, and in their views respecting church government, but they had learned by experience the difficulty of appeasing the quarrels which had arisen from time to time in different churches, and there was a large and growing number of persons, perhaps not yet recognized as a party, who were desirous of having some kind of permanent religious establishment for the colony, with a confession of faith, and rules for the administration of discipline, which should be accepted by all. It is not surprising, therefore, that when the founding of a college was first publicly talked of, it should be judged, by those who sympathized with this feeling, that it was a favorable time to secure what they wished. If a general synod of all the churches could be called to initiate the movement and take the institution under its control, it might help to secure an ecclesiastical establishment for the colony. Accordingly it was proposed that a synod of the churches should be assembled who should found the college, or the "school of the churches" as it was called. Among the archives of the college is still preserved a paper which was about this time submitted to the friends ot the contemplated institution by the Rev. Cotton Mather, of Boston, in which the details of this plan are fully given. Such a paper could not have been drawn up with- out a full understanding of the state of feeling among the people of Connecticut. His plan was that this synod should appoint a President and ten "Inspectors," under whose government the college should be placed ; that it should make a formal confession of faith which should be imposed upon the President and Inspectors ; that it should have such control over all future elections as would preserve orthodoxy in the governors ; and that the churches should contribute to the support of the institution thus consti- tuted. How much consideration this plan received, we have no means of knowing ; but it failed as so many plans had failed before. The reason is probably to be found in the fact that the times were not ripe for such a synod. There was still a large number of persons who, although they felt that according to existing arrangements, the com- munion and mutual helpfulness of the churches were not adequately secured, yet looked with distrust upon a religious establishment for the colony, with an ecclesi- astical constitution, or any approach to it ; and the opposition to such a religious establishment was perhaps the strongest in the neighborhood of New Haven, among the very persons who had been .particularly interested in the preliminary conferences respecting the college. It could not but be apparent to Mr. Pierpont and to his friends that if a synod was called to found a college, to make a confession of faith and impose it upon its officers, and to exercise a permanent control over the institution, FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. 17 it would be the beginning of a centralization of ecclesiastical power which foreboded evil to the liberties of the churches. Instead then of calling a synod of the churches to found the college, as would doubtless have been more satisfactory to what may be called the "ecclesiastical estab- lishment party," the original friends of the college in and around New Haven, were successful in carrying out what may be supposed to have been their view ; and it was agreed by them, some time in the year 1699 or 1700, that ten of the principal ministers of the colony should be selected "to stand as trustees or undertakers to found, erect, and govern the college." Seven of these trustees thus nominated were identified by their places of residence, or by early association, with the towns of the early New Haven jurisdiction. The first of these seven, in the order of academic age, was the Rev. Israel Chaun- cy, of Stratford. He was at this time fifty-six years old, having been born in Scituate, in Massachusetts, in 1644. He was the youngest son of the Rev. Charles Chauncy, the second President of Harvard College, where he graduated in 1661. In 1664, when instruction was to be commenced in the "Hopkins College" in New Haven, Mr. Davenport had recommended the town to apply to President Chauncy for an "able man" as a teacher. It is supposed that in answer to this request the President sent his son, who after giving instruction a short time in the "college," was settled as the pastor over the church in Stratford in 1665. With his profession as a clergyman, he is said to have united the practice of medicine, and to have had a high reputation for medical skill as well as for general scholarship. He had been the minister of Strat- ford for thirty-five years, and having thus spent his life in a town so near New Haven, and having once resided in New Haven as a teacher, he was probably early informed of the plans of Mr. Pierpont and Mr. Andrew and Mr. Russel, and invited to share in their consultations. The Rev. Thomas Buckingham, of Saybrook, was the only one of the trustees who had not received a degree from Harvard College. He obtained his classical education in the "Hopkins College" in New Haven. He was now fifty-four years of age, having been born in Milford in 1646. His father was one of the most respected of the early colonists in Milford, having been one of the seven "pillars" who were chosen to begin the church in that town. Not far from 1666 he had become the pastor of the church in Saybrook, where for thirty-four years he had been recognized as one of the most able men in the colony. The third in the order of academic age was the Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Kenil- worth (now Clinton),* who graduated at Harvard College in 1668. He was born in 1645. His father, of the same name, was one of the most learned and able of the early colonists of New England ; having been educated in the University of Cambridge in England, where he received his first degree in 1632. He came to this country in 1639, and took up his abode in Lynn. Shortly after, he went to Long Island with a com- * Kenilworth was the name given to the town, in 1667, by the first settlers, after the town in Warwickshire, England, from which some of them had emigrated. This name passed through several transformations; till, in 1707, it appears in the town records as Killingworth ; and was called so till the south part of the original Kenilworth was constituted a new town in the present century, and received the name of Clinton. VOL. 1. — 3 x8 YALE COLLEUJ:. pany of people whom he had gathered while yet in Lynn into a church of which he was constituted pastor, and with them founded on the eastern end of Long Island the town of Southampton. His sympathies with the views of Dr. Davenport concerning the constitution of a civil state and its subjection to the church were such that in 1647 he removed with a part of his church to Branford that he might live under the New- Haven jurisdiction. In 1662, when the territory of the colony of New Haven was given to Connecticut by the charter which was obtained by Governor Winthrop, he sided warmly with Mr. Davenport in his opposition to the union, and when that union finally took place, his feelings were so outraged that with the larger part of his church he removed once more ana 1 founded the town of Newark, New Jersey. He gave a code of laws to the people who went with him modeled on the code of the old New Haven jurisdiction, and remained with them as their pastor till his death, greatly beloved and honored by all. In his will, he bequeathed to his son, who had been for the six last years of his life his colleague, his library, which consisted of four hundred and forty books. The son succeeded his father as pastor of the church in Newark in 1678, but fourteen years after, in consequence of some differences of opinion which arose between him and the people on the subject of church government, he left Newark and came to Connecticut. In 1694 he was installed as pastor of the church in Kenilworth. He took a prominent place at once among the ministers of the colony and was known as an able scholar. He was interested in Science, and had prepared a text-book on Natu- ral Philosophy. It may be mentioned also in this connection that he was the uncle by marriage of Mr. Pierpont, his sister being the mother of Abigail Davenport, grand- daughter of John Davenport, whom Mr. Pierpont had married. Thus by early associa- tion, and by family connection, Mr. Pierson was thoroughly identified with all that was distinctive in the history of New Haven. He was now in the fifty-fifth year of his age. The next of the trustees in academic age was the Rev. Samuel Andrew, of Milford, of whom mention has already been made, as one of the first to be interested in the project. He was now forty-four years old, and had been settled in Milford fifteen years, and as the son-in-law of Governor Treat, was still further identified with the interests of that part of the colony which was once within the New Haven jurisdiction. The Rev. James Pierpont came next in order. He was now forty-one years old, and it was fifteen years since he was ordained in New Haven. The significant fact that he married the granddaughter of Mr. Davenport has already been mentioned. The Rev. Noadiah Russel, of Middletown, was a native of New Haven. His parents had been among the original settlers. When yet a child, on the death of his father, he had been taken by some of his relatives to Massachusetts. Then, after having been fitted for college, he entered as a student at Harvard, and graduated in 1 68 1, in the same class with Mr. Pierpont and Mr. Samuel Russel, of Branford. He came to the pulpit in Middletown in 1688 and in 1700 was forty-two years old. The last trustee of the seven to whom reference has been made, was the Rev. Joseph Webb. He was settled as the pastor of the church in Fairfield, the town adjoining Stratford on the west, in 1694. The geographical position of Fairfield would naturally lead him to be acquainted with and interested in any project which was started in New Haven. FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. I9 Of the remaining - three trustees, who seem to have been selected at large from the ministers of the colony who lived more remote, the eldest was the Rev. James Noyes, of Stonington. He was now in his sixty-first year, having been born in New- bury, Massachusetts, in 1640, where his father, of the same name, and his uncle, the Rev. Thomas Parker, were among the most prominent of the ministers of their time. Mr. Noyes had been the minister in Stonington for thirty-six years. He was the leading minister of the colony ; and was usually invited to preside as moderator at councils and other meetings of the clergy. On account of his age, and the great respect in which he was universally held, it must have been considered to be very important to have the benefit of his name and of his services. The Rev. Samuel Mather, closely connected with the celebrated Mather family of Boston, had acquired great reputation by the judicious course which he had pursued in harmonizing two antagonistic parties in the town of Windsor, who were engaged in bitter strife at the time that he began in 1682 to preach in that place. Their conten- tions had proceeded to such a length that it had been deemed necessary that the legislature should interfere. Mr. Mather succeeded in uniting both parties and the whole town under his ministry ; so that, ever after, all their ecclesiastical affairs were conducted with harmony and brotherly affection. Having graduated at Harvard in the Class of 167 1, he was over fifty years of age. It was undoubtedly felt that the influence of his name was needed for the purpose of securing friends to the college among the people of the river towns and in the more northern part of the colony. It is doubtful, however, whether he ever attended a meeting of the trustees, or more than one. For the same reason that Mr. Mather was nominated as a trustee, it must have been considered even more important that the co-operation of the Rev. Timothy Wood- bridge, of Hartford, should be secured. Since 1665, when the New Haven colony had been forced to yield up its existence, and suffer its territory to come under the authority of Connecticut, there had been mutual distrust and jealousy between the two towns of Hartford and New Haven. But it was necessary now that Hartford should be propiti- ated, and that it should have a representation in the Board of Trustees. There was an additional reason in the fact that no minister in the colony had a higher reputation for learning, for wisdom in counsel, and for public spirit, or had gained more completely the general confidence. His bodily presence is spoken of as something unusually pre- possessing and such as commanded the reverence of all. He was a classmate also of Mr. Andrew, having graduated at Harvard in 1675, and was ordained in Hartford the same day on which Mr. Andrew was ordained in Milford. He was forty-four years of age. Mr. Noyes was then the oldest of all the trustees, being sixty-one years of age, and Mr. Pierpont and Mr. Webb the youngest, Mr. Pierpont being forty-one years of age and Mr. Webb about thirty-four. It would seem from the account given by President Clap, that some time in the year 1700,* these trustees, or a sufficient number of them to make a quorum, met in New * I can, upon good authority, inform you that the design of erecting a college in Connecticut was first concerted by the ministers, who nominated or desired ten ministers to be undertakers, partners, or trustees ; — that these ten ministers were a 2o YALE COLLEGE. Haven and "formed themselves into a body or society to consist of eleven ministers, including a Rector, and agreed to found a college in the colony of Connecticut." Then, that they might engage in some formal act by which they would acquire a legal control over the institution as its founders, they separated with the understanding that at their next meeting, which they appointed to be held in Branford, they would come prepared to make a beginning by a gift of books. At this adjourned meeting, which according to President Clap was also in the year 1700, each member "brought a number of books and presented them to the body ; " and laying them on the table said words to this effect: "I give these books for the foundation of a college in this colony." There proved to be about forty volumes in folio, and after the ceremony of presenta- tion had been performed, the trustees as a body took possession of them and appointed the Rev. Mr. Russel, of Branford, to be the keeper of the library. The tradition is that the larger part of the books given at this time for the founda- tion of the college were presented by three of the trustees ; that the Rev. Mr. Chaun- cy gave ten volumes ; the Rev. Mr. Pierson, nineteen ; and the Rev. Mr. Pierpont, six. In 1784, President Stiles made a list from the books which were then in the library, which he supposed that he had identified as the volumes which had been given at this time. According to his list, the books were chiefly theological works ; most of them of an exegetical character. It is, however, very doubtful whether much dependence can be placed on that list. But, whether it be relied on or not, the probability is that the statement which has been sometimes made is true, that there was not a single volume among the forty which related to literature or to science. This, however, is not surprising when it is remembered that the Newtonian Philosophy had been introduced only a twelvemonth before into the University of Cambridge in England as a subject of study ; and it was not introduced at Oxford till four years after. Even twenty-seven years later, at the time of the death of Sir Isaac Newton, Voltaire said that that eminent philosopher had not a score of followers out of England. In the domain of literature, too, neither the Tatler nor the Spectator had been commenced ; and although it is true that there was no Shakespeare among the Branford books, still it should not be forgotten that the wonderful spiritual insight which gives to the works of the immortal bard their special value to us was not understood even in England till a much later generation. The intellectual activity of the men who met at Branford is not to be estimated by the books which were there presented. They undoubtedly knew that it was important that they should give something so that they might become legally the founders of the college, and they gave what they could spare from their scanty libraries. There are reasons, also, which make it highly probable that some of the trustees who lived at a distance were absent on this occasion, and that it was only the trustees from the neighborhood of New Haven who were present. The absence of the trustees who lived at a distance perhaps explains the further statement of President Clap company or society by compact a year or two before they had a charter ; in which time they often met, and wrote letters to gentlemen at a distance, and received letters of advice about the constitution and regulation of the college, and received sundry donations for that end. — The ansiuer of the Friend in the West to a letter from a gentleman in the East. New Haven, 1755, p. 15. FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. 21 that "soon after" the meeting at Branford, sundry other donations, both of books and money, were received "which laid a good foundation." This library "with the additions" was kept at Branford, in a room set apart for that purpose, "near three years." It was not long before it began to be doubted whether these trustees were fully vested with a legal capacity to hold lands, and also whether private donations and contributions would yield a sufficiency to carry on so great a design. It seemed desirable, therefore, to make application to the legislature of the colony for pecuniary assistance, and for a charter. But now a grave difficulty presented itself in the way of such action, which evidently caused serious delay in their proceedings, for we are told it led them to debate the expediency of applying for a charter "at several meetings." The friends of the college had the experience of Harvard College before them to make them feel the importance of acting with caution. It was understood that the power of granting charters was deemed by the crown one of its most precious privileges, and one the infringement of which was the subject of extreme jealousy. The principle had been established in the English courts that the first colonial charter of Massachusetts was only a private act of incorporation, which gave no right to create other charters. Furthermore, on the 23d of October, 1684, the lord-keeper in the court of chancery had ordered final judgment to be entered upon a writ of quo war- ranto for the vacating of the charter of Massachusetts, and the result was that that colony, as a body politic, no longer existed. Mr. Palfrey says: "The elaborate fabric that had been fifty-four years in building was leveled with the dust. The hopes of the fathers were found to have been merely dreams. It seemed that their brave struggles had brought no result. The honored ally of the Protector of England lay under the feet of King Charles II. It was on this charter that the structure of the cherished institutions of Massachusetts, religious and civil, had been reared. The abrogation of that charter swept the whole away. Massachusetts in English law was again what it had been before James the First made a grant of it to the council for New England. It belonged to the King of England, by virtue of the discovery of the Cabots. No less than this was the import of the decree in Westminster Hall." Of course the charter of Harvard College which had been granted in 1650 by the provincial legisla- ture was also by this decree declared to be absolutely void. After the Revolution of 1688, repeated attempts had been made to obtain a new charter for the college from the king. Several drafts for a charter had been made by the friends of the institution, which had received the approbation of the General Court of the colony ; but none of these had received as yet the royal signature. Harvard College was consequently at that very time without a charter, and such had been its condition since 1684. Under these circumstances, it is no matter of surprise that it required time for the friends of the new institution which had been just "founded" in Branford, to determine what course it was best to pursue. The question as to whether it was "safe" to apply for a charter, made the "several meetings" necessary, of which President Clap speaks in his History. 22 YALE COLLEGE. Meanwhile some of the ablest lawyers both in and out of the government were con- sulted upon the subject, and the college still has among its archives the opinions of these gentlemen carefully prepared, with full citations from acts of parliament and the decisions of the English courts. At last, notwithstanding some of their advisers shared in the doubts which they had themselves entertained as to the legality of what they pro- posed to do, it was decided, after mature consideration, that it was "safe and best" to ask for a charter from the colonial legislature. They probably relied on the ignorance of the British authorities of colonial affairs, or their indifference to them; at least, this is the reason assigned for the course which Governor Dudley of Massachusetts recom- mended to the friends of Harvard College several years later, in 1707. He probably advised, or at least consented, after the repeated attempts to obtain a royal charter from England for that college had failed, "in contradiction of the avowed principles which the government of the parent state had adopted and acted upon in relation to Massa- chusetts," that the old charter of the college of 1650, which had been declared to have been no charter, and which if it had been a charter, was abrogated by the British act of chancery in 1684, should be quietly revived by a simple vote of the provincial legisla- ture; thus, as President Quincy says, in his History of Harvard College, "establishing a charter without and contrary to what he knew to be the will of the British Sovereign." It was a similar policy which the trustees of the college in Connecticut determined to pursue. Accordingly they wrote to Judge Sewall and Mr. Secretary Addington, of Boston, and asked them to prepare a draft of a charter, which they might present to the general assembly of Connecticut at its next October session. This session, by a happy coincidence, as it seemed to the friends of the college, was this very year, for the first time, appointed to be held in New Haven, according to a vote passed in the spring session. A few days before the assembly met, the draft of the charter which had been requested was sent on from Boston. It arrived in time to be used, but it appears that only the form and to some extent the phraseology was employed. In all of the more important particulars, its provisions were altered to suit the plan of the trustees, which they had already agreed upon. During the session of the legislature, but before the charter was granted, Hon. James Fitch, formerly of Norwich, now of Plainfield, one of the council, in order to facilitate the design of a college, made to the trustees the first considerable donation which they had received. He gave them a tract of land in Killingly of about 600 acres, and also agreed to furnish all the glass and nails which might be needed to build a college house and hall. The legislature, probably on the 16th of October,* granted the charter which, as is customary in such cases, bears the date of the previous 9th of October, the day on which the session commenced. An annual subsidy was also voted from the public treasury of ^120 "country pay," equal to ^60, which was continued for more than fifty years. The institution which now began to have a legal existence seems to have been in- tended by its founders to be in all respects of the same general character with the * According to the opinion of Mr. F B. Dexter, the present secretary of the college. FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. 2 , colleges in the English universities. It was expected that the students would live in common, clustered around a collection of books in the house of the Rector or Master, and be provided by him with board. Their conduct was also to be under his special supervision, and after passing a satisfactory examination, they were to receive all the usual academic degrees in regular course. But a marked peculiarity appears in the phraseology of the charter, which has been variously interpreted. The pre- siding officer of Harvard College was known at the time as the President. The charter of the Connecticut college designated the same officer as the Rector, or Master, thus using a still more humble name. It provides that when circumstances shall require that the rector shall have assistance in the instruction of the students, and in the discharge of his other duties, the trustees shall appoint suitable persons ; but it gives them the inconsiderable title of tutors, or "ushers," a title even yet more inconsid- erable. Similar persons discharging precisely similar duties in Oxford and Cambridge, and in Harvard College, were called "Fellows." The charter speaks also in a very cautious way about the conferring of degrees. The trustees are empowered "for the encouragement of the students, to grant degrees or licences." The degrees were licenses to be sure, but from the fact that the word "licenses" is used in this connection it would seem as if there was a studied attempt to depreciate the character of what was well known as a "degree," by giving it this inferior name. The same thing would appear, also, from the language of the document written by the Rev. Cotton Mather, to which allusion has already been made. He says: "If the young gentlemen will not be satisfied without titles equivalent unto a Baccalaureus and a Magister, it will be easy to gratify them. He that goes forth qualified with a testimonial, and intending the service of the churches may be stiled instructus eccksice. He that goes forth in- tending to serve his country in any other capacity but that of a divine, may be stiled ornatus patricc." The institution itself is called also simply a "collegiate school;" though, only a few months before, its friends had been proposing the establishment of what they did not hesitate to call a "university," which was to have an officer who was to receive the title of "President." One explanation of this peculiarity in the language of the charter, especially the use of the word "Fellows," has been made by supposing that between 1636, the time when Harvard College was founded, and 1700, the old recollections of what was customary at Oxford and Cambridge had passed away. Another explanation has been that such titles better became an "inconsiderable establishment." True, the institution was inconsiderable, but it was not one whit more so than Harvard College when it was founded. It wouid seem that the true explanation of the peculiar phraseology of the charter is to be found in the language used by Judge Sewall and Mr. Secretary Addington, in the letter which they sent to accompany their draft of a charter. They say: "We on purpose gave your academy as low a name as we could, that it might the better stand in wind and weather." The circumstances of the case are to be remembered. The trustees had concluded to proceed on the plan of not attracting the attention of the British government to what they were doing. They knew what a college was, and what fellows were, and what degrees were, and they intended to 24 YALE COLLEGE. have all these things, a college, and a president, and fellows, and to give the very same kind of degrees which were given the world over in the most renowned uni- versities, though they did feel compelled to write on their parchments the humble word "Gymnasium academicum" and sign themselves simply " Inspcctores." Names were nothing so long as they had the thing. A charter having been thus obtained, a quorum which consisted of the seven trustees who have been spoken of as more especially identified with New Haven, held their first meeting at Saybrook, November n, 1701. The three trustees who seem to have been selected from the colony at large were absent. Their first act, at their morning session, was to make a declaration of their design in founding the collegiate school. They state that their object is identical with the great object for which the first colonists came to this country — to propagate the Reformed Protestant Re- ligion in the purity of its order and worship. They then express the opinion that the "chief and most probable expedient of securing this object is the liberal education of suitable youth." To this end, they proceeded to make the general order that what was everywhere known as the "liberal arts" shall be taught in the collegiate school, for the regulation of which they then go on to make further rules ; and first they decide that the person under whose control it shall be placed shall be known by the title of Rector. At this point, the work of their morning session seems to have terminated. In the afternoon session, the most convenient place for the location of the college was first made the subject of discussion. The colony of Connecticut consisted at this time of a little more than thirty incorporated towns, and its population was scarcely fifteen thousand. The towns of any importance were for the most part situated either in a line along the sea-coast or along the western bank of the Connecticut river. Mr. Pierpont had undoubtedly designed that the college should be located in New Haven, but the trustees were divided in their opinion. At last, probably for the purpose of not exciting the jealousy of Hartford and the river towns, the trustees voted that "so all parts of Connecticut colony with the neighboring colony may be best accommodated, that Saybrook be fixed upon as the most convenient place for the present ; unless further consideration — than the reasons now before us occur — offer themselves." Saybrook was at that time one of the most important towns in the colony, although not equal to either Hartford or New Haven in wealth and population. One of its special advantages was its central position. It was situated on the main road from Boston to New York, at the intersection of the line of towns on the sea- coast with the line of towns on the west bank of "the river." The election of a Rector was next in order. The Rev. Israel Chauncy was elected, and requested to "condescend to remove himself and family to the college." After he had excused himself on account of his "age and other circumstances alleged," the Rev. Abraham Pierson received the votes of the trustees. It has been supposed that from the first it had been the intention that Mr. Pierson should be the Rector, but that on account of the high reputation of Mr. Chauncy and his age, it was thought advisable to offer him the rectorate. Mr. Pierson consented to take charge of the FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. 25 school for the present, "until such time as he could give his answer to a quorum of the trustees." The Rev. Samuel Russel was chosen a trustee to complete the number required by the charter. The trustees next proceeded to define the duties of the Rector, and made the follow- ing "orders" for his work. They directed that he should take special care to instruct and ground the students in theoretical divinity ; that he should not allow them to be instructed in any other system of divinity than such as was appointed by the trustees ; that he should take effectual care that they should be "weekly (at such seasons as he shall see cause to appoint) caused memoriter to recite the Assembly's Catechism in Latin and Ames's Theological Theses, of which, as also Ames's Cases of Conscience, he shall make from time to time such explanations as may be most conducive to their establishment in the principles of the Christian Religion." He shall also cause the Scriptures daily (except on the Sab- bath), morning and evening, to be read by the students at the time of prayer, in the school, according to the laudable order and usage of Harvard College, making exposi- tions upon the same ; and upon the Sabbath shall either expound practical theology or cause the non-graduated students to repeat sermons, and in all other ways, according to his best discretion, shall at all times studiously endeavor, in the education of the stu- dents, to promote the power and purity of religion, and the best edification of these New England churches. Such were the "orders" which the trustees made for the work of the Rector; and that their significance may be understood it will be necessary to keep in mind the fact that the plan which was first proposed of placing the college under a synod which should require a subscription to a confession of faith from its officers had been given up ; but not for the reason that the trustees did not feel the importance of having the religious character of the college properly guarded. These "orders," therefore, are to be considered as the method which the anti-ecclesiastical establishment party, as they may be called, or New Haven party, took to secure the end which both parties had equally in view — orthodoxy in the governors of the college. The trustees then fixed the price of tuition at thirty shillings per annum for under- graduates and ten shillings for graduated students. Before separating, they also re- quested Mr. Pierson to remove himself and family to Saybrook ; but, till this could be effected, they ordered that the scholars should be taught at or near the Rector's house at Kenilworth. They now appointed Mr. Lynde, of Saybrook, treasurer. The college was thus provided with a rector, but there was no student till March, 1702, when Jacob Hemingway "entered," and continued under the instruction of Mr. Pierson the only undergraduate till September of the same year. No plan of studies was arranged by the trustees. They undoubtedly intended that the course of instruction which was then pursued at Harvard College, with which they were all acquainted, should be adopted as nearly as circumstances would allow. Ac- cordingly it consisted, in Latin, in reading five or six of the Orations of Cicero, and as many books of Virgil, and in talking the college Latin of the day ; in Greek, in reading VOL. I. — 4 26 YALE COLLEGE. a portion of the New Testament; and, in Hebrew, the Psalter. Some instruction was given in Mathematics and in Surveying. In Physics, the text-book, which had been composed by the Rector, and which has already been alluded to, was studied, and remained the manual in that department for many years after his death. In Logic, Peter Ramus was the text-book. Besides this, there was on Saturday and Sunday the theological and religious instruction already described. The first commencement, as the trustees had forbidden all public commencements, to avoid expense, and "other inconveniences," was held at Saybrook, in the house of the Rev. Mr. Buckingham, September, 1702. At this time, four young gentlemen who had before been graduated at Harvard, and one other who had been privately educated, received the degree of Master of Arts, and one received the degree of Bachelor. At this time, the number of students being increased to eight, they were put into different classes, according to their previous acquirements ; and Mr. Daniel Hooker, of Farmington, a graduate of Harvard, and a grandson of Rev. Thomas Hooker, the first minister of Hartford, was elected tutor. -■" "'■■'^■m»^0^et ft THE CONGREGATIONAL MEETING-HOUSE ON KENILWORTH GREEN, A.D. 1703. The college may now be considered to have become regularly organized. The students were gathered in Kenilworth in the dwelling-house of Mr. Pierson,* which * Mr. Lewis E. Stanton, of the class of 1855, writes, under date of June 8, 1S76 : "A gentleman, now living in Clinton (Kenilworth), Mr. Leet Hurd, well remembers this house. Mr. Hurd was born in the autumn of 1781, one month, he says, after the surrender of Cornwallis. He is, therefore, in his ninety-fifth year. He per- fectly remembers the college house. He says: 'I can see it as plain as if it were yesterday.' Mr. Hurd tells me that in his MONUMENT AT CLINTON, (KEN ILWORTH). FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. 2 y stood to the east of the "Green," on the north side of the main road from New Haven to Saybrook. Here, as is supposed, they had their lodgings ; and here Mr. Pierson heard their recitations. In the year 1790, this house, which had fallen completely into decay, was taken down, and the heavy beams of which its frame had been constructed were used in tin construction of a new dwelling-house which now occupies a position a little to the front of the old parsonage and is now the residence of Mr. John A. Stanton. These beams are plainly visible in the cellar of the house. Some of them, which were exposed to view in the original building, are finished with care and with an attempt at ornament. Directly opposite Mr. Pierson's house, on the Green, at the period in question, stood also what was considered a commodious "meeting-house" which had been recently en- larged and beautified ; and, in 1 703, it is said, a bell, one of the first that ever rang in the country, was procured from England and hung in the steeple. In June, 1868, some friends of the college erected upon Clinton Green, as it is now called, in front of the present Congregational Church, a few rods from the site of the house just described, a monument, eighteen feet in height, for the purpose of suitably marking the place where instruction was first given in the college. The monument consists of a cubical block of granite, which bears this inscription : "The earliest senior classes of Yale College were taught near this spot by Abraham Pierson, 1 701—1707." On this cubical block stands a granite column surmounted with five large books, beneath which are carved the following words, which were used by the founders of the college on the occasion of the memorable dedication at Branford : I GIVE THESE BOOKS FOR FOUNDING A COLLEGE. There is also the following inscription, on the block below, furnished by Professor Thomas A. Thacher : IN MEMORIAM ABRAHAMI PIERSON VlRI TNGENIO, DOCTRINA, PIETATE PRAEDITI, QUI, UNA CUM ALUS SUI SIMILIBUS, FUNDAMENTA JECIT PRIMI APUD CoNNECTICUTENSES COLLEGII, CUJUS PRIMUS QUOQUE PrAESES FUIT. But now, when the hearts of the friends of the college were rejoiced at the actual establishment of the college, they were obliged to encounter new difficulties. Scarcely had the people of Connecticut, after the conclusion of peace at Ryswick in 1697, had a breathing-spell in which they could enjoy the fruits of their industry, when war broke out once more. On the very day of the coronation of Queen Anne, in May, 1702, two months after the first undergraduate had begun his studies under Mr. Pierson, what was known as the "Second Grand Alliance" was formed between England, the boyhood, it was sometimes used for storing hay. This accords with the journal of President Stileswho says that 'it is used as a barn.' Mr. Hurd says also that in later years, when the building had fallen into decay and was no longer used for any purpose, the laborers upon adjacent farms were in the habit of going into it for shelter, and sometimes to take their meals, and they would say on such occasions they had been 'through college.'" 2 g YALE CO/. LEGE. Emperor of Germany, and Holland, against France and Spain ; and the war of the so- called "Spanish Succession" commenced. The colonists in America knew that they were again to be involved in a French and Indian war. They were well aware what the horrors of such a war were, and were beginning to prepare in earnest for the ap- proaching storm, when suddenly the whole country was startled by the tidings of the terrible fate which had befallen one of the frontier towns of Massachusetts. In the evening of the 29th of February, 1704, Major Hertel de Rouville, with two hundred French and one hundred and forty-two Indians, after a march of two hundred miles on snow-shoes had reached the neighborhood of Deerfield, and the next morning, before the unsuspicious inhabitants were wakened from their slumber, had burst in upon them. The details of the terrible massacre which ensued will never cease to have a prominent place in American history. They are fresh to-day in the memory of every school-boy. But the effect of that tale of horror at the time on the scattered inhabitants can by no possibility be now appreciated. All New England was in consternation. Says Mr. Bancroft: "All along the frontier, there was not a night but the sentinel was abroad; not a mother lulled her infant to rest, but knew that before morning the tomahawk might crush its infant skull." At once, Connecticut was served with a requisition for a quota of troops to assist in the defense of the "river towns" in Massachusetts. Another requisition came for troops to march against the Indians in Maine. Troops were needed also at home to defend her own exposed frontier in the west. Requisitions came also from New York for assistance in that colony. All business, public and private, was stopped. Every- thing had to be laid aside that the country might be put in a state of defense. Con- necticut was not only obliged to take care of herself, but at the same time had to go to the assistance of all the neighboring colonies. She was besides constantly harassed with needless demands from Governor Dudley in Boston, and from Lord Cornbury in New York. Nor was this all. In the midst of so many causes of anxiety, powerful enemies had combined to deprive the colony of its charter, and subvert its government. Outrageous misrepresentations were persistently forwarded to England, one after another, the object of which was to bring the colony under the displeasure of the English government. Governor Dudley was scheming to unite all New England under his own power, and Lord Cornbury was endeavoring also to take advantage of her troubles for his own benefit. At the same time, the colony had become involved in a very expensive lawsuit, in connection with the lands of the Mohegan Indians. The colony agent in London, Sir Henry Ashurst, by his prudence, by his personal interest at court, and by the interest of his friends, succeeded in baffling these repeated in- trigues of her enemies, but all was kept in confusion, and a general feeling of alarm spread over the colony. During all this time, the colony was at the expense of main- taining between five and six hundred men annually in actual service. Much of the time four hundred of them were serving beyond the limits of the colony, in Massachu- setts and New York. Such were the heavy burdens sustained by Connecticut, that at a time when the circulating medium of the colony was scarcely ,£2,000, more than that sum was paid out of the treasury in the space of three years for the expenses of a war carried on outside of its own territory. STATUE OF RECTOR PIERSON. FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE, A.D. 1700. In estimating the obligation of the alumni of the college to the men who were its founders, and who carried it through those first trying years, it should never be forgot- ten what were the difficulties with which they were forced to contend. They had an empty treasury. The attention of the whole colony was absorbed with anxiety and alarm for its very existence. The young men of Connecticut had no time to cultivate the arts of peace. They were on the frontier all the way from Byram River to the St. Lawrence, giving help as they could to their brethren in Massachusetts and New York. The only thing, except faith in God, which those eleven ministers had to cheer them, as they rode slowly on horseback through the woods to their stated meetings in Say- brook, was the satisfaction which they received from feeling that they were working for the good of those who were to come after them, and the echoes of the victorious cannon of Marlborough and Prince Eugene which came to them over the water from Blenheim and Ramillies. In the midst of such dangers and such disturbances, it surely is sufficient to say in honor of the trustees that they kept the college alive. The library was brought to Kenilworth from Branford. Mr. Lynde presented the college with a house and land, "so long as the college shall remain at Saybrook;" and in this house the annual commencements were held. In 1703, there was a general contribution throughout the colony to build a house at Saybrook, or wherever the college should be finally fixed, but we have no account of what was obtained. Meanwhile the trustees made several attempts to persuade Mr. Pierson to remove to Saybrook ; offering him ^50 to pay the expenses which would be incurred, and a salary of £60 a year. But his removal was strongly opposed by his people. They were very much attached to him, and were very urgent to have him give up all con- nection with the college ; but the trustees were equally resolute in retaining him at its head. So things went on in this very unsettled state, when Mr. Pierson was seized with a sudden illness, and March 5, 1707, in the sixth year of his presidency and the sixty-sixth year of his age, he was removed by death, to the unspeakable loss and grief of the college and his people. In 1874, when it was proposed by one of the j| friends of the college, Mr. Charles Morgan, of 5 New York, to erect on the College Green, a statue in bronze to the memory of its first presiding of- ficer, no representation or even description of his features was known to exist. There was only an uncertain tradition that he was "a man of full habit and of a mild and genial expression." The artist, Mr. Launt Thompson, in consequence, has RECTOR PIERSON'S CHAIR.* * This chair is now occupied by the President of the college when he confers degrees at the annual Commencement. o YALE COLLEGE. given an ideal representation of the type of men who founded the college. The bronze statue, which is about eight feet in height, is placed upon a solid granite pedestal six feet high, and represents Rector Pierson standing erect, clothed in his rector's robes, the scholar's gown and cap, with long flowing hair, and holding a book in his hands. It is eminently fitting that such honor should have been paid to one to whom the friends of learning are so much indebted. There is, in these days, a disposition in the minds of some, if I mistake not, to put a low estimate on what was done by these founders of the college. This disposition springs from the character of this skeptical age. There is danger, at the present time, that the critical student, carried away by what he esteems to be candor, and a reverent love of truth, will feel that he has done all that it is fitting to do, when he has measured the men who laid the foundations of all our civil and religious institutions by the stand- ard of the present ; and, because, after the lapse of nearly two centuries, he does not find documentary evidence, that all was foreseen by them which is now familiar to us, will decide that they acted with no intelligent purpose, and with no proper understand- ing of what were to be results of their labors. It is to be remembered that that was the age of action. Those trustees at Branford, and New Haven, and Kenilworth, and Saybrook were not posturing to excite our admiration. They were so absorbed in doing something to make the coming ages wiser and better, that it probably never once occurred to them to think how they were to appear to us, or to put into high-sounding phrases for our benefit all that they hoped and expected. Surely the man who, with intelligent purpose, plants an acorn, and guards and tends the "bud of hope" as it first springs from the ground, is entitled to be regarded by those who at last sit under its shade, as the intelligent author of all the happiness which that vision of beauty diffuses when its branches have towered on high and spread themselves majestically towards the heavens. So, John Davenport and James Pierpont and Abraham Pierson and each and every one of those eleven trustees are entitled to be regarded by us as the intelli- gent authors of all that we see to-day. They may not have known all the ways in which the college was to make its influence felt, but they knew what a college was as well as we do to-day, and if they could return to life, and walk about these halls, there might be much in the applications of learning which would excite their interest. But they would not be surprised. They expected that the college would adapt itself to the wants of every age ; that it would be a leaven to work for good in numberless ways and for untold ages upon all the interests of the people who were to be born, and have their homes in, and subdue to their use this broad land. The fitting eulogy of President Clap on the first presiding officer of the college has a beautiful ..significance : "He was a hard student, a good scholar, a great divine, and a wise, steady, and judicious gentleman, and he administered the affairs of the college to the general satisfaction." The friends of the college in the centuries to come may be thankful if, in the long succession of those who are called to administer its affairs, they all accomplish as much for the advancement of sound learning as did its first Rector, the Puritan clergyman and "judicious gentleman," Abraham Pierson. ARMS OF GOVERNOR ELIHU YALE. CHAPTER III. REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW LIAVEN. Rev. Samuel Andrew elected Rector, pro tempore. — Senior class at Milford. — Other classes at Saybrook. — New efforts of the ecclesiastical establishment party. — These favored by Gov- ernor Saltonstall. — The synod of 1708. — Saybrook Platform. — Officers of the college required to give assent to it. — Liberally interpreted in New Haven. — War of the Spanish Succession. — Effect upon Connecticut. — Ruinous to the college. — Peace of Utrecht, A.D. 17 13. — Brighter days. — Gift of books from Sir John Davie. — Books sent from England by Jeremiah Dummer, Esq. — Governor Elihu Yale's first gift. — Unceasing efforts of Rev. James Pierpont in behalf of the college. — His death. — Students dissatisfied with location of college. — Dissatisfaction en- couraged FROM INTERESTED MOTIVES. "BROKEN CONDITION" OF THE INSTITUTION IN THE SUMMER OF 1716. — Efforts to secure its removal to the northern part of the state. — Last commencement in Say- brook, A.D. 1716. — The only tutor resigns. — Trustees discuss the question of removal. — No decision. — New Haven makes an effort to obtain the college. — Favored by a majority of the trustees. — Vote of October 17, 1716, to remove the college to New Haven. — Instruction com- menced in New Haven for the academic year 17 16-17 17. — Excitement throughout the colony. — Public meeting in Hartford. — Rival college at Wethersfield. — Action of legislature, May, 17 17. — Vote of Mr. Ruggles challenged. — First commencement in New Haven, September, 17 17. — Building of a College Hall begun. — Trustees summoned to appear before the legislature, Octo- ber, 17 1 7. — Efforts to secure the college for Middletown. — Vote taken in Lower House. — "Great throes and pangs." — Governor Saltonstall saves the college from destruction. — The legislature fixes the location in New Haven. — Second gift of Governor Yale. — College Hall in New Haven finished. — Commencement of 1718. — The name of Yale given to the College Hall. — Rival commencement at Wethersfield. — Compromise. — A "fitting house" for the General Court to be built in Hartford at public expense. — The final location of the college in New Haven no "accident." Upon the death of the Rev. Mr. Pierson, March 5, 1707, the Rev. Samuel Andrew, of Milford, one of the most prominent of the trustees, was chosen Rector pro tempore, till the services of some suitable person could be secured who would take up his perma- nent residence at the college. The senior class were accordingly assembled at Milford to be under the immediate instruction of Mr. Andrew, and the other classes went to Saybrook, where they were put under the charge of two tutors, Mr. Phineas Fisk, and Mr. James Hale. The library was also removed from Kenilworth to Saybrook. The 3i 32 YALE COLLEGE. students found rooms and board where they could be best accommodated in the town ; and came for prayers and recitations to the chambers of the tutors. It is evident that the college was now reduced to a very humble condition. Yet its history acquires an importance in consequence of new efforts which were made at this time for the purpose of securing its orthodoxy. It has already been stated that the opinion had long before begun to be entertained in Connecticut that it was desirable to have an ecclesiastical establishment for the churches of the colony, and that it was prob- ably in view of this feeling that the Rev. Cotton Mather, of Boston, as soon as it was generally known that it was proposed to establish a college, submitted a plan to those who were interested in the project, according to which a synod was to be called to found it who were to draw up a confession of faith, and impose it upon the officers to whose care its interests should be intrusted. It has been shown that his very elabo- rate plan was not accepted, and that Mr. Pierpont and the ministers who lived in the neighborhood of New Haven went on to found the college in accordance with their own original views. But in the interval, between 1700 and the death of Rector Pier- son in 1707, the feeling in favor of an ecclesiastical establishment for the colony had grown stronger, and circumstances now happened which gave to those who entertained it an unexpected opportunity of carrying out their designs. These circumstances it will be necessary to relate. A few months after Rector Pierson had died, and before the year had come to a close, the colony had sustained another great loss in the death of the Governor, Fitz John Winthrop, December 1 7, 1 707. In his place, the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall, the minister of New London, was at once elected by the assembly at a special meeting to fill the office for the remainder of the unexpired term. His election was the more remarkable as there was a law, which it was necessary to repeal, to the effect that the Governor should be chosen from the board of magistrates. But it was found that an emergency had arisen which seemed to make it a matter of absolute necessity that Mr. Saltonstall should be elected. Governor Winthrop had been for a long time before his death an invalid ; and as he was to some extent incapacitated from attending to business, he had been in the habit of intrusting his official correspondence to Mr. Saltonstall, who was his minister and neighbor and personal friend. Mr. Saltonstall, besides being one of the most able of the clergymen of the colony, had the reputation of being also one of the best read lawyers in New England. So it happened that for a considerable period he had been in fact transacting much of the most important public business. It was at a time when the affairs of the colony were in a very critical condition. In addition to some complicated questions relating to boundary lines, there was, in particular, a suit which seriously affected the interests of the colony, which had been appealed in En- gland to Her Majesty in council ; and the whole correspondence on the subject, with the colony agent in London, had been conducted by him. He had framed all the in- structions with regard to it, which had been sent from this country. In fact, on the death of Governor Winthrop, he was the only person in the colony who knew what was the actual condition of the case. It was understood also that letters had been received from the agent in London asking for new instructions, to which an immediate reply was -^^aUtnuML. REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW HAVEN. JO needed. Under these circumstances it was regarded as a matter of necessity that the further conduct of the affairs of the colony should be left in his hands. The assembly accordingly addressed a letter to his church and congregation, acquainting them with the call which he had to leave the ministry, and asking them to submit to the "dispen- sation." The clergy, also, in view of a statement made to them, advised him to take the office. Accordingly he accepted the trust to which he had been chosen, and con- tinued to hold the office of Governor by annual election at one of the most critical periods in the history of the colony for over sixteen years — a longer time than any person before or since. Governor Saltonstall was the great-grandson of Sir Richard Saltonstall, who was one of the leaders in the company who came to Massachusetts, in 1630, with Governor John Winthrop. He was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, March 27, 1666, and graduated at Harvard College, in the class of 1684. He was ordained in New London in 1 69 1, and had gained a wide reputation for his eloquence, his learning, and his acquaintance with men and things. He was one of those characters who seem to have been born to rule. His personal appearance, as may be judged from his portrait, which is in the possession of the college, was unusually prepossessing ; and it is said that there was something in the dignity of his bearing which at once commanded general attention and respect. Anecdotes have come down to the present time which illustrate the impression which his imposing figure and polished address made upon the royal governors and other officers from England with whom he was officially brought in con- tact. He was now in his forty-second year. Governor Saltonstall had been from the first a prominent man in that party in the colony who were anxious to have a religious establishment, and a general confession of faith, and rules for proceedings in all cases of difficulty. As has been said, this party had now acquired considerable strength. Even those who did not go all lengths with them seemed desirous that some more satisfactory way might be devised for the stated consultations of the ministers of the colony with each other. So general was the feel- ing that, in 1703, the trustees of the college, at one of their meetings, had taken some preliminary steps towards preparing the way for what was considered so desirable. Meetings had been held at their recommendation in the different counties, at which plans for a more complete ecclesiastical union were proposed and discussed. Such then was the state of feeling in the colony on the subject, when, on the first of January, 1708, Governor Saltonstall entered upon the duties of his office. Strongly in favor, as he was, of an ecclesiastical constitution for the churches, the assembly under his influence issued an order to the ministers and churches, at the very next session, in May, requiring them to meet in a synod at Saybrook in September, at the time of the college commencement, for the purpose of forming an ecclesiastical constitution for the. colony. The synod accordingly met in Saybrook the day after commencement, Sep- tember 9, 1 708, in the house which had been given by Mr. Lynde for the use of the college "so long as it should be continued in the town." Dr. Bacon, the historian of the synod, says it was hardly more than a meeting of the trustees in another capacity, for of the twelve ministers whose names appear upon the roll of the synod, nine were at the time trustees of the collegiate school. vol. 1.— 5 34 YALE COLLEGE. There was, as might have been expected, a difference of opinion in the synod as to the kind of religious establishment which should be set up. Mr. Pierpont and the New Haven divines were not in favor of anything which would abridge the liberties of the churches. But at last the synod unanimously agreed upon three general acts. First. They drew up and consented to a confession of faith, which is the same in substance, and nearly the same in words with the Westminster and Savoy Confessions. Second. They consented to a general plan of ecclesiastical government which had been formed some years before in England and was generally known and approved in Connecticut. Third. They drew up themselves fifteen additional articles and rules for the adminis- tration of church discipline. These acts comprise what is known as the Saybrook Platform; and, at the next session of the legislature, they were formally established as the ecclesiastical constitu- tion of the churches of the colony of Connecticut. The trustees of the college also adopted them at once and required that henceforth all officers of the college upon be- ing introduced into office should give an assent to them. The tradition is that Mr. Pierpont drew the original draft of the Articles of Disci- pline, but they were so modified afterwards by the synod in their meeting that it seemed as if Governor Saltonstall, and those who sympathized with him, had succeeded in gaining that form of ecclesiastical establishment for the churches which appeared to them so desirable. But the Articles, even though thus modified, were still capable of an interpretation in conformity with the views of Mr. Pierpont and of the members of the synod who sympathized with him ; and it is probably owing to this circumstance that they were finally passed unanimously. As a matter of fact, they were ever after interpreted, in different parts of Connecticut, according as the views of either party prevailed. Such was the strength, however, of those who were opposed to them, and such the opposition which they encountered, that all subsequent attempts made by the friends of an establishment to proceed further in the direction of consolidation were never permanently successful ; so that it may be said that Mr. Pierpont, and what may be called the New Haven party, though apparently defeated in the synod, in reality, as was proved in the subsequent history of parties, were successful in preventing the independence of the churches from being swallowed up by a species of consolidation which was entirely inconsistent with their historic independency. The immediate result, however, as far as concerned the college, was that its officers were henceforth required, before commencing their duties, to give their assent to the Saybrook Plat- form ; and this they continued to do for more than a hundred years. All that seemed necessary to secure the orthodoxy of the college seemed now to have been done ; but it soon became a question whether the institution could be kept in existence. Its affairs were in a very unsatisfactory condition. On account of the distracted condition of the country, owing to the war which still went on, it was impos- sible to raise funds sufficient to support a resident rector. Mr. Andrew, who had only been elected Rector /;•# tempore, kept up from Milford,* by correspondence, some over- * The following letter, written in 1714 by one of the tutors in Saybrook to Rector Andrew in Milford, well illustrates the state of things at the college. REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW HAVEN. ,r sight of the institution, and Mr. Buckingham, one of the trustees who lived in Say- brook, at first exercised some kind of inspection; but, in 1709, he died, and then the students were left for years almost entirely to the care of the two tutors. These were, indeed, years of deep discouragement to the friends of the college. How discouraging can only be understood by a reference to the history of the times. The people of New England were still everywhere living in a state of perpetual alarm. The savages from the northern forests, led by French officers, and assisted by picked bodies of Canadians, were still hovering all along the frontier. Mr. Bancroft says : "Children, as they gamboled on the beach; reapers as they gathered the harvest; mowers as they rested from using the scythe ; mothers as they busied themselves about the household, — were victims to an enemy who disappeared the moment a blow was struck and who was ever present where a garrison or a family ceased its vigilance." Such a state of things could no longer be endured, and the feeling at last spread through the colonies that the Indians must be exterminated, and that the power of France in Canada must be crushed. The British government, encouraged by their success at Oudenarde, in the summer of 1 708, determined to take advantage of this feeling, and proposed to the colonists to make an attempt to reduce Quebec and Montreal, and promised assistance. The proposition was hailed with joy in New England. In the spring of 1 709, two armies were raised, one of which was to co- operate with a fleet which was to be sent from England against Quebec, and the other was to go by land to make an attempt upon Montreal. There was now everywhere rejoicing at the prospect of putting an end to the ravages of their merciless enemy. To further the expedition, the legislature of Connecticut issued bills of credit, for the first time in the history of the colony, and to the amount of ,£8,000. But the expedi- tion was miserably mismanaged. The promised fleet never arrived, and without strik- ing a blow, both armies, after suffering great mortality from sickness, were disbanded. Connecticut, out of a population of only about 17,000, lost ninety men by disease and death from the quota of troops which it had furnished. But notwithstanding this failure here, the armies of England had proved successful on the other side of the ocean ; and the British government, elated by another victory which had been gained on the continent by Prince Eugene and Marlborough, in Sep- tember, 1709, at Malplaquet, resolved the next year, 1710, to undertake again the re- duction of Canada. New England was at once alive with fresh enthusiasm. Every " Revnd. Sir : I purposed to wait on you and to be our epistle to yourself; but many things prevent, especially Mr. Russel's absence. We content ourselves in sending one of the candidates to bear this epistle, which is to inform you, Revnd. Sir, that on Thursday of this week, according to the custom of this school, the candidates were proved and approved ; — present Mr. Noyes, of Lyme, the Rev. Mr. Ruggles, as also the Rev. Mr. Hart, Mr. Fisk, Mr. Mather, &c. Our request is that you would, Revnd. Sir, appoint them the Commencement work. Moreover, it being granted at a meeting of the trustees, and recorded, that candi- dates in this school may print theses and a catalogue as in other schools, we and they humbly request yourself would take the trouble to examine the theses and catalogue presented to you by the bearer. Please to insert or reject theses as you please. It is also our humble request that yourself would give the theses a dedication. Students are all in health. We always, Revnd. Sir, request your prayers, knowing our charge is great. Our duty waits on Madam Andrew. We shall not add, but the offering of our humble service to yourself, testifying that we are your "Very humble & obedient servant, "Saybrook, July, 26, 1 714. Jos. NOYES. "To the Revnd. Mr. Samuel Andrew, Rector of the Collegiate school in Connecticut." o 6 YALE COLLEGE. nerve was strained to the utmost. Connecticut cheerfully made up her quota of three hundred men, and sent them forward to the scene of action. The expedition proved in a measure successful. It resulted in the reduction of the fortress of Port Royal, in Acadia, or Nova Scotia as it was afterwards called, which thereupon received the name of Annapolis in honor of Queen Anne. With the opening of another year, the tidings from England were such that the colonists had little expectation that anything more would be done to rid them of the dreaded enemy on the northern frontier. The Whig party in England had been sup- planted by the Tories, and the people of New England profoundly distrusted Harley and St. John, who were now in power. They were, therefore, doubly overjoyed when they were informed that still another expedition was to be fitted out against Montreal and Quebec. The historians of the period tell us that all the colonies once more ex- erted themselves to the utmost, even beyond what had been known on any other occa- sion. In five weeks, two new armies were raised and provisioned, one to operate against Quebec, and the other to go by land to Montreal. Connecticut voted three hundred and sixty men, which was the number demanded of her, and sent them off with four months' provisions, and in addition furnished the colony of New York with two hundred fat cattle and six hundred sheep. It is not necessary to follow the course of these two ill-starred expeditions. It has been said: "If the English ministry were sincere in their prosecution of the war, they were certainly the most consummate blun- derers that ever undertook the government of a state." The army was intrusted to a brother of Mrs. Masham, the new favorite of Queen Anne, and he was made a brigadier-general, while the incapacity manifested by the admiral of the fleet, Sir Hovenden Walker, is almost beyond belief. Both expeditions proved an ignominious failure. But the Tories had come into power in England as the party of peace ; and at last, April ii, 1 713, a treaty was concluded at Utrecht with the ministers of Louis XIV, and Canada was left in the hands of the enemies of New England. Through the long years of this protracted war, the people of Connecticut displayed a fortitude and a readiness to meet the burdens which came upon them which are deserving of all praise, but it was in great measure owing to the wisdom, and the firm- ness, and the patriotism of its governor, that it had been carried so safely through all its dangers. Governor Saltonstall had been indefatigable in his exertions. He had made large advances from his own private fortune to sustain the credit of the colony. He defended the charter against the persistent misrepresentations which did not fail to be pressed by its enemies all the time in England ; and was always forward in concert- ing measures for the public good with the governors of the other colonies, and per- sistent in carrying them out to his utmost ability. By his services he gained the repu- tation of being the greatest and best man of his day in New England. But during this war every public and private interest, of necessity, had suffered. The college, around which so many feelings of affection and pride had begun to gather, was brought to the verge of ruin. Yet it survived. Year after year Mr. Andrew had traveled to Saybrook, in September, and "moderated" at the humble commencement, GOV. ELIHU YALE. REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW LLAVEN. 7 where there had never failed to be a class to receive degrees, though during four suc- cessive years, the largest class had consisted of but three members ; yet the smallest had never fallen below two. Now, however, with the return of peace, brighter days dawned. An important gift of books was received. A gentleman of the colony, of the town of Groton, Sir John Davie, having had an estate in England descend to him with the title of Baronet, went to England, and while there sent to the college a collection of one hundred and seventy volumes. A large portion of them were his own gift, but others were contributed by some non-conformist ministers in the county of Devon. The next year, 1 7 14, the college received a still more important donation of books; about eight hundred in number. They were sent over from England by Jeremiah Dummer, Esq., of Boston, the colonial agent of Connecticut. One hundred and twenty of these books he presented himself, and the rest he had obtained by personal solicita- tion from various contributors. Sir Isaac Newton had presented his Principia. Sir Richard Steele had presented "all the Tatlers and Spectators, being eleven volumes in royal paper, neatly bound and gilt." Sir Richard Blackmore brought "in his own chariot all his works, in four volumes folio." Rev. Matthew Henry presented his works. Dr. Woodward, Dr. Halley, Dr. Bentley, Dr. Kennet, Dr. Calamy, Dr. Edwards, Mr. Whiston, J. Sheffield, Esq., and many others, presented books ; and, in the list of the donors, is found also, for the first time, the name of Governor Elihu Yale, which was destined to be soon so intimately associated with the college in all its future history. There were some special reasons why it might be expected that Governor Yale would feel an interest in the college. His father was the son of the lady whom Governor Eaton had married as his second wife, and probably for this reason had been induced to cross the ocean with the New Haven colonists. Land was allotted to him in the new town on the Ouinnipiack, but he preferred to establish himself in Boston, and there Elihu Yale was born, April 5, 1648. When he was ten years old his father returned to England. His son accompanied him, and, after completing his education, went, about 1678, to the East Indies, where he resided not far from twenty years. He was made Governor of Fort St. George, Madras ; and there, by his enterprise and industry, acquired a great estate, with which he returned to England. From the letters of the period which have been preserved, it would seem that Mr. Pierpont had been for some time in correspondence with Mr. Dummer for the purpose of inducing him to procure assistance for the college in England. Accordingly, with this object in view, Mr. Dummer had sought the acquaintance of Governor Yale and had succeeded in interesting him in the college so far as to make this small donation of books. At the same time he wrote to Mr. Pierpont: "Governor Yale has done some- thing, though very little considering his estate and his relations to the college." He says also: "He told me lately that he intended to bestow a charity upon some college in Oxford, under certain restrictions which he mentioned. But I think he would rather do it to your college, seeing he is a New England, and I think a Connecticut man." He adds: "If you will write him a proper letter, I will take care to press it home." This correspondence of Mr. Pierpont with Mr. Dummer seems to have been one of the last things of importance in which he engaged in behalf of the college. The same 38 YALE COLLEGE. year in which this valuable collection of literary and scientific books was received, Mr. Pierpont died at the early age of fifty-five. He has been well called the Founder of the college. More than any other person he is entitled to that honorable title. To him, as has been shown, first occurred the idea of reviving the project of Mr. Daven- port of establishing a college in New Haven. It has been seen that he was not suc- cessful in securing the location of the college in New Haven, as he had intended, but from first to last it had been his wisdom and his care, more than that of any other in- dividual, which had guided the fortunes of the infant institution. He died comparatively young, and the college was deprived, all too soon, as it would seem, of the advantage of his counsels and his active exertions ; but one of the most honored of its living alumni — the Rev. Dr. Bacon — has called attention to the fact that some compensation is to be found in the remarkable manner in which his usefulness has survived him in each successive generation of his descendants even to this day. In the first generation, "his beautiful and gifted daughter, Sarah," was the wife of "that wonderful preacher and theologian [Jonathan Edwards] whose name is to this day the most illustrious in the church-history of New England, but who could never have fulfilled his destiny without her." In the second generation, "a grandson of his [the younger Jonathan Edwards] enriched our New England theology with his unanswer- able exposition and defense of the divine fact of the atonement for the sins of man." In the third generation, "a great-grandson of his [Timothy Dwight] presided over the college for more than twenty years with eminent success and wide renown, and left to all the evangelical churches, that read or worship in our English language, the only system of theology that has ever become in two hemispheres a popular religious classic. Nor is this all ; the humble collegiate school which, when James Pierpont died, had not yet dared to call itself a college, has grown [1859] into a university with five distinct faculties of instruction, with almost six hundred students, and with more than three thousand living alumni, and its beloved president [Theodore D. Woolsey], with those various gifts of genius, of learning, and of grace, which so adorn the office made illus- trious by his predecessors, is a great-great-grandson of the same James Pierpont." Nor is this all. It may be added to the above statement made in 1859, that since that date the number of students has nearly doubled, while among his descendants of the next generation, there are not only representatives among the most honored instructors of this college, but of many other important institutions of learning throughout the country. After the death of Mr. Pierpont the affairs of the college fell into a very unsatisfac- tory condition. There was still no resident Rector ; consequently the instruction and the discipline were in the hands of the tutors, who were young, and who did not suc- ceed in commanding the respect of the students. The students, too, made great com- plaint of the town of Saybrook. They said it did not afford them proper accommoda- tions, and that they were forced, many of them, to reside over a mile from the place of public exercises. The trustees accordingly, as they had ^125 in the treasury, and as an additional sum had been voted, in October, 1 71 5, by the assembly "for the building of a college REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW HAVEN. ^ house," began to talk of erecting a hall for the students, and a dwelling-house for the Rector. But this only served to increase the uneasiness and discontent. It had begun to be perceived throughout the colony that the college with its valuable library, and now with the prospect of permanent buildings, was destined to be of advantage to the place where it should be located. The students were, accordingly, encouraged in their expressions of dissatisfaction, particularly, it is thought, by persons from the northern part of the colony, in the hope that, if the college was removed from Saybrook, it might be secured for Hartford or Wethersfield. Aided by encouragement of this kind, the dissatisfaction proceeded to such a length that the trustees at their meeting at Saybrook, April 4, 1716, called the students before them and inquired into the occasion of their uneasiness. Thus questioned, they made complaint of the unsatisfactory character of their instruction ; and according to the account given by President Clap, "sundry of those who lived in or near Hartford or Wethersfield said that it was a hardship for them to be obliged to reside at Saybrook, when they could as well or better be instructed nearer home." The trustees took the matter into consideration, but were unable to come to any sat- isfactory conclusion as to what it was best to do. They accordingly gave a "sort of toleration" to the students that they might go, if they pleased, to other places for in- struction till commencement. Upon this, the larger part of them went to Wethersfield and put themselves under the tuition of Mr. Elisha Williams, who was assisted by Mr. Samuel Smith. Some went to other places, while some remained at Saybrook ; but these last were soon obliged, in consequence of the appearance of the small-pox in the town, to remove. They went to East Guilford, where they were during the summer under the instruction of Rev. Mr. Hart and Rev. Mr. Russel. The college being in this "broken condition," and it being now generally understood that there was a possibility that it might be removed to some other locality, subscrip- tions were commenced in different places for the purpose of inducing the trustees to "set it where it would accommodate the subscribers." A few weeks after, at the spring session of the legislature, a petition was presented by the two trustees who lived in Hartford, Mr. Woodbridge and Mr. Thomas Bucking- ham, who had been now elected to that office, praying that the college might be fixed in Hartford, and stating various reasons why that town was a suitable place for its permanent establishment. In this memorial the petitioners aver that Hartford is "more in the centre of the colony ;" that it is "surrounded with many considerable towns, upon which account it may easily be supposed that the number of students will be much greater than if it were at any other place which has not the like situation." They say also, that "several persons of distinction in the neighboring province have assured us not only that they will contribute towards the settling the school here, but also that they will send their youths hither for their education ; " and furthermore they say that there is already subscribed between ^600 and ,£700 ; and that there is good reason to expect other donations which will raise it to ^1000, and still further that they have the pros- pect of having the school supplied with able and sufficient tutors. 40 YALE COLLEGE. Dr. Woolsey in his Historical Address gives it as his opinion that the object of these gentlemen was simply to obtain from the legislature such an expression of the opinion of its members, and perhaps such an offer of pecuniary assistance, as would in- duce the trustees voluntarily to accede to their wishes. He says: "They can hardly be supposed to have desired the legislature to interfere in any other way, for this would have involved a violation of the charter." However, the legislature, in consequence of this petition, invited the trustees to appear before them for the purpose of consultation as to what was best to be done. Some of them complied with the invitation ; enough, it was said, to make a quorum. They persuaded the legislature to put off all action till the October session at New Haven. They came, also, to some kind of agreement among themselves that in case they were unable at the next commencement to arrive at a decision as to the place where the college should be located, they would ask the legislature to "nominate a place." Such was the state of affairs, at the time of the commencement, in September, 1 7 1 6. The day was celebrated as usual at Saybrook ; and, as it proved, it was the last com- mencement which was held in that place. Three scholars received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. At this time, the only tutor still connected with the college resigned. Thus the institution was left without a single permanent officer, while the students were dispersed through the colony. As agreed in Hartford, at the time of the spring session of the legislature, the question as to whether the college should be removed, and, if so, to what place, was brought up ; but the trustees were still unable to reach any conclusion. New Haven, where the college had been first thought of, had now appeared upon the scene, intent on reclaiming for itself what it considered as the off- spring of its own soil. It had one very important advantage in the contest, to which it is necessary to advert. Although in wealth and political influence New Haven was far inferior to Hartford, still it was true now, as at the time of the foundation of the college, that what may be called the New Haven party were in a large majority in the board of trustees. Of the ten trustees, seven were from towns which bordered on the Sound, and only three were from the towns in the centre of the colony. There was a trustee from each of the towns of Stamford, Fairfield, Milford, Branford, Guilford, Lyme, and Stonington. Of the three trustees who were from the central part of the colony, two were from Hartford ; and the remaining one, Mr. Mather, was from Windsor ; but he was an invalid, and in a sort of second childhood. No definite result was reached at this meeting. There was a vote passed, however, to the effect that the meeting of those trustees who appeared at Hartford in the spring, on the invitation of the legisla- ture, was not a legal meeting, as it had not been properly called ; and that as a board they would not consider themselves bound by what was then promised as to asking the advice of the legislature in case they could not at this commencement agree on a loca- tion for the college. Being unable to accomplish anything further, they at last ad- journed to meet in New Haven, in one month, on the 1 7th of October. At this meeting in New Haven, October 17, 1716, eight of the ten trustees were present. Two were absent; Mr. James Noyes, of Stonington, who was prevented attending by extreme old age, and Mr. Mather, of Windsor, who, as already stated, REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW HAVEN. 4 , was an invalid, and mentally incapable. On a vote being taken, it appeared that five out of the eight who were present, in view of the fact that a larger subscription had been raised in New Haven than in any other town, were in favor of removing the college to that place. One of the three whose vote was counted in the negative was Mr. Moses Noyes, who resided in Lyme, the town on the Connecticut river opposite Saybrook. He declared that he saw no good reason why the college should be re- moved from Saybrook, but said if it were to be removed, he should vote that it should be established in New Haven. Accordingly, though the two Hartford ministers re- mained earnest in their opposition, it was declared that a majority of the trustees were in favor of removing the college to New Haven, and an order was given to that effect. The tradition is that one of the principal inducements by which the trustees were influenced in their determination, was the offer which was made by the church which had been founded by Davenport, and to which Pierpont had so long ministered, of two very desirable lots of land, which looked out upon the public "Green." One of them comprised the southeast corner of the present college square, at the intersection of what is now known as College street with Chapel street ; and the other was on the northeast corner of the opposite square at the intersection of the same streets. It was seen that these two lots furnished a good site for a hall or dormitory for the students and for a dwelling-house for the rector. It is interesting, also, to observe that these lots looked out upon the same "Green" as the lot which had been originally set apart for a college by the first settlers of the town nearly sixty years before ; and it certainly was eminently fitting that the church which was so associated with memories of Daven- port and Pierpont should thus testify its interest in the institution of which they may be considered to have been the founders ; an interest which many successive generations have continued to manifest on all suitable occasions and in numberless ways, and an interest which has ever been increasing from that day to the present. It is gratify- ing, also, to see in the prompt and enthusiastic action of the people of the town at that time, that they had not lost that sense of the importance of making provision for the higher education, which was so conspicuous in their fathers. The whole town was stirred. Other towns of equal or greater wealth made every exertion in their power to obtain the college for themselves. But New Haven, true to its traditions, offered a larger sum of money than any of them. In the list of subscribers which is still preserved, all the older families of the town are liberally represented. The familiar names are to be found of Allen, Atwater, Dickerman, Heaton, Hitchcock, Hotchkiss, Lines, Mansfield, Mix, Peck, Punderson, Sperry, Trowbridge, Whiting, Wooster. Encouraged by this generous subscription, the trustees also voted at this same meeting that the building of a collegiate school and also of a house for a rector should be undertaken with all convenient speed, and a committee was appointed to carry on the work. They made a request of Governor Saltonstall that he would "favor them with his advice" in what they styled the "architectonic part of the buildings." They next elected, as junior tutor, Mr. Samuel Johnson, a graduate of the college in the class of 1 714, afterwards known as the first president of Kings, or Columbia College, in New York City, and also, as senior tutor, Mr. Samuel Smith, who had been the VOL. 1. — 6 42 YALE COLLEGE. assistant of Mr. Williams at Wethersfield ; probably with the hope that he might be persuaded to come from Wethersfield and bring with him the students who were there. The trustees also elected Mr. Stephen Buckingham, of Norwalk, a trustee to fill the place made vacant by the death of Mr. Pierpont. They furthermore gave notice to all the students belonging to the college that provision had been made for their instruction and government in New Haven. In accordance with what had thus been decided, the instruction for the collegiate year 1 716-17 began at once in New Haven. The students who had been in Guilford came over as directed, and Mr. Johnson took charge of them, and as Mr. Smith, who had also been elected tutor, could not be induced to leave Wethersfield, he was assisted to some extent by the Rev. Joseph Noyes, the minister of the town, who was a gradu- ate of the college and had had several years experience as a tutor at Saybrook. The students who had been at Wethersfield, who were about half of the whole number, re- mained there under the tuition of Mr. Williams; and a few students continued to reside at Saybrook. It is supposed that, in the decided course which the trustees adopted at this time, they were encouraged very much by Governor Saltonstall, who had now taken up his residence near New Haven in an elegant mansion which he built for himself soon after he became governor, on the banks of the beautiful lake which has since been always known by his name. It should be mentioned also in evidence of the bitterness with which the controversy began now to be carried on, that his motives did not escape severe criticism. It was said that he had land in New Haven and that he was influ- enced by the expectation that if the college was established there its value would be in- creased. In fact his action in the matter created so much hostile feeling that an effort was made at the next annual election during the excitement on the subject to supplant him in his office, which came very near being successful. But when the excitement subsided he regained all his former popularity. It was not long before the Hartford ministers and their friends began to complain that the action of the trustees at the October meeting in New Haven, in which they voted to remove the college to that town, was illegal. They claimed that Mr. Ruggles, of Guilford, who was one of the five who then voted to remove the college to New Haven, was not a trustee, having been elected before he was of legal age ; and that consequently there were but four out of the ten persons entitled to vote, who had been in favor of the action then taken. In consequence of this complaint, the trustees sent the record of what had been done at the meeting to Mr. James Noyes, of Stonington, who had been absent on that occasion, and he signed it on the 19th of December and declared his hearty concurrence with every resolution that was then adopted. But notwithstanding the college had thus been fixed at New Haven, by what was claimed to be a majority of the trustees, the people of the central part of the colony were by no means disposed to give up their efforts to secure it for Wethersfield. A meeting was held in Hartford on the 18th of December, at which resolutions were passed and instructions were given to their representatives to make an appeal from the trustees to the legislature of the colony. It was claimed that the people of the REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW HAVEN. 43 counties of Hartford and New London were more in number than the rest of the government, and paid the greatest part of the money which had been given for the support of the college ; and that they had furnished it also with the greater number of scholars, and that therefore they had "reason to expect that in appointing the place of the school good respect should be had to them therein." They declared that "the settling the college in New Haven is attended with great difficulties such as cannot be easily overcome, it being so remote, and the transporting anything by water thither being so uncertain ; there being but little communication between these counties and New Haven." They denied also that it was true that a majority of the trustees had voted in favor of removing the college to New Haven. In view of the excitement that was displayed in Hartford and other places, the trust- ees, at their next meeting, April 5, 171 7, at which a quorum of seven persons was present, considered once more the acts which they had passed in the previous October. Mr. Buckingham, of Norwalk, the new trustee, declined to vote ; but the other six, one of whom, however, was Mr. Ruggles, unanimously gave their assent to them and sub- scribed their names to the record of the meeting. But the matter was by no means placed at rest. At the May meeting of the legisla- ture, in Hartford, in 171 7, a remonstrance was presented by sundry inhabitants of Hartford and New London counties, complaining of the action of the trustees. The two Hartford trustees also presented a remonstrance. They declared that the question was still undecided. They insisted that the vote of Mr. Ruggles should not be counted; and consequently they declared with regard to the October meeting, 1716, that there were at that time only four votes out of ten in favor of removing the college to New Haven ; and that the signing of the record by Mr. Noyes so long after the meeting and at such a distance could avail nothing ; and, for the same reason, at the meeting of April, 171 7, there were only five votes out of eleven in favor of the action that had been there taken. These remonstrances were considered by the lower house, and a vote was passed requiring the trustees to appear before the assembly to explain the reasons of their conduct. This resolution was, however, rejected in the upper house, and nothing further was done at this session. So, in September, 171 7, the commencement exercises were held in New Haven. The occasion was a memorable one in the history of the college, from the fact that it was the first commencement held in the town with which its interests had been, and were evermore to be, identified. There had been, during the year, thirteen students in attendance upon the exercises of the college. There had been fourteen in Weth- ersfield, and four in Saybrook. Five students received the degree of B. A. At the meeting of the trustees, at this time, the objection urged by the Hartford trustees that Mr. Ruggles was not legally a trustee, and that consequently there had not been a majority of the votes in favor of the removal to New Haven, was considered, and to meet the difficulty they passed a vote which they supposed would preclude all fur- ther objection, to the effect that "as Mr. Ruggles had been actually associated with them for divers years, and had attended almost every meeting without the least dissatisfac- tion declared, or that might be suspected, they accept him as a worthy partner and 44 YALE COLLEGE. associate." Shortly after the commencement, the arrangements for building were so far completed that on the 8th of October, the frame of the new college hall was erected. Notwithstanding the action of the trustees at this commencement, with regard to Mr. RusfSfles, the excitement continued as great as ever. It was claimed that the trustees by their vote had not elected Mr. Ruggles to be a trustee, that they had only ex- pressed their opinion that he ought to be considered a trustee ; and that it was still true that he was not a trustee. At the meeting of the legislature in New Haven at the October session, 171 7, the feeling was still so strong that the upper house, in deference to it, were obliged to consent to a proposition which was made by the lower house, to the effect that the trustees should be summoned to appear before the legisla- ture to explain their late proceedings. The trustees accordingly appeared, and pre- sented a memorial with their answer to the objections which had been made, and a statement of the reasons by which they had been influenced. They alleged the con- veniency of the situation of New Haven. It was on the sea-coast. It was peculiarly accessible to the western colonies of New York and New Jersey, and was on the high- road from Boston to New York. They spoke of the agreeableness of the air and soil, and of the ease and cheapness with which students could be provided with what was necessary for their support, and also finally they stated that the largest sum of money by far had been subscribed in New Haven for building a college house, "without which they had not sufficient to defray the charge." The statement made by the trustees did not satisfy the lower house. They re- solved now to proceed as if the matter fell within their jurisdiction, and they took a vote on the claims of different towns to have the college. Meanwhile the people of the central part of the colony had agreed to concentrate their forces on an effort to ob- tain the college for Middletown. So the result was that the vote stood for Middletown, thirty-five, for New Haven, thirty-two, and for Saybrook, six. And now at this crisis the college would have been hopelessly ruined, in this struggle of the warring parties, had it not been for the influence of Governor Saltonstall. Guided by him the upper house planted itself firmly upon the ground that the trustees had a right to decide where the college should be located ; that they had so decided at a legal meeting ; and that all objections to the validity of the proceedings were frivolous. Then, after a full statement had been made before the two houses as- sembled in joint session, by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, of Stamford, in behalf of the trustees ; and one of the minority had also been heard, the upper house, according to the account of a contemporary writer: "All as one man agreed that they would advise the trustees settling the school at New Haven to go on with it; esteeming their cause just and good ; and they sent it down to the lower house, where there were great throes and pangs and controversy and mighty strugglings ; at length they put it to vote, and there were six more for the side of New Haven than the contrary ; and thus, at length, the up river party had their will in having the school settled by the General Court, though sorely against their will, at New Haven." The assembly then passed the following vote, viz: "That under the present circumstances of the 71 & I! IS V! J ,-■■ -^ REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW HAVEN. ^ affairs of the collegiate school, the reverend trustees be advised to proceed in that affair ; and to finish the house that they have built in New Haven for the entertain- ment of the scholars belonging to the collegiate school." A few days after this action of the legislature, October 30, 171 7, the trustees, with the hope of propitiating the Hartford people and bringing the contest to an end, elected Mr. Elisha Williams senior tutor ; and still further, to remove, as they said, the scruples and doubts of any on the account of Mr. Ruggles, they formally elected him a trustee. But notwithstanding the vote of the assembly, and the election of Mr. Williams as tutor, the scholars who had been at Wethersfield, who were about twenty-four in number, were encouraged to remain there during the collegiate year, 171 7-1 8; and at the following May session of the legislature, the influence of the Hartford party was such that the lower house were actually induced to vote: "That the trustees be desired to consent that the commencements should be held interchangeably, one year at Wethersfield, and one at New Haven, till the place of the school be fully determined." The upper house, however, would not listen to such a proposition for a moment; and voted that "the place of the school was fully determined already by the indisputable votes of the trustees, and the subsequent advice of the assembly thereupon ; and therefore they did not concur." The collegiate year 171 7— 18 was one which was full of anxiety to the trustees, but there were some gleams of sunshine. They were encouraged by receiving several valuable donations. Governor Saltonstall gave £50 sterling, and Mr. Jahaleel Bren- ton, of Newport, gave a similar sum. The people of New Haven continued to show their interest in the college by gifts of various kinds. Mr. Joseph Peck conveyed to the college two acres of land in the Yorkshire quarter. The proprietors of New Haven gave eight acres adjoining it; and forty acres more "near Samuel Cooper's house." Seventy-six volumes were received for the library from Mr. Dummer, the colony agent in England. But by far the most liberal donation was one which was sent to the college by Governor Elihu Yale. It has already been stated that in 1 714 he had sent forty volumes, in the collection of books which was then forwarded by Mr. Dummer. In 171 7, he had sent three hundred additional volumes; and now in the summer of 1 718, goods to the value of ^200 arrived at Boston, besides the king's picture and arms, which were sent by him as a further donation. With these gifts the trustees were able to finish the College Hall, so that by com- mencement it was fit for the reception of the students. The building stood at the intersection of College and Chapel streets, about twenty feet from Chapel street, and as many from College street. According to the account of it which is given in Presi- dent Clap's history it was one hundred and seventy feet long, twenty-two feet broad, and three stories high. It contained near fifty studies, "in convenient chambers." On the lower floor, at the south end, was a long room which served as a dining-hall ; and behind it was a small addition extending at right angles from the main building, which was designed to be used as a kitchen. Over the hall, in the second story, was another room which was set apart for the library. The cost of the building is estimated at ^1000 sterling. It must be confessed, if Governor Saltonstall favored 4 6 YALE COLLEGE. the trustees, as they requested, with his advice in the "architectonic part" of the build- ing — which as will be noticed was one hundred and seventy feet long by twenty-two feet wide — it certainly did not reflect any great degree of credit on his taste, or his acquaintance with the fine arts. The commencement in September, 1718, was a memorable occasion, and was cele- brated in public ; and in a style which far surpassed anything which had been known before in the history of the college. There was a great concourse of spectators. Besides the trustees, there were present Governor Saltonstall, Deputy-Governor Gould, sundry of the worshipful assistants, the judges of the circuit, and a great number of the reverend ministers. Among the guests was also the Hon. William Taylor, who appeared as the representative of Governor Yale. In the morning, the trustees first met in the hall of the new college, and there solemnly named the building Yale College, to perpetuate, as was stated in a contemporary account, "the memory of the Hon. Governor Elihu Yale, Esq., of London, who had granted so liberal and bountiful a donation for the perfecting and adorning it." Colonel Taylor then represented Governor Yale in a speech, and expressed great satisfaction at what he saw. After this ceremony was completed, a procession was formed which passed to the church, and there the exercises of commencement were carried on. "In which affair, in the first place, after prayer, an oration was had by the salutatory orator, James Pierpont, and then the disputations as usual ; which concluded, the Rev. Mr. Davenport (one of the trustees, and minister of Stamford) offered an excellent oration in Latin, expressing their thanks to Almighty God and Mr. Yale under him for so public a favor, and so great regard to our languishing school. After which were graduated ten young men ; whereupon the Hon. Governor Saltonstall in a Latin speech congratulated the trustees on their success, and on the comfortable appearance of things with relation to their school. All which ended, the gentlemen returned to the college hall where they were entertained with a splendid dinner, and the ladies at the same time were also en- tertained in the library ; after which they sang the four first verses in the 65th Psalm ; and so the day ended." President Clap in his history of the college says: "On the same day upon which the commencement was carried on at New Haven, something like a commencement was carried on at Wethersfield, before a large number of spectators. Five scholars, who were originally of the class which now took their degrees at New Haven, performed public exercises. The Rev. Mr. Woodbridge acted as moderator, and he and Mr. Buck- ingham and other ministers present signed certificates that they judged them to be worthy of the degree of Bachelor of Arts. These Mr. Woodbridge delivered to them in a formal manner in the meeting-house, which was commonly taken and represented as giving them their degrees." In the following October, 1 718, a resolution was introduced into the legislature for the purpose of putting an end to all the difficulties which had arisen. As originally passed in the upper house the preamble read as follows : "Whereas, it has been esteemed by some a considerable hardship upon the counties of Hartford and New London that a house for the collegiate school has been built at New Haven, at such a REMOVAL OF THE COLLEGE TO NEW HAVEN. 47 distance from these counties, and particularly (as is alleged) to the town of Hartford, which was anciently the seat of the principal administration of power in the colony, therefore, for the peace and better regulation and balance of public benefit of affairs in the colony, and forasmuch as it will in all probability conduce very much to the good order and honor of our public administration to have a fair and suitable building of our courts of election in Hartford, and for other public occasions; be it therefore enacted that land be sold for the procuring of ^iooo; and it is further enacted that ,£800 of the said thousand shall be applied to the erecting of a fitting house for holding the assem- bly and other courts in Hartford in such form as this court shall direct ; and that ^"200 of the said thousand be given to the trustees of the collegiate school for carrying and finishing the house erected for said school in New Haven." However, the bill did not pass in this shape. As finally amended, it allowed ^500 for the building of a house in Hartford for the assembly, as some compensation to the people of that town for the in- convenience which they were to suffer from having the college in New Haven, and £$0 to the town of Saybrook for the use of the school in that town. The clause by which it was proposed that ^200 of the fund should be given to the trustees for the benefit of the college at New Haven was struck out; and the legislature seemed to think that they had done all that was necessary when they inserted a "recommendation" to the effect that "the college should be encouraged in New Haven, and all due care taken for its flourishing." However, it should also be mentioned that they "recommended" that the scholars who had performed their exercises at Wethersfield should have their de- grees in New Haven without further examination, and that all scholars entered in the school at Wethersfield should be admitted to the same standing in the school at New Haven. They also ordered the scholars at Wethersfield to go down to New Haven. The trustees at New Haven were disposed to do all that they could to reconcile the Hartford party, and accordingly voted: "that if any of those five scholars [who had graduated at Wethersfield] should produce to the Rector a testimony, under the hands of any two trustees, of their having been approved by them as qualified for a degree, the Rector upon easy and reasonable terms should give them a diploma in the usual form and that their names should be inscribed in the class, as they were at first placed." All which was accordingly done ; and in the triennial catalogue of the college, ever since, the names of those graduated at Wethersfield, in 1718, appear in the same list with the names of those graduated at New Haven. Thus the college, after so many years, was now fairly established in New Haven. It has been sometimes said that this result was an accident. The history of the college, as it has now been traced from the beginning, shows that it was no accident. It was the intention of Mr. Davenport at the very beginning, and of the men who came with him from London, that the town which they founded should be a college town. To secure this result, they labored and made sacrifices. True, they did not accomplish in their day all that they had hoped, but they prepared the way for Pierpont, and Andrew, and Pierson, who came after them. Each successive generation, from the first, as it had grown up here, had become familiar with the idea of a college, and had learned to know something of the importance of learning, and of schools for the higher education. 4 8 YALE COLLEGE. Then when the college was founded in 1700, it was founded according to the original plan of the New Haven men who first proposed it ; and, throughout all its earlier history, the New Haven theory of what it should be, and how its interests should be administered, invariably triumphed. In 1708, when the attempt was made to bring it under the control of the Saybrook Platform, it would seem as if, for the time, the Eccle- siastical Establishment party had carried their point ; but, judged by the logic of events, even here New Haven finally had its way. It was the son of one of the first "planters" who gave the college its name; and when the great struggle arose in the colony as to where the institution should be permanently located, although Hartford claimed it as its right, not without plausible grounds, since Hartford was the ancient seat of the principal administration of power in the colony, New Haven was victorious once more. As the friends of the college look back upon those times, they cannot but see that the success of New Haven in establishing the college on its public green when so many towns were earnestly striving to secure it for themselves, and when, as was said in the publications of the time, the whole colony was "convulsed with great throes and pangs and controversy and mighty strugglings," proves that the town where the first idea of the college originated was worthy to keep it. It is owing to no accident, then, that the college stands to-day where it does. Rather was it an accident that it was located for a short time in Saybrook. Its final establishment in New Haven, and the fact that all the exertions which were made elsewhere were unable to wrest it away, shows that its natural home was here. Nothing in the town is more thoroughly imbedded in its history, from 1638 to 1718. From foundation stone to roof-tree, Yale College was the orowth of the soil of New Haven. -'— -"^— ; ^-^'i HOUSK OK GOVERNOR SALTONSTALL, A.D. 1 70S. Ji^rLotfLj £yvf&*~ ■C^i't,: nss&- rector's house, a.d. 1722. CHAPTER IV. ■fcfiT. TIMOTHY CUTLER, RECTOR, A.D. 1719-1722. New Difficulties. — The Wethersfield Students. — " A very vicious and turbulent set of fellows." — Lieutenant Daniel Buckingham refuses to give up the Library. — Governor Saltonstall and the Coun- cil REPAIR TO SAYBROOK. The SHERIFF ORDERED TO TAKE THE PROPERTY OF THE COLLEGE. RESISTANCE BY "A great number of men." books and papers lost. wethersfield students complain of tutor johnson. — The Trustees pronounce the complaints a "scandal." — Wethersfield Students leave New Haven in a body. — Rev. Timothy Cutler elected Rector. — A house built for the Rector. — Death of Governor Yale, July 8, 1721. — Change in the religious views of Rector Cutler and Tutor Browne. — Alarm among the friends of the college. rector cutler and his friends invited to an interview with Trustees. — -It appears that they are about to apply for Episcopal Orders. — Efforts of Governor Sal- tonstall to stop the movement. — Debate. — Rector Cutler excused from further service. At the beginning of the academic year 1 718-19, the friends of the college had cer- tainly great reason to be encouraged. The institution was fairly established in New Haven. A convenient "college house," facing the "Green," was completed. The instruction was in the hands of two gentlemen in whom the trustees had perfect confi- dence : Mr. Samuel Johnson, who had graduated in the class of 1 714, and had a high reputation as a scholar, and Mr. Daniel Browne, who was his classmate. The number of scholars in attendance was about forty. The students who had been in Wethersfield had come to New Haven, in accordance with the order of the Assembly, and had joined the several classes to which they belonged. But all was not yet harmonious. The Wethersfield students were soon found to be "a very vicious and turbulent set of fellows." They professed to be dissatisfied with everything, and "made all the mischief they could." There was a difficulty, also, in obtaining possession of the library at Saybrook. The books and papers belonging to the college had been left there in the keeping of Lieutenant Daniel Buckingham. Some time about the middle of November, in accordance with the act of the Assembly in October, he was requested to deliver up the books which had been left in his house, "which belonged to Yale College." He declined to comply with the demand, and gave as the reason that he " did not know that he had any books belonging to Yale College;" refusing, thus, to recognize the college by its new name. Accordingly, vol. i. — 7 49 5° VALE COLLEGE. 1 )ecember 2, Governor Saltonstall and the Council proceeded to Saybrook, and there, upon consideration of the matter, resolved that "the said Buckingham, refusing to deliver the said books and papers, upon the said order, given pursuant to the said act of the Assembly, has a manifest appearance of great misdemeanor, and contempt of authority." Thereupon they issued a precept to the sheriff of the county of New Lon- don, signed by Captain Christopher Christophers, clerk of the Council, commanding him, in His Majesty's name, to arrest the said Daniel Buckingham, and "have him before the Governor and Council to-morrow morning, at ten of the clock, at the house of Ma- jor John Clark, of Saybrook, to be examined concerning his said misdemeanor and con- tempt, and dealt with as the law directs." The next day, December 3, Lieutenant Daniel Buckingham having been brought before the Council, and their order having been read to him, he was asked what he had to say in defense of his conduct. He replied that he could only say " as he had already done." Whereupon the sheriff was ordered to enter his house and take the property of the college. Such, however, was the excite- ment in Saybrook on the subject, that even the sheriff was met at the door "by a great number of men," who resisted him in the execution of his duty. He succeeded at last, notwithstanding the opposition, in making his entrance, and took possession of the books. But, in order to be able to carry them out of town, it became necessary "to impress men, carts, and oxen." The tradition is that the books were not placed in the carts till so late in the day that it was impossible to carry them away that evening, and during the night a mob collected who took off the wheels from the carts and broke down the bridges on the road to New Haven. The result was that before the books reached their destination two hundred and fifty volumes and many valuable papers were lost, which could never be found again. Meanwhile there began to be a difficulty at the college, in consequence of the insub- ordination of the Wethersfield students. Matters rapidly proceeded from worse to worse ; and, at last, some time early in 1 719, they all left New Haven in a body, and went back to Wethersfield, complaining of what they called the " insufficiency " of Tutor Johnson. The occasion seemed of such public importance to Governor Salton- stall, that he ordered a special meeting of the Council in New Haven, that they might consult with the trustees with regard to the interests of the college. Accordingly, when the Council had assembled, they proceeded from their chamber to the college hall, where they were met by Mr. Andrew and the other trustees, who expressed their indig- nation at the unreasonable attempt of the disaffected students to " scandalize," as they called it, the instructions of a gentleman who in the opinion of competent judges was in every respect qualified for the position which he held. They said, however, that they had come to the conclusion that it was very important for them to secure the services of some person of character as Rector, who should reside at the college. For this reason, they stated that they had been for some time in correspondence with Mr. Henry Flynt, of Cambridge, whom they were seeking to persuade to accept the office. During the week, the Governor and Council had several consultations with the trus- tees on the subject, and, as the result, advised them to proceed at once to the election of some fitting person as Rector. Accordingly, they took the matter again into con- ST. GILES; WITH CHURCHVARD, AND TOMB OF ELIHU YALE, WREXHAM, (NORTH WALES.) RECTOR CUTLER. 51 sideration and made choice of the Rev. Timothy Cutler, who had been for ten years the minister at Stratford. Mr. Cutler was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1683. He had graduated at Harvard in 1701, was ordained at Stratford in 1709, and had married the daughter of Rev. Mr. Andrew, who had now been acting as Rector of the college for twelve years. Mr. Cutler had a high reputation in the colony as an eloquent preacher, and as a man of great learning, particularly in the oriental languages. He is said also to have spoken Latin with great fluency, an accomplishment which was then highly esteemed. He was also unusually well read in all the academic sciences, in divinity, and ecclesi- astical history. On being informed of his election, in view of the state of things at the college, he immediately removed to New Haven and entered upon the duties of Rector. He is reported to have been a man of commanding presence, of great dignity, and of a " high, lofty, and despotic mien." Under his influence the students seem to have been speedily brought under suitable subordination, and the affairs of the institution were soon in such a condition as to give general satisfaction. To compensate the people of Stratford for the loss of their minister, the trustees pur- chased Mr. Cutler's house and home lot, for the sum of ^84, and presented them to the parish. As soon as possible, also, the trustees made arrangements to build a house in New Haven for the Rector. The legislature, for the furthering of the work, in 1721, ordered that a public subscription should be taken up in each town in the colony ; and granted also an impost on rum, which yielded ^115. The house was finished in 1722 at a cost of ^260. Meanwhile, information was received in New Haven that Governor Yale, the bene- factor of the college, had died in England, July 8, 1721.* A little before his death he had made a will, in which he had bequeathed to the college, in addition to what he had already given, the sum of ^500. But, afterwards, it occurred to him that it was best to execute that part of his will in his lifetime, and he accordingly packed up goods to that value, with the design of sending them to the college ; but before they were shipped he took a journey into Wales, and died at Wrexham, in or near the seat of his ancestors. So the goods were not sent, neither could the will obtain a probate, although Governor Saltonstall took great pains to effect it. The following is a copy of Governor Yale's epitaph, in the church-yard at Wrexham : Under this tomb lyes interr'd Elihu Yale, of Place-Gronow, Esqr. ; born 5th April, 1648, and dyed the 8th of July, 1721, aged 73 years. Born in America, in Europe bred, In Afric travell'd, and in Asia wed, Where long he liv'd and thriv'd ; at London dead. Much Good, some 111 he did ; So hope's all even, And that his soul thro' Mercy's gone to Heaven. You that survive and read, take care For this most certain Exit to prepare, For only the Actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the dust. 5 2 VALE COLLEGE. The college now seemed to be in a prosperous condition. According to President Clap, Mr. Cutler made a grand figure as Rector. The prospect seemed very encour- aging, when, in the summer of 1722, suspicions began to gain currency that he and some of the neighboring clergymen had made an important change in their religious views. The Rev. Mr. Pigot, an Episcopal missionary, who had been sent from Lon- don to Stratford by the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," had received a visit from one of them, and after his departure had given some hints to his parishioners of what might soon be expected to take place. The result of the reports, which were now extensively circulated, was, that by the time of Commence- ment "the whole country was in alarm, and many people came to New Haven expecting some strange occurrence." Accordingly, the day after Commencement, the trustees, "with no other expectation than that these gentlemen might clear themselves of every unfavorable suspicion," invited Rector Cutler and the others to meet them in the college library. Mr. Cutler on this occasion came attended by the Rev. Mr. Hart of East Guilford, the Rev. Jared Eliot of Killingworth, the Rev. Mr. Whittelsey of Wallingford, the Rev. Mr. Wetmore of North Haven, and the Rev. Mr. Johnson of West Haven, and Tutor Browne. These gentlemen were then requested, from the youngest to the eldest, " to make a statement of their views, when, to the great grief of the trustees, it appeared that some of these gentlemen entertained doubts as to the validity of their ordination, and others of them were even fully persuaded as to its invalidity." They said that these views were the result of their study of the books which had lately been sent over to the college from England. They had been induced to study the subject of the consti- tution of the primitive church, and the points of difference between the Church of Under an engraved picture of Governor Yale, sent to the college at an early period, there was the following inscription : Effigies clarissimi viri, D. D. Elihu Yale, Londinensis, Armigeri. En vir ! cui meritas laudes ob facta, per orbis Extremos fines, inclyta fama dedit. yEquor arans tumidum, gazas adduxit ab Indis, Quas Ille sparsit munificante manu : Inscitise tenebras, ut noctis luce corusca Phcebus, ab occiduis pellit et Ille plagis. Dum mens grata manet, nomen laudesque Yalknses Cantabunt SOBOLES, unanimique Patres. From the numerous translations in verse which have been made of these lines I select the following : Behold the man, whose deeds on every shore, Fame's hundred tongues are whispering to the wind ; Asiatic wealth o'er boisterous seas he bore, With just magnificence to bless mankind. The clouds of Ignorance which veiled the mind Of this wide West, he burst ; as Phcebus' rays Light up the night. Yale's fame and name combined, Till gratitude expires, shall fire our lays, While Sons and Fathers join in sweet accordant praise. — Yale Literary Magazine, 1836, vol. i. 186. RECTOR CUTLER. 53 England and the Congregational churches of the colony ; and for some time they had been in the habit of meeting in the college library for the purpose of discussing these subjects among themselves and comparing their views. It appeared further, that some of them had even agreed to leave the communion of the churches in the colony and apply for Episcopal orders. The trustees heard this announcement with astonish- ment and dismay. President Woolsey has said: "I suppose that greater alarm would scarcely be awakened now if the theological faculty of the college were to declare for the Church of Rome, avow their belief in transubstantiation, and pray to the Virgin Mary." It could not but cause them inexpressible grief that so many persons whom they regarded with respect, and who had been elevated to high positions in the churches, should deliberately abandon those principles, to maintain which their fathers had come to this country at great personal sacrifices, with the express purpose of escaping from the English Church, and of establishing for themselves, and for those who should come after them, a form of ecclesiastical government which they considered to be more in accordance with the Scripture. The possible effect also of this movement upon the political relations of the colony to England added to their apprehension. The trustees now asked the gentlemen to state their views in writing, which was accordingly done. In return, the trustees sent them a paper, in which they entreated them to consider the matter again with greater attention, and, if possible, "to get over their scruples." A few days after, Governor Saltonstall, who was very desirous, if possible, of stop- ping the movement, proposed that Rector Cutler and his friends should meet with the trustees and argue the points in a friendly manner in his presence. They accordingly met once more in the college library, on which occasion Governor Salton- stall acted the part of moderator, and, as was conceded, with great candor and politeness. The debate was managed for a considerable time with decorum by both parties. The Governor himself took an important part in the debate ; but at last the defence of Episcopacy provoked some irritating remark from one of the trustees, and Governor Saltonstall thought it best to put an end to the conference. As might be expected, both parties claimed to have been victorious in the debate. Rector Cutler, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Wetmore, and Mr. Browne remained firm in their views. Mr. Hart, Mr. Whittelsey, and Mr. Eliot continued in their churches, though the friends of Episcopacy were in the habit of claiming that, for the rest of their days, they were never known to act, or say, or insinuate anything to the disadvantage of the Episcopal Church. The trustees now voted without delay that "in faithfulness to the trust reposed in them," they do excuse the Rev. Mr. Cutler from all further service as Rector, and that they accept of the resignation which Mr. Browne has made of his office as Tutor. They furthermore passed a resolution requiring that all persons who shall henceforth be elected to the office of Rector or Tutor, before they enter upon their duties, shall not only declare their assent to the Saybrook platform, but give satisfaction to the trustees of the soundness of their faith in opposition to Arminian and prelatical corruptions, and any others of dangerous consequence to the purity and peace of the churches. 54 YALE COLLEGE. Mr. Cutler, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Browne sailed in a few weeks for England, where they were ordained in March, 1723, by the Bishop of Norwich. Shortly after this ordination, Mr. Browne was seized with the small-pox, and died in England. Mr. Cutler, before his departure from the country, received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and Mr. Johnson, the degree of Master of Arts, from the Universities of both Oxford and Cambridge. After their return to their native land, Dr. Cutler became Rector of Christ Church, in Boston. He died in 1 765, at the age of eighty-two. Mr. Johnson received an appointment as Episcopal Missionary in Stratford, Connecticut, where he remained till 1754, when he received the appointment of first president of King's Col- lege, now known as Columbia College, in New York City. In 1763 he resigned the presidency and returned to Stratford, where he died in 1772, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. Mr. Wetmore received an appointment as Episcopal Missionary in Rye, New York, where he continued till his death, in 1 760. President Woolsey says, with regard to the action of the trustees at this time, that all will allow that the act by which Rector Cutler was deposed from his office was neces- sary in a seminary which was intended for the training of ministers, as much as for any purpose, and which was founded and governed by adherents of the Congregational system. He calls attention also to the fact that these gentlemen who then left the Puritan platform were not afterwards disposed to array themselves in hostility to the college. They were rather inclined to regard it as a hopeful place where, in process of time, views similar to their own would flourish. In particular, one of them, Mr. — after- wards Dr. — Johnson, appears to have taken a friendly interest in the welfare of the college, and to have rendered to it important services. Subsequently, a large number of the more eminent and active Episcopal ministers, both in New England and to the westward of it, were educated at Yale College. The meetings which were held at this time for the purpose of considering the case of Rector Cutler would seem to have had the effect of leading the trustees to appreciate the importance of having the nature of the constitution of the governing board of the college more exactly defined than it had been in the so-called charter which had been given a. d. 1 70 1. That charter was very incomplete in its description of the powers confided to the trustees ; and during the recent troubles, as well as during those which had arisen in connection with the removal of the college from Saybrook to New Haven, it had become evident that there was an important difference of opinion among them as to the proper method of proceeding in their action. It was claimed by some, that, as members of the governing board, they could take part in its action, even if they were not present at a meeting regularly called ; and that consequently it was neces- sary, in order that any action should become legal, that such action should have received the votes of a majority of the whole body. In conformity with this theory, not only those who were present at a meeting had been in the habit of signing their names to the minutes, but, in disputed cases, the practice had been to send the minutes to those who had been absent, that they might append their signatures. It had been in effect claimed by some, also, that as independent trustees, any one or more of them had the power of receiving students for purposes of instruction, and even of conferring RECTOR CUTLER. 55 the usual academical decrees. It would seem as if the trustees had now become satisfied that it was best that they should be constituted a body corporate ; and, as the legislature was in session in New Haven at the very time that they were considering what action to take with regard to the resignation of Rector Cutler, they applied and received permission to use henceforth a common seal to authenticate their acts. During the next year, they agreed upon the rules of proceeding which should govern them in the transaction of business ; and, at the October session of the legislature, a. d. 1723, they procured an act to be passed defining the method in which a legal meeting was to be called. The act also provided that seven of the trustees, at a meeting so called, should be esteemed a quorum ; and that " all affairs under the care of said trustees should be determined by the majority of such meeting." It was furthermore declared that any trustee might resign his office when he should see cause ; that a clerk might be appointed to register the acts of the board ; that a minister of thirty years of age might be chosen a trustee ; and that the Rector should be a trustee ex officio. OFFICIAL SEAL OF BISHOP BERKELEY. FROM THE MEMORIAL WINDOW IN BATTELL CHAl'EL. CHAPTER V. REV. ELISHA WILLIAMS, RECTOR, i 726-1 739. The College for four years without a permanent Rector. — Disorder among the Students. — -Rev. Elisha Williams elected Rector, A.D. 1726. — Enlarged curriculum of Academic Studies. — Rev. George Berkeley, Dean of Derry. — Fortune bequeathed to him by Mrs. Vanhomrig (Vanessa). — Plans a College in the Isles of Bermuda. — Expects aid from the British Government. — Sails for Newport, Rhode Island. — Buys a Farm.- — Whitehall. — Disappointment. — Gives Whitehall to the College at New Haven. — Foundation of three Scholarships. — III health of Rector Williams. — Resigns A.D. 1739. From 1722 to 1726 the college was without any permanent Rector. The tradition is that the trustees, in consequence of the change in Mr. Cutler's views, lost somewhat of their confidence in his father-in-law, Mr. Andrew, who had preceded him in his office. It had been largely through his influence that Mr. Cutler had obtained his election in 1 7 1 9. The trustees, accordingly, did not invite Mr. Andrew to act again as Rector, but agreed among themselves that they would, each of them by turn, reside in New Haven for a month at a time, and discharge the duties of the office. Under such an arrangement it is not surprising that the students became once more very dis- orderly. Repeated efforts were made to fill the vacant place, but "owing to the general agitation arising out of the late declaration for Episcopacy, it seems to have been con- sidered a station of peculiar difficulty." At the next Commencement, in 1723, it is interesting to notice that the old feelings of estrangement between the trustees who lived on "the river" and those who lived on "the Sound " had so far passed away that Mr. Woodbridge, of Hartford, was appointed to confer the degrees. It was not long, however, before Mr. Andrew appears to have regained the confidence of his colleagues, and in 1724, 1725, 1726, he "moderated," as it was termed, as in former times. In this last year a still more striking proof was given that the old jealousies con- nected with the removal of the college from Saybrook to New Haven had been for- gotten, by the election of the Rev. Elisha Williams as Rector, who had figured so conspicuously in the history of those troubles as the teacher of the seceding students at Wethersfield. He was now the minister in Newington, a parish of the town of Weth- 56 & /U^L^^n^f RECTOR WILLIAMS. 57 ersfield. The choice was considered so good, and one of such public importance, that the legislature, on the petition of the trustees that some suitable compensation might be made to the people of his charge for the loss they were about to sustain, released the parish from their county tax for four years. His church having been thus indemni- fied, the ceremony of his installation took place on the day after Commencement, September, 1726. In the morning Mr. Williams met the trustees in the college library, and gave his assent to the confession of faith and the rules of church discipline which had been agreed upon by the churches of the colony in 1 708, and, after dinner, he made a public oration in the hall. The ceremony was concluded by the trustees coming successively to him and saluting him as Rector. Mr. Williams was the son of the Rev. William Williams, of Hatfield, Mass. He was born in 1694, and graduated at Harvard College in 171 1. In 17 16 his services had been secured by the disaffected trustees, Mr. Woodbridge and Mr. Buckingham, to take charge of the students from the northern part of the colony who had withdrawn from Saybrook ; and he had continued to give instruction to these students in Wethersfield for two years. When all opposition to the establishment of the college in New Haven had been given up, the trustees, in 1718, in order to reconcile all parties, invited him to come to New Haven as senior tutor. He never came, but his name now stands on the triennial catalogue of the college in the list of tutors, though he never held the office, except in Wethersfield, and in the irregular manner just described. In 1718 he was elected by the people of Wethersfield to represent the town in the legislature, and was made clerk of the house. In 1721 he was ordained the minister of the church in Newington, where he remained till he removed to New Haven in 1726. At this time, the town is supposed to have had a population of about a thousand inhabitants. Two years before, in 1724, the number of dwelling-houses was reported to be one hundred and sixty-three. Mr. Williams had the reputation of possessing unusual talent as an instructor, and he proved to be very successful in administering the affairs of the college. He was also one of those men who are endowed with great personal magnetism. By his peculiarly genial influence he was able to repress much of the vice and disorder which had prevailed among the students. He made some important changes in the academical studies. Having paid especial attention himself to rhetoric and oratory, he labored to cultivate at the college a taste for general literature. It would seem that his own example must have conduced somewhat to this end, for President Stiles says of him, " He was a man of splendor. He spoke Latin freely, and delivered orations gracefully and with animated dignity." When he had been Rector about seven years, the college received a gift of a very valuable collection of books, and of a house and ninety-six acres of land, from the Rev. Dr. George Berkeley. The memory of this gift, which connects the institution in its early history, in this pleasant way, with a European scholar of world-wide reputation, and one so honored for his accomplishments and his many virtues, has always been cherished among the alumni with such interest that some account of the circumstances which led to these gifts seems to be required. VOL. 1. — 8 5 8 VAf.K COLLEGE. Dr. Berkeley, when nearly forty years of age, had come quite unexpectedly into the possession of a fortune of ,£4,000, which was bequeathed to him by Mrs. Vanhomrig (the "Vanessa" of the literary history of the times), and shortly after he was made Dean of Derry, in Ireland. It appears that he had been revolving in his mind for some time the possibility of doing something for the improvement of the condition of the red men in America, and he had scarcely received his new appointment before he made public a plan which he had devised for establishing a college for the benefit of the children of the savage Americans. This college was to be in the "Sum- mer Islands," otherwise known as the " Isles of Bermuda." The special object of this institution was to be the training of young native Indians as missionaries. Suit- able persons, however, from the English plantations, were also to be admitted to share in its privileges, that they might receive an education which would fit them for positions in the colonial churches. The enthusiastic Dean proposed to resign his own appoint- ment and to become the head of this college on a salary of £100 a year, and he had secured as Fellows for the proposed institution, on a salary of £<\o, several young men who had been educated in the universities. As an illustration of the way in which this genial and ardent Irishman succeeded in arousing the interest of all with whom he came in contact, a story is told by Lord Bathurst. He says : " The members of the Scriblerus Club being met for dinner one day at his house, it was agreed that they would rally Berkeley, who was to be present, on his scheme at the Bermudas. Berkeley having listened to all the lively things they had to say, begged to be heard in his turn, and displayed his plan with such astonishing and animating force of eloquence and enthusiasm that they were struck dumb, and, after some pause, rose up all together with earnestness, exclaiming : ' Let us all set out with him immediately.' ' His " Proposal," which he published as a pamphlet, and in which he gave a sketch of his plan, is the most extraordinary production of the kind ever published. It reads like a chapter from a romance. Mr. Fraser, his latest biographer, says : " With the warmth of a poet he pictures the genial sun and the virgin earth of these rock-encircled islands ; so defended by nature that foe or pirate could not come near them ; lavishly supplied with all that nature needs." There the atmosphere is perpetually fanned and kept cool by sea breezes, which render the weather the most healthy and delightful that could be wished, being of one equal tenor almost throughout the whole year, like the latter end of May. He calls it the Montpellier of America. It was to him a "land of blue skies, rich fruits, coral strands, and a virtuous and innocent race." "Tall cedars sheltered the orange trees ; " and there, in a retirement, as he says, " so sweet and so secure," he proposed to devote the remainder of his life to prosecuting his studies and instructing the young savages who were to come from America — the nearest point of which, Cape Hatteras, as Mr. Fraser tells us, was nearly six hundred miles distant. Intent on his benevolent mission, the Dean set out from Ireland for London to gain a royal charter for this college, and a suitable endowment. He had heard that there was a tract of land in the Island of St. Kitts which had been ceded to the English crown by the French at the time of the treaty of Utrecht, in 1 7 1 3, which tract of land Queen Anne had directed to be sold, that a fund of £"80,000 might be established for the sup- RECTOR WILLIAMS. 59 port of four Anglican bishops in America. He now proposed to the Government that ,£20,000 of this fund should be set apart for the benefit of the college. Some idea of the way in which the plan was regarded at the time may be obtained from the follow- ing letter of his friend Dean Swift to Lord Carteret, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland: "There is a gentleman of this kingdom just gone for England — it is Dr. George Berke- ley, Dean of Derry, the best preferment among us, being worth about ,£1,100 a year. He takes the Bath in his way to London, and will, of course, attend your Excellency, and be presented*, I suppose, by his friend Lord Burlington ; and because I believe you will choose out some very idle minutes to read this letter, perhaps you may not be ill-entertained with some account of the man and his errand. He was a Fellow in the University here, and, going to England very young, about nineteen years ago, he became the founder of a sect there, called the Immaterialists, by the force of a very curious book on that subject. Dr. Smalridge and many other eminent persons were his proselytes. I sent him chaplain and secretary to Sicily with my Lord Peterborough ; and, upon his Lordship's return, Dr. Berkeley spent above seven years in traveling over most parts of Europe, but chiefly through every corner of Italy, Sicily, and other islands. When he came back to England he found so many friends that he was effec- tually recommended to the Duke of Grafton, by whom he was lately made Dean of Derry. Your Excellency will be frightened when I tell you all this is but an introduc- tion, for I am now to mention his errand. He is an absolute philosopher with regard to money, titles, and power, and for three years past hath been struck with a notion of founding a university at Bermuda by a charter from the Crown. He has seduced sev- eral of the hopefulest young clergymen and others here, many of them well provided for, and all of them in the fairest way of preferment; but in England his conquests are greater, and, I doubt not, will spread very far this winter. He showed me a little tract which he designs to publish, and there your Excellency will see his whole scheme of a life academico-philosophic, of a college founded for Indian scholars and missionaries, where he most exorbitantly proposeth a whole hundred pounds a year for himself, forty pounds for a Fellow, and ten for a student. His heart will break if his deanery be not taken from him and left at your Excellency's disposal. I discourage him by the cold- ness of courts and ministers, who will interpret all this as impossible and a vision, but nothing will do. And therefore I do humbly entreat your Excellency either to use such persuasions as will keep one of the first men in this kingdom for learning and vir- tue quiet at home, or assist him by your credit to compass his romantic design, which, however, is very noble and generous, and directly proper for a great person of your excellent education to encourage." Notwithstanding these quite practical views which were entertained by some, the Dean succeeded at last, by his importunity and that of powerful friends, in obtaining both the desired royal charter and a promise of the ,£20,000, for which he had made application; and encouraged by his success, and with unlimited faith in the bare word of Sir Robert Walpole, the English minister, he resigned his deanery, and, after having been married, August 1, to Miss Anne Foster, daughter of the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, he set sail September 6, 1728, on his mission. 6o YALE COLLEGE. Thus, as one of his biographers has said, "he entered upon the wild enterprise with such defiance of prudence, and such devotion to a purpose, as perhaps no mature man newly married, and with the responsibilities of individual life upon him, ever manifested before." It was at this time, in the full flush of excitement consequent on what he now considered the assured success of his design, that he burst into song : Westward the star of empire takes its way ; The four first acts already past. A fifth shall close the drama with the day — Time's noblest offspring is its last. The Dean took with him a considerable sum of money of his own, and a collection of books for the use of the college. He had also received some contributions of money from his friends to assist in carrying out his enterprise. Two young gentlemen accom- panied him — Mr. James and Mr. Dalton — and an artist, Mr. Smybert. There was also in the party a cousin of Mrs. Berkeley, "my lady Handcock's daughter." The party never reached the Bermudas. After a tedious voyage of five months they landed at Newport, in Rhode Island, where the Dean determined to take up his resi- dence till the promised Government grant should be received. With his own money he purchased a farm of ninety-three acres, three miles from the town, and built upon it a farm-house, with the intention of making of his new purchase a stock-farm, which might be useful in furnishing supplies for the future college, which was to be at Bermuda. Here, on his farm in Newport, he waited for the arrival of the ,£20,000; but the money did not come. It appears that at one time he was inclined to commence his college in Rhode Island, thinking that it possessed some advantages over the Bermudas ; but fearing lest this change might throw some difficulty in the way of receiving the promised grant, he judged it best to adhere to the original design. Meanwhile, he occupied his enforced leisure in literary work, and wrote Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher, the object of which was to furnish an argument in refutation of the freethinkers of his day. At last, the whole ,£80,000 raised by the sale of the Crown lands in St. Kitts were appropriated by the Government to furnish a marriage portion for the Princess Royal; and one of the Dean's friends, the Bishop of London, knowing how wearied and impatient he had become by long waiting, sought an inter- view with Sir Robert Walpole, in order that he might be able to inform him what he might depend upon with regard to the payment of the promised subsidy. The Bishop received this characteristic answer from Walpole : " If you put the question to me as minister, I must and can assure you that the money shall undoubtedly be paid as soon as suits with the public convenience ; but if you ask me as a friend whether Mr. Berkeley should continue in America, expecting the payment of the ,£20,000, I advise him by all means to return home to England and to give up his expectation." There was now no longer any possible prospect of succeeding in his scheme. Reluctantly the Dean determined to give it up, and accordingly sailed for England in September, 1 73 1 , just three years after he had left his native land. RECTOR WILLIAMS. 61 Rut during- these three years of his residence in Rhode Island he had made a very pleasant acquaintance with Mr. Samuel Johnson, the Episcopal missionary in Stratford, and with Mr. Jared Eliot, who was one of the trustees of the college. In consequence he had been led to feel an interest in the college in New Haven, and had presented it with a copy of all his works, which brought about some correspondence with Rector Williams. At last, when the Dean was about to leave America, Mr. Johnson, who had always retained his friendly feelings for his alma mater, while making him a parting visit at Whitehall, took occasion to suggest that he should send some books to the college from England, in the hope that as he and his brethren had been profited by the books which had formerly been sent, a like benefit might be extended to future generations. Dr. Berkeley had already formed a favorable opinion of the college from his acquaint- ance with Mr. Eliot and other gentlemen who were connected with its management, and on his return to England, assisted by several of his friends who had been liberal subscribers to his own intended college, sent over nearly a thousand volumes, valued at ^500, the finest collection of books, according to President Clap, ever brought to America "at one time." Among these books were a collection of the Christian Fathers, nearly complete ; copies of most of the Greek and Latin classics ; and the most approved works in theology, history, the sciences, and general literature. They were generally of the most approved editions and in the best style of binding. Shortly after the Dean's return to England, he sent also through Mr. Johnson a deed, by which he conveyed to the trustees of the college the farm which he had occupied in Rhode Island, and which is still known as the " Dean's Farm."* The conditions of the gift were — 1 st. That the rents of the farm should be appropriated to the maintenance of the three best scholars in Greek and Latin who should reside at college at least nine months in a year, in each of the three years, between their first and second degrees. 2d. That on the sixth day of May, annually, or in case that should be Sunday, on the seventh, the candidates should be publicly examined by the President or Rector and the Senior Episcopal Missionary within the colony who should be then present. And in case none should be present, then by the President only. 3d. In case the President and Senior Missionary should not agree in their sentiments who were the best scholars, the case should be determined by lot. 4th. That all surplus money, which should happen by any vacancy, should be distributed in Greek and Latin books to such undergraduate students as should make the best composition or declamation in the Latin tongue upon such a moral theme as should be given them. The first examination for the Dean's bounty was held in May, 1733, when the Rev. * President Clap, in his History of the College, written about the time that information reached New Haven of the death of Dr. Berkeley, who had become Bishop of Cloyne, says with reference to these gifts : " The college will always retain a most grateful sense of his generosity and merits, and, probably, a favorable opinion of his idea of material substance ; as not con- sisting in an unknown and inconceivable substratum, but in a stated union and combination of sensible ideas, excited from without by some intelligent being." 62 YALE COLLEGE. Elcazar Wheelock, D.D., the first president of Dartmouth College, and the Rev. Benja- min Pomeroy, D.D., of Hebron, Conn., at that time "senior sophisters," were elected "scholars of the house," as students on this foundation still continue to be called. In the century and a half which have nearly closed since that time, a long succession of some of the most distinguished of the alumni of the college have enjoyed the advan- tages of these scholarships, and have been successful candidates for the Berkeleian premium for Latin composition, thus established. In 1734, it is deserving of notice, the first considerable attempt was made to furnish the college with philosophical apparatus. Before this there had been scarcely anything deserving of the name. At this time, by subscription of the trustees and other gentle- men, there were bought a reflecting telescope, a microscope, barometer, and various other articles. A complete set of surveying instruments was presented to the college about the same time by Joseph Thompson, Esq., of London ; and a few years after, a pair of globes by Isaac Watts, D.D. An air-pump was also purchased by subscription. Not long after these gifts had been received, Mr. Williams, at the Commencement of 1739, resigned the office of Rector, which he had held for thirteen years. His health seems to have been unfavorably affected, during his residence in New Haven, by the sea air and the southerly winds. Quite reluctantly the trustees accepted his resigna- tion, and returned him their hearty thanks for his good services to the college. After his resignation he returned to Wethersfield, and not long after entered again upon political life, for which he had a great partiality. He was chosen a member of the House of Representatives, and acted as Speaker of the House. Afterwards he was elected a judge of the Superior Court. In 1745, when all New England rallied for the expedition against Louisburg, he volunteered to go as chaplain of the Connecticut quota of troops. He showed there such ability that, in 1 746, he was appointed colonel of a regiment in the army which was raised for the invasion of Canada. A few years after, he went to England, as an agent to procure the pay due to his regiment, and there made the acquaintance of many distinguished men. The cele- brated Dr. Doddridge was so impressed by his virtues and talents, that he said: "I look upon Colonel Williams to be one of the most valuable men upon earth. He has, joined to an ardent sense of religion, solid learning, consummate prudence, great candor, and sweetness of temper, and a certain nobleness of soul, capable of contriving and acting the greatest things, without seeming to be conscious of having done them." On his return to this country, he established himself once more at Wethersfield; and there, not long after, he died, July 24, 1755, at the age of sixty-one. CONNECTICUT HALL, A.I). 1752. [SOUTH MIDDLE.] CHAPTER VI. REV. THOMAS CLAP, RECTOR, A.D. 1739-1745 ; PRESIDENT, A.D. 1745-1766. A Period of great religious and political Excitement. — Rev. Thomas Clap elected Rector. — His business Capacity. — Revision of the Laws. — Catalogue of the Library. — Annual Subsidy from the Legislature increased. — Curriculum of Studies enlarged. — Draft for a new Charter prepared. — Whitefield visits New Haven. — The "Great Awakening." — Imitators of Whitefield. — The New Haven Church divided. — A Separate Service set up. — Rector Clap regards it as revolutionary and dangerous. — Formation of political Parties in the Colony. — The Students are forbidden to attend the "Separate" Meeting. — Expulsion of David Brainerd. — The "Old Light" Party control the Legislature. — Ecclesiastical Laws of 1742 and 1743. — "Declaration" against Whitefield by Officers of the College, A.D. 1745. — Expulsion of John and Ebenezer Cleaveland. — Rector Clap high in favor with the "Old Light" Party. — Enabled in consequence to obtain a new Charter for the College. — Effect of the War upon the College. — Loss of Life and waste of Treasure in Connecticut. — Rector Clap's Influence with the Legislature unimpaired. — Obtains assistance in building "Connecticut Hall." — Electrical Experiments of Tutor Ezra Stiles. — Linonian Society. — Change in the Relations of President Clap to the political Parties. — Alarmed by the increasing religious Indifference of the "Old Lights." — Preaching of Mr. Noyes unsatisfactory. — A Separate Service on Sunday commenced on College Ground. — Foundation of a Chair for a Professor of Divinity. — Test Laws. — Indignation of "Old Lights." — "The Religious Constitution of Colleges." — Naphtali Daggett elected Professor of Divinity. — A College Church established. — A House built for the Professor of Divinity. — War of Pamphlets. — Commencement of the Seven Years' War. — War Debt of Connecticut. — The "New Light" Majority in the Legislature induced by President Clap to assist in building a Chapel. — Persistence of the Enemies of President Clap. — They appeal to the Legislature to appoint Visitors. — Reply of the President. — His Triumph. — His Difficulties with the Tutors. — Disorders in the College. — His Enemies at last victorious. — Resignation. — Death. The choice of a successor to Rector Williams was considered by the trustees to be a matter on which the future prosperity of the college depended in an unusual degree. The institution had now attained a position of commanding importance throughout the colony. It had survived the difficulties which arose from the straitened circumstances of its early years ; and the distractions of the public mind occasioned by the long wars which began the very month that instruction commenced in the college and were not terminated till the Peace of Utrecht in 1 7 1 3. The misunderstandings and jealousies, 63 64 YALE COLLEGE. connected with the removal from Saybrook to New Haven, in 1716, which threatened to destroy it, were now forgotten, and all parts of the colony looked to it with pride and felt a common interest in contributing to its prosperity. The alarm occasioned by the unexpected declaration for Episcopacy of Rector Cutler and Tutor Browne had subsided. The college was fairly established in New Haven, and had taken firm root there. The undergraduates amounted annually to eighty or more ; and as many as twenty on an average were graduated at each Commencement. Ten generations of students, numbering nearly four hundred in the aggregate, had been successfully conducted through the appointed curriculum of studies. Its alumni everywhere filled important stations throughout the colony, in church and state, and looked back to it with affectionate regard as their alma mater. But it was felt that there was now needed a more thorough organization. A firm hand was required to repress some dis- orderly customs which had gained a foothold among the students during the period of the difficulties through which the college had passed. Then, too, the fact was recog- nized that the field of knowledge had broadened, and that the course of study needed to be enlarged to meet the demands of the age. But, important as the election of a new Rector seemed to the trustees, we can see, on looking back, that it was even more important than they supposed. Without knowing it, they stood at the threshold of a period which was to be more full of dangers than any they had passed through. A hundred years were just ended since the colonization of New England may be said to have been completed. Between 1620 and 1640, according to Mr. Bancroft's estimate, twenty-one thousand Englishmen had crossed the ocean to these shores. The hundred years which followed, from 1640 to 1740, had been occupied by the original settlers and their descendants in efforts to establish themselves in their new homes. During this period the institutions of a new people, who had stretched themselves all along the Atlantic seaboard — from the Penobscot to the Altamaha — had been formed, and popular freedom had been secured for the inhabitants of this continent forever. An American people had grown up who knew and were disposed to assert and defend their rights. But they were still living in disconnected colonies, and were all subject to a Power which governed them from the other side of the Atlantic. The time had now come when they were to enter upon a series of events which was to result in their union with one another, and in their violent separation from the mother country. The next forty years were to be years of war or preparation for war, in which the hard- earned savings of the people were to be squandered, and the best blood of their sons was to be poured out like water. They were also entering upon a period which was not to be disturbed by war alone. There was to be a wide-spread controversy on religious subjects, which was to carry division into every town, and, it might almost be said, into every household ; and which was to be marked with manifold errors and extravagances. These things were as yet all hidden from the view of the trustees, but they felt, none the less, that there was needed at the head of what was deemed the most important institution of the colony, a man of character, and of high attainments as a scholar; RECTOR CLAP. 65 one who was acquainted with affairs, and one who had the confidence of the com- munity. Fortunately the trustees had ample time for the work of selection. The state of the health of Rector Williams for some years had warned them that it would soon be necessary to appoint his successor. So they were prepared, on the very day of his resignation, October 31, 1739, to proceed to the election of the Rev. Thomas Clap, of Windham. The result proved that they were eminently fortunate in the choice which they made. Mr. Clap was one of the most learned men in the colony. He was well acquainted with the whole range of academical studies, and was known to have paid unusual atten- tion to the different branches of the pure mathematics and astronomy. He had uncom- mon qualifications for the transaction of business. He had great energy of character, and even a superabundance of that quality which, in the forcible language of New England, is known as "back-bone." A committee was appointed by the trustees to obtain the consent of Mr. Clap's parishioners, that he should leave them. This proved to be no easy matter. They were at first very unwilling to part with him ; but after hearing the committee they said, in accordance with the stern spirit of the times: "As they were not satisfied that they should be in the way of their duty, if they opposed his going, they would leave the whole affair to the conduct of Providence." A council of the neighboring ministers was therefore called, who gave it as their opinion that Mr. Clap ought to accept the office, and to enter upon its duties at once. The trustees accordingly reported to the legislature that, in accordance with the custom which had been followed in the case of his predecessor, some compensation ought to be made to the parish of Windham, as they were thus deprived of their minister. This was finally arranged, to the satisfaction of all parties, by a grant from the legislature of half the amount which the people had given him at the time of his settlement, on the principle that he had been in Windham fourteen years, which was about half the time ministers in general continued in their public work. The preliminaries having thus been satisfactorily arranged, the Rev. Thomas Clap was installed on the 2d of April, 1 740, Rector of the College. The ceremonies of the occasion, according to the account which he prepared himself, were conducted in the following manner : the Rector elect, first, in the presence of the trustees, probably in the library, gave his consent to the Confession of Faith and the rules of Church Disci- pline known as the Saybrook Platform, and gave satisfaction as to the soundness of his principles, according to the act of the trustees in 1722. The whole company then went to the college hall, where the exercises proceeded in the following order : the Moder- ator, Rev. Mr. Whitman, offered prayer. One of the students made an oration proper for the occasion. The Moderator made a speech in Latin, in which he committed the care of instructing and governing the college to the Rector ; and the Rector himself concluded with an oration. The accession of Rector Clap, as already intimated, marks the commencement of a new era in the history of the college. He had well-defined ideas of what such an insti- VUL. I. 9 66 VALE COLLEGE. tution should be. It has been already said that he was not only a scholar but a man of great business capacity. At once everything connected with the institution was made to pass under the keen supervision of his eye ; and he began to reduce all into conformity with his idea of what was needed in order that the college might be brought into the highest state of efficiency. One of the first things of special importance which he undertook was the compilation of a body of laws. At the time of the foundation of the college, it had been ordered that where no special provision was made by the trustees, the laws of Harvard College should be the rule. About the time the college was removed to New Haven, a short body of laws had been drawn up which was usually transcribed by the scholars at their admission. These were found to be very defective. Some of them had become obsolete. During the term of office of Rector Williams it is said the students were governed more by his personal influence than according to any established laws. Rector Clap at once drew up a regular code, partly out of the ancient laws and statutes of the college, partly from the most important customs which had obtained, partly from the laws of Harvard College, partly from the statutes of the University of Oxford, and incorporated some new ones. These laws, after having been carefully examined by the trustees, received their sanction in 1 745, were transcribed into Latin, and printed in 1748. The Rector at the same time " collected and wrote down under proper heads all the customs of the college which had been established in practice, and these made a volume as large as the other." This book of customs cannot now be found. " It was never printed, but was read publicly, and explained to the students, whenever it was thought necessary. From what appear to be extracts from it, published in the time of President Stiles, this book contained minute rules respecting the subordination of classes, the deportment of the students towards each other, and towards the officers of the college. Some of these regulations were no doubt at the time salutary ; but as to others, it is now difficult to see why they were ever enforced." Rector Clap also undertook to make the books belonging to the college of more practical value to the academic body by preparing a catalogue. Under his direction the books were numbered and arranged in the library according to subjects, with the exception of those which had been sent by Bishop Berkeley, which were put by them- selves at one end of the library. He furthermore induced the legislature to augment their annual gift to the college, so that the trustees were enabled to support three tutors ; and, henceforth, including the Rector, there was now an instructor for each class. According to the new arrange- ment, each of the three lower classes was placed under the instruction of a particular tutor, who carried them through the course of study appointed for the year ; and the President himself took charge of the senior class. He introduced also some change in the curriculum of studies; the principal change being that a part of the time which had been given to logic was now given to natural philosophy and to the mathematical sciences, and the students received instruction in conic sections and fluxions, in surveying, navigation, and the calculation of eclipses. RECTOR CLAP. 6 y The two upper classes were also exercised in disputing ; every Monday in the syllo- gistic form, and every Tuesday in the forensic. The Rector began also to give public lectures upon those subjects which are necessary to be understood to qualify young gentlemen for the various stations and employments of life — such as the nature of civil government, the civil constitution of Great Britain, the various kinds of courts, the several forms of ecclesiastical government which have obtained in the Christian church. But Rector Clap had hardly entered in this energetic way upon the duties of his position, when all New England began to be stirred with that religious excitement to which we have already made allusion, and of which it has not yet ceased to feel the effects. The character of this excitement was such that it was not long before churches were everywhere divided, and even new political parties were formed. At such a time, so important an institution as the college could not escape the general agitation. Rector Clap was not a man to decline responsibility, and the course which he took, and the controversies to which his conduct gave rise, not only affected the interests of the college during the whole of his connection with it,' but were the occa- sion of involving him at last in difficulties which embittered the closing days of his life. To understand the measures which he adopted, it will be necessary to keep in mind the circumstances of the times, and some facts with regard to the previous religious history of New England. The country had been settled by men who, to a great extent, were governed in all that they did by high religious principle. The great object which they had proposed to themselves in coming to this country, was to found the institutions of a new people in accordance with what they supposed to be the mind of God. Accordingly they considered that it was of the first importance that the churches which they formed should be pure and free from all admixture of evil. To this end, they admitted no one as a church member unless he was able to give satisfac- tory evidence that he was guided in his life by Christian principle. They considered, also, that the interests of the state ought to be administered in conformity with the will of God ; and for this reason, in New Haven and in some of the other colonies, as in England itself till quite recently, no one was allowed to vote, or hold office of any kind, unless he was a member of the church. Such a constitution of the state, as might have been expected, was regarded with great dislike by those whose lives did not come up to the standard required to enable them to become members of the church. So great was the desire of this class of persons to be admitted to a share in the political power, and such the pressure that they were able to bring to bear, that it is not surprising that in the next generation the practice was introduced of recognizing as church members all who had been baptized in infancy, and who were not outwardly immoral. Then, in process of time, these persons, on giving a formal assent to the creed and covenant of the church, were allowed to offer their children for baptism, and thus to secure for them all the civil privileges of church members. In process of time, a still further innovation was introduced ; and the theory was accepted that it was desirable that persons who considered themselves still " unregenerate," should partake of the Lord's Supper, if they wished it, as a means of conversion. 68 YALE COLLEGE. Meanwhile the theology which was generally accepted was still Calvinistic ; but these tenets were not preached in a very incisive way. There were also lax doctrinal views of various kinds which had begun to be held by some, and which, in the language of the times, were vaguely and inaccurately characterized as Arminian. In addition to all this, the country had been exposed for a hundred years to the demoralization of a state of almost constant war ; and the result was that the religious condition of the people was reduced to a very low point. There was, to be sure, much outward respect manifested for religion and for all religious ordinances, but formality and laxity reigned everywhere in the church. Yet, notwithstanding this formality and coldness, there was undoubtedly something more than mere outward respect. There was, after all, a great deal of religious feeling among the people, but it had become the custom to refrain carefully from all expres- sion of it, and to conceal it under a very decorous observance of whatever tradition and public opinion had pronounced to be Christian duty. The ministers were grave and dignified gentlemen, who performed the duties of their position with punctilious regularity. But the universal testimony is that " their preaching lacked point, and earnestness, and application ; their devotional services were without warmth and unction ; their labors were not blessed by the Holy Spirit; their people slumbered ; the tone of religious life and sentiment was sinking ; and true godliness seemed fast retiring from the land." Such was the condition of things when Rector Clap was installed. In the following September, the celebrated English preacher Whitefield landed in Newport, Rhode Island, and from thence proceeded to Boston. He had been invited to come to New England by several of the most eminent ministers and laymen. For, with all the prevalent coldness, there had been for some years spreading through the whole country a disposition to lament the great decline of religious zeal among the people. This feeling owed its origin, in a measure, to the preaching of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, of Northampton, Massachusetts, and to influences which had proceeded from him. The country was pervaded with a desire for a general religious awakening, and an expectation had gone abroad that it would take place on the coming of Whitefield, whose reputation had preceded him. When he began to preach, all that had been expected was realized. The story of what followed forms one of the most remarkable chapters in the religious history of New England. It may almost be regarded as the salvation of religion in the country. In October, Whitefield, having traveled through Massachusetts and spent some time with Edwards at Northampton, came in his course to New Haven. The minister of the church in New Haven, at this time, was the Rev. Joseph Noyes, who was a representative clergyman of the times. He held a high social position, his grandfather and father having been among the most respected of the clergy of New England. He had been himself educated at the college at Saybrook ; had been for some years a tutor; and then had removed to the church in New Haven. There is no reason to doubt his real piety, as afterwards, in the heat of con- troversy, those who were opposed to him were in the habit of doing ; but his RECTOR CLAP. 69 preaching was deemed uninteresting and uninstructive, and his manner cold and unattractive. Whitefield reached New Haven on the 23d of October, having preached to thou- sands that day at Middletown and Wallingford. He remained in New Haven till Monday, and preached once on Friday, the day of his arrival, twice on Saturday, and twice on Sunday, besides expounding the Scriptures and conversing with individuals at the house in which he was entertained. The legislature was in session, and he had an interview with Governor Talcott, of whom it is said that his "heart was so full that he could not speak much, but thanked God for such an opportunity of ' refreshing.' " According to the reports which have been preserved, he also dined with Rector Clap at the Rector's house. The history of the college affords many themes which it is to be hoped will one day be selected for illustration by the students who shall be trained in its school of art, but no one of them offers more points of interest and more striking and effective contrasts to those who are able to enter into the spirit of the times than the scene which must have been presented at this dinner. The representatives of the different political and religious parties which were long to be bitterly opposed to one another in Connecticut were probably assembled on the occasion. We may imagine at the table, bounti- fully spread in accordance with the fashion of the day, the broad-shouldered, keen-eyed Rector of the college, now, at the age of fifty, in the maturity of his powers, somewhat distracted between the disposition to do all honor to his distinguished guest, and an incipient feeling of suspicion and dislike for a man who was so different from him- self, and who was engaged in a work which he may have even then considered to be irregular, and of very questionable advantage to the cause of religion. There could scarcely be a greater contrast than that presented between the Rector and the round-visaged, enthusiastic Anglican divine, now flushed with his unprecedented success in his evangelistic labors. We may imagine him with his blue eye luminous with religious fervor as he discoursed with his sweet sonorous voice in the presence of his unsympathetic host on the marvelous work of grace which it had been vouchsafed to him by a merciful Providence to accomplish. Prominent among the guests must of course have been the dignified and unimpassioned Mr. Noyes, the minister of the town, who could not but regard the man before him, who was touching so many hearts and drawing such multitudes around him by his matchless eloquence, as a trespasser on ground which according to the traditions of New England belonged to him. Tutor Chauncey Whittelsey must have been present also ; destined to become prominent in the history of American Christianity on account of the uncharitable criticism made upon his religious character by one who was to be speedily convinced of its injus- tice, and who now in popular estimation, notwithstanding this youthful indiscretion, ranks among the greatest of American saints. Nor are we to suppose that all at that table were unsympathetic. Among those who were the friends of the eloquent evan- gelist were Mr. James Pierpont, the son of the founder of the college, who was then entertaining Whitefield at his house on the Green, near the spot on which his descend- ants reside to this day, and the aged and pious Governor Talcott, who doubtless was 7o YALE COLLEGE. once more thankful to God for such a " refreshing " in the way to the " rest," on which he was to enter in a few short months. Whitefield remained in New Haven only till Monday, and then proceeded on his way to New York. But, as the result of his preaching, there was a revival of religion in the town and in the college. It would be interesting to have full particulars of the way in which this revival was regarded by the dignitaries of the college and the town. Perhaps, at first, the new interest in religious truth was to them a matter of sincere rejoicing; but soon the whole country was overrun with a set of enthusiastic imitators of Whitefield, who had little of his ability, and who exaggerated all his defects. Now came a reaction against the dead formalism which had so long held sway in New England. So eager were the people to have their dormant religious susceptibili- ties aroused, that the new self-appointed preachers who undertook to do it were encouraged to intrude themselves as a matter of right everywhere into the established churches, in which they proceeded to take the regular duties of the ministers into their own hands. They made their own appointments, adopted their own measures, and, by noise and excited rhapsody, sought to incite to the utmost the religious enthusiasm of the people. Whitefield had in England been accustomed to see persons in orders who made no pretense to piety, and had felt in consequence justified in declaiming there against an unconverted ministry. When he came to this country he did not recognize the fact that the apparent apathy of the ministers here was owing to a different cause. So it is not surprising that with the evidence before him of his amazing success in securing the attention of all classes of people to religious truth, he should regard those who did not cordially co-operate with him as destitute of religious feeling; and, accordingly, he did not hesitate to speak of them as "unregenerate." His followers took up his example, and denounced in heated language all who were not ready to accept their assistance, or objected to them as unconverted men, and held them up to scorn and ridicule. All this, of course, seemed little less than blasphemy to the staid gentlemen who were leaders in society, in the church and in the magistracy. Thus, before Rector Clap had concluded the first year of his official duties, the whole colony of Connecticut was in a ferment. Every church was divided, and everywhere there was the greatest bitterness of feeling. The tranquillity which had long reigned in the church in New Haven, in which the students worshiped, was very soon disturbed. Under the influence of the zealous evangelists who had come to labor in the revival, a party was formed who desired to secede and form a new church. Very injudiciously an attempt was made to prevent them, which only served to add fuel to the flame, and did not hinder them from leaving and setting up a separate service of their own. Such a course could not but be regarded by a man like Rector Clap as highly revolutionary and injurious to the inter- ests of religion. All his sympathies were with the established order of things. He was, perhaps, the more prejudiced against the new movement as he was already alarmed by what he deemed the defection of the leaders from the high Calvinistic views to which he was attached. He took sides accordingly with Mr. Noyes in the struggle which was now commenced in New Haven. The students were forbidden to RECTOR CLAP. 7l leave his church to go to the new meeting, and a law was passed threatening with expulsion any one who should speak in a disrespectful way of the religious character of any of the officers of the college. It could hardly be expected, at a time when the questions at issue had entered into the politics of the day, that the more zealous of the students could be thus restrained. So it was not long before it became known to the authorities of the insti- tution that one of the students, in defiance of the law, had gone to the meeting of those who had separated from Mr. Noyes's church. This student was David Brainerd, who has already been alluded to as having afterwards become one of the most promi- nent of American clergymen in the eighteenth century. About the same time, it came to the knowledge of the Rector that Brainerd, in the college hall, after Tutor Whittelsey had been unusually pathetic in prayer, was over- heard to say to some of his fellow-students who had asked him what he thought of Tutor Whittelsey, " He has no more grace than this chair." For these acts of disobe- dience David Brainerd was expelled from college ; and so the very commencement of Rector Clap's connection with the institution was signalized with what was sure to be considered by many throughout the colony as an extremely arbitrary act, and to excite very great indignation among the people who began now to be called " New Lights." Brainerd was at the time a member of the Junior Class, of which he was one of the foremost scholars. His religious character was of a high order, but he was led away by what President Edwards calls the " intemperate and imprudent zeal which had crept in and mingled itself with the revival of religion ; " and it should be stated that he himself afterwards expressed deep regret for the imprudence and indecent heats into which he was led. On the other hand, in explanation of this action of the authorities of the college, it should also be remembered that it was considered by them of great importance to repress the fanaticism which was everywhere rife, and, as Rev. Dr. Bacon has said, " the Rector and Tutor were very naturally dissatisfied with that sort of piety which was inconsistent not only with what they esteemed decorum, but with the order of the college and with a due attention to the daily duty of study. They were alarmed at the growing propensity among the students to violate not only the rules of the college but the law of the land, by running away from the appointed place of worship to the separate meeting. They probably had an eye on Brainerd as one who would be likely, by his religious zeal, to come into conflict with their authority. And very likely they were quite willing to be rid of him, and to inflict a signal blow upon the intemperate spirit of the times by dealing sternly with him for that calum- nious censure of his superior." The attitude of the authorities of the college towards the Separatists from Mr. Noyes's church, and in particular their action in dealing in so summary a way with David Brainerd, brought Rector Clap into close sympathy with the dominant political party in the colony. It has already been intimated that the revival had given rise to questions which had been carried into politics. A large majority of the men of educa- tion and culture in the colony were united in favor of adopting vigorous measures for 72 VALE COLLEGE. the prevention of the division of churches, and for the repression of all the disorders which had arisen in connection with the preaching of the followers of Whitefield. They comprised what was called the "Old Light" party, and in its ranks was Jonathan Law, the governor of the colony, and a majority of the legislature. The "New Light" party at first consisted almost entirely of the more progressive and zealous classes of the community who sympathized with the revival. Under the influence of this feeling that fanaticism was to be repressed at all hazards, the "Old Light" majority in the legislature were able to secure the passage of an act in May, 1742, for regulating abuses and correcting disorders in ecclesiastical affairs, according to which " if any ordained minister or licensed preacher from without the colony should preach, or exhort, within the limits of any parish, without the consent of the pastor and majority of that parish, he was to be arrested and carried out of the colony as a vagrant. If he was from within the colony, he was to be deprived of his salary, and that without any trial, simply upon information, whether true or false, lodged by any person with the clerk of his parish. This law also provided that if any person not licensed to preach should exhort within the limits of any parish, without the consent of the pastor and majority of that parish, he might for every such offense be bound to keep the peace, by any assistant or justice of the peace, in the penal sum of one hundred pounds." Under this law the Rev. Samuel Finley, afterwards President of Princeton College, was arrested and carried out of Connecticut once and again as a vagrant, for preaching to seceding churches. In May, 1743, the legislature made separation from any established church unlawful, except by special license of the General Assembly, and such license, it was plainly intimated, Congregationalists must not expect. It has been said that for bigotry and intolerance this legislation is without a parallel in Connecticut. Yet, at the time, it received the hearty concurrence of Rector Clap and the trustees of the college and a majority of the ministers in the General Association of the ministers of the colony. It is even probable that the legislation in question was instigated by Rector Clap. At all events, so earnest was the Rector in this work, and so cordially did he sympathize with it, that when, in 1 745, Whitefield was contemplating a second visit to New Haven, he, with the tutors of the college, issued a "declaration" in which they warned the people against him. Whitefield, however, was not deterred from coming to New Haven, and it is said preached in front of the Green, at the corner of Elm and Temple streets, to many thousands. It is probable that the civilities which were extended to him by Rector Clap at the time of his first visit were not repeated on this occasion. About this time another more signal example was given of the sympathy which was felt by Rector Clap with the feeling which pervaded the dominant party. Two of the students, John and Ebenezer Cleaveland, natives of the town of Canterbury, when at home in their college vacation, had attended with their parents the Sunday services of one Solomon Paine, who was a Separatist preacher. The facts having become known, on their return to New Haven they were required, on penalty of expulsion, to confess publicly in the Hall that what they had done was in violation of the law of God, and PRESIDENT CLAP. y^ of the colony, and of the college. This they refused to do, and in consequence were summarily expelled. This action of Rector Clap brought him into still closer sympathy with the domi- nant party, who felt that what was considered fanaticism was to be crushed at all hazards. The attitude of Rector Clap during this struggle, which went on for years in Connecticut between the two great religious parties, has been described with some degree of minuteness, for the reason that while it was attended with obvious disadvan- tages to the college, there were also, by means of it, some very important advantages secured. It has already been said that one of the things which early attracted the attention of Rector Clap, after he came to the college, was the need of a charter which should give the trustees greater authority. One of the first things to which he had turned his attention had been the preparation of a draft for a new charter; and now, being in high favor with the majority in the legislature, and in particular with Governor Law, he was able to secure all he wished. Nothing could be refused to one who had been so stanch a political friend. Accordingly, May 9, 1745, through the influence of his personal friend Governor Law, a charter which, as he says himself, was "more appro- priate to an institution which was now in a mature and perfect state," was granted to the trustees, who were incorporated by the name of the President and Fellows of Yale College in New Haven. This charter is so ample in its provisions that every power and privilege is granted which will ever be needed in the future. From this date the name of Yale, which had strictly belonged only to the College Hall, but which had long been, in popular use, applied to what Dr. Woolsey calls the " spiritual body," became the legal title by which the college was known. It is an interesting feature in this charter that by one of its provisions the officers of the college were required to take the oaths which were customary in England for securing the Protestant succes- sion of the Crown, and for extinguishing the hopes of the Pretender. It appears from the account which has now been given of these theological and religious disputes, how eventful was the period at which Rector Clap had begun his official duties. At a time when the excitement of the public mind was so intense, the support and encouragement which the presiding officer of the college had given to the party of the " Old Lights," while it had been attended with some advantages, had been also attended with some dangers to the interests of the institution by the alienation of the members of the new political party, which was all the time acquiring strength and vigor. But there was still another source of peril. The very month in which the election of the new Rector took place was signalized by the commencement of a great Euro- pean war, in which all the American colonies were involved, and for nine long years the roll of the drum never ceased to be heard in Connecticut. Hundreds of her young men were prompt to volunteer, and followed the colors of the king through every field of danger, and the whole population was kept, during all this time, in a state of con- stant anxiety : now elated by the tidings of victory, and now almost in despair from the VOL. I. — 10 74 VALE COLLEGE. apprehension of clanger. Some account of this war and the part which Connecticut took in it is therefore required, that it may be understood what were the difficulties with which the trustees and officers of the college had to contend during this whole eventful period. After the peace of Utrecht had been concluded in 1713 it had been the policy of the English and French governments for a quarter of a century to maintain friendly rela- tions. When Walpole and Cardinal de Fleury succeeded to power, they systematically discouraged all attempts which were made to embroil the two nations in war. But at last complications arose which they were powerless to resist. British merchants had found it to be for their profit to interfere with the mercantile system in accordance with which Spain in common with the other maritime powers regulated the trade of her colonies around the Gulf of Mexico ; and the English parliament most selfishly and unjustifiably sustained them. Walpole made every effort to calm the excitement which the opposition had raised throughout the country, but the relations of Spain and England continued to grow more and more unfriendly. The approaching danger was foreseen by the British colonists on this side of the ocean, who were well aware that a declaration of war at the palace of St. James meant war all along their own extended coasts and along their unprotected frontier. Only three weeks before the day when Rector Williams resigned, and Rector Clap was elected to fill his place, the legislature of Connecticut with prudent foresight ordered that twenty cannon should be put in battery at New London. A sloop of war was commissioned, and an order was also given to muster the hardy yeomanry of the colony — thirteen regiments strong. Just one week before the day already alluded to, war was formally declared, and before a month had passed Admiral Vernon had opened the contest by an attack upon Porto Bello, of which in a few hours he made himself master. It was an inconsiderable place, but under the influence of party spirit its capture was made to appear as a great victory, and all England was set ablaze with the story of what was called his heroism ; and there was nothing for the English government to do but to yield to the general enthusiasm and order at once the largest fleet and army to the Gulf of Mexico that had ever appeared there, in order to complete the work which had been so gloriously begun. The alacrity with which all the New England colonies responded to the call for troops, which was now made, showed once more their indomitable courage and their sympathy with the mother country. The legislature of Connecticut voted ^4,500 for the expenses of the war. In due time the unfortunate expedition sailed under Lord Cathcart and Admiral Vernon. Lord Cathcart soon fell a victim to the climate, and Vernon, after showing his incapacity for the responsible position which devolved upon him, made a rash attempt upon Carthagena, the strongest place in Spanish America. His efforts were at first attended with some success. The troops fought well, but the rain set in, and it was finally seen to be necessary to withdraw. Vernon then made a descent upon the island of Cuba ; but the effects of a July sun now made themselves felt, the troops were attacked by the fever of the country, and for several days more than a thousand men died daily. In the period of two days, when the mortality was PRESIDENT CLAP. 75 greatest, there died three thousand four hundred and forty men. Out of a thousand men from New England not one hundred ever returned. This was only the commencement of a more general war. The death of the Emperor Charles VI., the last male of the family of Hapsburg, raised the question of the Austrian succession. In the contest to which its settlement gave rise, all the governments of Europe became involved. England and France ranged themselves, according to their supposed interests, on different sides, and New England was at once exposed to the ravages of an active enemy. Her territory was invaded. Her seamen were driven from the fisheries. Her ships were swept from the ocean by expeditions which were sent out from Cape Breton, and the crews of the vessels which were captured were carried as prisoners to the fortress of Louisburg. No help could be expected from the mother country, and it was soon courageously resolved by the colonists to take the matter into their own hands. The result was the capture of Louisburg, "the Gibraltar of America," as it was called, "by an army of New England mechanics, farmers, and sailors," which constitutes one of the most remarkable events in the early history of the country. To this enterprise Connecticut furnished more than a thousand men. The event was hailed in England as the most important advantage which had been gained in the war, and as an ample compensation for the defeat which had been suffered at Fontenoy. But the very importance of the success which had been gained served to endanger New England the more. England and France were now both made to feel that hostilities must be transferred to America. The English, encouraged by their victory, resolved to push the advantage which they had gained, and overrun Canada. The French, smarting under defeat, prepared to make an effort to recover what had been lost, and at the same time to ravage the American coast from Nova Scotia to Carolina. In furtherance of the expedition to Canada, now projected by the English government, the legislature of Connecticut once more raised a thousand men, but the fleet which was to have co-operated with the colonists failed to make its appearance ; it was detained at home in consequence of the alarm which was raised by the landing of the young Pretender, and the consequent rebellion in Scotland. Meanwhile a French fleet of eleven ships of the line, and of thirty smaller ships and vessels of from ten to thirty guns, and of transports carrying some three thousand soldiers, had taken its way across the Atlantic under the Duke d'Anville, who was considered a thoroughly com- petent officer. The English government was well aware of the sailing of this formid- able fleet, yet, under the apprehension of an invasion from France, they left the colonists to defend themselves. On the voyage, the French fleet was scattered by a storm, and it was not till the 1 2th of September, 1746, that the Duke d'Anville arrived in the harbor of Chebucto, with only two ships. The tidings of his arrival were carried at once by an express boat to Boston, and arrived there on the 28th. It was supposed that the whole French fleet had arrived, and that an immediate attack might be expected. According to the historian Trumbull, "England was not more alarmed with the Spanish armada in 1588 than Boston and New England were at the report of the arrival of D'Anville's fleet." j6 VALE COLLEGE. But the danger was met by the New England men of 1 746 in the very same spirit with which the galleys of Medina Sidonia and the troops of the Prince of Parma were by their ancestors a century and a half before. The spirit which was evoked was worthy of the descendants of the old vikings. All New England was straightway alive. In a few days six thousand men were gathered in Boston, and six thousand more were on the way. But the fate of the French armada, as it was called, was strangely like that of the more famous one, with which it was in those days compared. It had been shattered by a tempest while crossing the Atlantic. Several of the largest ships had been lost. Others had been disabled and obliged to return to France. D'Anville, in his disap- pointment at the loss of so many ships, was seized with a fit of apoplexy and died. His successor, vexed at being thwarted in his designs, ran himself through with his sword and committed suicide. The soldiers were seized with dysentery, and soon half their number had died. And finally in a panic, caused by an unfounded rumor that they were to be attacked by a British fleet, without having undertaken the least enter- prise against the colonists, they set out in all haste for home. The colonists recognized the good providence of God in the event, and the historian Trumbull says: "Such a succession of disasters as pursued the French from the day they sailed from France till they returned, is rarely to be found in the history of human events. The restraints put upon this mighty armament, and the protection of New England, was little less remark- able than the defeat of the Assyrian monarch, and the defense of Jerusalem, when after all his vast preparations and haughty menaces he was not suffered to go against her nor shoot an arrow there." But the efforts of the colonists were not relaxed. On the continent the tide of war had turned against the English armies. They had been defeated at Rocroix, Ouden- arde, and at Lawfeld. The colonists could look for little assistance from England. But nothing daunted, they were now meditating an expedition against Crown Point when they learned that the Empress Elizabeth of Russia had pronounced in favor of Maria Theresa ; that the terms of peace had been arranged between England and France at Aix-la-Chapelle ; and, to their disgust and dismay, that England, in order to regain what she had lost in Germany, had restored Louisburg to France. Thus the first nine years of President Clap's administration had been attended throughout with extraordinary difficulties. In addition to the jealousies arising from the theological and religious disputes which have been described, the people of Connecticut had been forced to meet all the expenses of a costly war. The exact amount which the war had cost the colony it is not possible to state. The war debt of Massachusetts is said to have exceeded a half million sterling. The expenses of Connecticut could not have been less, in proportion to its wealth and population. It was well for the college that during these years it had a presiding officer who was so capable and efficient. In these years of war, and at a time when party spirit ran so high, the college continued steadily to gain a firm hold on the public confidence. The number of students so increased that more than half of them were compelled to find =§ggg5gS^g?^£5^5"5JgB5HgHj ** PRESIDENT CLAP. 77 rooms in town in which to live. In this state of things there was need of a new dormi- tory for the students. But the war was still going on. Public credit was at a low ebb. The colony was deeply in debt. And yet, at this very time, such was the ability of President Clap, that he was able to secure the assistance of the legislature in the erec- tion of a new building for the college. The explanation of his remarkable success is to be found in the relation in which he stood to the " Old Light " majority in the legislature. It had been his personal influ- ence, it will be remembered, arising from the community of feeling between him and the members of this party, of which he was one of the chief pillars, that had enabled him to obtain a new charter for the college in 1 745 ; and it was this same personal influence that in 1 747 enabled him to obtain from the legislature their approbation, in the first place, of a scheme for raising money by a lottery, and afterwards various grants from the treasury which amounted to ^643. They were willing to concede to him what they would probably have done to no one else. He had recently given fresh evi- dence of his thorough identification with the " Old Light" party by calling to account before the corporation the Rev. Mr. Cooke of Stratfield (now Bridgeport), one of the Fellows, for having assisted in organizing the "New Light" church in New Haven. This gentleman, one of the most prominent of the clergy of the colony, had presided in the ex parte council which had recognized the persons who had seceded from Mr. Noyes's church, and set up a separate service in New Haven, not only as a church, but as the identical church from which they had withdrawn themselves. Mr. Cooke had, in consequence, found it expedient to resign his seat in the board, April 26, 1746. But President Clap, by his action in the matter, had added to his reputation with the "Old Light" party; and his influence with the legislature now became so powerful that it was even made a matter of reproach against him by his enemies. One of the most able of them said at the time: "Scarce any man in our Assembly for some years has had more concern in the Assembly than he, if one might judge by his constant presence there." The money having been obtained, additional land was purchased to the north of the original college lot, and, April 17, 1750, the foundation of the building, which is now known as South Middle, was commenced. The building was finished in September, 1752. As originally constructed it was one hundred feet long, forty feet wide, and three stories high, with a cellar under the whole. It was built of brick, and contained thirty-two chambers and sixty-four studies. At the Commencement, in 1752, the President and Fellows ordered that the new college should be called " Connecticut Hall." With due ceremony they walked into it in procession, and the Beadle, by order, made the following declaration : " Cum e Providentiae Divinse Favore, per Coloniae Connecticutensis munificentiam gratissimam, hoc novum yEdificium Academicum, Fundatum et Erectum fuerit ; in per- petuam tantae generositatis memoriam, ^Edes haec nitida et splendida Aula Connec- ticutensis nuncupetur." In English thus: "Whereas, through the favor of Divine Providence, this new College house has been built by the munificence of the Colony of Connecticut; in 78 YALE COLLEGE. perpetual commemoration of so great generosity this neat and decent building shall be called " Connecticut Hall." It was about this time that the attention of the college was turned to the results of the experiments with electricity which Benjamin Franklin had been making for some years, and which were everywhere regarded with the greatest interest. President Clap and the Rev. Jared Eliot, one of the trustees of the college, had long been in habits of friendly correspondence with him, and in consequence, in i 749, Franklin sent an electrical machine to the college. The experiments which were made with it at this time by Mr. Ezra Stiles, one of the tutors, who was afterwards to be known as the learned President of the college, are said to have been the first experiments of the kind in New England. The period to which we have now come in this review of the history of the adminis- tration of President Clap, is memorable also as being the time at which took place the first independent action, of which we have any information, on the part of the students of the college, for the purposes of self-improvement. In 1753 the Linonian Society was formed by the undergraduates for the purposes of debate and the cultivation of literary studies, which for more than a hundred years was to exercise a marked influ- ence on the institution, and which, in the opinion of some of the most distinguished of the living alumni, has been scarcely second in its advantages to the regular instruction of the officers of the college. Very little is known of the origin of this society. There is a tradition that there was another society, the " Crotonia," with the same general objects, which was formed about the same time. Perhaps it is not too much to hazard the suggestion that they both, at least incidentally, owed their origin to the great interest which President Clap took in all public affairs, and to the efforts which he made to excite a similar interest among the students. We have seen that on coming to New Haven he made some important changes in the established system of education. The amount of time given to mathematics and natural philosophy was very much increased. More attention was paid also to literary studies, and an effort was made to give the students information on a great variety of subjects. Allusion has already been made to the "disputes" in which the students were exercised before the President on every Monday and Tuesday. He says him- self: " The questions were taken from every subject which occurs in the whole circle of literature, and upon almost all the doubtful points which have been publicly disputed among mankind." The students were in the habit of giving a summary of the best arguments which could be produced on both sides, and when they had gone through all their arguments alternately, he was in the habit of recapitulating those which seemed to be the most plausible on each side, showing their real force or weak- ness, and giving his opinion on the whole. There were also "declamations" memoriter, twice every week, which were beforehand supervised by the tutors, who corrected the orthography and punctuation. The President then made observations upon the manner of delivery, and sometimes upon the subject. There were also orations pronounced at stated intervals. Thus it is evident that President Clap was making PRESIDENT CLAP. 79 constant efforts to train the students up to what he calls " an agreeable style and method of writing." Now all this was at a time when there was very great mental activity in the commu- nity. Never before in the history of the country had there been so many important subjects to attract the attention of the people. In addition to those which have already been mentioned, which affected the people of Connecticut, there were some very grave questions with regard to the relation of the colonists to the mother country which were beginning to alarm all thoughtful men. For a hundred years, ever since the settlement of the country, the theory had been held that the king had unlimited legislative authority over the colonies. But in prac- tice this had amounted to nothing. There had been occasionally a proposition brought forward in England to tax the plantations, but such propositions had received no favor from Sir Robert Walpole. He had said : " I will leave the taxing of the British colonies for some of my successors who may have more courage than I have, and be less a friend to commerce than I am." He did not care even to make any serious effort to prevent the contraband trade which was then so universal. But when the Duke of Bedford came in as Colonial Secretary, and the Earl of Halifax as First Commissioner for the Plantations, an effort was made to subject all the colonies by act of parliament to the future orders of the king. At once the officers of the crown in America began everywhere to scrutinize the privileges enjoyed by the people and to seek some way to abridge them. At once the question arose what were the rights which the colonists had as Englishmen, and the extent of those rights. Under the lead of Benjamin Franklin, also, another important question began to be discussed : whether some kind of union of the colonies, for certain specified purposes, might not be practicable and advisable. This was the period at which the Linonian Society was formed. Whether Rector Clap had anything to do with suggesting to the students at this time that they should form a society for the purposes of debate, can now probably never be ascertained ; but it is significant that the society was formed at a time when there were so many questions attracting public attention, and at a time when he was himself seeking to awaken an interest among them in all the questions of the day. It may, perhaps, not to be out of place to mention that it was about this time, also, or a little later, a.d. 1757, that the publication of the first newspaper was commenced in New Haven, which was known as the Connecticut Journal. The vigor of its edito- rial articles, and the admirable manner in which the columns of news were made up, has led to the surmise that President Clap may possibly have been in reality for some time the editor. Meanwhile, an important change in the feelings and views of President Clap was becoming manifest, which was to prove the turning point in his life, and was to have a lasting effect upon the interests of the college. Under the idea of repress- ing the fanaticism of the followers and imitators of Whitefield, and the disorganizing tendencies of their proceedings, he had thrown himself, at the commencement of the revival, into the party of the "Old Lights," and had, as we have seen, zealously So YALE COLLEGE. co-operated with them. He had been led to this by the eminently conservative tendency of his mind, by his feeling that the interests of religion were at stake, and possibly by his alarm at the type of Calvinism embraced by some of the revival preachers. Hut in the progress of time it had become apparent that, notwithstanding the disorders which had accompanied the great religious awakening, the good had preponderated over the evil. The "New Lights" had in a measure worked them- selves clear from the extravagances which had excited his alarm, such as lay preaching, outcries in worship, bodily agitations, the denunciation of ministers, and the adoption of enthusiastic impulses as the rule of judgment. It is true that the preachers had departed in some respects from the form of Calvinism to which he himself was attached, and they had made what they considered improved statements in theology; but they were still Calvinists, and they manifested an earnestness in the promotion of spiritual religion which commanded his respect, the fruits of which were seen in the pious lives of multitudes of people. On the other hand, the " Old Light " party, in the prosecution of their opposition to religious enthusiasm, seemed to him to have become more and more indifferent to all earnestness in religion. They expressed great abhorrence of the doctrines of Cal- vinism, and, in his estimation, were in danger of being led away into a dangerous laxity of opinion. The first hint which we have of an approaching change in his views dates as far back as 1 746. What was done at this time, however, seems to have been only the result of his dissatisfaction with the preaching of Mr. Noyes. The students and officers of the college, from the time of its removal from Saybrook to New Haven, had worshiped in the parish church of the town. As the difficulties in connection with the revival broke out only a few months after Rector Clap had been inducted into office, he had, by his action in opposition to those who were seeking to secede from the church of Mr. Noyes, committed himself thoroughly at the very beginning as his friend and supporter. But he soon became dissatisfied with his preaching. The universal testimony is that Mr. Noyes was a very common-place and uninteresting speaker. He was also perfectly non-committal on all those doctrinal questions which were then con- sidered as of fundamental importance. It is not surprising then that his ministrations should be utterly distasteful to the Rector, who was a man of firm convictions and a zealous Calvinist. Under the influence of this dissatisfaction, it is probable that the course which he finally adopted, of setting up an independent religious service for the students, on college ground, suggested itself early to his active mind. At all events, in 1 746 the corpora- tion, undoubtedly at his suggestion, voted that they would choose a public Professor of Divinity in the college as soon as they could procure a sufficient support ; and to this end they ordered that a donation of ^28 10s. sterling, which had just been made to them by the Hon. Philip Livingston, of Livingston Manor, one of His Majesty's Council for the Province of New York, and which had been given with the understanding that it should be appropriated as should be judged most for the advantage of the institution, should be set apart for a fund for the maintenance of a Professor of Divinity in the PRESIDENT CLAP. g, college. Revolutionary as such a proceeding as was here shadowed forth would have been if it had been carried out, there is no evidence that it attracted any special atten- tion or comment at the time. The confidence of the "Old Light" party, of which the President was one of the main pillars, was so strong in him that it was undoubtedly felt that whatever he proposed was right. Nothing more was done, as it would appear, for six years. But, in 1752, President Clap had become thoroughly alarmed at what he considered the latitudinarian ten- dencies of the " Old Lights." It seemed to him that under the influence of the writings of such men as Chubb, Taylor, Foster, Hutcheson, Campbell, and Ramsey, whose works were being introduced into the country, there was clanger that a new scheme of doctrine would prevail. Mr. Noyes, moreover, had begun to be suspected of sympathizing with some of the errors which were now everywhere rife. This alarm of the President was shared by many of the friends of the college. The parents of the students also began to express their dissatisfaction that their sons should be obliged to sit under such unsatisfactory preaching as they heard in the parish church. The col- lege was in fact beginning to suffer from the unpopularity of Mr. Noyes as a preacher. At the same time the " Separate " church which had been established by those who had seceded from Mr. Noyes's church had procured a minister of undoubted piety, whose orthodoxy was above suspicion, and who had the advantage of a commanding person and a handsome and impressive elocution. He at once awakened an interest among the students, who were eager to hear him. Now it was that President Clap resolved that the college, without further delay, should have a church of its own, with a Professor of Divinity as preacher, that so the students might escape the danger of being infected with error by means of the preach- ing of Mr. Noyes. Accordingly in 1752 the corporation adopted a resolution to the effect that, as soon as possible, they would endeavor to raise a fund for the support of a Professor of Divinity. The measure which was proposed was a high-handed one, but it was one in which the President was likely to be sustained, in consequence of the change which was now everywhere manifest in public sentiment. Even the aspect of political parties had changed. The "Old Lights" were no longer in the majority in the legislature. The " New Lights " had been originally only the party of those who sympathized with the revival. But the severe ecclesiastical laws passed by the "Old Light" majority in 1 742 and 1 743, which have been already described, had alienated large numbers of persons, and carried them over to the ranks of the " New Lights," although they were not in sympathy with the religious views of those who composed the party. Public attention was now beginning to be turned to the subject of liberty and freedom. The agitation on that subject had commenced which was to go on till it culminated in the revolutionary struggle of 1776; and to the large and influential class of people who were interested in securing guarantees for\freedom, it seemed as if the sacred rights of liberty were infringed by such bigoted ecclesiastical laws, and the result was the " New Light " party was in a majority in the legislature. A similar change had taken place in the attitude of the clergymen of the colony. VOL. I. II 82 TALE COLLEGE. Under the feeling that orthodoxy and the religion of their fathers was in danger, even the majority in the General Association of the Ministers of the Colony had come into sympathy with the " New Lights," who at. least were thoroughly Calvinistic. The same thing was true of the corporation of the college. By the election of new mem- bers, a majority of the trustees were "New Lights." Under these circumstances it was not difficult for President Clap to obtain the assist- ance of the legislature. At the October session, 1753, they declared "that one princi- pal end proposed in erecting the college was to supply the churches in this colony with a learned, pious, and orthodox ministry, to which end it was requisite that the students of the college should have the best instruction in divinity and the best pattern of preaching set before them. And as the settling a learned, pious, and orthodox Profes- sor of Divinity would greatly tend to promote that good end and design," they recom- mended that a general contribution should be taken up in all the religious societies of the colony for that purpose. The General Association of the Ministers of Connecticut and the corporation of the college also requested the President to commence at once himself to perform the duties of a Professor of Divinity, and to preach to the students in the College Hall on Sunday until such a professor should be elected. Accordingly in Septem- ber, 1753, public worship was commenced, for the first time on Sunday, on college ground. But this was not the only measure which President Clap felt it to be important to take at this time to purge the college from every suspicion of heresy and to secure its orthodoxy at a time when, as it seemed to him, all kinds of corruption in doctrine were spreading in the community. At the next meeting of the corporation, November 21, they made a declaration to the effect that the college had been founded by men who had decided views with regard to religious doctrine, and that their principal design had been to educate and train up youth for the ministry according to the doc- trine, discipline, and mode of worship practiced by themselves ; that, as successors of the said founders, being, in their own judgments, of the same principles in religion with their predecessors, they felt themselves bound in fidelity to the trust committed to them to carry on the same design, and improve all the college estate which had descended to them, for the purposes for which it was given. Accordingly they pro- ceeded to pass a series of resolutions more stringent than those of 1722, according to which they declared, 1st, That the Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice in all matters of religion ; 2d, That the true sense of the Scriptures is summed up in the Assembly's Catechism and Confession of Faith ; and, 3d, That the particular terms and phrases in these writings are to be understood in the sense in which they are gen- erally used by Protestant divines. They also declared that henceforth every officer of the college, before he entered upon the execution of his office, should not only publicly give his consent to the Assembly's Catechism and Confession of Faith, but, in addition, renounce all doctrines or principles contrary thereunto. They declared, further, that if any officer, admitted to his post upon the condition aforesaid, should afterwards change his sentiments, he was bound to resign it ; and that if any such officer should be sus- PRESIDENT CLAP. 8^ pected of having fallen from the profession of his faith, he should be examined by the corporation. This action of the corporation excited. at once the indignation of the " Old Light" party, and of the large number of influential men throughout the colony who were opposed to all confessions of faith and formulas of doctrine. It was the signal for the commencement of a violent personal attack upon the President. It was claimed that by the setting up of a preaching service within the walls of the college, which was within the limits of the First Ecclesiastical Society of the town, he was doing the very same thing which ten years before, in the case of the seceders from Mr. Noyes's church, he had denounced as irregular and schismatical. Legal measures were also threatened to bring back the officers and students to their former place of worship. To meet the criticisms which were so freely made upon him by those with whom he had formerly co-operated, President Clap published in 1754 a pamphlet — The Religious Constitution of Colleges — in which, after giving an historical account of the origin and original design of colleges, he insisted that as they were distinctively religious societies, and of a supe- rior nature to all others, they had a right to carry on their own religious instruction and worship and ordinances within their own jurisdiction, by their own officers, and under their own regulations. The next year — 1755 — he followed up the subject with another pamphlet, A Brief History and Vindication of the Doctrines received and estab- lished in the Churches of New England. In this pamphlet he maintained that the great motive which influenced the first planters of New England to come to these shores was that they might enjoy religion in the purity of its doctrine ; that the doc- trines which they believed and professed were summed up in the confessions of the various Protestant bodies, and it was that they might transmit these doctrines down to the latest posterity that they had founded the college ; and that, under these circum- stances, it was the bounden duty of the officers of the college, at a time when lax views were rife in the country, to place the orthodoxy of the college above suspicion, by some such measure as the test act which they had passed in 1753. Meanwhile the corporation, undeterred by the clamor which was raised, proceeded to the election of a Professor of Divinity; and in September, 1755, made choice of the Rev. Naphtali Daggett of Long Island, who had been graduated at the college seven years before in the class of 1748. Mr. Daggett began to preach to the students in the following November, and on the 3d of March, 1756, all things being ready for his installation, the corporation entered into a strict examination of the orthodoxy of the Professor elect, such as the importance of the office and the dangers of the crisis seemed to demand. He was examined as to his principles of religion, his knowledge and skill in divinity, cases of conscience, Scripture history and chronology, antiquity, skill in the Hebrew tongue, and various other qualifications for a professor. On the next day he preached in the College Hall, and then gave his assent to the Westminster Catechism and Confession of Faith, and to the Saybrook Platform ; declared his belief that the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed agree with the Word of God ; assented to the ninth of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, being that which relates to original sin; and ended by presenting an extended 84 YALE COLLEGE. confession of his faith from his own pen, in which he renounced all the errors and here- sies which commonly go under the name of Arianism, Socinianism, Arminianism, Pela- gianism, Antinomianism, and Enthusiasm. He was then formally installed, with the usual solemnities, in the office of Professor of Divinity. It is a curious episode in this long struggle that for some months after this, although Professor Daggett was elected as a Malleus Hccreticorum, and although he was a preacher of the most proved and approved Calvinism, he was invited by Mr. Noyes, and a number of his congregation, to conduct the services half the time in the parish church, and for some months it appears that the students attended worship there as before. His ministrations too were to the "good liking" of Mr. Noyes and his con- gregation, although they were reported to be Arminian in their views. Dr. Bacon in his History puts the pertinent inquiry: "Does not this indicate that the bitter con- troversy of the age was maintained by faction and passion quite as much as by any radical or irreconcilable difference of opinion ? " This arrangement, by which Mr. Daggett preached in the parish church, was not approved by the corporation, who pre- ferred to have the students gathered as a distinct congregation by themselves, and it was soon given up. In June, 1757, an application was made to the corporation by the tutors and several of the students, members as they declared in full communion in several churches, who stated that they were desirous to attend upon the ordinance of the Lord's Supper under the administration of the Reverend Professor. In accordance with their request, a church was finally organized, and the regular administration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was commenced. It marks the energy of President Clap, and the zeal with which he had entered into this struggle, that he took measures at once to provide a house for the Professor of Divinity. At his own expense he purchased a lot of land, which he presented to the corporation for the use of the incumbent of the chair, and raised a subscription for the erection of a house, which was commenced June, 1757, and finished in the summer of 1758, at an expense of ^287 sterling. The President, then, in the presence of a considerable number of gentlemen, put the Professor into the possession of the house, declaring that it was built for the use of a Professor of Divinity in the college, who should hold and preach all the doctrines contained in the Catechism and Confession of Faith ; and in case he or his successor should hold, teach, or maintain any contrary doctrine, he or they should have no right to any use or improvement of it. The exercises were concluded with prayer and singing a psalm. All these proceedings of the authorities of the college exasperated still more those gentlemen in the colony who were opposed to confessions of faith and formulas of doc- trine, and those former friends of the President with whom he had so lately co-operated in the " Old Light " party. A war of pamphlets now commenced, which was conducted for some years with great bitterness. The most famous, and perhaps the most able of these — " Some Remarks on Mr. President Claps History and Vindication of the Doc- trines, etc., of the New England Churches''' — was published in 1757 anonymously, but it is now known to have been from the pen of Thomas Darling, Esq., of New Haven, PRESIDENT CLAP. 85 who had formerly been associated with President Clap in the government of the college as tutor at the time of Whitefield's second visit to New England, and who had united with him in the "declaration " which was then published. Mr. Darling claimed that the first clause of the religious test act passed by the corporation in 1753, in which it is declared that the Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice, was irreconcilable with what is said afterwards, to the effect that the Scriptures are to be interpreted by the Assembly's Catechism and Confession of Faith, and these last again are to be interpreted by the writings of the Protestant divines. This pamphlet produced a great impression upon the community, but there was a coarseness in its whole tone which was in marked contrast with the dignity which characterized all the polemical writings of President Clap. Mr. Darling did not hesitate to charge upon his distinguished opponent that he was actuated by unworthy motives ; that it was his desire to acquire more power, authority, influence, and riches that had led him to set up separate worship on college ground. He said: "The President's desire of power and grandeur is boundless. The more officers, as professors, chaplains, and tutors, he has under him, the more august will he appear. With this view he has doubtless separated the college from New Haven First Society, that he might with a better grace introduce a professor, or rather a chaplain." But the special significance of Mr. Darling's pamphlet, whatever may be thought of his argument or his tone, is in the fact that it is to be considered as the strong protest of the traditional spirit of liberality which had always characterized the New Haven theologians, against the attempt which President Clap was now making to put fetters on the spirit of free investigation. It has been one principal object in all that has been said thus far respecting the history of the college, to show that from the first both the New Haven theology and the New Haven ecclesiastical polity had been characterized by freedom in opposition to all attempts to set up an ecclesiastical establishment in the colony, or to reduce all theological thought to one cast-iron form. Now, under the stress of controversy, and to procure a temporary advantage, President Clap, with his strong individuality, was seeking to draw the college out of the line of its traditions. However little sympathy may be felt for Mr. Darling's own views, it must be confessed that he is to be regarded as the champion of the traditions of New Haven ; as it will be seen, in the subsequent history of the college, that it was the pupil of Mr. Darling and his special friend Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of the college, who was born within the original limits of the town of New Haven, and imbued like him with this same traditional spirit, who, in 1778, brought the college back into the historic line. On a broad view of the history of New Haven from 1638 to the present time, it will be seen that there is a thread which runs through the whole period and connects John Davenport and James Pierpont with Ezra Stiles, and Timothy Dwight, and Jeremiah Day, and Nathaniel W. Taylor, and the historian of the New England churches, and the other men who to-day are the authoritative exponents of New Haven views. But to return to the controversy, which was now in full progress. It went on during the whole of the remainder of President Clap's term of office. It was a constant 86 YALE COLLEGE. source of danger to the college, but it was by no means the only one. England was again at war with France, and again the resources of the colonists were taxed to the utmost. For years the college was obliged to struggle amid the many disturbing influences which followed in the train of that seven years' contest, in which the bravery and the treasure of New England, so freely expended, were rendered of no avail through the want of enterprise and the positive imbecility of the English officers who were sent to conduct the successive campaigns. Under these circumstances a brief digression may be pardoned, for the purpose of glancing at the progress of the war, whose vary- ing fortunes must have been watched with intense interest by the little academical body gathered in these peaceful retreats. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, had been concluded with such haste or indifference to the state of things in America that the boundary line between the English and French possessions had been left unsettled all along the line from Nova Scotia to Carolina. There was a vague understanding that the line should be as it had been before the war, but, "for a quarter of a century before the war, it had never ceased to be a subject of altercation." The natural result was that at once the subjects of each nation made haste to secure for themselves as much of the disputed territory as they could. The valley of the Ohio was the prize for which each party was contend- ing. The two governments remained at peace, but every year the relations of the hardy explorers and settlers on the frontier were becoming more and more warlike, and at last, May 27, 1754, came the collision, when, at the Great Meadows, on the banks of the Youghiogeny, a young officer, whose name was as yet unknown to fame, Colonel George Washington, gave the order to the men who were under his command to fire on the intruding French, and so opened a war which was to be waged for years in both hemispheres and to extend beyond the Ganges. The next year, 1755, war was not formally declared between England and France, but the colonists were encouraged to act against the enemy. Four expeditions were fitted out : one to proceed against the French on the Ohio, one against Nova Scotia, one against Niagara, and one against Crown Point. At the last place was the fortress which had given the French the command of Lake Champlain and protected the advance and retreat of the Canadians and Indians whenever they were disposed to come clown to harass the frontier of New England. Everywhere in Connecticut was the greatest alacrity to assist in an effort to drive the French from this fortress, so long and so universally dreaded. The colony raised a thousand men and placed them under the command of one of the recent graduates of the college, Major-General Phineas Lyman. The legislature also laid a tax of two pence in the pound on the whole ratable estate of the colony. But the hopes of the colonists were doomed to disappointment. On the banks of the Monongahela General Braddock met with a humiliating defeat, and the forces sent against Crown Point scarcely fared better. Colonel Williams, so honorably known as the founder of Williams College, fell into an ambush near the southern end of Lake George, and was killed ; and the main body of the army, which was collected at Fort William Henry, were only just saved from anni- hilation by the French, who were led by Baron Dieskau. The result of this battle at PRESIDENT CLAP. 87 Lake George spread a great alarm throughout Connecticut, and in a little more than a week from the reception of the tidings, two new regiments, composed of fourteen hundred men, were raised, equipped, and were on the march to the relief of their com- rades. The population of the colony, at this time, was only one hundred and thirty- two thousand. In January of the next year, 1756, war was at last formally declared, and it was announced that the English government intended to prosecute it with vigor. The Earl of Loudoun and General Abercrombie were to be sent to direct the operations. Con- necticut raised once more twenty-five hundred men, and had them early at the appointed rendezvous. But the Earl of Loudoun did not even leave England till the last of May. Great expectations had been formed of what he was to accomplish, and when he arrived he was received in his progress through the country with great enthu- siasm. It is interesting to know that he came to New Haven, where he was respect- fully waited upon by President Clap. But the Earl of Loudoun and General Abercrombie, although ten thousand men were awaiting them at Albany, in high spirits, and waiting to be led against Crown Point — the largest army ever assembled in America — did absolutely nothing. Meanwhile the Marquis de Montcalm, a young and enterprising French officer, was pushing his way southward, and made an easy con- quest of Oswego, one of the most important posts which the English had in America. The next year, 1757, it was supposed that the war was to be prosecuted vigorously for the reduction of Crown Point ; and Connecticut early raised its full quota of troops. But, instead of what was expected, the Earl of Loudoun sailed away with six thousand troops to attempt the reduction of Louisburg, and was so dilatory in all his movements that at last he was obliged to return without striking a blow. Meanwhile the Marquis de Montcalm seized the occasion to make an attack upon Fort William Henry at the south end of Lake George, which, owing to the amazing want of forethought and cul- pable negligence of the English General, Webb, who was stationed close by at Fort Edward, he took without difficulty. Once more New England was filled with appre- hension lest Montcalm should force his way to Albany and come down upon the unprotected frontier. In this emergency, Connecticut again raised and sent off in a few days five thousand men, making the whole number of troops in actual service this year over six thousand men. The records of the college furnish interesting evidence of the disheartening effect of the campaign of this year upon the academic community. September 14, 1757, the corporation passed the following vote : " Whereas, the present calamitous and distressing war loudly calls us to repentance and reformation, and to the practice of industry and frugality, and all kinds of luxury and extravagance and disorder are in a particular manner wrong and undesirable at this time ; it is therefore ordered that the next Commencement shall be private, on such a day as the President shall appoint in August or September next ; he giving notice to the candidates to attend at some convenient time beforehand. "And whereas, the candidates for the first degree have heretofore obliged every one in the class to pay their proportionate part of the charge of purchasing a pipe of wine at the Commencement, this Board do now pro- hibit that practice ; but allow the President and tutors, or either of them, to give liberty to particular per- sons to get such quantities of wine as they in their discretion shall think proper." 88 VALE COLLEGE. The colonies, in view of the imbecility and want of energy and incapacity of the English commander, had lost all confidence in the ability of England to give them any assistance; when, in 1758, Mr. Pitt became minister, and at once infused new life into the contest. In consequence of his spirited appeals, and his promises, the people of Connecticut were incited to a new effort. The legislature declared that although they had heretofore raised each year far more than their proper quota, yet " that nothing might be wanting to promote the great and good design proposed by His Majesty," they resolved to raise five thousand troops. Two taxes were levied ; one of ninepence in the pound. But they were doomed again to disappointment. One of the expedi- tions, under Lord Amherst and General Wolfe, went against Louisburg, which was taken ; but the other, in which they were more particularly concerned, against Crown Point, completely failed through the mismanagement of General Abercrombie, who was defeated at Ticonderoga, and fell into such contempt that he was henceforth nick- named through New England General Nabbycrombie ; importing, as was said, that " petticoats would become him much better than breeches." In the year 1759 the tide of battle, under the genius of Mr. Pitt, had turned. The French were obliged to abandon Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Niagara was taken; and at last, on the heights of Abraham, the battle was fought by the immortal Wolfe which wrested Quebec from France, and thenceforth the British flag was to wave over the castle of St. Louis, which for a century had been the terror of all New England. This year also Connecticut raised five thousand men. In 1 760, in answer to a fresh appeal from Mr. Pitt, to complete the conquest of Canada, five thousand men were raised once more. In 1761, for securing the con- quered territory and garrisoning the forts, two thousand three hundred men were raised. In 1762 two regiments, two thousand three hundred men in the aggregate, were raised again, and war having been declared by England against Spain, troops were enlisted who participated in the expedition which was successful in the reduc- tion of Havana, August 13, 1762. But now affairs in Europe had taken such a direc- tion that the British government was able to arrange a general peace, and by the treaty which was signed in Paris, February 10, 1763, Canada, to the joy and bound- less satisfaction of New England, was finally relinquished by France. The events of this war as they affected Connecticut have been described with some minuteness for the reason that the remarkable ability which President Clap displayed at this time cannot be understood without a distinct conception of the difficulties with which he had to contend. During all the period of this costly war, in which the best blood of the colony was so freely drained, and ,£400,000 were expended by Connecticut, over and above all money received from England, he had to sustain a constant attack from those whom he had offended by his action with regard to the test law, and the establishment of a chair for a Professor of Divinity, and of a separate place of worship. Fault was found with almost everything that had been done during his administration. The students were encouraged in acts of insubordination. The war of pamphlets continued, and so bitter was the feelimr of his assailants that efforts were made to shake the confidence of the PRESIDENT CLAP. 89 community even in his honesty. Yet, notwithstanding all, the college continued to improve in general efficiency. So great also was the number of students that the accommodations of the old College Hall proved to be entirely insufficient, and it was felt that there was a necessity for a new building " for religious and scholastic exer- cises." The library room was also too small for the books and apparatus. It was surely proof of no small administrative ability that in the closing years of an exhausting war, and in the midst of a controversy which united so many persons in hostility to the college, President Clap was able to go forward as he did, and raise for the erection of a new college building, which could be used as a chapel, a large contribution in money, and to induce the legislature to supplement it by a gift of ^245 13s. gd. The new chapel was begun in 1 76 1, and the outside was nearly finished that summer. It was built of brick ; was fifty feet long and forty feet wide, and was provided with a steeple. The room on the lower floor, which was designed to be used as the chapel, was furnished with galleries and three " rostra," as they were termed, for the students when they delivered orations and disputations. Over this room was an- other for the library. In June, 1763, the chapel was opened with a sermon preached by the Professor of Divinity in the presence of the President and Fellows and a large number of the friends of the college. The success which attended the efforts of President Clap to erect a chapel for the col- lege was undoubtedly owing to the fact that he was now sustained by the " New Light" party ; and an event happened about this time which shows how completely he had changed his relations in reference to the two great political and religious parties of the day. In June, 1764, Whitefield made a third visit to New Haven, and, at the special invitation of the President, preached in the new chapel. The state of things in college at the time was somewhat peculiar. It was just after the close of the war with France, and the popular hatred of that country had hardly subsided when the students, by some insult, real or fancied, managed to exasperate some Frenchmen residing in New Haven to such a degree that, intent on revenge, some of them gained access to the kitchen where the food was cooked for the commons, and mixed arsenic with the dishes prepared for the table. Many of the students had been made violently sick, but most of them, under proper medical treatment, had recovered. It was just after this event that Whitefield preached, and his sermon is said to have had a very marked influence on the students. In a letter written from New York, June 25, 1764, Whitefield said: "To crown the expedition, after preaching at New Haven VUL. 1. 12 CHAPEL, A.D. 1763. [ATHENAEUM.] 9 YALE COLLEGE. college, the President came to me as I was going off in the chaise, and informed me that the students were so deeply impressed by the sermon that they were gone into the chapel, and earnestly entreated me to give them one more quarter of an hour's exhortation." There could hardly be more conclusive evidence of the change which President Clap had made in his views since the time when, with the tutors, he pub- lished his " Declaration " against him. But there is still another illustration of the change in the views of President Clap with regard to the "New Light" theologians, which deserves to be mentioned: the text-book which he gave to the class of 1762 to be used in their recitations on moral philosophy, was President Edwards's " Treatise on the Will." The college now seemed prosperous to an unprecedented degree, but notwithstand- ing this evidence that its affairs were well managed, the enemies of the President did not cease their attacks upon him. They asserted that in his government of the institu- tion he was extremely arbitrary, and that the students were subject to oppressive exac- tions from which they had no appeal. They asserted also that the annual expenses of the students were fixed at a higher sum than necessary, in order that money might be raised to enable the President to carry out his ambitious projects. So persistently were these charges reiterated that at last grave suspicions began to be entertained by numbers of persons throughout the colony with regard to the President's method of government and his management of the funds of the college. This feeling became so strong that at last, in 1763, a memorial was preferred to the legislature by several gentlemen of the highest respectability, in which, in view of the abuses which they declared to abound in the government of the college, they called for the interference of the legislature as the founders of the institution, lest the college, as they stated, should become too independent. To secure the end which they had in view, they prayed that the legislature would pass an act to authorize an "appeal from any and every sentence given by the authority of the college, to the Governor and Council of the colony for the time being, and that the said legislature would immediately issue forth a Com- mittee of Visitation, enabling some suitable persons to inquire into all the affairs of said college, and either of themselves rectify all abuses which they may discover, or make report of what they shall find, with their opinions thereon, to the said Assembly, at their next session." The memorialists were supported by William Samuel Johnson and Jared Ingersoll, the two most learned and famous attorneys in the colony, who alleged that the General Assembly founded the college by giving a charter in the year 1 701, which contained a donation of about £60 sterling, to be annually paid out of the public treasury, and by sundry subsequent donations, especially five tracts of land, in the year 1732; and that the present Assembly, as successors to the founders, had a right of visitation by the common law. They further alleged that such an appeal and visitation were "very necessary to preserve the good order and regulation of the college upon all accounts, and particularly to preserve orthodoxy in religion." The enemies of the college were now jubilant in the expectation that they were at last to succeed in their efforts to control the action of the President ; and its friends were not without their fears and anxieties. But President Clap now proved himself PRESIDENT CLAP. CJl to be fully equal to the emergency, and this action of his enemies only gave him an opportunity of displaying his learning, and his fearless and self-reliant character, in a way which has since excited much admiration. The President first replied to the memorialists in a paper in which he denied most of the allegations which they had made as not founded in fact, or as gross perversions of the truth. He denied the right of visitation in the legislature; and as to the disor- ders in the college which were complained of, he produced the confessions of the students that they had been advised by others, not members of the college, " to run into riots, rebellions, and disorders to bring a scandal upon the college, and the Rev. President's government of it." This reply, after noticing every part of the memorial, closes in the following manner: "We would beg leave to make this proposal to your honors, as patrons of the college, that if your honors, in your great wisdom, can find out a way to prevent the raising of such false reports and misrepresentations, and the students from being instigated and insnared by bad advice from others, we will promise and engage that this college shall be governed and kept in as good order as any college in the world." The President also prepared an address to the legislature, in which he examined the arguments of the counsel for the petitioners. He admitted " that the General Assem- bly, in their legislative capacity, have the same authority over the college, and all the persons and estates belonging to it, as they have over all persons and estates in the colony ; and all that power, which is necessary for the good of the college, or the gen- eral good of the community ; and that our especial respect and gratitude is due to them as its greatest benefactors ; yet they are not to be considered as founders or visitors in the sense of the common law." He maintained that the ministers who made the first donation in 1 700 were the founders of the college, and that by the common law "he is the founder quoad dotationcm (to whose heirs or successors the law gives the right of visitation) who makes the first donation." That eminent jurist, Chancellor Kent, in an address which he made before the alumni of the college in 1834, refers to the claim which was at this time set up that the General Assembly had a right by the common law to appoint visitors of the college, and says President Clap "opposed this pretension in a counter-memorial and argument, drawn boldly, and with the confidence of a master, from his own mental resources. He grounded himself upon English authorities in the true style of a well-read lawyer, and successfully contended that the first trustees and donors, prior to the charter, were the founders and lawful visitors, and that the right of visitation passed to the trustees under the charter, and then resided in the President and Fellows. An argument of such solidity reminds us of the powerful discussions in the celebrated case of Dartmouth College, in which the same doctrines were advanced and sustained by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States." The memorialists had asked that there might be an "appeal from all and every sen- tence given by the authority of the college, to the Governor and Council of the colony for the time being." To this President Clap replied "that such an appeal would retard and obstruct all the proceedings of the authority of the college, it being found by Q2 i'A/./C COLLEGE. universal experience that in all instances wherein a liberty of appeal is allowed, the judgment appealed from is of no force or efficacy except that which may arise from the extraordinary trouble and charge of bringing the case to a trial in the court appealed to; that such a constitution would take the government of the college wholly out of the hands of those in whom it was originally vested, and be contrary to the charter." It had been urged that the appointment of visitors was necessary "to preserve ortho- doxy in the governors of the college." To this it was replied, "that, according to the original design of the founders of the college, the President, Fellows, and Professor of Divinity, and Tutors, are to be admitted upon condition of their consent to the Confes- sion of Faith agreed upon by the churches in the colony, in 1 708, and established by the laws of the government. That there is not the like security of the orthodoxy of visitors or any other in the civil order, except His Most Excellent Majesty, who, by the act of Union, is obliged to consent to the Westminster Confession of Faith, received in the Church of Scotland, as being agreeable to God's Word, and containing the sum and substance of the doctrine of the Reformed Churches." "This," Professor Kingsley observes, " was understood to be an intimation that if the project of appointing visitors of the college was persisted in, the President and Fellows would appeal to the king." In the account of the result of this reply to the memorialists, which was drawn up by President Clap himself, and published in his history of the college, there is a certain grim satisfaction displayed which makes it deserving of being quoted in this connec- tion. He says: "When these arguments were considered by the honorable the Gen- eral Assembly, but very few appeared to be of the opinion that the Assembly were the founders of the college, and so they acted nothing upon the memorial, and it is gen- erally supposed that this question will never be publicly moved again." President Clap had now completely triumphed in what was the great contest of his life, but it is a question whether the very completeness of his success was not attended with some temporary disadvantages. He had proved that the college was perfectly independent, and responsible only to the corporation, the legal successors of the original founders ; but the effect was only to increase the number of those who looked with suspicion and ill-will upon the college, and to make it still more unpopular through the colony. In this state of things the students continued to be encouraged by persons outside of the college to acts of insubordination, and it is evident that the President was finding it more and more difficult to uphold his authority, when his troubles became still further complicated. Two of the tutors adopted the theological opinions of the Rev. Robert Sandaman, which at that time were spreading in Connecticut. President Clap insisted, in accord- ance with the test laws of 1753, that they should resign. This they did in 1765. The remaining tutor, unwilling to retain his place after they had left, also resigned. The new tutors who were elected to replace them found their position so uncomfortable that they too resigned in the summer of 1 766. And now the strong man had become hopelessly involved in the toils of the enemies who were watching for his downfall. PRESIDENT CLAP. 93 The college was in a state of anarchy. Many of the students went home, and at last, in July, the President offered his own resignation to the corporation. They replied by expressing their earnest desire that he would be pleased to continue in office "as long as Divine Providence would permit, or at least till the next Commencement." He accordingly presided and gave degrees at the Commencement in September, and at the close of the exercises of the day pronounced a valedictory oration,' and publicly resigned his place as head of the college. The corporation passed a vote the same day, in which they say: "We find ourselves obliged with grief to accept the President's resignation, but think ourselves bound to return him our sincere and hearty thanks for his great, good, and long service in this college, which he has governed and instructed with great diligence, zeal, and faithful- ness for a course of many years ; and with great and extraordinary economy and fru- gality managed the concerns of it and the building of the new college and chapel ; and we heartily wish him a happy repose and a glorious and abundant reward in the world above, with Jesus and the spirits of the just made perfect." President Clap did not long survive his resignation. In less than four months, after a short illness, he died in New Haven, January 7, 1767, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. Thus ended, after the labors of twenty-seven years, the academic services of one whose reputation will be ever dear to the college. His lot was cast in troubled times. His term of office began with the Spanish war of 1739, and it ended during the excit- ing discussions which attended the attempt of the British government to enforce the Stamp Act in America. It was in the very year that he resigned that the Stamp Act was repealed. It was well for the college that during such a period the presiding officer was a man of fearlessness, of energy, and decision. That one who was so full of the gaiidium ccrtaminis did not fall into errors, is too much to claim. His purposes once formed were carried out with too much inflexibility. Unfortunately he lacked, also, a conciliatory manner. He was too imperious in his treatment of those who did not agree with him. President Stiles says, "sic volo sic jubco was inwrought in his make;" but for untiring zeal and disinterestedness in laboring for the advancement of what he thought to be the best interests of the college, there is no one in the whole line of Presidents more worthy of the grateful remembrance of the alumni than Thomas Clap. MONUMENT OE PRESIDENT CLAP. GROVE-STREET CEMETERY. HOUSE OF THE PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY, A. D. 1 758. CHAPTER VII. REV. NAPHTALT DAGGETT, PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, A. D. 1766-1777. A Successor to President Clap not easily found. — Professor Daggett elected President pro tempore. — Dawn of the Revolution. — A Succession of Tutors of unusual Ability. — A Chair of Natural Philoso- phy founded. — Rev. Nehemiah Strong elected Professor.— Democratic Tendencies of the Times. — A new Debating Society. — The Brothers in Unity. — The College Laws printed in English. — Names of Students arranged alphabetically in the Catalogue. — Growth of a Taste for English Literature throughout the Country. — It is seen among the Students. — John Trumbull. — Timothy Dwight. — - David Humphreys. — Trumbull and Dwight elected Tutors a.d. 1 77 1 . — Trumbull writes the First Book of the "Progress of Dullness. " — Criticises the Curriculum of Studies in the College. — Dwight commences the "Conquest of Canaan." — Trumbull becomes Treasurer of the College. — Writes "MacFingal." — Inspiring Influence of Dwight as an Instructor. — The Students petition for Leave to employ him as their Instructor in English Literature. — Battles of Lexington and Concord. — Effect upon the College. — Ebenezer Huntington. — Difficulty of procuring Food. — Students dismissed to their Homes, Decemebr 10, 1776. — Resignation of President Daggett, April, 1777. On the resignation of President Clap, in 1 766, the corporation chose as his suc- cessor the Rev. James Lockwood of Wethersfield ; and, on his declining to accept the office, proceeded at once to elect the Professor of Divinity, the Rev. Naphtali Daggett, D.D., President pro tempore, with the understanding, however, that he was to continue to discharge the duties of his professorship. The period of eleven years — 1766 to 1777 — in which Dr. Daggett acted as President, was one of intense political excitement. Charles Townshend, the author of the Stamp Act, was now Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was proceeding to carry out his American policy. In order to make public officers in the colonies independent of the people, he procured a bill to be passed in parliament, in 1767, imposing duties on importations into America ; with the design of thus raising a revenue with which to pay their salaries. The legislature of Massachusetts at once drew up a remonstrance, and straightway " rang the alarm bell " to the rest of America. Then followed swiftly the quartering of troops in Boston in 1 768 ; the Boston massacre in 1 769 ; the destruction of the tea in the harbor of Boston in 1773 ; the closing of the port of Boston, and the meeting of Congress in Philadelphia in 1774 ; the opening of the drama of the Revo- 94 PRESIDENT DAGGETT. 95 lution at Lexington and Concord ; the battle of Bunker Hill, and the expedition to Canada in 1775 ; the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Yet, notwithstanding the excitement attendant upon these revolutionary events, the college, during the greater part of the administration of President Daggett, continued to be on the whole remarkably prosperous. This seems to have been owing in great measure to the fact that the corporation were able to secure a succession of tutors of unusual ability. Among them may be mentioned, as they were known by their subse- quent titles, Hon. Stephen Mix Mitchell of Wethersfield, a Judge of the Superior Court ; the Rev. Dr. Wales, the successor of Dr. Daggett in the professorship of Divinity ; Hon. John Trumbull ; the Rev. Dr. Dwight, afterwards President ; Rev. Dr. Strong of Hartford ; Hon. John Davenport, for eighteen or twenty years a member of Congress from Connecticut ; and the Rev. Dr. Buckminster of Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire. Dr. Daggett, being occupied with the duties of his professorship, the manage- ment of the college was left in great degree to the tutors. But, as Professor Kingsley has said, "a college instructed by such a succession of tutors could not fail to flourish." The instruction, however, was not entirely in their hands after the year 1 77 1, for at that time the corporation founded a professorship of Natural Philosophy, and placed the Rev. Nehemiah Strong in the new chair. The democratic tendencies of the times were attended, however, by some results worthy of mention. One of these was the formation of a new debating society among the students, as a rival to " Linonia." It seems to have been felt that this society was too aristocratic and exclusive. No Freshman had originally been admitted into it. A change had lately been made in this respect, but there was still a prejudice against it in the minds of many. Accordingly, in 1 768, a new society, to which the name was given of " Brothers in Unity," was formed by students selected from all the under- graduate classes. Prominent among the founders, its members have ever delighted to refer to David Humphreys, afterwards Minister of the United States to Spain, although it is doubtful whether at the time he could have done much to shape the policy of the society, as he was yet a Freshman. On account of its democratic constitution, the "Brothers in Unity" was able for a time to eclipse the older society in its popularity among the students. Another evidence of the change of feeling which was going on in the country is to be seen in the action of the corporation in 1772, in which they showed an unusual willingness to conform to the popular wishes. A short time before, during a discussion in the legislature, a question had arisen with regard to the laws of the college, and a copy of them had been sent for. They were found to be in Latin ; and the opinion was expressed in the legislature that they had better be in the vernacular. The cor- poration at once ordered them to be translated and printed in English. Another more noticeable siom of the democratic tendencies of the times was exhibited, in 1768, in the arrangement of the names of the students in the college catalogue in alphabetical order. Before this, the names had been arranged according to the rank in society which it was supposed their fathers held ; and, according to Dr. Woolsey, one of the most severe punishments consisted in placing a student on the 96 VALE COLLEGE. list, in consequence of some offense, below the rank to which his father's condition would assign him, and thus declaring that he had disgraced his family. Dr. Woolsey tells the story of a shoemaker's son, who, when questioned as to the quality of his father, replied that he was upon the bench, which gave him of course a high place. But perhaps the most important event in the history of the college during the presi- dency of Dr. Daggett was the growth among the students of a taste for literature, and a disposition to make the literature of their native tongue a subject of study. It would not appear that this was owing to any change in the appointed studies of the college. It has been already stated that President Clap had exerted himself in various ways to train the students to what he called " an agreeable style and method of writing," and that the orthography and punctuation of the compositions of the students were cor- rected by the tutors ; but there can be no question that the accepted canons of taste and criticism at that time were very imperfect. Exercises of the kind described were still kept up for the benefit of the students. But the new spirit, to which allusion has been made, was not owing to this cause. It was rather one of the results of the intense political excitement which had stimulated mental activity in every direction. Here and there, also, in the homes of the educated and cultured classes, the influence of the best recent English writers had begun to be felt. The works of the English essayists had found their way to this country, and were beginning to be read, as was also the poetry of Dryden, and Pope, and Thomson, and Milton. As far as the college is concerned, the first evidence we have of any manifestation of interest in English literature seems to have been among the students themselves. In the class of 1767, the first class to which President Daggett gave degrees, was a young man of whom the extraordinary story is told that he had been fitted for college at the age of seven. As he was then altogether too young to be sent from home, he was allowed to employ the interval between seven and thirteen, when he entered college, in pursuing his studies still further in the Latin and Greek classics. He had shown very early a great love for the poets of his own language, and had committed much of their poetry which was within his reach to memory, and now, while waiting to commence his academic life, he occupied himself with reading the best English authors, and in efforts at original poetical composition. This young man, who graduated at the age of seven- teen, was John Trumbull, who, as the author of " MacFingal," was to be known as one of the first in the annals of American literature to distinguish himself as a poet. The early history of Trumbull was substantially also the history of Timothy Dwight, afterwards to be known as the distinguished President of the college and the author of numerous poetical works, who graduated at the age of seventeen, in the class of 1 769 ; and of David Humphreys, who graduated in r 77 1, at about the same age. Trumbull remained for three years, after graduating, in New Haven, "occupied in a general course of literary study." Dwight was also at the same time in New Haven, where he filled the position of Rector of the Hopkins Grammar School. In 1771 these two friends were called to be tutors in the college. That up to this time there had been no change in the curriculum of academic studies would appear from the poem which Trumbull now proceeded to write and publish in the first year of his tutorship. PRESIDENT DAGGETT. 97 It received the title of "The Progress of Dullness." It was a satire written with a view to expose the absurdities then prevalent in the system of instruction pursued at college. His feeling was that the learned languages, mathematics, logic, and scho- lastic divinity, received altogether a disproportionate amount of the time of the stu- dents, while the pursuit of literature, which was of equal importance, was considered idle and worthless. While Trumbull was writing "The Progress of Dullness," Dwight was also busy upon a poem which he called " The Conquest of Canaan." An anecdote which has been often related may here be told again, as it illustrates so well the pleasant terms on which the two tutors lived, and also Trumbull's wit and true literary taste : Dwight, in a part of his poem which he had first submitted to his friend, had introduced several descriptions of thunder-storms. On handing him a second portion of his manuscript, Trumbull told him if there were any more thunder-storms in it he hoped he would fur- nish him with a licditnincr-rod ! " The Progress of Dullness " is especially valuable at the present time for the light which it throws on college life at the period it was written. The poem is a satire, and is to be interpreted as such ; but we have so few descriptions of college life at that period, that the descriptions in it, however exaggerated, are valuable. The following lines describe the college exquisite of the time : "Lo! The coxcomb trips with sprightly haste, In all the flush of modern taste ; Oft turning, if the day be fair, To view his shadow's graceful air ; Well pleased, with eager eye runs o'er The laced suit glittering gay before ; * The ruffle, where, from open'd vest, The rubied brooch adorns the breast ; The coat, with lengthening waist behind, Whose short skirts dangle in the wind ; The modish hat, whose breadth contains The measure of the owner's brains ; The stockings gay with various hues ; The little toe-encircling shoes ; The cane, on whose carv'd top is shown An head, just emblem of his own ; While wrapp'd in self, with lofty stride, His little heart elate with pride, He struts in all the joys of show, That tailors give or beaux can show. " But the special object of Trumbull, as he himself says, was " to point out, in a clear and concise manner, those general errors that hinder the advances of education." He contends that " the mere knowledge of ancient languages, of the abstruser parts of * This passage alludes to the modes of dress then in fashion. VOL. I. — 13 gS VALE COLLEGE. mathematics, and the dark researches of metaphysics, is of little advantage in any business or profession in life ; " and that " it would be more beneficial, in every place of public education, to take pains in teaching the elements of oratory, the grammar of the English tongue, and the elegancies of style and composition." He thus expresses his views in the poem : " And yet, how oft the studious gain The dullness of a lettered brain ; Despising such low things the while, As English grammar, phrase and style ; Despising ev'ry nicer art That aids the tongue, or mends the heart ; Read ancient authors o'er in vain, Nor taste one beauty they contain ; Humbly on trust accept the sense, But deal for words at vast expense ; Search well how every term must vary From Lexicon to Dictionary ; And plodding on in one dull tone, Gain ancient tongues and lose their own, Bid every graceful charm defiance, And woo the skeleton of science." The change which he hopes for is thus described : " Oh ! might I live to see that day, When sense shall point to youths their way ; Through every maze of science guide ; O'er education's laws preside ; The good retain, with just discerning Explode the quackeries of learning ; Give ancient arts their real due, Explain their faults, and beauties too ; Teach where to imitate, and mend, And point their uses and their end. Then bright philosophy would shine, And ethics teach the laws divine ; Our youths might learn each nobler art, That shows a passage to the heart ; From ancient languages well known Transfuse new beauties to our own ; With taste and fancy well refined, Where moral rapture warms the mind, From schools dismiss'd, with lib'ral hand, Spread useful learning o'er the land ; And bid the eastern world admire Our rising worth, and bright'ning fire." Trumbull remained in the tutorship for two years ; and, during this period, continued his attack upon what he considered the absurdities then prevalent in respect to educa- PRESIDENT DAGGETT. 99 tion, adding two new books to " The Progress of Dullness." In 1773 he was admitted to the bar of Connecticut, and the next year began the practice of his profession in New Haven, where in 1775 he wrote the last part of " MacFingal," which is said to have rapidly passed through thirty editions. In 1776 he was elected treasurer of the college, which office he filled till his removal a few years after to Hartford. Dwight continued to hold the office of tutor six years from 1 77 1 to 1777. There can be no doubt that to the inspiring influence of these two men is to be ascribed the commencement of an attention among the students to English literature, and rhetoric and oratory. But it would appear that at least during the presidency of Dr. Daggett, the interest which was awakened in these studies was owing rather to the example set by these tutors of what might be done in a literary career, and particularly to the private instructions given by Mr. Dwight, and not to any change in the regular course of instruction yet adopted in the college by the authorities. As late as October 23, 1776, within six months of the resignation of Dr. Daggett, we find the following minute upon the records of the corporation : " Upon application made to this board by Mr. Dwight, one of the tutors, at the desire of the present senior class, requesting that they might be permitted to hire the said Mr. Dwight to instruct them the current year in rhetoric, history, and the belles lettres : Upon considering the motion, the corporation being willing to encourage the improvement of the youth in those branches of polite literature, do comply with their request, provided it may be done with the approbation of the parents or guardians of the said class." The cautious permission here given shows that the authorities of the college were hardly yet prepared to adopt a more liberal course of study. It is evident that it was by the outside instructions which are here alluded to that the interest in the new studies was aroused and stimulated among the students. It is said that Mr. Dwight at this time gave a course of lectures on style and composition similar in plan to the lectures of Blair, which had not then come before the public. But the unfortunate state of the country resulting from the progress of the Revo- lution was now to affect the college very seriously. The annual subsidy, which it had received from the legislature since the time of its foundation, was discontinued on account of the public necessities. With the breaking out of hostilities, the attention of the students, also, could not but be distracted by the great events which were now occurring. How many of them gave up their studies and joined the various volunteer companies which were now forming in every part of Connecticut, it is not easy to say ; but it seems proper to mention the name of one — Ebenezer Huntington — who afterwards rose to a high position in the Continental army. His father was one of the wealthiest merchants in the country. It is said that at this time he had twenty ships afloat on the ocean. When an armed collision first seemed to be approaching between the colonies and the mother country, he called all the members of his family together — his wife, his five sons, and his two daughters — and, after asking in prayer the blessing and guidance of God, he informed them that if there was an appeal to arms he had resolved to embrace the cause of his country's independence, lOO YALE COLLEGE. even if he lost his entire property. He then asked each one of them by name what they would do. With one voice they pledged themselves to follow his example. When the tidings reached New Haven in April, 1775, that blood had flowed at Lex- ington and Concord, Ebenezer, who was a student in the college, at once asked for a dismission and started for the seat of war. Interruptions in the routine of college life now became frequent, and at last, Decem- ber 10, 1776, the President dismissed the students to their homes " until the end of the winter vacation," January 8, 1777, on account of the difficulty of subsisting them in New Haven " for want of regular commons." This difficulty, and the necessity of providing for them elsewhere, were due to the fact that New Haven had already suffered severely in the war. In 1774, Colonel Wooster, in a report to Governor Trumbull, which is the earliest account of the commerce of the town which is definite in its details, had said: "The shipping belonging to this port are one hundred and eight vessels, consisting of brigantines, sloops, and schooners, amounting to seven thousand one hundred and seventy tons, carpenter's measure. The number of sea- faring men is seven hundred and fifty-six." But the vessels belonging to the port were now almost all destroyed, and business of every description was greatly inter- rupted. After a few weeks, it would seem that it became again almost impossible to procure provisions for the students. Accordingly, at a meeting of the trustees, April 1, 1777, the following votes were passed : " Whereas, the difficulties of subsisting the students in this town are so great — the price of provisions and board so high, and the avocations from study occasioned by the state of public affairs so many — difficulties which still increase and render it very inconvenient for the students to reside here at present ; — and yet con- sidering the great importance that they be under the best advantages of instruction and learning circumstances will permit ; — voted, That in the opinion of this Board it is necessary to provide some other convenient place or places where the classes may reside under their respective tutors, until God in his kind providence shall open a door for their return to this fixed and ancient seat of learning, and that Messrs. Taylor and Goodrich be a committee for that purpose, and make report to the next meeting of the Board." "And whereas, it may be necessary, in this time of war and public danger, for the security of the library and other valuable papers, that they be removed to some distance from the sea ; — voted, That the President, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Treasurer Trumbull be a committee to do what they shall judge proper in that respect, who are empowered to remove the whole or part of the library, and all the appurtenances of the college, to such place as they shall think most convenient and safe." At the same meeting the following letter, agreed to by the corporation and signed by the President, was ordered to be sent to the civil authorities and selectmen of New Haven : "Gentlemen : — Whereas, from the peculiar difficulties of the present times, the President and Fellows of Yale College in this town find themselves under the disagreeable necessity of leaving the college buildings empty for a season, and think some special care is necessary for their preservation ; in particular that no troops that may be stationed here or pass through the town (unless absolute necessity requires it) be quartered in them, they take the liberty to address you with their earnest desire that, as far as in you lies, you would have an inspection of them, and use your endeavor to preserve them from harm and damage. PRESIDENT DAGGETT. IOI "The President and Fellows are extremely sorry that they are obliged to take this step, but would be more so should the college buildings be damaged and rendered unfit for the purpose for which they were designed, since they are determined to call the students to this their ancient and fixed seat of abode as soon as circum- stances will permit, and hope you will kindly accept this trust and inspection, by which you will greatly oblige your assured friends and humble servants. " By order of the President and Fellows of Yale College in New Haven. " Naphtali Daggett, President." At the conclusion of this session of the corporation, Dr. Daggett, in view of the embarrassed condition of the affairs of the college, resigned the office of President, retaining, however, that of Professor of Divinity. The trustees met again on the 30th of April, and proceeded to make arrangements for the instruction of the students during the summer term. They directed the Fresh- man class to assemble in Farmington, and the Sophomore and Junior classes to assemble in Glastonbury, under their respective tutors ; and they requested Tutor Dwight to procure some suitable place for the Seniors, " where they might be under his care and government." They furthermore requested Professor Strong to take up his residence at Glastonbury ; and Dr. Daggett, the Professor of Divinity, " to visit the different classes as often as he could with convenience." One more entry on the records of the corporation, for the academic year 1776-7, will complete the picture of the sad condition to which the institution was now reduced : " May 27, 1777. — Voted, That the Senior class be dismissed on the 20th of July, without any public exam- ination or exhibition." SEAL OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT. UNION HALL, A.D. 1794 (SOUTH COLLEGE). CHAPTER VIII. RE}'. EZRA STILES, D.D., PRESIDENT, 1778-1795. Gloomy Prospects.- — Burgoyne's Invasion. — Influential Citizens alienated from the College in conse- quence of the Religious Test Laws of President Clap. — Others jealous on account of its Independence of State Control. — Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., elected President. — He obtains the Repeal of the Relig- ious Test Laws.— Asks for permanent Professors. — Obtains a Promise of Co-operation from prominent Civilians. — His Inauguration. — New Haven visited by a British Force under General Tryon, July 5, 1 779. — Ex-President Daggett participates in the Defense of the Town. — He is wounded and dies, A.D. 1780. — Professor Strong resigns, A.D. 1781. — Hon. Silas Deane proposes that Instruction in the French Language should be provided. — A Dining-Hall erected, A.D. 1782. — Rev. Samuel Wales elected Professor of Divinity, A.D. 1782. — Independence of the American Colonies acknowledged by Great Britain, September 3, A.D. 1783. — Difficulties of the College not yet at an end. — Wide-spread Feeling of Hostility to it in the State. —Efforts of President Stiles to allay the Hostility. — His Conference with Committees of the Legislature. — At last he is successful.— Favorable Report of the Committee of the Legislature, October, 1791. — Plan of Hon. James Hillhouse to raise Money. — The long Estrangement between the Legislature and the College brought to an end. — Funds of the College increased. — A new Dormitory built. — It is called Union Hall. — Endowment of the Professor- ship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. — Mr. Josiah Meigs elected to fill the Chair, A.D. 1794. — Death of Professor Wales. — Death of President Stiles, May 12, 1795. — The extraordinary Difficulties with which he had to contend. — His special Claim to the Gratitude of the Alumni. — His Reputation as a Scholar. When the corporation met in September, 1777, the condition of the affairs of the college must have given them great concern. It was one of the darkest periods in the war of the Revolution. Burgoyne was sweeping down from Canada with a well- disciplined army of seven thousand men, expecting to effect a junction with General Clinton, who was to advance to meet him from New York. Washington had been forced to retire beyond the Delaware, and his men were almost entirely destitute of the necessaries of life. Connecticut was now an independent State, but all its resources were exhausted in raising soldiers and forward- ing supplies to the army. With a population of only about two hundred thousand, twenty-two full regiments were in actual service out of the State. The college was without a presiding officer. The senior tutor, Mr. Dwight, had resigned in order to 102 J^Lrzi^^ffa&S PRESIDENT STILES. 103 become chaplain of a brigade of troops, who made part of the force of General Gates. The students were dispersed in several different towns. But this was by no means all. There were difficulties which had for some time made themselves felt which were even more discouraging, because likely to be more permanent. The fact could not be disguised that the college was suffering from the effects of the controversies which had their rise during the administration of President Clap. A large class of influential citizens were alienated from the college on account of the religious test laws which had been enacted in 1753. Then, the complete success of President Clap in asserting the independence of the institution from all interference and supervision by the legislature had aggravated the feeling of hostility which had begun to be cherished. The charges also which had been made so frequently and so persistently that the government of the college abounded with abuses, had contributed still further to make the institution unpopular. The administration of President Dag- gett had done little to allay this feeling. All the difficulties and all the unfriendly feeling which existed when that able but imperious man resigned in 1 766 still existed, and to meet these difficulties there was need now of a presiding officer of very peculiar gifts, and of very peculiar character. Fortunately, the corporation were able to unite on one of the alumni of the college in whom were combined all those qualities which were required in the emergency. They made choice of the Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., of Newport, Rhode Island, to be President. Dr. Stiles was well known in Connecticut. He was by birth a New Haven man. His father, a minister of North Haven, a part of the original town of New Haven, had been recognized through a long life as one of the prominent clergymen of the colony. He himself had graduated at the college in the class of 1 746, at the age of nineteen. In 1749 he had become tutor, and had filled that office for over six years, with great credit to himself. During that period, on several important occasions he had been selected to represent the college as its spokesman; as in 1755, when on the occasion of a visit to New Haven by Dr. Benjamin Franklin, he had pronounced a Latin oration in the College Hall, in compliment to him. The same year he was called to be pastor of a Congregational church in Newport, where he had acquired the reputation of being the most learned man in America. During the opening scenes of the Revolution, New- port became the theater of military operations, and a large part of his congregation had in consequence left the town. He was at last obliged himself to leave, and had been invited, in the spring of 1777, to preach for a year in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during the dispersion of his people. Dr. Stiles was not a religious or an ecclesiastical partisan. He may be considered to have been a moderate Calvinist, and he was attached to the traditional forms of church organization which had been common in New England from the first ; but he cherished kindly feelings for all who gave evidence of Christian character, however much they might differ from him in their scheme of faith. In a letter which he had written about this time, he had said: "There is so much pure Christianity among all sects of Protestants, that I cheerfully embrace all in my io4 YALE COLLEGE. charity. There is so much defect in all that we all need forbearance and mutual con- descension. I don't intend to spend my days in the fire of party ; at the most 1 shall resist all claims and endeavors for supremacy or precedency of any sect ; for the rest I shall promote peace, harmony, and benevolence. I honor all Protestant churches so far as they are reformed, and even the Church of England as a sister, by no means a mother, church. But I conscientiously give the preference, in my own choice, to the Congregational churches as nearest the primitive standard, and most purified from the corruptions of the Latin church." Such being his sentiments, as might be supposed he had a strong aversion to the imposition of creeds. In a discourse on "Christian Union," preached in 1760, before the Congregational clergy of Rhode Island, he had complained of those who demanded that "the sacred Scriptures should be understood according to senses fitted and defined in human tests, which all acknowledge to be fallible;" and, referring evidently to the position taken by President Clap, he had said: " I am satisfied we shall err less if we make the Scriptures the only rule of faith, than if we depart from this and substi- tute another ; or, as many do who say they believe the Scriptures the only rule, and yet, in all their judgments on Scripture, measure that only rule by another rule." The good policy of electing a man of such views to the presidency appeared at once in the general satisfaction manifested not only by those who had been known as the friends of the college, but also by many of those who had been the bitter opponents of President Clap. Dr. Stiles, however, did not accept the office tendered to him till after he had visited New Haven, and had a conference with the corporation. In this interview, he obtained from them a promise that they would repeal the act of 1753, requiring a subscription to a religious test ; and a promise, also, that they would assist in an effort to provide, as soon as possible, permanent professors for the college. At the same time he visited several of the prominent civilians of the town, and satisfied himself that, if he came to New Haven, he might obtain their co-operation and support.* Accordingly, after much deliberation, on the 19th of March, 1778, he resigned the pastoral charge of his church and congregation in Newport, which he had not before given up, and his engagement in Portsmouth having terminated, he came to New Haven in June, and entered at once on the duties of his office. His formal inaugura- tion as President did not take place till July 8th. * The arrangement which was made for the salary of the President appears from the following extract taken from the College Records of the time : " November 4, 1777. — The corporation had then a free conference with Dr. Stiles on the subject of his appointment ; and, provided he shall accept the presidency of the college, voted him an annual salary of one hundred and sixty pounds ; one quarter to be paid in wheat at four shillings and sixpence per bushel, one quarter in corn at two shillings and threepence per bushel, one quarter in pork at twenty-four shillings per hundred weight, and the other quarter in beef at eighteen shillings per hundred weight, or an equivalent in money, to be determined annually by the President and Fellows according to the cur- rent prices in New Haven, viz., of pork and beef in December, and of wheat and Indian corn in January, together with the use of the President's house and lot, which are to be kept in good repair by the corporation, and of ten acres of land in Yorkshire quarter, with the other usual perquisites ; and that said salary shall commence with the day he shall enter on office, and continue during his being in office. The corporation will also be at the expense of removing his family to New Haven ; and provided the above encouragement prove insufficient, they mean in all future time to act a generous part towards him, and will endeavor that he be supported according to their ability in a manner suitable to the dignity of his station." PRESIDENT STILES. lo ^ On that occasion, the ceremonies took place in the college chapel. The Professor of Divinity opened the exercises with prayer ; the Senior Fellow, the Rev. Dr. Williams of East Hartford, in a Latin address, committed to the President the government and instruction of the college, who in reply addressed the corporation, the professors and tutors, the students, and the audience at large. Mr. Samuel Whittelsey Dana, a senior bachelor, then pronounced a congratulatory oration in Latin, after which the President delivered his inaugural discourse in the same language. His subject was the " Ency- clopedia of Literature." At the same time that he was thus inducted into his office, he was likewise made Professor of Ecclesiastical History. After these exercises, the Fellows dined with him in the College Hall.* The number of undergraduates at this time was one hundred and thirty-two, fifteen of whom were absent. The officers of instruction, besides the President, were the Professor of Divinity, the Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and three tutors. Dr. Stiles, on coming to New Haven, at once set himself to work with all his char- acteristic enthusiasm to correct the evils in the college, which were the result of the unfortunate state of the country. The students had had many interruptions in their studies. He commenced at once the regular instruction of the senior class himself; occasionally heard the recitations of the other classes ; delivered several public lectures in the chapel on scientific and literary subjects, and by his zeal and the dignity of his manner soon restored order among the students and gained their respect and con- fidence. But the college did not escape fresh interruptions. Just a year after the inaugura- tion of President Stiles, New Haven was visited by a detachment of British troops, who for nearly a day maintained possession of the town. During the night which preceded Monday, July 5, 1779, a fleet of about forty-eight vessels, with three thousand men on board, under Major-General Tryon, anchored off Savin Rock, at West Haven. The news was carried at once to New Haven, and in the early light of the morning President Stiles, from the tower of the chapel, was able with a spy-glass to watch the movements of the enemy, and communicate the intelli- gence to the town. There was no sufficient military force in New Haven to withstand so large a number of soldiers, but Captain James Hillhouse — afterwards for fifty years the Treasurer of the college — who then commanded the Governor's Foot Guards, assembled his company, and, with volunteers from the students, went to meet them. Aaron Burr — afterwards Vice-President of the United States — who was then on a visit to his relatives in New Haven, led another company of militiamen and volunteers from among the students. One of the most interesting incidents of the day was the appear- ance of the Professor of Divinity on the scene. As Captain Hillhouse with his com- * It is interesting to notice that, on this occasion, instead of the oath of fidelity to the king, the oath, which was adminis- tered to him by the Hon. Colonel Hamlin, one of the Council, was of fidelity to the State of Connecticut. It was in the follow- ing words : " You, Ezra Stiles, do swear by the name of the ever-living God, that you will be true and faithful to the State of Con- necticut, as a free and independent State, and in all things do your duty as a good and faithful subject of the said State, in supporting the rights, liberties, and privileges of the same. So help you God." VOL. I. — 14 io6 YALE COLLEGE. mand were crossing "West-bridge," they were joined by Dr. Daggett mounted on his black horse and armed with a fowling-piece, ready for action. He was assigned a position on the hill which overlooks the road by which the troops were expected to pass. As the enemy advanced, he was directed to retire to the north, and, as he "turned down the hill to gain a little covert of bushes," he was fired upon by the advanced guard of the British, at a distance of a "little more than twenty rods." Gain- ing the covert at which he had aimed, he imprudently returned the fire. The rage of the soldiers, who were just at hand, was such that his excuse for firing, that it was in "the exercise of war," had, as might be expected, no effect, and his petitions for quarter, although they availed to save his life, did not protect him from brutal indigni- ties and injuries. He was disarmed and dragged to the head of the column, and compelled, at the point of the bayonet, to walk there in advance of the troops during all their long march to the town. In consequence of the destruction of West-bridge they were obliged to follow the river two miles to the next bridge above, and the day being an unusually hot one he became exceedingly exhausted, and, in fact, never entirely recovered from the effects of the fatigue and the wounds he received. He died the next year.* The British troops entered the town about noon, and held possession till some time after midnight, when, finding that the whole country was alarmed and that they were in danger of being surrounded by the militia, who were beginning to assemble from every quarter, they hastily embarked in boats which were sent for their use from the fleet. It is said that at the time of this invasion there was a large number of sympa- thizers with the British cause among the more wealthy families of New Haven, but such was the cruelty displayed by the soldiers, and such the atrocity of their conduct, that when they left there was not a friend of the king to be found in the town. The tradition is that the college buildings were saved from being burned on the intercession of a Tory officer, who was a graduate of the institution. One of the most serious losses to the college was the papers of the late President Clap, which were carried off from the dwelling-house of his daughter, Madam Wooster. Amid all the disturbances and distractions of the great civil war, which now went on for years, and completely absorbed the attention and interest of all, it could not be expected that the college would make much advance, even under so able a President as it now had the good fortune to possess. The principal events which need to be mentioned are the death of Dr. Daggett in 1 780, the year after the invasion, from the effects of the abuse which he then received; and the resignation, in 1781, of the Pro- fessor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, Rev. Nehemiah Strong, who had become very unpopular on account of his Tory sentiments. The immediate cause of his resignation, however, was the low state of the college funds, which made it difficult or impossible for the corporation to pay him his full salary. The same year, at the request of the students, for the first time since 1776, there was a public Commence- ment. On this occasion President Stiles introduced the exercises of the morning by * This account of Dr. Daggett's exploit is drawn from his own affidavit, and differs in some important particulars from some other narratives of the same transaction. PRESIDENT STILES. 107 an oration in Hebrew, on Oriental Literature ; and those of the afternoon by a Latin oration. In 1780, November 13, a chapter of the society known as the "Phi Beta Kappa," which had been established in William and Mary College, in Virginia, three years before, was organized among the students as the "Alpha of Connecticut." The original object of this fraternity was the promotion of literature and friendly intercourse among scholars. The society receives its name from the initial letters of its motto, ]S, "Philosophy, including therein religion as well as ethics, is worthy of cultivation as the guide of life." Professor Strong having resigned the chair of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics, President Stiles gave still further evidence of his varied learning by commencing, in 1782, to deliver lectures, in the chapel, on subjects pertaining to those sciences. These he continued for some years, till the chair was again filled. It was about this time that a proposition was made by the Hon. Silas Deane, of the class of 1758, who had been sent to Prance by Congress in 1776 as a political agent, that instruction in the French language should be provided in the college. In a letter to President Stiles, on his return to this country, after mentioning the neglect of the study of the modern languages at places of public instruction, and their importance, particularly to men doing public business like himself, Mr. Deane added: "I therefore take the liberty to propose — should it be agreeable to you and the reverend corpora- tion to patronize the design — soliciting assistance from some of my noble and opulent friends in France, to establish a Professor of the French language in your college, and to make a collection of the writings of their most celebrated authors for your library. I have repeatedly mentioned the proposal in general to many of them in Paris, and have no doubt it may be carried into execution." This plan was much talked of, and received the approbation of President Stiles, but it was never carried into execution. In 1782, through the exertion of President Stiles, a brick building was erected, sixty feet in length and thirty in breadth, for the College Commons, containing a dining hall and a kitchen. Its cost was ^558 12s. 6rf. This building is now used as a chemical laboratory and lecture room. The same year, the Rev. Samuel Wales, pastor of the church in Milford, Connecticut, was chosen as the successor of Dr. Daggett, and was installed June 1 2, as Professor of Divinity ; and at the same time the pastoral care and charge of the college church was committed to him. On the 3d of September, 1783, the war of the Revolution, which had lasted eight years, came to a close, by the acknowledgment, on the part of Great Britain, of the independence of the revolted colonies. At this time the number of students, notwith- standing all the disturbing influences to which the college had been exposed, had increased to upwards of two hundred. This increase, however, was in part owing to the fact that many young men had undoubtedly been sent to college that they might be kept out of the army. Professor Kingsley says " this was a subject of some com- plaint at the time." There is no reason, however, to believe that the Revolutionary army was ever numerically diminished by this cause. There were students who left college to share in the duties and in the dangers of the camp ; and many graduates, Io8 YALE COLLEGE. immediately on receiving their degrees, obtained commissions ; and with the advantage of their superior intelligence, proved some of the best officers in the army. Con- spicuous among them, besides Ebenezer Huntington, who has already been mentioned, were David Humphreys, Nathan Hale, and Benjamin Talmadge. But, notwithstanding the dawn of peace, the difficulties under which the institution labored were by no means at an end. There was still a great and serious obstacle to its growth and prosperity. This was its continued unpopularity with a large class of the leading men in the State. The giving up of the religious test laws at the time that Dr. Stiles had become President had allayed the hostility and revived the attach- ment of some of those who had been disaffected ; but still it was true that many others continued to regard the college with suspicion and dislike. The cause of this dislike is to be traced to another of the unhappy quarrels which made the times of President Clap so memorable. It has already been explained how that which had been in the beginning a personal controversy between him and those who objected to the course he pursued in order to maintain the orthodoxy of the college, had come to be a feeling of bitter hostility to the institution over which he presided. His enemies sought to wrest its management from his hands by means of a committee of visitation, which they asserted the legislature possessed the power to appoint. If they had succeeded, the college would have been brought into complete subjection to the legislature, and would have been liable to be controlled henceforth according to the varying will of the party which happened any year to be in the majority. The vigorous way in which President Clap opposed this attempt has been described, and the complete victory which he gained over those who attacked him. But his success sowed the seeds of fresh dis- content and jealousy. These had now ripened, and as the result there was everywhere a widespread feeling of hostility to the college. Reports were in circulation that its affairs were poorly managed. Complaints were made that it was controlled by a board composed only of clergymen, and that the course of instruction was arranged, in the spirit of bigotry, with special reference to the education of those who were to become clergymen. So strong was the opposition to the college, that it was even proposed to establish a rival institution. President Stiles, on coming to New Haven, had at once set himself to work to allay this feeling of hostility. The college was in great need of additional funds, and as long as there was this want of confidence in its officers among the leading men in the State and in the legislature, it was idle to expect any assistance from the public treasury. He had accordingly various conferences with individuals, and with committees of the legislature, in which he sought to allay their prejudices and excite their interest in the college. He even went so far, at a very early period, as to propose an arrangement by which a body of civilians should be admitted into the corporation who should share with the clerical members in the management of its concerns. But for years he was entirely without success. All petitions for aid were regularly refused by the legisla- ture, in whose debates it was openly asserted that the college was undeserving of public assistance. Meanwhile the old claims were repeated that the legislature had the power to control the college and mould it as it pleased. In May, 1784, four PRESIDENT STILES. l0 g different petitions were presented to the legislature, the general object of which was to procure some legislative interference to alter the college charter, or to establish a rival college under State patronage. But at last President Stiles, by his address and by means of the great personal respect which his character had inspired, succeeded in gaining the assistance of some of the leading men in the State. Through their influence a committee was appointed by the legislature in October, 1791, to confer with the corporation on the condition of the college. This committee spent several days in conducting their investigation, and in May, 1792, made a favorable report. They said : "We found the corporation dis- posed to communicate, without reserve, every circumstance respecting the care and management of the institution under their government." They said, also: "The liter- ary exercises of the respective classes have of late years undergone considerable alter- ation, so as the better to accommodate the education of the undergraduates to the present state of literature." "We further find," they said, "that the treasury is in a much better condition than we apprehended. In justice to the corporation we are bound to observe that their finances have been managed with great dexterity, pru- dence, and economy." The committee stated, also, that there was pressing need of a new building, to accommodate the students ; of an enlargement of the library ; and a provision for the Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy ; and an increase, also, in the salaries of the tutors. In connection with this report a plan which had been prepared by the Treasurer of the college, Hon. James Hillhouse, was submitted to the legislature, which, being warmly supported by some of the friends of the college, was at once adopted. Accord- ing to this plan the balances of certain taxes not yet collected, which were not needed for the original object for which they were imposed, were to be paid into the hands of commissioners, and applied, on certain conditions, to the improvement of the college ; and the college, in compensation for what was thus done for it by the State, was to receive into its corporation the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and six senior assist- ants in the Council of the State, for the time being, who were to constitute, with the present President and Fellows and their successors, one corporation. It was in this way that President Stiles succeeded at last in bringing to an end the long estrangement which had existed between the college and the legislature. One of the immediate results of this action was a very considerable addition to the funds of the college, which had now become absolutely essential if the college was to continue to grow. The plan by which these funds were obtained, without making the imposition of a direct tax necessary, was originated and carried through the legislature by Mr. Hillhouse. Professor Kingsley says: "Without him nothing would have been or could have been done." A part of these funds was at once applied to the support of a Professor of Mathe- matics and Natural Philosophy. This chair had been vacant since the resignation of Professor Strong, and was now filled by the election of Mr. Josiah Meigs, of the class of 1778. He read his first lecture in the college chapel November 20, 1792, and was formally inducted into office on the 4th of December following. On this occasion the i 10 VALE COLLEGE. President publicly delivered to him the keys of the philosophical department, and Mr. Meigs pronounced a Latin inaugural oration. He continued in his professorship, by an annual election, till the fall of the year 1800, when he was invited to the presidency of the college at Athens, Georgia, which had just been established. Another part of the funds received from the State was appropriated to the erection of a new dormitory for the students. The corner-stone of this building was laid with suitable ceremonies by the President, in April, 1793. It bears the following inscription : EZRA STILES COLL. YAL. PR.ESES PRIMVM LAPIDEM POSVIT ACAD. COND. 93 APR. 15. 1793. This building is of brick, is one hundred and four feet long, thirty-six feet wide, and four stories high, and was completed on the 17th of July, 1794. In commemoration of the union, now completed, of civilians with the old Board of fellows, it received the name, at the time, of " Union Hall." But it was not permitted to President Stiles to carry out further the large views for the development of the college which he had proposed to himself when he accepted the presidency. In less than a year from the completion of the dormitory which is now called South College, he was seized with a malignant fever, and died, after an illness of only four days, on the 12th of May, 1795, at the age of sixty-eight. The college during his administration had been on the whole very prosperous.* The number of its students had increased. New buildings had been erected. The philosophical apparatus, by means of a donation from the Rev. Dr. Lockwood, in 1 789, had received important additions. In 1790, as "an encouragement to the study of the English language," Noah Webster, Esq., of the class of 1778, had made a foundation for an annual premium to be given to the author of the composition which should be judged best by the President, professors, and tutors of the college. But, it is to be remembered that, during this whole period, President Stiles had been obliged to con- tend not only with the feeling of hostility to the college which has been described, but also with the apathy of the friends of the institution, which was the result of the unset- tled condition of the country. Even after the return of peace there was, for a long time, a feeling of anxiety about the future which kept the business of the country in a depressed condition. Then, for years, the public attention was so absorbed with the grave questions which were connected with the formation of the constitution and the establishment of the present government, that he never had the encouragement or the means to enable him to carry out his views for the better organization of the college by the establishment of permanent professorships. * The first exact census of New Haven is believed to have been taken in 17S7, when the population was found to be three thousand five hundred and forty, including one hundred and seventy-six students of the college. The number of dwelling houses was four hundred and sixty-six. PRESIDENT STILES. Hi His special claim on the gratitude of the alumni, is his success in removing what had become the great and serious obstacle to the growth and prosperity of the institution, its unpopularity. He brought the college back into the line of its traditions and to its historic place in harmony with all classes of the people of the State, and with the legislature. It ought also to be stated, even in so brief a sketch as this, that the character of President Stiles as a scholar gave the college reputation and dignity at home and abroad. Professor Kingsley says: "It would be difficult to mention any subject of moment in which he did not, as occasion occurred, take an active interest. He was familiar with every department of learning. His literary curiosity was never satisfied, and his zeal in acquiring and communicating knowledge continued unabated to the last. He was distinguished for his knowledge of history, particularly the history of the church. Few persons probably in the United States have acquired as great famili- arity with the Latin language. He wrote and spoke this language with great ease, though he was never very attentive to minute accuracy, and violations of idiom may be found in his Latin discourses." His acquaintance, also, with the Oriental languages, and his correspondence with learned men in his own country and in distant quarters of the globe, was something very remarkable for the time in which he lived. He was an ardent patriot during the whole progress of the Revolutionary war. His zeal for liberty led him to sympathize warmly with the first acts of the leaders of the French Revolution in 1 789, and for a time he was jubilant with anticipations of the most bene- ficial results to mankind. He was through life full of interest in contemporary history, and the voluminous journals in which he wrote extended accounts of current events, and the papers of other kinds which he left to the college, have been a treasure-house for subsequent historians of the period in which he lived, from which they have obtained the most valuable material. He was, withal, ardently attached to the college. He was a true college man, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the place, and disposed to maintain all its traditions. No officer of the institution has ever labored with more zeal for its prosperity. He was also a man of great natural dignity, and so impressed all with whom he came in contact with his superior ability and worth that, at his funeral, when his remains lay in state in the college chapel, it was a matter of universal surprise, as in the case of Louis XIV., that in physical stature he was below the ordinary size. MONUMENT OF PRESIDENT STILliS. GROVE-STREET CEMETERY. LYCEUM AND BERKELEY HALL (NORTH MIDDLE). CHAPTER IX. REV. TIMOTHY DW1GHT, D.D., PRESIDENT, A.D. 1795-1817. General Expectation that Rev. Timothy Dwight, D. D., would succeed Dr. Stiles as President. — No one else thought of by the Corporation. — Dr. Dwight inaugurated, September 8, 1795. — The varied Duties which he at once assumed. — A fortunate Moment when he came to the Presidency. — Plans of President Dwight for the Improvement of the College. — Embarrassed by want of Funds. — His Efforts to procure an additional Grant from the Legislature. — He selects Three of the recent Graduates to assist him as Permanent Professors. — Jeremiah Day. — Benjamin Silliman. — James L. Kingsley. — Prosperity of the College. — Plans of Dr. Dwight for its material Development. — The whole Front of the College Square purchased. — Berkeley Hall (North Middle) erected. — Con- necticut Lyceum. — A House built for the President. — Additions to the Library, and to the Philo- sophical and Chemical Apparatus.— A Collection of Minerals purchased. — The Gibbs Cabinet. — The Laws revised. — Old Customs, the Relics of a barbarous Age, abolished. — Efforts for the religious Welfare of the Students. — Riotous Spirit developed among the Students. — Affrays between "Town and Gown." — The Bully Club. — President Dwight's Plans for the Establishment of Professional Schools. — A Theological School. — A Medical School. — Instruction in Law.- — Illness. — Death. For some years before the death of Dr. Stiles, the thoughts of the friends of the college had been turned with unprecedented unanimity towards the Rev. Timothy Dwight, D.D., of Greenfield Hill, as the person most worthy to succeed him, when in the natural course of events the office of President should become vacant. Dr. Dwight was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the most illustrious graduate of the college. He was intimately acquainted with the history of the institution, and everything connected with its administration. He had filled the office of tutor with distinguished honor for six years, from 1771 to 1777; and while still a tutor, on the occasion of the resignation of the presidency by Dr. Daggett, he had, though only twenty-five years old, made such a favorable impression upon the students, that they prepared a petition that he might be chosen President. This petition, however, was not sent to the corporation, for the reason that he interfered himself to prevent it. Dr. Dwight was now the pastor of the church in Greenfield Hill ; in which town he had also established a school of a high character, which had been in successful opera- tion under his immediate charge for several years. 112 PRESIDENT D WIGHT. ^ U3 At the first meeting of the corporation, a few weeks after the death of President Stiles, he was at once elected to succeed him. No one else was even thought of for a moment. His inauguration took place September 8, 1795. The new President, on entering upon the duties of his office, at once assumed an amount of labor of which few men would have been capable. According to the custom of the college, besides the superintendence of its general interests, he took upon him- self the sole instruction of the Senior Class. He acted, also, as Professor of English Literature and Oratory. Then, during his whole presidency, he discharged the duties of Professor of Divinity, preaching twice each Sunday in the college chapel ; and, in addition, he gave regular instruction in theology to graduate students who remained in New Haven for the purpose of professional study. The success which attended his efforts in all these departments was complete. As an instructor, he displayed a power of awakening the interest of all who came under his teaching which has rarely been equaled. As a preacher, he took rank among the first pulpit orators of the country. A great variety of public duties, also, unconnected with the college, were intrusted to him, and the admirable manner in which he discharged them spread still more widely his reputation through the country, and gave an importance and a character to the institution over which he presided which it had never enjoyed before. It was a fortunate moment in the history of the college when Dr. Dwight came to the presidency. The ill-will which had been felt towards it by so many persons in the State ever since the days of President Clap, had in a measure been removed by the politic course pursued by President Stiles. It had just received a considerable addition to its funds ; by no means all it needed, but sufficient to keep it from bank- ruptcy, and to revive the hopes of its friends that it might yet be brought into that state of efficiency which the interests of the higher education demanded. The country, too, was just beginning to recover from the prostration which had affected all business interests during the Revolutionary war, and which continued until the period of the administration of General Washington. There was needed at the head of the institution at this time a man of broad views and one who understood the character of the new era which was just beginning to dawn. The college, though it had been in existence nearly a century, and was one of the most considerable institutions of learning in the country, was still in reality little more than a collegiate school. Its corps of instructors, besides the President, consisted now only of a single professor and three tutors. The curriculum of studies through which the students were carried was exceedingly limited. The instruction in the ancient languages was very meager and defective. The sciences, except mathematics, astronomy, and physics, were unknown. The number of students, owing to the distracted state of the country, had fallen off so that there were only little more than a hundred in attendance. The buildings, with the exception of the new dormitory just finished, were in a very dilapidated condition, and the funds, notwithstanding the recent addition made to them, did not yet yield a sufficient sum to meet the general expenses of the college ; so that the institution was still dependent in great measure on the fees which the students paid for tuition. VOL. 1. — 15 ii4 YALE COLLEGE. But Dr. Dwight was fully abreast with the age. As far back as 1776, when he was a tutor in the college, in a sermon which he preached to the class which graduated that year, he gave evidence that he fully understood the character of the times. If he had seen all the results which we behold to-day of the remarkable growth of the country, he could hardly have expressed himself more appropriately. He said then that the foundations were being laid of a great nation, which was destined to have a commanding influence upon the affairs of the world. This feeling was the key to his policy during his whole life, and now, being advanced to the head of one of the oldest and most important educational institutions of the country, he embraced the idea fully that all its departments of instruction must be so expanded as to enable it to provide suitable training for the men who were in the coming generations to take the lead in public and professional life. Dr. Dwight continued at the head of the college for twenty-two years, and through- out this whole period was successful to an unprecedented degree in advancing its interests. Limited as were the resources which he had at command when he came to New Haven, he early conceived the idea, and began intelligently to plan, to make of the institution which had been placed under his care a true university, where every branch of knowledge should be taught and studied. He adopted the policy which Dr. Stiles had so strenuously insisted upon when he became President, that the college must be provided with a corps of permanent instructors. But he added a new and important feature. He proposed, instead of calling men to be Professors who had already achieved distinction in other spheres of labor, to select from the recent graduates of the college those who gave promise of unusual ability, and to place them in the different chairs of instruction. It seemed to him that, in the existing state of the country, it was the best thing that could be done for the cause of education to induce such young men, before they had entered upon the practice of any other profession, to direct their attention early to the business of instruction, in a single branch of knowl- edge, as the occupation of their lives. In this way they would be led to make higher attainments themselves, and to render more valuable service to the institution with which the interests of their whole career would be from the first identified. The course thus adopted was one of the secrets of the great success of Dr. Dwight as President of the college ; and, till the condition of things in the country was very much changed, this policy was followed to a great extent in the administration of this and other insti- tutions of learning. But this policy which President Dwight proposed to himself could not at once be carried into execution. The want of sufficient funds proved for a time an obstacle in his way, as it had been before in the way of his predecessor. His first efforts in behalf of the college were therefore necessarily directed to the disagreeable task of raising more funds. The grant which had been made to the college by the legislature, in 1792, of the unpaid balances of certain taxes, was encum- bered with the condition that fifty per cent, of what was raised should be subject to the future disposal of the legislature. The final adjustment of the matter had not yet taken place. Accordingly, at the May session of the legislature, in 1796, the corpo- PRESIDENT D WIGHT. I i 5 ration petitioned for the relinquishment to the college of the "fifty per cent." Presi- dent Dwight addressed both houses of the General Assembly on the subject, and, as the result, an act was finally passed by which the petition of the college was granted, provided the corporation would pay into the State treasury a certain sum amounting to somewhat over thirteen thousand dollars. But President Dwight, though successful in his application to the legislature, was not yet able to carry out his plan, as the greater part of the avails of the grants of both 1792 and 1796, except what had been appropriated to the erection of the new college building, had been invested in deferred stock of the United States, and did not become available till the year 1800. He did not, however, relax his efforts. In 1 798 preparatory measures were taken for the establishment of a Professorship of Chemistry and Natural History. The same year, as there was a small fund given by the Rev. Dr. Salter, of Mansfield, Connecti- cut, for the encouragement of Oriental literature, Mr. Ebenezer Grant Marsh was appointed instructor in Hebrew. In 1799 President Dwight was interested in estab- lishing the "Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences;" a society which still exists in a flourishing condition. At last the funds given by the State became to some extent available, and Dr. Dwight was able to begin to perfect his measures; but now new and unavoidable delays and hindrances intervened. In 1801, Professor Meigs resigned the chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and, in 1804, Mr. Marsh died; but, in a few years, President Dwight had the satisfaction of seeing established around him, as his permanent assistants in the work of instruction, three of the recent graduates of the college, whom he had selected as best fitted for the work he had proposed for them. These three young men, who were for more than half a century associated with one another in the service of the college, were Jeremiah Day, Benjamin Silliman, and James L. Kingsley. Jeremiah Day, afterwards so honorably known as the successor of Dr. Dwight in the presidency of the college, had graduated in 1795 in the first class on whom he had conferred degrees. Mr. Day had been at once selected by the new President to take charge of the large and important school at Greenfield Hill, which he had just left to enter upon his wider sphere of duty in New Haven. On the resignation of Professor Meigs in 1801, Mr. Day was chosen to succeed him in the chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy ; but, on account of ill health, he did not commence the work of instruction till 1803. At the time of his entering upon the duties of his professorship, the great want of the country, in the department of the pure mathematics, was ade- quate text-books. Accordingly, Professor Day set himself to work to supply this want ; and in the course of a few years brought out a series of elementary mathematical works, consisting of an Algebra ; a work on the Mensuration of Superficies and Solids; another on Plane Trigonometry ; and still another on Navigation and Surveying. These books were at once everywhere received with eagerness. There were very few of the colleges and higher educational institutions in the country where they were not speedily introduced. Even at the end of a period of fifty years, they still held their i , 6 VALE COLLEGE. place with little diminution of their popularity, although many other excellent treatises had been published. But whatever may be thought of these text-books now, it should not be forgotten that, at the time they were prepared, they were just what was needed to meet the demands of the times ; and it may be safely said that the value of what their author did by means of them for the college, and for the country at large, while holding the office of Professor from 1803 to 181 7, the time when he succeeded Dr. Dwight, was not surpassed by anything in science or literature which he did subse- quently during his long term of office as President of the college. So discriminating and judicious a scholar as Professor James Hadley, as late as 1852, claimed for the Algebra distinguished excellences as compared with other more recent text-books. He recognizes the fact that some persons hold that a more compact and abbreviated style is preferable to the fullness of statement which characterizes the books of Dr. Day, where every process of development and reasoning is worked out patiently and distinctly through all its successive steps. But Professor Hadley asserts that in an elementary text-book on mathematics, what the pupil needs is just this " full develop- ment." He says the pupil " should not be allowed to skim lightly and sketchily over his work. He should be taught to notice and examine every point which is really essential to the conclusiveness of his reasoning. He should be guarded against the common habit of taking for granted without further proof that which appears plausible or probable upon its face. The great advantages which are expected from the ele- mentary study of mathematics as a means of mental discipline — the clearness of thought, correctness of reasoning, and precision of statements, which are supposed to be imparted by mathematical study — are liable to be more or less completely sacrificed unless the student is trained in the outset of his course to thorough, copious, and accu- rate development. It is, therefore, a matter of no small importance that he should have a model of this quality constantly before him in the text-book which he studies. And, in this particular, it is not too much to say that the author of the Algebra is the Euclid of his department." Benjamin Silliman, having graduated in the class of 1796, had prepared himself for the profession of the law when he was induced by Dr. Dwight, in 1802, to give up its practice, upon which he was just about to enter, that he might take the chair of Chemistry and Natural History, which the corporation had just founded. After two years spent in study, he gave his first course of lectures in 1804. At this time little was known in the country of either of the sciences which he was expected to teach. There were no text-books. Chemistry and mineralogy were in their infancy. Geol- ogy was hardly recognized as a science. The college scarcely possessed a retort, and there was no one connected with the institution who could give him even the names of the few minerals which were in its possession. After his first course of lectures he visited Europe, and resided some months in Edinburgh and in London, for the purpose of availing himself of the best instruction which could be obtained in his department. It thus fell to him to introduce the students who came under his teaching to a field of knowledge which was before entirely unknown. What he did for the college he was afterwards able to do for the country at large by the establishment of the American PRESIDENT D WIGHT. 117 Journal of Science and Arts, which he edited during all his life, and which still maintains its high reputation in all scientific matters. The enthusiasm with which Professor Silliman entered upon the duties of his office ; the attractive manner in which he was able to present the wonderful truths of those sciences which every year were being rapidly developed ; the unvarying success which attended the brilliant experiments with which he illustrated his lectures ; the personal magnetism which he exerted over all who came within the sphere of his influence, reflected honor on the college and testified to the wisdom of Dr. Dwight in securing his services for the institution. By his labors, continued for over sixty years in the service of the college, Benjamin Silliman will always be remembered as the pioneer who, by his enthusiastic devotion to the interests of science, and by his earnest and admirable methods of presenting its truths, did more than any one else in his day to awaken for it a general interest throughout the whole country. James L. Kingsley graduated in the class of 1799. In 1801 he became a tutor. In 1805, President Dwight "perceived in him," as Dr. Woolsey says, "rare qualities which the college needed," and he was appointed to the Professorship of Languages which had just been founded. Professor Thacher says that Mr. Kingsley brought to the office a deep interest in the institution, which led him through life to identify himself in a remarkable manner with all its interests. " He brought a literary taste, a love of thorough, substantial learning, united with a habit of great accuracy and exactness in its acquisition, a genuine appetite for the nutrimentnm spiritus, which eminently fitted him for an academic life. He brought with him a soul quick with sensibility, which could not, as it did not, fail to take hold of the interests of those placed under his charge as pupils. He brought with him great humanity, as that word is used in a large and better sense. He brought with him uncommon mental endowments." His proper department was literature; and "the best energies of his mind were given to the elegant literature of ancient times." Dr. Woolsey says, also, " he was a truly academical man ;" and Pro- fessor Thacher says, " he was master in nearly every department ; so that there was no branch of learning pursued in the college, except perhaps chemistry, which he could not, if occasion required, have taken up and carried on with credit." The new Pro- fessor of Languages, according to Professor Thacher, "was destined to accomplish as great a work, so far as the internal literary advancement of the institution is concerned, as has been accomplished by any person who has ever been connected with it. He was one of the main elements of strength in the body of instruction. His learning united with his ability to use his acquisitions and his powers with effect, made him a great reliance, and general resource, so to speak, of the institution." " He had, besides, a just idea of scholarship ; combining accuracy with a cultivated taste ; " while, " so far as his example was concerned, he led his pupils through accuracy to elegance." From the first, his influence was directed to the introduction of improvements in the methods of teaching, and to attempts to advance the standard of scholarship. Through a long life, he was known as the advocate of thorough work in all departments of instruction, and if the college has gained, during the past three quarters of a century, any distinc- tion for its determined and persistent hostility to all shams in education, and its earnest n8 YALE COLLEGE. efforts in behalf of what is exact and elegant in scholarship, to no one person is the honor more properly clue than to James L. Kingsley. The wisdom of President I) wight was shown in no one thing more conspicuously than in the selection of these three men to be his associates as permanent officers of the college. They were not only each superior in his own department, but through the whole life of President Dwight they ever remained in cordial sympathy with him in all his views respecting education, and gave him their hearty support. Neither did the benefits of their connection with the college cease with his life. For a period of over fifty years these three men lived to labor together in its behalf as colleagues, in true harmony with each other. They had accepted the views of President Dwight with regard to the course to be pursued in the administration of the college, and they were always a unit in maintaining them. There never was any jarring between them, or any important difference of opinion. As generation of students succeeded genera- tion they were found ever at their posts, working together diligently and harmoniously, with no narrow spirit of jealousy of other institutions, for the advancement of all true learning. In this way, by their individual prominence in their own departments, and by their united labors, they built up still higher the reputation of the college, which President Dwight had extended throughout the whole country. Students resorted to it from every State in the Union, and it became a truly national institution. The foresight of Dr. Dwight and his great executive ability were also manifested in the plans which he adopted, immediately on his accession to the presidency, for the material development of the college. At that time only the south-east corner of the present college square belonged to the corporation. Various unsightly buildings dis- figured the whole neighborhood. The jail and the alms-house were within a hundred feet of Connecticut Hall (" South Middle"), and the jail-yard was in full view from the windows of the students. Dr. Dwight perceived the desirability of having all the surroundings of the college attractive, and foresaw that, if the institution grew in importance, more room would be needed. Accordingly, with the assistance of Mr. Hillhouse, the Treasurer of the college, he set on foot a project by which a purchase was made, from the various proprietors, of the whole front of the present " College Green," and of the greater part of the square. The advantage of this purchase was soon seen when the rapid increase of students brought the necessity for new buildings. In 1800, the number of undergraduates having nearly doubled in the five years which had elapsed since Dr. Dwight became President, the corporation voted to erect a new dormitory, and a hall for recitation - rooms and other public purposes. It had now become possible to place them to the north of Connecticut Hall ("South Middle"), in a line with the buildings already erected. The dormitory was similar in plan to that of Union Hall ("South College") and was called Berkeley Hall, in honor of Bishop Berkeley, that generous benefactor of the college. It is now known as "North Middle." The other building, which was intended for recitation -rooms, for the library, and for the chemical laboratory, was called the Connecticut Lyceum. In 1797 Connecticut Hall ("South Middle") had been thoroughly repaired and a fourth story added, so that when the two new build- PRESIDENT D WIGHT. ng ings were completed, in 1803, tne mie °f college edifices from "South" to "North Middle " appeared as it is seen to-day, and with the general uniformity of structure which the buildings presented, the "brick row" was thought to produce a fine architec- tural effect. In 1798, the Commons Hall received, also, some enlargement. In 1799, the house which had been built in 1722 as a dwelling for the President, being in a dilapidated condition, was sold, and a new President's house was built on the college square, to the north and in front of the line of edifices already described. During the presidency of Dr. Dwight the library also was enlarged. Additions were made to the philosophical apparatus, and to the chemical apparatus. In 1807 a collection of about fifteen hundred mineralogical specimens was purchased of Mr. Ben- jamin Perkins, of the class of 1 796, and three or four years later, through the influence of Professor Silliman and Dr. Dwight, Colonel George Gibbs of Newport, Rhode Island, was induced to place on exhibition, in one of the college buildings, a very valuable collection of minerals which he had brought to this country from Europe. This collection, which contained over ten thousand specimens, was subsequently pur- chased for the college. The efforts of Dr. Dwight for the improvement of the college extended to every- thing connected with it. He made very early an important change in the method of administering the discipline of the institution. The laws of the college had been originally copied to a great extent from those in use in the English universities, and order was maintained by the infliction of pecuniary fines. Thus, a student who had the command of money had virtually the power of purchasing the permission to violate the college laws. Dr. Dwight swept away the whole system of pecuniary fines. His theory was that the students should be treated as gentlemen ; and he placed his principal reliance for the maintenance of order on his being able to persuade them to do what was right. In this he was remarkably successful. He had the faculty of appealing to the understanding and conscience of young men in such a way that few could resist. In those cases where a student persisted in wrong-doing after efforts had been made to reclaim him, Dr. Dwight's policy was to put it out of his power to jeopar- dize further the interests of the college, by severing his connection with the academic body at once by dismissal. At the time that Dr. Dwight became President, many old customs also had survived to that day, which were recognized by the officers of the institution, as well as by the students, as having the force of law. According to these customs, the Freshman class was in a sort of degrading dependence on the members of the two upper classes. It was one of the privileges of the Seniors and Juniors to send Freshmen on errands, and to require of them other menial services. These customs, under the influence of Dr. Dwight, were speedily abolished, as the relics of a barbarous age. Dr. Dwight's efforts, also, for the religious welfare of the students, are deserving of special mention. At the time of his entering upon the duties of his office there prevailed extensively in the country a spirit of unbelief in the divine authority of the Christian religion. This was to a considerable extent a result of the wide-spread introduction of I2 o VALE COLLEGE. the contemporary literature of France, which country had been regarded during the war with special interest and affection on account of the assistance it had afforded to the armies of the Revolution. The bold and fearless manner in which Dr. Dwight invited the students to state all their doubts, and the triumphant way in which he refuted the common infidel arguments of the time, forms one of the most interesting chapters in his career as President. He also made it a habit to attend the religious meetings of the students, and there, by his advice and instruction, sought to give proper direction to their religious feelings. It was while he was President that those seasons of special religious interest commenced among the students which have formed one of the marked features in the history of the college ever since the commencement of the century. Yet though it is true that during the presidency of Dr. Dwight the tone of morals in the college was on the whole higher than it had ever been before, it is also to be acknowledged that this period was characterized in an especial manner by the growth of an aggressive and even riotous spirit, which led to frequent collisions between the students and the lower class of the townspeople. The college having attained a national reputation, the number of students was very much increased. A large propor- tion of them came from outside the limits of Connecticut, and even from remote parts of the country, and, being nearly all of them far from their homes, they naturally were led to look to one another for companionship. Living together and intimately associ- ated in the same daily pursuits, there were developed among them many peculiarities of social life and an esprit dc corps which, from that time, has ever been one of the marked characteristics of the alumni of the college, both graduate and undergraduate. Among such numbers of young men, for they were now counted by hundreds, it was always true that in every class there were those who were noted for strength and mus- cular activity. But in those days it was very much a matter of accident what direction would be given to the buoyant spirits of youth. It is not surprising, then, that in a thriving seaport, such as New Haven had become, where there were at all times a large number of unemployed sailors, opportunities of testing the relative prowess of town and gown should not be unwelcome to those who felt the need of physical exer- cise. In fact such collisions began to be not unfrequent, and in one of them a gigantic club was wrested from the hands of a sailor by a student who was renowned for his strength, and who henceforth became the acknowledged leader of his comrades in all their conflicts. This club, being handed down from generation to generation of college students to the person in each Senior class who was deemed most worthy to succeed to the perilous honor, continued for years to be an object of chivalrous and even affectionate regard. It was a kind of labarum around which the students rallied in the conflicts in which, from their superior numbers and from their thorough acquaintance with one another, they generally triumphed. In later years, when a new direction had been given to the exercise of physical strength among the students, the club was still annually delivered, with imposing ceremonies, to some person in the Senior class who possessed natural qualities for leadership, who was supposed as the bearer of it to be invested with some special kind of authority over his fellow-students. PRESIDENT D WIGHT. 121 Physical strength was now considered as only one of the requisites to be sought in a candidate for this honor. The "College Bully" had, in fact, come to be regarded as little more than the Moderator of the Senior class at their class gatherings, or of the whole community of students whenever they were assembled in a general meeting, but he was always looked upon with some disfavor by the officers of the college, as the wielder of an impcrium in impcrio, and at last, in 1840, the office was abolished. From the account which has now been given of the labors of Dr. Dwight in behalf of the college, it will be seen how broad were his views for the enlargement of its curriculum of study and for its material improvement. But his views extended further. It was a part of his comprehensive plan to establish, in connection with the institution, professional schools with distinct faculties of instruction. This was a work of even greater difficulty than the one which has already been described, and it became neces- sary for him to proceed with deliberation. A separate department in the college for professional theological instruction seemed to him very desirable. Theological instruction had been given at the college from its very foundation. From the time of the appointment of a Professor of Divinity, in 1755, special attention had been paid to the training of graduate students who were looking forward to an entrance into the ministry. Dr. Daggett and Dr. Wales had each con- sidered it to be a part of their official duty to assist such students in their preparation for the clerical office. This work had accordingly been assumed by Dr. Dwight, as in connection with the office of President he held that of Professor of Divinity. Numer- ous classes of resident graduates came under his tuition in successive years. In the list of his pupils are found the names of Moses Stuart, Lyman Beecher, and Nathaniel W. Taylor. But the time had come when there was need of having in connection with the college a more thorough and systematic course of theological instruction, and he made public announcement that he should attempt, as soon as possible, to carry out the original design of the founders of the institution by establishing a separate theo- logical school. He never was able to realize his hopes, but he induced one of his sons, who was a merchant in New Haven, to invest a sum of money in a business operation, with the intention of ultimately giving it, with the profits arising from it, towards the carrying out of this idea. It was owing in no small degree to his efforts that the school was finally established in 1822. President Dwight took measures, also, as early as 1806, to prepare the way for pro- fessional instruction in medical science. It was considered desirable, however, in the undertaking, to have the co-operation of the Medical Society of the State ; and nego- tiations were accordingly commenced with that body. This occasioned some delay, so that it was not till 18 10 that an act was obtained from the legislature regulating the joint action of the Medical Society and the corporation of the college in establishing and conducting a medical school. In 18 13 four medical professors were appointed: ^Eneas Munson, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Botany; Eli Ives, M.D., Adjunct Professor in the same department; Nathan Smith, M.D., Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, Surgery, and Obstetrics ; and Jonathan Knight, M.D., Professor of Anatomy, The professorship of chemistry in the college made it unneces- VOL. I. — 16 122 YALE COLLEGE. sary to provide another professor in that department. The same year, the lectures commenced under very favorable auspices ; and the legislature at their session in May, 1814, made a grant to the institution of thirty thousand dollars to aid in effecting its objects. It was a part of Dr. Dwight's plan, also, to make provision for the study of the law. In 1 801, a professorship of law was founded, and the Hon. Elizur Goodrich was elected to fill the chair ; but it does not seem to have been designed, at this time, to furnish such instruction as would qualify students for the bar. There was a law school of high character already established in the State, in the town of Litchfield, and in successful operation, under the charge of Judge Reeve and Judge Gould. President Dwight's design seems rather to have been to provide occasional lectures for the benefit of the undergraduates on the leading principles of the science. It was not permitted to President Dwight to behold the complete success of his plans for the development of the college into a university, but he laid the foundations of what is seen to-day. He continued for more than twenty years to discharge all the many duties which he had assumed, when, in the midst of his labors, in the early part of 18 16, he was seized with a disease from which he partially recovered, but which, after a few months, resulted in the termination of his life, January 11, 181 7, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. The name and the services of this eminent President of the college have been remembered within its walls to this day with an interest and an affection which it has fallen to the lot of but few men to call forth. Many of the students who came under his instruction attained a high position in after years in every walk of life, and all, as long as they lived, with one voice united in pronouncing him one of the most able and one of the most remarkable men that this country has ever produced. The few who still survive speak of him not only with warm affection, but with an enthusiasm which reveals itself at once and unmistakably in the eye and in the voice, as the model college President of his day. One of his descendants, now a professor in the college, has said, in a recent address: "Every student who came to Yale College saw in its President a grand specimen of man. He was not greater than some other men of that generation or of this in particular lines, probably he was not the equal of some ; but, if we may give any credence to what the fathers have told us, he was one of the most conspicuous of men in modern times for the roundness and fullness, the variety and symmetry, of his powers. He was an ardent lover of music ; a poet of some merit, to say the least, considering the age ; a teacher of extraordinary ability ; one of the first preachers of his generation. He was acquainted with almost every subject, had read extensively in the literature of the English language, was a delighted observer of nature, loved flowers and all beautiful things with the ardor of a child, and opened his mind to be taught in everything useful, from the highest to the lowest sphere. He had practical wisdom to devise plans for needed improvements, and practical energy to carry out these plans to their result, to a degree which few have ever surpassed. He had a hopeful outlook upon the future, and believed that the golden age was yet to come, and he was ready for every necessary effort and sacrifice to make that future possible, as PRESIDENT D WIGHT. 123 well as to hasten its coming. He was a patriot with the most ardent love for his country, believing in liberty and abhorring the system which brought human beings into bondage and deprived them of all their dearest rights. He was a Christian believer of the humblest and most earnest kind, full of love for his fellow-men, and ever ready to give them sympathy and help on their way to heaven. With reasoning powers of a high order, with a cultivated imagination, with a conversational ability admired by all the circle of his acquaintance, and by strangers even who met him for the first time, with the manners of a gentleman, and, in a wonderful degree, the bear- ing and person of a noble man — his form erect and full of dignity, his face beaming with intelligence and virtue, and his whole appearance impressive and commanding — with all this so conspicuous to every beholder, he must have filled the college with the refinement of his presence ; he must have been, as they saw him from day to day, an example to all his pupils which they could not but desire to imitate." Dr. Dwight lived in a country which was then little known beyond its own territo- ries. He was at the head of an institution of learning which was scarcely recognized among the renowned universities of the world, yet for his native strength of mind, his acquired learning, his splendid abilities, the work which he accomplished in behalf of the cause of learning for his own and future generations, he deserves to be ranked as one of the first men of his time. As President of the college, he will always be remembered as the organizer to whom it owes its present constitution, and a large share of whatever future greatness it may yet attain. MONUMENT OK PRESIDENT DWIGHT. GROVE-STREET CEMETERY. LIBRARY, A.D. 1S44. CHAPTER X. REV. JEREMIAH DAY, D.D., PRESIDENT, A.D. 18 17-1846. President Dwight's Wishes with regard to his Successor. — Rev. Henry Davis, D. D. , elected Presi- dent. — He declines. — Professor Day elected, and accepts. — Inaugurated, July 23, 1817. — Mr. Eleazar T. Fitch elected Professor of Divinity. — The Rev. Chauncey A. Goodrich elected Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory. — Mr. Alexander M. Fisher elected Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. — President Day's Views with regard to the Administration of the College. — Changes in Methods of Instruction and in Discipline. — New Commons Hall, erected A.D. 18 19. — Chemical Labor- atory. — " North College," erected A.D. 1821. — A Theological Department established, A.D. 1822.— The Rev. Nathaniel W. Taylor elected "Dwight Professor of Didactic Theology," A.D. 1822. — Professor Josiah W. Gibbs. — Professor Eleazar T. Fitch. — Professor Chauncey A. Goodrich. — A new Chapel built, A.D. 1824. — A second College ("Washington," now "Trinity") established in Con- necticut, A.D. 1823. — Repeal of the Act requiring an Assent to the " Saybrook Platform." — Loss of Professor Alexander M. Fisher in the " Albion," A.D. 1822. — Purchase of the " Gibbs Cabinet, " A.D. 1823. — The Rev. Matthew R. Dutton elected Professor, A.D. 1822. — His Death, A.D. 1825. — Pro- fessor Denison Olmsted. — Judge Daggett elected Professor of Law, A.D. 1826. — The Law School. — Death of Dr. Nathan Smith. — Attempt to raise the Grade of Scholarship. — A stricter Discipline. — Adjustment of the College Community to the new state of things. — -Objections to the Study of the " Dead Languages." — President Day's Defense of the existing Course of Study. — He states its Object. — "Bread and Butter Rebellion," A.D. 1828. — " Conic Sections Rebellion," A.D. 1830. — General Reli- gious Interest among the Students, A.D. 1831. — " Taylorism." — "Illinois Association." — The $100,000 Fund. — Mr. Theodore D. Woolsey elected Greek Professor, A.D. 1831. — Paintings of Colonel John Trumbull. — The "Trumbull Gallery " erected, A.D. 1832. — Divinity College erected, A.D. 1836. — - Library Building erected, A.D. 1844. — College Magazines. — Secret Societies. — Resignation. It was understood, on the death of President Dwight, that he had expressed the desire that Professor Jeremiah Day should be his successor. It has already been stated that, twenty years before, when President Dwight had been called to leave Greenfield Hill, he had selected Mr. Day, who had then just graduated in the first class to which he had given degrees, to take his place at the head of the important school which he had established there, and in whose continued prosperity he felt deep interest. Three years after, Mr. Day was invited to come to New Haven as a tutor, and, in 1803, he had entered upon the duties of Professor of Mathematics and Natural 124 >^ < n z c L mittmfi \ futdiilii /■■<:> /iieiqi (c'ittuis i.alulim iuM /.'W» .tiefum" .'it ', .iic. Shijr.unaii /^n.kiiujfunii (;/. -..illUitn, Juiimum m fft/tijtf, +■■»«><' ^/'<.rs»/cm,J.:/. ( jYcAv ? ^luiityy&wMM**"***''*' • ?&&* 'V pit iv rii/: in . ./..-.m, aiipntaeimtu, '!/.« ttauUiu * : £tn.iutiiuit-< ~~V7,\ T " " txw; "' , " , 1'""" .vT"'^'':''''''^"'" 1 '; 1 *'' ■»»■.■ /..^.Mfc-- -\^ /- . - ». "' v i I 4 [//) ' »«*»«■ rtpps^intm .Qttj&l* ,>l.iff l'5'iti.lo *i'«,^.iv^c .\(iik.i<^.- / \, jt^f£tC .ipptob.-ilmii Tvti-' Jt'.-.ttt, 'fi'hitt fi.BtpM .v. *;.«•>; /'V- W/' litv;..i; ^K*rtiv)i'|-i .'» .>^; >mt.' ft «oii9?it;;*u .C»j>**-'- V > _^""" itwg^W-'* ^«ST> r ^V -^fS^"--*®^?™^ A SWrii-. M- *.. -v. ^ • /» mniiitoni (-ty/um 'ftjlljliciliillll .:'! . „'4- Uaiiumttr' Jca fa. &)««,'« m fj'.Ai/n t ~e,fetiicu{, u fi fy: .i«,y'«#. :^-aJ«m Jeif-fylfA ttttmiftjcU v ..fti...irum Ctti/ru. SmtYenn'iii M Oil CI! (W9 z- V? - > «■ V * , V 0»...f.'tin.fc-..|i W|' '-•"' i 5 ( ' ■ ' j . , l-^-?.^^- . '•ruoi-oH.iiii |~IZ (, v " Jl£»* .*...»«„ >' ■<■■ V{crtpr. n !■• iM. . i ■ ■ m-t. >. '' A ^ '„■ '•• \Mtpcmi*' 5 - * "'* "Ji/jLiii PsiLuliiii'is .\>lufcitt iiVX/^n •■■ i»' >?''•> ^H 3tcunait*n in. '[unpin K^'aont ihx-a.'iti, fa i vt civVH't 1 " miiJ itjjktfnh'-'t.roifi lUllt ico^ait- M&uaQum Oftaqi&iv'X tlaJoixuvui- tf urndHM dutiy) litre hisl\ :/i'itl(rntu*vt. ^ 0«rittw OwotO ' a/t'Mui ami "i j/«m„:\iy«. StiiifMbi intt-mbuis arwu Voi-nlxxi "3 i&iv$tf -p'c/ in KMi in idififitf tyijidnui <^Wpf^^iu, fan pzc &i\ in ^ntiim- ■y- /S- -"I I U" ,.-.-,! II M /?--'-. IHI«ilfM>f/ll^u« ( , .- -^ i ^. ". i*2crt r c*»*' '$>■_:&,& <$itafcB$f. 1 ■^-/.■it Vvbtt; afiam ipllfffllflUITl .*io>,,n»i £C(»^ici»»i£ i S.VIiei wt*j«= |£"0tUTO ex,. bid j^flL.puJuli^ tTam* ?/if.A«~dCS ANCIENT DIPLOMAS. COLLEGE SEAL. THE CORPORATION. BY LEONARD BACON, D.D. Charter of 1701. — The Founders incorporated, and they and their Successors made Trustees. — Proceedings under the Charter. — Hiatus in the Records. — Conflict among the Trustees. — Hart- ford Schism, and Wethersfield Cave of Adullam.- — Reconciliation. — Act of 1723 in Explanation and Amendment of the Charter. — Difficulty in obtaining a Successor to Rector Cutler. — Attempts to REMOVE OBNOXIOUS MEMBERS FROM THE BOARD. JOSEPH NOYES. CHARTER OF I 745. — ElIZUR GOODRICH. Charter modified in 1792. — The Six Senior Senators superseded by Six elected Graduates in 1872. The history of the college is itself the history of the corporation. Yet some notices of how the incorporated board has discharged its trust ; what have been its methods of transacting business ; by what influences it has been guided ; and who, in successive generations, have been conspicuous among its members, may be brought together in this place, without any tedious repetition of what is said elsewhere. No records remain of any proceedings or consultations prior to the charter. The earliest entry in the book of records is dated November 11, 1701. Seven of the ten named in the charter as " Trustees, Partners, or Undertakers," were present. That the aged James Noyes, of Stonington, was absent is easily explained without supposing that he was not actively interested in the enterprise. That Samuel Mather, of Windsor, and Timothy Woodbridge, of Hartford, were also absent, suggests a doubt whether that portion of the colony which they in some sort represented had as yet taken any very active part in the movement. At that meeting, the first act of the trustees was (after a recital of " the glorious public design of our now blessed fathers, in their removal from Europe into these parts of America ") to " order and appoint that there shall be, and hereby is erected and formed a collegiate school wherein shall be taught the liberal arts and languages, in such place or places in Connecticut " as the trustees "shall from time to time see cause to order." Those present and concurring in this act were, in the order of seniority, Israel Chauncy, of Stratford, Thomas Buck- ingham, of Saybrook, Abraham Pierson, of Kenilworth (now Clinton), Samuel Andrew, of Milford, James Pierpont, of New Haven, Noadiah Russel, of Middletown, and 163 !64 VALE COLLEGE. Joseph Webb, of Fairfield — six of them pastors of churches along the Sound from Fairfield to Saybrook, and the seventh a New Haven man, pastor at Middletown, a few miles up the river. Yet the place of that first meeting of the corporation was not appreciably further or less accessible from Windsor than from Milford, nor from Hart- ford than from New Haven. It is worthy of notice as characteristic of those men, and as indicating the intelli- gent carefulness of their procedure, that they so explicitly put themselves upon record as Founders of the proposed Collegiate School. That they were, in the legal sense, the Founders, and intended to secure for themselves and their successors the rights of Founders, appears not merely from the tradition of that meeting at Branford in 1700, when books were given, formally and expressly, for the " founding " of such an institu- tion, but also from the preamble to the legislative act of incorporation, which says that "several well-disposed and public-spirited persons" have made petition "that full liberty and privilege be granted unto certain undertakers for the founding, suitably endowing, and ordering a collegiate school ; " and in the act itself, which concedes " full liberty, right, and privilege " for that purpose to the ten persons therein named, " being reverend ministers of the gospel and inhabitants within the said colony, pro- posed to stand as trustees, partners, or undertakers for said school." Therefore, and to make assurance doubly sure, the first thing done by the trustees, after the colonial legislature had made them a corporation, and had granted them " full liberty, right, and privilege," was just that which they had already begun to do as individual citizens. Having been incorporated by the colonial government, and empowered to do that very thing, they used words of authority: "We do order and appoint that there shall be, and hereby is erected and formed a collegiate school." So carefully did the Founders of the institution which has become Yale College provide for its independence of political control. The State (for so we may, by anticipation, call the colonial common- wealth) was from the beginning a benefactor of the institution, and had all the influ- ence naturally belonging to a benefactor, but has never had the rights of a Founder. It has ever been understood that Yale College, though patronized by the State, and entrusted with certain public functions, is not a State university. The successors of the original "Trustees, Partners, or Undertakers for the Collegiate School," have always guarded its independence of legislative intermeddling.* Having by their fiat instituted a collegiate school, the trustees proceeded to enact rules for their own guidance as a corporation ; and then (apparently at a subsequent sitting, though bearing the same date in the record), they established a body of laws for the regulation of the school. They had determined that the head of the institution, * The considerations which probably induced that carefulness in the founding of the institution are indicated in another chapter (page 21). We can hardly suppose on the part of the " well-disposed and public-spirited persons" who had been active in the enterprise, any jealousy of the colonial government as it then existed. Their fear was that the British Parliament might abolish all the colonial governments in New England "at one fell swoop ;" and that, in place of the Puritan republic with its annually elected Governor and its General Assembly, there might come a royal government, bringing with it, as of course, the Church of England and all the ecclesiastical laws and courts of England. So it seemed wise, in founding a college for Connecticut, that the rights which by the common law belong to the founder of a charity, should belong not to the colonial government (as in the case of Harvard College), but to the " Trustees, Partners, or Undertakers," and their successors. THE CORPORATION. 16 5 and its chief instructor, should be entitled Rector ; for, as they did not choose, in those uncertain times, to attract too much attention by calling their humble seminary a college, so they did not venture to place over it so much of a dignitary as a President might seem to be. Accordingly, they invited one of their own number, the Rev. Israel Chauncy, who had been for thirty-five years pastor of the church in Stratford, "under the name and character of Rector, to take the care of instructing and ordering the said Collegiate School," and to remove from Stratford to Saybrook. He bore a distinguished name ; his father, Charles Chauncy, once Professor of Greek at Cam- bridge in England, had been renowned in New England as President of Harvard College ; and brothers of his had been, and still were, eminent in the ministry of the gospel and in the medical profession, some in this country and some in England. But in consideration of his age (fifty-seven years) he declined the invitation. The choice then fell upon Abraham Pierson, pastor of the church in Kenilworth, who, not with- out some deliberation, accepted the office, and accordingly his name is inscribed on the base of the statue which exhibits the artist's idea of what the first President of Yale College ought to have been. The only promise of salary to the Rector was, " He shall be recompensed with honorable allowance for his labor." The names of ten trustees were in the charter, with the provision that there might be eleven. It seems to have been expected that the head of the college would also be one of the trustees ; and now that one of them had been made Rector, they filled the vacant place by electing Samuel Russel, pastor of the church in Branford, who had been concerned in the preliminary consultations, and at whose house, according to accepted tradition, the meeting was held which began, by donations of books, the actual founding of a collegiate school. Of the eleven, all save one were graduates of Harvard College. The exception was Thomas Buckingham, who seems to have been educated at the " Colony School " or " small college," which (as has been shown in a former chapter) was sustained in New Haven for a series of years, and was "laid down" in 1662.* James Noyes, the oldest of the ten, was a graduate of the year 1659; Joseph Webb, the youngest, was in the class of 1684. Samuel Andrew was not only a graduate of Harvard, but had been a " Fellow " there, which means that he had been employed in the instruction and government of that college. Such was the relation of the new college in Connecticut to the old one in Massa- chusetts. Harvard College had its beginning, as all remember, in the earliest years of the Massachusetts colony. Its founders, its officers, the students of its early classes, were all from old England. When it held its first Commencement, which was in 1642, the first-born of English parents in New England (Peregrine White, of Plymouth) was only twenty-one years of age. The fact that the founders of Yale were graduates of Harvard may seem, at first thought, to imply a great distance between those two gen- erations. But, in truth, the eleven founders of the Collegiate School in Connecticut * In the act of incorporation, and on the Triennial Catalogue, the names of the original trustees are arranged in the order of academic seniority, that is, according to the date of each man's graduation, — Thomas Buckingham being placed between Israel Chauncy a graduate of 1661, and Abraham Pierson of 1668. .66 YALE COLLEGE. were, with one doubtful exception, the sons of fathers who came over in the great migration of Puritans from the mother country.* That first meeting of the incorporated board was evidently a laborious one. It ended with a vote that the next meeting should be in New Haven, "some time in April, on the call of Mr. Pierpont." Accordingly the next entry in the record-book shows that the same trustees, with the addition of Samuel Russel, eight in all, met — "New Haven, April 8, 1702," — probably in Mr. Pierpont's house, which fronted the public square, at what is now the eastern corner of Elm and Temple streets. A note- worthy item in the record of that meeting, is that "the late treasurer, Mr. Richard Rosewell [of New Haven], being deceased, John Ailing, Esq., of New Haven," was appointed to the vacant office. Already, though the Collegiate School was nominally in Saybrook, while the students were instructed in the house of the Rector at Kenil- worth, its financial affairs were beginning to center at its predestined seat, for even then its heart was there. No mention of the first Commencement (that of 1702, when Nathaniel Chauncy was the solitary alumnus to receive a degree) appears on the records of the corpo- ration — an omission which may be understood as implying that the degree was con- ferred, not by vote of the trustees, but by the Rector, pro auctoritatc Mi commissa. But, on the 30th of September, 1 702 — not far, certainly, from the date of that Com- mencement — a meeting was held at Kenilworth, the same eight members and one more, namely, James Noyes, being present. The " shore line " interest, as yet, was exclusively represented. At Guilford, "Mar. 18, 170!, Timothy Woodbridge was present, and Hartford was represented for the first time under the charter. One of the eleven had been removed by death ; and Rev. Moses Noyes, of Lyme, a younger brother and college classmate of James, was " desired to accept the office of a trustee in the room of Mr. Chauncy, late deceased." A meeting without a quorum was held, "Saybrook, Sep. 15, 1703," and the minutes (with no mention of the second Com- mencement, which must have been at that time) were subscribed by Pierson (whose dignity as Rector gave him precedence), Buckingham, M. Noyes, and N. Russel. But the usage was not yet settled, for, in the list of those present at the next meeting " Bran ford, Feb. 22, 170!," Buckingham stands first, and Pierson second, seniority taking precedence of rectoral dignity. At that meeting Woodbridge was present again, having traveled further in that unpleasant season than any other of the seven who made a quorum — a fact which seems to indicate that on the river there was at least beginning to be some active interest in the enterprise. After the date last mentioned, there follows, in the record-book, hiatus valdc dcflcn- * James Noyes, Abraham Pierson, Israel Chauncy, and Timothy Woodbridge were sons of eminent divines who came to New England between 1634 and 1639. Samuel Mather, grandson of " glorious old Richard," nephew of famous Increase, and cousin of preposterously pedantic Cotton, was a son of Timothy, who came from England with his father in 1635. The father of Thomas Buckingham (Thomas, of Milford), the father of James Pierpont (John, of Roxbury), the father of Noadiah Russel (William, of New Haven), the father of Samuel Russel (Rev. John, of Hadley), and the father of Samuel Andrew (Samuel, of Cambridge), came to New England in youth or childhood, with their fathers, at different dates before 1640. It is not certainly known, but it may fairly be presumed, concerning the father of Joseph Webb (Joseph, of Stamford), that he was born in Eng- land. Traditions of the mother country and of ancestral homes must have had something of the freshness of living memory in the boyhood of even the youngest among those founders. THE CORPORATION. 167 dus. For more than twenty years the minutes or " memoirs " of the meetings were kept on file without being transcribed for preservation, and were authenticated by the signatures of those trustees who concurred in what was done, though in one instance (a meeting in which there was no quorum) the signature was " By order of the Rev. Trustees present, James Pierpont." In 1723, a legislative act explanatory of and additional to the charter, gave to the trustees authority "to choose and appoint a clerk who shall, in a fair book prepared for that end, register and carefully preserve the acts" of the corporation. The "fair book prepared for that end" is the one from which the foregoing quotations have been made. Beginning with a transcript of the charter, it gives a record of proceedings down to February, 1 704 ; and at that point the transcriber (perhaps because he had observed just there an allusion to an unre- corded meeting in the September preceding) left several pages blank, and passed on to the date "Oct. 30, 171 7." Some of the "memoirs" thus omitted by the transcriber are still on file ; and from them, as well as from other sources of information, it appears that the period of more than thirteen years, represented by blank pages in the book, was a time of conflict and uncertainty. At times, especially toward the end of that period, the corporation was a house divided against itself. Nothing could be really settled so long as the institution itself had no fixed abode. A Collegiate School dispersed over the colony — the Rector at Kenilworth or at Milford, a tutor or two at Saybrook, the trustees meeting here and there at each other's houses, the students distributed between the Rector and the tutors — could not thrive. Saybrook seems to have been chosen as the temporary and possibly permanent seat of the college, because there was the intersection of the shore line with the line of towns along the river. Discontent with the insufficient accommodations there, and with the tutors who were the only resident officers, arose among the few students, and especially among those "who lived near Hartford and Wethersfield," and who said (and, as President Clap intimates, were prompted from home to say) "that it was a hardship for them to be obliged to reside at Saybrook when they could as well or better be instructed nearer home." By such complaints the trustees, at a meeting in April, 17 16, were induced, unsuspectingly, to consent that students might place themselves elsewhere, under instructors of their own choice, till the Commencement, in September. The majority of the three lower classes (the Seniors being with the Rector) went up the river to Wethersfield, and were instructed by Mr. Elisha Williams, who was probably a more gifted teacher than any who had taught them at Saybrook. So began the attempt to remove the college from what might have been, perhaps, its permanent seat. It would be rash to say that there was an up-river plot to convey the institution, with all its hopes, by a sudden movement, away from its original and steadfast friends along the sea-shore. But when a majority of the undergraduate students had been enlisted for Wethersfield, another step was taken. At that time the two ministers of Hartford were Woodbridge, in the First Church, a trustee from the beginning ; and Buckingham, in the Second Church, a nephew of the founder Bucking- ham, and a trustee since 1707. When the trustees gave their consent to a temporary dispersion of the students, the General Assembly of the colony was soon to meet ; and 1 68 YALE COLLEGE. to that body (at Hartford, in May) the two Hartford trustees brought a petition for the removal of the college to that town. Hartford, they said, was more central to the colony than Saybrook, and would attract more students than any other place, especially as the neighboring towns were comparatively populous and prosperous. Hartford people, and some others well disposed, had promised, by their subscriptions, a sum of between six and seven hundred pounds, and would probably increase the amount to a thousand pounds, if the Collegiate School should be settled there. Hardly has there been, in the history of the institution, a more critical moment than when that petition was brought to the Colonial Legislature. By the charter it had been distinctly provided that the Collegiate School should be established "in such convenient place or places" as to the trustees should "seem meet and most conducive to the end thereof." Doubtless the General Assembly might have complied with the request which the two trustees residing in Hartford had made without the concurrence of their colleagues in the trust, and the corporation having no appeal but to the king might have been com- pelled to acquiesce. What would the consequences have been ? First of all (and perhaps most interesting to the purchasers and readers of this book, as well as to the writers), there would have been no Yale Book ; because, whatever the school might have become after such an interference, it never would have become Yale College. It was Elihu Yale's interest in New Haven which made him a benefactor of the nascent college when its local habitation had been fixed in the town where his father had been one of the first planters, and where his family had been most conspicuous. In the next place a precedent would have been set for perpetual intermeddling by the Gen- eral Assembly, and the trustees, having been once overruled by the political power, would have lost their legitimate control of the institution which they had founded. Happily the attempt was unsuccessful. Although the legislature entertained the petition, and called upon the trustees to show " their difficulties and what might be by them thought expedient to be done," nothing was concluded at that session. Some of the trustees, acting individually, had appeared in answer to the call, and had per- suaded the Assembly to postpone the matter till the October session at New Haven, at the same time promising, inconsiderately, that unless the corporation should decide the question, unanimously, at the next Commencement, the Assembly should be invited to determine the location of the college. Of course there was no unanimity on the question at Commencement ; and of course the assembled corporation denied that it was bound by any promise of individual members to put its proper business out of its own control. The meeting was adjourned from Saybrook, September 12, to New Haven, October 17, which was Thursday. At the adjourned meeting there were present Moses Noyes, of Lyme, Andrew, of Milford, Woodbridge, of Hartford, Russel, of Branford, Webb, of Fairfield, Davenport, of Stamford, Buckingham, of Hartford, and Ruggles, of Guilford. James Noyes, of Stonington (aged and infirm), and Samuel Mather, of Windsor (long bedrid), were absent, and there was one vacancy. Mr. Noyes was Moderator, and Mr. Davenport, Scribe. The minutes of that meeting (never yet transcribed into the Record-book) remain in the archives of the corporation, and to those who can "read between the lines" they are full of meaning. THE CORPORATION. 169 In the meeting at Commencement, the question raised at Hartford in May — the great question concerning the permanent location of the college — had been considered but not decided, and this adjourned meeting was for the purpose of deciding it. Meanwhile efforts had been made to influence the decision by subscriptions of money in favor of various places. About five hundred pounds sterling had been pledged for the establishment of the institution at Saybrook, " considerable sums " in favor of putting it at Hartford or Wethersfield (where a part of the students were already quartered), and about seven hundred pounds to secure its removal to New Haven. Such being the state of affairs, the reverend trustees encountered the main question in this somewhat incondite form : "Whether considering the difficulty of continuing the Collegiate School of Connecticut colony at Saybrook appearing to ns, we the trustees of said school agree that the said school be now removed from Saybrook to New Haven, and that the said Collegiate School be settled at New Haven as a very convenient place for it, and [the one] for which the most liberal donations are given appearing to us — as well as many other consider- ations ; and it is now settled at New Haven accordingly ? " Probably there was much talking before the vote was taken ; for the session was prolonged from Thursday to Saturday, and was then adjourned till Monday afternoon. But following the statement of the first and main question (as just copied) is the minute : "The question thus resolved and voted for viva voce. For it, Mr. Ruggles, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Webb, Mr. Russel, and Mr. Andrew. Against it, Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Woodbridge. Mr. Noyes, Moderator, declares he doth not see the necessity of removing the school from Saybrook, but if it must be removed from Saybrook, his mind is that it be settled at New Haven." On the margin, in pale ink, but with untrembling hand, Mr. James Noyes, the senior member of the corporation, recorded under the date "Dec. 19, 1716," his consent, " upon well weighing the case, to the above act of the trustees." Perhaps his favorable opinion of that place had received some confirmation from the fact that, four months before the decision to which he consented, his son Joseph (a graduate of 1 709, and tutor from 1710 to 171 5) was ordained there as the successor of James Pierpont in the pastoral care of a church which had not yet lost its eminence among the churches of the colony. At the adjourned meeting on Monday, another question was taken up and answered as follows : "Whether the trustees here convened do judge it convenient* that application be made by said trustees to the General Assembly to nominate the place of the Collegiate School of this colony, when the trustees on this present meeting, in the faithful discharge of the trust reposed in them, and in exerting of the power com- mitted to them by the act for said school, have already settled the said school at New Haven. "For the negative, Mr. Ruggles, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Webb, Mr. Russel, Mr. Andrew. [James Noyes's ' consent ' interlined in his pale ink, 'Dec. 19, 171 6.'] * The word " convenient" is used advisedly in this connection ; for it is courteous, yet significant. It is used in a sense now obsolete — the sense which it has in certain passages of the English New Testament — as when the Apostle Paul says [Philem. 3] : " I might .... enjoin thee that which is convenient" — or when [Eph. v. 4] he characterizes " filthiness," " foolish talking," and "jesting " as " not convenient" — or when [Rom. i. 28] he says of certain sinners, " God gave them over to a repro- bate mind to do those things which are not convenient." VOL. I. — 22 i;o YALE COLLEGE. " Mr. Buckingham saith he is not free to cut himself off of any liberty of applying to the Court, as the case is circumstanced. " Mr. Woodbridge is for the affirmative as the case is circumstanced. "Mr. [Moses] Noyes saith he docs not oppose its going to the Court." Evidently Messrs. Woodbridge and Buckingham were not yet ready to accept the situation. Outvoted in the corporation, they had their own private judgment about what was " convenient " for them as individual trustees to do in opposition to their colleagues. They were still hoping that the General Assembly would interfere to overrule the decision, and to fix the college in their town or its vicinity. What measures they took, or had already taken, to gain that end — how the question was agitated in the legislature — how the Governor and Council sustained the trustees in maintaining their independence of State control, while the House of Representatives was on the other side — is a story which need not be repeated here ; for, in this chapter, we are attempting to illustrate only the character and doings of the corporation. Notwithstanding the evident purpose of their Hartford colleagues to undo, by the General Assembly, all that had been done, the trustees went resolutely forward. Their next step was in the direction of conciliation ; — perhaps we might say, they offered a sort of compromise. It has been told elsewhere (page 41) that Samuel Smith, a graduate of the year 1 713, had been serving as tutor of the diaspora at Wethersfield — not appointed to that office by the trustees as a body, but only em- ployed by the two whose intention was that the college should become a Hartford institution. The trustees, therefore, assuming that by their answer to the two ques- tions just cited that matter had been settled, proceeded to make provision for the instruction of students in the Collegiate School thenceforward settled in New Haven ; and, accordingly, the next question was — "Whether we approve Mr. Samuel Smith, of Glastonbury, for a tutor of the Collegiate School ? "Yea, say Mr. Ruggles, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Webb, Mr. Russel, Mr. Andrew. Mr. Noyes, from the recommendation given him. " Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Woodbridge say, they know not but he is very well qualified for the trust of a tutor." Then the same question was proposed concerning " Sir Johnson of Guilford," and was answered in the same way, there being a minority of two against six. " Mr. Buckingham saith, he hath nothing to object against him on account of his qualifica- tions. Mr. Woodbridge saith, he doth not account it convenient to mention him because of Newark call." In other words, they would not compromise themselves by consenting to the appointment of tutors to instruct in a Collegiate School at New Haven. So when the proposal was that the " building of a Collegiate School, and also of the house for a Rector be undertaken with all convenient speed," we read, " Mr. Buckingham chooseth silence. Mr. Woodbridge saith Nay." So in regard to the proposal that the Governor and Deputy-Governor " be entreated to favor us with their advice concerning the architecktonick part of the buildings," there is a similar record, " Mr. Buckingham chooseth not to act," and " Mr. Woodbridge hath nothing against advice." THE CORPORATION. 1 y l From another passage in the minutes of the same meeting, it appears that a certain sum of ,£500, given by the General Assembly to the trustees, was in the hands of Messrs. Woodbridge and Buckingham, and there seems to have been a necessity of very formal proceedings in order to get it out of their hands into the hands of the treasurer; but the proceedings, almost minatory in their aspect, were had, and the transaction was completed before the adjournment of the meeting. In the same reso- lute spirit, and with the evident purpose of putting an end to controversy about the locality of the institution, the trustees asserted their rights in other respects. They ordered that notice be given " to all the students belonging to this Collegiate School " that full provision was made at New Haven for their instruction and government. They directed that Mr. John Dixwell, of Boston (a son doubtless of that Colonel John Dixwell whose name was subscribed to the death-warrant of Charles Stuart, and whose grave is behind the old First Church in New Haven), should be written to in the name of the corporation "to send, by the first safe opportunity, the books and globes given to the Collegiate School unto New Haven, and consign them to the Rev. Mr. Joseph Noyes, of New Haven, for the use of the school." And in regard to the books at Saybrook, which were the only property of the institution there, they " entreated " the Rev. Mr. Moses Noyes to take care that they be "well secured." The vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Pierpont was filled by the election of the Rev. Stephen Buckingham, pastor of the church in Norwalk, and a son of that Thomas Buckingham who was one of the founders. The validity of all these acts was denied by the Hartford minority on grounds which need not be restated here.* It was therefore deemed expedient to reaffirm the contested votes, and so to validate them if invalid. Accordingly another meet- ing was held at New Haven, April 5, 171 7, from which Messrs. Woodbridge and Thomas Buckingham were absent, though the venerable James Noyes had traveled all the way from Stonington to be present. Moses Noyes, the special representative of Saybrook interests, was also absent, as well as the infirm and incompetent Mather. The minutes of that meeting remain on file in two distinct papers, each of them sub- scribed with the autograph names of all who were present ; — one a series of orders for the payment of certain incidental expenses ; — the other a renewal and ratification of all that had been done in the meeting of the preceding October. So far as their resolute will and decree could avail, the institution which they had founded and which the General Assembly had by charter committed to their care, was "settled" in New Haven. No trace remains of any meeting at Commencement in September of that year — the first New Haven Commencement. But the first entry in the record-book after the hiatus, shows that on the 30th of October, 171 7 (which was while the General Assem- bly was holding its October session), there was a meeting at which once more it was solemnly determined that the Collegiate School "be now settled at said New Haven." The work of the college building, which, a year before, was to "be undertaken with all convenient speed," was in progress ; the huge frame — huge for those days, being a * Ante, p. 42. 172 VALE COLLEGE. hundred and seventy feet long, and three stories in height — had been for three weeks the most conspicuous " architecktonick " thing in New Haven or in the colony of Con- necticut; but the vote to undertake it, and the vote requesting- the Governor and I )q)uty-Governor to aid the work by their advice, were repeated as if nothing had been done. On this occasion nine of the eleven trustees were present, the only absentee beside Mr. Mather (whose absence was a matter of course) being Mr. Stephen Buckingham, of Norwalk, who had been elected at the last meeting, and was re-elected at this. It seems to have been their purpose to overcome by iteration, doing the same thing again and again, till opposition should be silenced. All the proceedings of that meeting seem to indicate not only resolute and persistent will, but something like a consciousness of having gained the victory. Evidently the corporation was at last in working condition. Its methods of doing business were beginning to be very much what they now are. The germ of "the Prudential Committee" appears in a vote empowering "the Rector and any two trus- tees " to appoint a tutor who should hold office till the next meeting of the board. It is more developed in the next vote, namely, "The trustees empowered are, in pursu- ance of the preceding vote, directed and ordered to use all fair and equal measures in order to obtain Mr. Elisha Williams to be the senior tutor of the said Collegiate School." In the subsequent reference of other matters to " the said trustees empow- ered as above," those who are familiar with the methods in which the business of the corporation is now transacted, see that the trustees were beginning to have their Pru- dential Committee, though they knew not its name. A building committee was appointed, including, like a building committee in our day, certain members of the corporation, and certain gentlemen not members. " The hundred pounds given by the General Assembly to the trustees " was " distributed to Wethersfield and Saybrook their part, as well as to New Haven their part;" and from the record of that distribu- tion we learn that, of the students recognized as belonging to the institution and there- fore under the care and government of the trustees during the year just closed, fourteen had been at Wethersfield, four at Saybrook, and only thirteen at New Haven. That distribution was followed up with a vote that the " Trustees empowered as above " — or, as would now be said, the Prudential Committee — be " desired and ordered to give notice to the two junior classes at Wethersfield to appear and attend the exercises at New Haven, and the residue, if occasion require." It is worth remembering that one of the students then or afterwards ordered "to appear and attend" at New Haven was Jonathan Edwards, of East Windsor, who received the highest honor in the class of 1720, and whose name, not many years later, became illustrious in the history of theology and of religion.* The conciliatory spirit of the majority was indicated in the invitation to Mr. Williams, the tutor at Wethersfield under the Hartford minority, to be senior tutor at New Haven. Their determination was evident in the demand that the two junior classes at Wethersfield under the patronage of that minority should "appear and attend " at the place where the Collegiate School had been definitively settled. But * S. E. Dwiglu's Life of President Edwards, pp. 28-32. THE CORPORATION. xy^ the time for effectual conciliation had not come. Mr. Williams continued to teach as tutor at Wethersfield ; and when "the splendid Commencement" was celebrated at New Haven, in 171 8, the two Hartford members of the corporation, instead of being with their colleagues to take part in the pomp, and in giving the name Yale College to the building just ready for occupation, were holding a Commencement of their own at Wethersfield. That rival Commencement was the more remarkable inasmuch as the General Assembly itself, in October of the preceding year, had resolved "that under the present circumstances of the Collegiate School, the reverend trustees be advised to proceed in that affair, and to finish the house which they have built in New Haven." Yet even from that vote, encouraging as it was to the majority of the trustees, the minority may have derived some confirmation of their purpose to overrule their col- leagues by the potency of advice from the political power. So persistent was the "up- river" party in that purpose, that when the General Assembly met again at Hartford, the next May, the Representatives or Lower House, more subject to manipulation than the dignified "Governor and Assistants" constituting the Upper House, were induced to meddle again, and to "desire the trustees to consent that the Commencements should be held alternately at Wethersfield and New Haven, till the place of the school be fully determined ; " as if the place of the school were still an open question. The refusal of the Upper House to concur in that "desire," and its declaration that "the place of the school was fully determined already," did not suffice to close the con- troversy. Messrs. Woodbridge and Buckingham were not yet ready to acknowledge that the settlement of the college at New Haven was a completed fact. So they held their Commencement at Wethersfield ; and, as if the Collegiate School were capable of being distributed here and there over the colony at the will of individual trustees, they continued to employ Mr. Williams as tutor in what they regarded as their part of it* But the controversy could not be perpetuated. How it ended the reader knows already. f By way of compensation to the " up-river " interest, Hartford obtained a " State-house," which in " architecktonick " grandeur was almost or quite equal to the college edifice at the rival capital. J The appropriation for that purpose, with the other conciliatory offers and suggestions made by the General Assembly at New Haven, in October, 1718, were so far effectual that though the school at Wethersfield was continued, and was a "cave of Adullam " to which students betook themselves when discontented with the academic discipline of Tutor Johnson at New Haven, the beginning of Rector Cutler's administration, in June, 17 19, seems to mark the ending of the long controversy. Yet it is not till a later date that the names of the Hartford pastors begin to appear again on the record. At a meeting, April 20, 1720, Mr. * Mr. Williams, the tutor at Wethersfield, was, at the same time, representative from that town in the General Assembly, and clerk of the House of Representatives. f Ante, page 47. \ The edifice here referred to stood on or near the site occupied by its successor, which was built in 1792-6. It was seventy feet long and thirty wide, two and a half stories in height, and surmounted by a cupola. To make room for its successor, it was removed to what Hartford now calls Church street ; and citizens of that metropolis, whose memory runs back sixty years or more, can well remember what in their early days was called " the Old Court House." I 74 )\\LE COLLEGE. Woodbridge was present, apparently for the first time since October, i 7 1 7 ; and at an adjourned meeting on the 8th of June, Mr. Thomas Buckingham was also present. How complete was the reconciliation we infer from the recorded vote, " that a letter of thanks be sent to Governor Yale, and another to Mr. Dummer, and that Mr. Wood- bridge and Mr. Thomas Buckingham do write in the name of the trustees to the afore- said gentlemen." The two Hartford pastors, conciliated at last, after their long and desperate opposition to the settlement of the college at New Haven, were intrusted with the duty of expressing the thanks of the corporation to those benefactors whose timely gifts had been so potent in the determination of the controversy. Contemporaneous with the closing up of the long controversy was the legislative act, already mentioned, " in explanation of and addition to the act for erecting a Col- legiate School in this colony." In the conflict about the removal of the institution from Saybrook, the Hartford minority had contended that old Mr. Mather, lying on his bed at Windsor, and incapable of any business, must nevertheless be numbered with the eleven trustees ; and that whatever might be done in his absence, being done without his consent, must be regarded as if he had voted against it. Assuming that the powers committed to the trustees might be exercised otherwise than by their votes in a lawful meeting of the chartered body, and that individual partakers in the trust were invested with some undefined authority, they had attempted to use such authority independently of their associates. To some extent, at least, the majority had fallen into the same error. Their habit of authenticating their acts by their individual signatures tended in that direction ; and led them to suppose that the pastor of Ston- ington could reinforce the acts of a meeting at which he was not present, by certifying his consent some three months afterwards. It was with express reference to the fore- going troubles that the General Assembly, in the October session of 1723, at New Haven, probably at the informal request of the trustees, made an explanation of the original charter, enlarging somewhat the powers which it was intended to confer. After reciting the fact that the " trustees for erecting a Collegiate School " have, "pursuant to the powers and privileges granted" in the original charter, " erected the said school in the town of New Haven, which school is now known by the name of Yale Col- lege," — and the fact that for want of some " explanation and enlargement of the powers and privileges granted," the college " has labored under great difficulties, very much to the prevention of that order and good education which is to be desired there," — the act. provides, first, that when a trustee is "by Providence incapacitated from attending that service, or shall himself decline the same," the assembled trustees may fill the vacancy ; — secondly, that the trustees " have power to meet together," and In that way " to agree and conclude, order and determine " all matters pertaining to the college " by the majority of the said meeting, and by the same majority to choose and appoint a clerk who shall, in a fair book prepared for that end, register and carefully preserve the acts of all such meetings"; — thirdly, that " due notice being given to the trustees, by consent of any three of them, of a meeting desired at any time or place, any seven or more " of the eleven shall be a quorum for the transaction of business ; — fourthly, that thirty years, instead of forty, shall be the age under which no man may THE CORPORATION. 175 be chosen into the corporation ; and, fifthly, that the Rector of the college shall be ex officio a trustee. It will be observed that this act explaining and enlarging the charter speaks of the Collegiate School as having become a college, as settled in New Haven, and as having gained the name which the trustees, when they gave it to their building, intended to bestow upon the institution also. How Rector Cutler's brief administration ended, and what part the corporation had in ending it, is a familiar story. But it is not so well known how many attempts were made, between 1722 and 1725, to fill the vacant place. Immediately after Rector Cutler's retirement, Mr. Woodbridge, whose position as pastor of the First Church in Hartford would not permit him to be permanently removed, was requested to become, pro tempore, the resident Rector of the college ; and though he did not accept the invitation, he condescended so far as to preside at the next Commencement, as he had presided at the factious " up-river " Commencement five years before. Meanwhile, Mr. Nathaniel Williams, a teacher in Boston, successor of the famous Ezekiel Cheever, had been chosen Rector, but had not accepted the call. Then, in April, 1724, the " Rev. Mr. Eliphalet Adams," of New London, himself a trustee, was chosen, unsuc- cessfully. A month later the corporation, having been convened at Hartford, made a twofold attempt by choosing " Rev. Mr. Wigglesworth, Professor of Divinity at Cam- bridge," and, "in case this choice fails, then the Rev. William Russel, of Middletown." The last named Rector-elect was a graduate of the college, and was the first of the alumni to receive that honor from his alma mater* Negotiations with the people of Middletown, for the removal of their pastor, were ineffectual, and the vacancy remained through another year. At last the time came when Elisha Williams, who as tutor at Wethersfield had been identified with the most persistent opposition to the settlement of the college at New Haven, was called from the church of which he had been five years pastor, in what is now the town of Newington, to be Rector of Yale College. He was the first who became by virtue of his office a member of the corporation. His election to the presidency,! with his acceptance of the office, marks the complete extinction of whatever local jealousies and antipathies had been caused by the question of place. From that time onward the trustees were as one man in caring for the college, which, in its growth, was becoming the pride of the commonwealth, and to which the churches were looking for a learned as well as godly ministry. From that time to this, no political conflict and no ecclesiastical or theological controversy has ever made a schism in the corporation of Yale College. Yet there was, at one time, a serious division, though not quite a schism. The reli- gious agitation in the middle of the last century gave rise to ecclesiastical parties, which, in the relations then existing between the churches and the commonwealth, * He was a son of Noadiah Russel, one of the ten founders, and son-in-law of James Pierpont, another. He had already served as tutor, and from 1745 to his death, in 1761, he was a member of the corporation. At the time of his election to the headship of the college, he had been not yet fifteen years a graduate. \ The Rector, as soon as " the School " had begun to be called " the College," began to be popularly designated by the same title with the head of Harvard College. Jonathan Edwards, in a letter to his father, July, 1719, said of Rector Cutler, " He is loved and respected by all who are under him, and when he is spoken of in the school or town, he generally has the title of President." — S. E. Dwight's Life oj Edwaids, p. 31. 17 6 YALE COLLEGE. became political also. On the part of the " New Lights " there was great alarm about the supposed lapses of the " Old Lights," or at least of some conspicuous members of that party, from the accepted orthodoxy of those times. Induced by fears and jealousies of that sort, the corporation, when the scheme for a Professorship of Divinity was in hand, ordained that the President, the Fellows, the Professor of Divinity, and the Tutors, should give their assent to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Cate- chisms, expressly renouncing all doctrines contrary thereto, and should be subjected to such examination as the corporation might require. The Rev. Joseph Noyes, of New Haven, one of the early graduates, had been a tutor in the college while it was only a sojourner at Saybrook, and was chosen into the corporation in 1735, when he had been nineteen years the pastor of the New Haven church, and in that capacity the preacher to rectors and tutors and to twenty successive classes of students. For a while his ministry seems to have been neither unacceptable nor unsuccessful. But, in the progress of that remarkable movement celebrated in the traditions of New Eng- land as " the Great Awakening," he incurred the dislike and the relentless hostility of the New Light party. Nowhere was the conflict between the two parties fiercer than in the church and parish to which he ministered. No man in the colony was more obnoxious to the New Lights than he, and no man was more assailed with suspicions and imputations of doctrinal unsoundness. How far such imputations or suspicions were true cannot be determined at this day, for nothing from his pen remains to tell us what he taught or thought on disputed questions in theology. Probably there was, even then, no evidence sufficient to substantiate the imputations. Yet with the strong suspicion against him, it was thought that by an inquisitorial proceeding he might be made to convict himself. The New Light party being at last predominant in the colony, and having become the conservatively orthodox party, its position in relation to those loosely skeptical tendencies in theological opinion which were coming over from England, and which were strengthened in some quarters by the reaction against cer- tain extravagances incidental to "the Great Awakening," had brought the President and a majority of the Fellows (always a conservative body) into a general agreement with it. Mr. Noyes had long been harassed and vexed by the schism in what was once his undivided flock, and his temper, naturally unyielding, had not been softened by what he deemed a fanatical opposition to his ministry. He was on the downhill side of life ; his unpopularity, local and general, was steadily increasing ; the sepa- ration from his ministry in New Haven had become the majority, and had been legal- ized and incorporated as a distinct parish by the General Assembly. It was thought that the interests intrusted to the corporation were in danger, and must be guarded and promoted by making him a sacrifice. The book of records shows no trace of what was done or attempted ; but I find a sufficient account of it in the Stiles MSS., and also in the original "minutes" of the corporation. A letter dated "New Haven, 25th July, 1757," and addressed by Colonel John Hubbard to his son-in-law Stiles, then of New- port, says: "The corporation have formally cited Mr. Noyes to answer for a suspicion of heresy. The particulars, the Trinity, Deity, and Satisfaction of Christ, and Origi- nal Sin, and the important doctrines thereon depending. Mr. Noyes at present seems THE CORPORATION. 177 determined to resign and not stand the brunt. I think his friends here, to a man, dis- like his resolution." Mr. Noyes did not resign. He retained his place, and died a member of the corporation four years afterwards. He stood the brunt by refusing to be examined, and vindicating his refusal. Perhaps he might have been excluded from the corporation had any one of the suspecting Fellows been courageous enough to charge him, formally and responsibly, with definite heresies, and had the charges been proved ; but he would submit to no inquisitorial process, and, by standing manfully on that refusal, he saved the body from the disgrace and ruin to which the policy of putting its own members under examination on "suspicion of heresy" would have con- ducted it. The old man's obstinacy was, in that instance, a good thing for the insti- tution.* In the record-book, or on the unrecorded minutes, there are two preceding instances of what seems like an attempt to rid the corporation of. an undesired member. The first case is that of Rev. Stephen Buckingham, of Norwalk. He had long been in con- flict with his people, and there seems to have been some cloud upon his reputation. For four years he had been absent from the meetings of the corporation, when, Sep- tember 13, 1732, the trustees sent him an official letter requesting that if he thought himself " unqualified to serve the interests of the school any longer," he would resign his place among them. Thenceforward he disappears from the record. The other case is that of Rev. Samuel Cook, of Stratfield (now Bridgeport). He was eminent among the clergy of that day ; but in 1 745 he had become obnoxious to the Old Light * The reasons which Mr. Noyes gave for his " absolute refusal to submit to an examination" were written down, probably not without the advice of his son-in-law, Thomas Darling, Esq. Although they were pronounced unsatisfactory, they seem to have answered their purpose. The " suspect" was not examined, nor was he expelled for his "absolute refusal." They were as follows : " 1. I have once qualified myself to serve as a member of the corporation, and have good right to be esteemed and treated as a member in good standing, until I am proved to be disqualified. " 2. The law or resolve upon which my examination is founded is arbitrary ; for a man to be subjected to examination on suspicion only is contrary to all reason. " 3. Said law or resolve is manifestly unjust, as it subjects a man, though innocent, to suffer in his character and influence, and leaves him without remedy. " 4. Said law or resolve is singular and unprecedented, there having never been heretofore] any law or rule of like nature in this corporation, or any other Christian community, except the courts of Inquisition and Star Chamber. " 5. Said law or resolve is inconsistent with the ecclesiastical constitution of this colony. As I am a minister of the gospel under the constitution, I am accountable to the consociation to which I belong, concerning my principles, and not to this board. " 6. Said law or resolve is contrary to the principles of the common law. All legal processes, according to the common law, must be built upon some express accusation or charge, to be supported by proper and sufficient evidence ; but suspicion and surprise are always discountenanced. " 7. The corporation have no right or power to make such a law or rule, or to act upon it. Whatever power the corporation have, as legislators, they are invested with by charter, and have therefore just so much power as the charter gives them and no more — which, in general, is only to make laws respecting the ordering and governing the college, but have no power to make any law respecting the removal of a member of the corporation, this matter being specially provided for by charter itself, and a member must be removed for reasons assigned in the charter or not removed at all — which are unfaithfulness, default, or inca- pacity only. " 8. I have taken the oaths and subscribed the declaration, etc., as required by the charter (and is the only thing required therein), and have freely given as great security as either the king or any of his subjects, or the government of any of its mem- bers do require to their sustaining any office for which they are otherwise fit and appointed to serve. " 9. I do not esteem the corporation so important and singular, or the ends to be promoted by it to be of so extraordinary and peculiar a nature, but that these securities usually given to other corporations may be sufficient for this." VOL. I. — 23 178 YALE COLLEGE. party, and his zeal for the "revival" had led him into some ecclesiastical irregularities. In particular he had meddled, not as a reconciler but as a partisan, in the conflict between Mr. Noyes and the New Light portion of the New Haven church, and had presided in the partisan council of four ministers which publicly recognized the seced- ing party not only as a church, but as the identical First Church from which they had seceded. Mr. Noyes was at that time in good standing with the President and the majority of the corporation, for he and they were on the same side in opposition to New Light enthusiasms and extravagances.* He does not appear to have made any protest when the Rev. Samuel Cook was called to account for New Light delinquen- cies. The minutes — not the final record — of the meeting, at Commencement, Septem- ber 1 1, 1745, tell us what was done in that case: "Whereas this Board have, at this and former meetings, signified to Mr. Cook their dissatisfaction with sundry things in his conduct, and he could not now conveniently tarry to make any distinct answer thereunto by reason of sickness in his family, — "Voted that the President, with the rest of the Standing Committee of this Board, be desired to signify to Mr. Cook the reasons of their dissatisfaction in writing, and desire his answer thereunto." The "writing" in which President Clap and the committee "signified to Mr. Cook the reasons of their dissatisfaction" is not known to be now extant; but "his answer thereunto" is plain from the record of the next meeting, April 26, 1746: "The Rev. Mr. Cook resigned his place of Fellow of this college." He chose " not to stand the brunt." Had he manfully told the President and Fellows that for any ecclesiastical delinquencies imputed to him he would give account to the constituted ecclesiastical authorities and to no other human tribunal; he would have rendered then the same ser- vice to the college, and to the great interest of intellectual and religious liberty, which Mr. Noyes had the opportunity of rendering twelve years afterwards. And on the other hand, had Mr. Noyes, when the problem was how to get rid of the New Light Mr. Cook, been as sagacious in regard to the rights of a member at that board as he was when he had become himself the object of dissatisfaction, there would have been no precedent for the inquisitorial proceedings attempted in his case. Before these proceedings in regard to Mr. Noyes, and before the earlier proceedings in the case of Mr. Cook, a new charter had given new dignity to the institution, and had invested it with all the powers which have created the university. The simple Board of Trustees, of which the Rector of the Collegiate School under their care was ex officio a member, had become, by the new charter, "the President and Fellows of Yale College ; " and thenceforth the President of the Corporation presided, ex officio, in the government and instruction of the students. Under the old charter the trustees had elected their "moderator" at each meeting, for the Rector presided only in the * What was then (in September, 1745) the position of the President and Fellows in relation to the New Light movement is evident if we remember that, only three years and a half before that date, David Brainerd, the best scholar in his class, was expelled for some extravagantly censorious words heedlessly spoken concerning one of the tutors, and for once going to the Sepa- rate (or anti-Noyes) meeting in New Haven ; and that, only two years before, there was not New Light influence enough in the corporation to obtain for him the privilege of graduating with his class, though he had been meanwhile a diligent student, and though he offered a humble and penitent confession of his fault. The case of the Cleavelands was still more recent. THE CORPORATION. 179 school. Under the new charter, the corporation was represented in the Faculty or Board of Tutors, and the Faculty in the corporation, by one and the same functionary presiding in both. More accurately, this was the usage naturally consequent from the previous arrangement, which had required the head of the school to be also a trustee. The charter does not require the President to be himself a teacher in any faculty. It is in the power of the President and Fellows to appoint a Dean or other presiding officer over each of the several Collegiate Schools under their government, and a Chancellor, Vice- Chancellor, Rector Magnificus, or other dignitary over the university, with all its faculties, to hold his office for such a term of years as may be judged expedient. President Woolsey said, twenty-seven years ago: "The substitution of a temporary for a permanent President I regard as likely to be viewed with favor by the next gen- eration." Such a substitution may be effected, virtually, whenever it shall seem expe- dient, without any alteration of the charter. From the date of the new charter, 1745, the college at New Haven was, in name and style, the peer of its elder sister at Cambridge. An indication that such a change was deemed desirable appears on record in the days of Rector Williams, as far back as December 20, 1732, when it was "voted that this meeting be adjourned to Hart- ford, the day following the next general election of this colony, to address the Assembly in a body respecting some alteration to be made in the names whereby they are known in the charter granted us, and such other business as may then appear necessary." What came of that adjournment — whether the meeting failed for want of a quorum — whether as many of the trustees as were present did actually " address the Assembly in a body " — whether it was concluded that the time had not yet come for such a petition — no record informs us. But, evidently enough, the vote in 1732 expresses the desire for what was granted in the charter in 1 745. Thenceforward the Rev. Thomas Clap was President, not merely by pretension or by courtesy, but by as valid a right as if he had been the head of the Massachusetts college ; and the " undertakers " or " partners " who were first incorporated simply as " trustees " for the " collegiate school " of which they were to be the founders, and whose designation in Latin was sometimes Curatores, and sometimes Inspectores, had become the Presi- dent and Fellows of Yale College, Presses ct Socii Collcgii Yalcusis, with all the majesty of a Scnatus Acadcmicus. There was no more choosing of a "moderator," save when the presidential chair was vacant. No change in the business of the corporation, or in the work imposed on individual members, was consequent on the new dignity of the institution. There was the same care of the college property — the same personal attention by individual Fellows to the details of business ; for as yet there was little dependence on the treasurer, save as a receiving and disbursing officer. Certain farms in various towns of far-away Litchfield County — given as wild lands by the colony to the college — required much care and inspection ; and all the business of that sort was attended to not by the treasurer or any salaried agent, but by members of the corporation deputed to the duty, and travel- ing on horseback to where the business must be done. Examinations and commence- ments were to be kept up ; degrees were to be conferred or withheld ; college officers igo VALE COLLEGE. were to be appointed ; complaints of the students against the steward, about " the commons," were to be heard and disposed of. For example, the Rev. Elizur Goodrich, D.I)., of Durham, was one of the ten Fellows from 1776 to 1797. He was greatly distinguished among the clergy of his day for various learning, for ability as a teacher, for wisdom in council, and for general influence, as well as for diligence and success in his own parochial charge. In 1777, a President was to be elected; and he was the candidate preferred by perhaps a majority of the clergy. The votes of the corporation were at first divided equally between him and Dr. Stiles, who, at another balloting, was elected by a small majority, and to whom he ever afterwards gave a hearty sup- port. He was at that date the junior Fellow ; but he soon became a leading member, especially in business affairs, so that President D wight testified at his funeral, " No man living probably so well understood the interests of our university, or for more than twenty years took so active and important a part in its concerns." He died in the business of the corporation, away from his home, on a " circuit of a fortnight among the college farms in Litchfield County." To be a Fellow of Yale College was not in his time, nor has it ever been (certainly not among the ten who hold in succes- sion from the founders), a merely honorary distinction.* There is no need of repeating here the story of the change effected in the charter, by compact between the State and the corporation, under the act of 1 792. f No change in the policy of the board, or in its methods of transacting business, appears to have ensued upon the coming in of State functionaries as Fellows ex officio. There was a new grandeur in the Commencement procession of 1792, when his Excellency Samuel Huntington, LL.D., "Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the State of Connecticut," wearing the gubernatorial cockade and dress sword, and with Lieutenant- Governor Wolcott at his left hand, marched immediately after President Stiles ; and when the white wigs and black coats of the ten ministers became more imposing by contrast with the laical costumes of the six senior assistants. A sense of new dignity in the institution pervaded the minds of students and graduates alike when, in the Latin gratulations of the day, the old phrase, Socii Reverendi, was enlarged into the more magniloquent Socii Reverendi et Honorandi. On all sides there was new confi- dence that the college was to flourish ; for the hostility which had assailed it so long was either vanquished or conciliated, and the State had given what seemed a large endowment. In the enlarged corporation, thenceforth consisting of the President and eighteen Fellows, debate must of course be a little less colloquial and a little more parliamentary than before. The law learning and the political experience of the "civilians" (as they were then called in distinction from the "ecclesiastics") were of * It may be fitly mentioned here, as an instance of hereditary interest in the institution, that the Durham pastor who served so long as Fellow (and Secretary) was father of Hon. Elizur Goodrich, who served as Professor of Law from 1801 to 1810, and afterwards, from 1816 to 1846, as Secretary of the corporation, and grandfather of Prof. Chauncey A. Goodrich, so long distinguished in the Faculty of Arts, and afterwards in that of Theology. Each of the three served, in his youth, as college tutor ; and from the election of the grandfather into the corporation, in 1776, to the death of the grandson, in 1S60, there was only one brief interval (less than four years) in which Dr. Goodrich, or his son, or his grandson, was not actively serving the honored alma mater. \ Ante, p. 109. THE CORPORATION. jgj great value. The business to be done was increased with the increase of means for building and for other college purposes ; but it was done in the old way. For many years the attendance of the civilians at meetings of the corporation was such as gave evidence of their interest in the institution. Four of the eight, as well as six of the eleven, must be present at a meeting, or there was no quorum. In 1818, the State had passed into the control of a new party ; and under a new constitution " six senior Senators" were substituted for the "six senior Assistants" in the corporation of the college. That change, however, made no great difference, for the senate, in those days, represented the State, and though the senators were elected annually, they were often, not to say ordinarily, re-elected by the force of the "steady habits" which had long been characteristic of the people. The senior senators were a different sort of men politically, and perhaps religiously, from the senior assistants of the former time ; but they attended the meetings of the corporation with commendable fidelity, and they retained their places long enough to become acquainted with the duty of the trust. But in 1828, by what was thought to be a constitutional amendment, the senate of twelve, elected by the State, gave way to a senate of twenty-one, elected by petty dis- tricts. The consequence was a yearly displacement of the senators, with few excep- tions, and a progressive diminution in the dignity of the senate. Soon it came to pass that, in the legitimate meaning of the word "senior," there were not "senior senators" enough to fill the quota for the corporation of the college, and a fictitious seniority was invented, to be conferred by lot. Sometimes from a fortunate district there might come a senator whose ability would command a re-election repeated through a brief series of years ; but ordinarily to be a senior senator, and therefore, ex officio, a Fellow of Yale College, was little more than an honorary distinction — the honor not despised, the duty not considered. The provision that a majority of the ex officio members, together with a majority of the original Fellows, should be necessary to the transaction of business became impracticable, and in 1838 it was enacted that a majority of the corporation, " provided there be present a majority of those who are by election suc- cessors of the original trustees," should thenceforth be a quorum. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, through all changes of politics, have been, with rare exceptions, punctual in their attendance, and by their knowledge and experience as men of affairs, as well as by their loyalty to the institution which so adorns and illuminates the State, they have rendered efficient service, one of them, or both, always serving on the Pruden- tial Committee. But of the senatorial members President Woolsey said, in 1866, "The senators in general take little interest in the proceedings, are apt to withdraw before the close of the meetings, and seem to feel that they are in a strange place. We have looked over the records of thirty-five meetings, and find that their average attendance is 2§|, or less than one-half. Nor is it likely that it will ever be greater, while the clerical members are seldom absent — on the average scarcely one out of eleven." * In brief, the experiment of representing the State in the corporation by a sort of delegation from " the upper house," had been almost entirely frustrated by the foolish "Constitutional Amendment" of 1828. President Woolsey therefore proposed a * New Englander, 1866, p. 700. 1 82 YALE COLLEGE. change, which, after some discussion in meetings of alumni and elsewhere, was boldly commended to the legislature by Governor Jewell in 187 1, and was suddenly adopted by that body, to the surprise, perhaps, of many who voted for it. The act of 1871 being promptly accepted by the corporation, is the latest amendment of the charter. As the corporation is constituted since this latest change, it consists of the President and eighteen Fellows : — namely, the ten who hold their places by succession from the founders of the "Collegiate School " in 1700; the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, who represent the State in that Scnatus Academicus, being elected annually by the people of Connecticut ; and six representative graduates elected by their fellow-gradu- ates, one every year, for a term of six years. Since 1872, the names of senators are seen no more upon the catalogue, but in their place are names more illustrious than the roll of the Connecticut senate is likely ever to show. It is worthy of notice that one of the six first elected is neither a statesman, nor a lawyer, nor even an alumnus, though a graduate, but holds his honored place in the commonwealth of letters simply by right of his large and far-seeing munificence in the interest of scientific education. How much beside splendor the corporation has gained by placing representative graduates in the chairs once belonging to State senators, is not easily measured. The ten successors of the original trustees — the ten Connecticut " ministers " of whom not one can be absent from a meeting without some anxious inquiry among his colleagues as to the condition of his health — must be, as they ever have been, the working mem- bers of the corporation. Yet the presence of the eminent men who (though only two or three be present) fill and more than fill the place of the State senators, is much more than a merely ornamental and honorary addition to the original body of Fellows. Our old nursing mother may well regard those representative graduates as not only decus but tutamen. At every session of the corporation or of its Prudential Committee, there are questions on which the judgment of such men is of great value. On a ques- tion involving some point of law, a word from one or another of them is a solution of the doubt. Advice from one or another of them about investments and securities has the authority of advice from an expert. What is more important, they are not nor can they be mere youngsters, eager for change and for facile methods of getting through college, but genuine representatives of Yale, ever conservative of sound learning, and ever progressive towards better methods of instruction and a higher plane of scholar- ship. They are and can hardly fail to be men representing the common thought and culture of the more than four thousand living alumni — men who love the old institu- tion for the sake of their own " long ago," and for the sake of their sons, who have already won or are hoping soon to win its honors — men familiar with its history and its ways, rejoicing in its past, assured of its future, and proud to repay, by any service in their power, some part of their personal debt to its founders and its benefactors. We must not forget the honor due to those who have sustained the office of Secre- tary to the corporation. For forty-three years after the legislative explanation and enlargement of the charter in 1723, the "clerk," authorized by that act and denomi- nated "scribe or register" in the charter of 1745, seems to have been chosen, pro hac vice, at each meeting. But from 1770 onward, the Secretary, as he is now called, has. THE CORPORA TION. I8 3 been a permanent officer. Diplomas were at first authenticated by the latinized signatures of the trustees. In later years, from long before the memory of the oldest living graduate, the names only of the President and Secretary have been subscribed ; and the fee for signing the diplomas and affixing the college seal was the Secretary's only compensation for his service to the corporation. The first permanent Secre- tary was Warham Williams, pastor of Northford. Next was Elizur Goodrich, D.D., already mentioned, who served from 1777 to 1788. Then, Enoch Huntington, of the First Church in Middletown (of whom the most memorable thing is, perhaps, that President Dwight was fitted for college under his tuition), filled the place till 1 793. After him was David Ely, D.D., of Huntington, whom the students called " Old Ab Archivist All these were " Reverend Fellows," but, on the death of Dr. Ely in 181 5, the Hon. Elizur Goodrich, who had been a Fellow ex officio as well as Professor of Law, was chosen Secretary. His name, " Elizur Goodrich, Secretaries," was subscribed to every diploma till his resignation, in extreme old age, after thirty years of service. Then the Rev. Samuel R. Andrew, a descendant of Rector Andrew, who had been nine years a member of the corporation and was then residing in New Haven, was elected Secretary, and resigned his place at the board. His successor, at the end of twelve years, was Wyllys Warner, formerly Treasurer of the corporation, and to be remembered with honor for his agency in obtaining from the alumni and others an endowment of $100,000. At his decease, in 1869, Franklin B. Dexter was chosen, whose accession marks a new era. He was already Registrar of the Faculty in the Academical Department, and Assistant Librarian, and by the performance of many other important duties, had proved his peculiar competency for the new office to which he was elected, and which he still continues to fill. THE LIBRARY. BY ADDISON VAN NAME. History during the last Century. — Contributions to the Library Fund. — Other noteworthy Gifts in Books or Money.— Statistics of Growth. — Library Building. — Librarians. — Society Libraries. According to the tradition preserved by President Clap, when the founders of the college came together for its formal establishment they could find no more fit act in which to clothe their purpose than a gift of books for the library. The idea of making a pile of books take the place of the customary pile of bricks is so happy as to pre- dispose one to accept the evidence of its truth. The position thus in idea assigned to the library is also one which, so far as we can see into the future, it must continue to hold, for the true university is coming more and more to be, if it has not already become, a library of books. The tradition, simply as a tradition, is worth, we take it, more than the £30 at which President Clap estimates the forty folio volumes said to have been given by the founders, and so it becomes a matter of minor consequence whether this precise number was actually given or not. It may be safely assumed that the books, gathered from whatever source during the first dozen years, could not have been numerous enough to make the transport of them during the early migrations of the college a matter of much difficulty. The first important accession was a collection sent over in 1 714 by Jeremiah Dummer, agent of the Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies in London, amounting in all to upwards of seven hundred volumes, of which ninety-two were his own gift, and the rest obtained by his solicitation. Among the donors were Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Richard Steele, Sir Richard Blackmore, Dr. Halley, Dr. Bentley, Dr. Calamy, Matthew Henry, Sir Edmund Andros, and Sir Francis Nicholson. Governor Yale added thirty or forty volumes, the forerunner of a larger gift to follow. About the same time Sir John Davie, formerly of Groton, who had gone to England a few years before to take pos- session of an estate to which he had fallen heir, sent over some two hundred volumes, chiefly theological, and contributed in part by nonconformist ministers in Devonshire. The original lists which accompanied these gifts are preserved among the papers 184 THE LIBRARY. ^5 of the college, and a portion of the books can still be identified, Sir Isaac Newton's among others. The absence of another portion may be accounted for by the circum- stances which attended the removal of the library to New Haven in 1718. The £2^ voted by the General Assembly of the colony as an indemnity to Saybrook for the loss of the college did not reconcile the inhabitants to the removal, and the execution of the sheriff's writ for the delivery of the books was forcibly resisted. "In this tumult and confusion," says President Clap, " about two hundred and fifty of the most valu- able books and sundry papers of importance were conveyed away by unknown hands and never could be found again." The library on reaching New Haven was reinforced by three hundred volumes from Governor Yale and seventy- six volumes from Mr. Dummer. More valuable than any gift that preceded, or that followed for nearly a hundred years, was that which came from Bishop Berkeley in 1733. The collection, pro- nounced by President Clap " the finest that ever came together at one time into America," and judged by him to have cost at least ^400 sterling, numbered about one thousand volumes, of which two hundred and sixty were folios. A list of the books, printed by Professor Gilman in 1865, from the original manuscript in the possession of the college, may be found in the " Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society," vol. i., pp. 162-165. There remains no other considerable piece of good fortune to record in the early history of the library. By small gifts, and such pur- chases, no doubt still smaller, as the slender income of the college permitted, it slowly increased down to the time of the Revolution. In the first catalogue of the library published by President Clap in 1 743, the number of volumes is put at two thousand -six hundred; in the edition of 1755, at three thousand. In his " Annals " (1766) he says : " We have a good library, consisting of about four thousand volumes, well fur- nished with ancient authors, such as the Fathers, Historians, and Classicks, many modern valuable books of Divinity, History, Philosophy, and Mathematicks, but not many authors who have wrote within these thirty years," i. c. since the date of Bishop Berkeley's gift. During the war the library was removed for greater security to the interior of the State, a precaution which was itself not free from danger, as the cata- logue of 1 791, in which only two thousand seven hundred volumes appear, testifies. The first contribution toward a permanent fund for the increase of the library was a bequest of £\o from Rev. Jared Eliot, of Killingworth, in 1763. This was followed before the close of the century by two others, one, also of £10, from Rev. Thomas Ruggles, of Guilford, in 1777, and one of $1,122 from Rev. Samuel Lockwood, D.D., of Andover, Connecticut, in 1 79 1. Hon. Oliver Wolcott gave $2,000 to the fund in 1807. In 1823, Eli Whitney, of New Haven, and Daniel Wadsworth, of Hartford, gave each $500, the former for books in practical mechanics, the latter for books in natural history and chemistry. John T. Norton, of Albany, New York, gave, in 1830, $5,000. Six years later, the library received by bequest of Dr. Alfred E. Perkins, of Norwich, Connecticut, who died in 1834, $10,000, the largest sum that up to that time had ever been given to the college by any one person, and still the largest contribu- tion to the library fund. A bequest for theological works, made by Rev. John Elliott, VOL. 1. — 24 1 86 YALE COLLEGE. of Guilford, in 1824, reached in 1843 the stipulated amount, $1,000, and was added to the fund; subsequent accumulations have raised it to $1,400. A legacy of $5,000 from Addin Lewis, of New Haven, was received in 1849, and a gift of $500 from Professor James L. Kingsley in 1850. Mrs. William A. Larned gave, in 1861, $i,ioo for a music fund. In 1867, Dr. Jared Linsly, of New York, gave $5,000 (in ten annual payments) for the department of modern European languages, and in connec- tion with this gift a bequest of $3,000 made to the college by Noah Linsly, of Wheel- ing, Virginia, the income of which had been assigned by vote of the corporation to the library from 1821 until 1851, and then withdrawn, was again restored to the library, making a combined fund of $8,000. Hon. Alphonso Taft gave $1,000 in 1869, and a like sum was received from an anonymous donor in 1870. Charles H. Board, of Edenville, New York, who died in 1871, shortly after graduation, left to the library $2,500 for books in the department of political and social science. In the same year Henry W. Scott, of Southbury, Connecticut, a graduate of the class of 1863, made a bequest which now amounts to $2,300, but is to accumulate until it reaches $5,000 before the income will be available. The class of 1872 gave at graduation $1,700, and, in 1875, $1,000 were received from Mr. Thomas Hooker, of New Haven, the latest contribution to the fund. These several gifts, which make up the library fund, amount to a little less than $45,000, yielding an annual income (the Scott fund is not yet productive) of $2,500. Of the gifts other than to the library fund during the present century, the following are the most noteworthy : In 1834, the publications of the Record Commission, seventy-four volumes, folio, were received from the government of Great Britain ; and in 1847 a copy of the Description de l'Egypte, twenty-three volumes, folio, from Dr. William Hillhouse, of New Haven. President Woolsey, in 1861, gave his Greek library, of nearly one thousand volumes, and has since made repeated and valuable gifts to this and other departments of the library. The greatest of all the benefactions in the history of the library have been those of Professor Salisbury. In 1870, he gave, in addition to his already large and costly col- lection of Oriental books and manuscripts, the sum of $6,000 for enlarging it, and has since given other sums amounting to nearly $2,000 for the same object. This collec- tion, which now numbers nearly four thousand volumes, includes many large illustrated works, such, for example, as those of Lepsius, Rosellini, Champollion and the French Expedition on Egypt, Botta's Nineveh, Flandin and Coste's Persia, Daniell's Oriental Scenery, Von Siebold's Japan, Salzmann's Jerusalem, and Owen Jones' Alhambra ; complete series of the leading Oriental journals, amounting collectively to more than four hundred volumes ; the principal Arabic and Sanskrit works edited by European scholars, together with many of those issued from the native presses, and ninety volumes of manuscripts, mostly Arabic. No other department of the library approaches this in value or completeness. In 1 87 1, Charles Astor Bristed gave $500 for the purchase of books in the depart- ment of classical philology, and in the same year the library of Robert von Mohl, the LIBRARY. MAIN ROOM. THE L1BRARF. 87 eminent writer on political science, was purchased at a cost of $3,600, toward which Hon. William Walter Phelps contributed $1,400. Since 1874, the library has also enjoyed, by appointment of Mr. Phelps, the benefit of the John J. Phelps' fund, which brings an addition of $3,500 to its yearly income. Hon. Henry Farnam, in addition to a gift of $1,000 in 1873, has since presented three large and costly works — Abbe Migne's Patrology, both the Latin and the Greek series, in three hundred and eighty-seven volumes, Mansi's Councils, and the Bullarium Magnum Romanum. From George Peabody Wetmore, of Newport, Rhode Island, the library received, in 1873, $700 ; from Frederick W. Stevens, of New York, and Professor Marsh, $500 each, for Chinese and Japanese literature. Hon. James E. English gave, in 1875, a bound set of the Parliamentary Papers from 1865 to 1873 inclusive, in seven hundred and forty-two volumes. Deserving of mention here are also Professor Dana's repeated gifts, amounting during the past five years to not less than seven hundred volumes, and embracing several long and valuable series of scientific journals. Further, a fine set of the Annual Register, one hundred and seventeen volumes, the Gentleman's Magazine, 1 838-1 874, seventy-four volumes (completing our set), and the Archaeologische Zeitung, thirty volumes, from Mr. R. S. Fellowes ; Tischendorf's Monumenta Sacra Inedita and the Vatican MS. of the Greek Scriptures, edited by Vercellone and Cozza, from Rev. Edgar L. Heermance, of White Plains, New York ; the Journal of the British Archae- ological Association, thirty volumes, and Hutchins' History of the County of Dorset, from Mr. Theodore S. Woolsey ; and from Henry Holt, Esq., New York, a series of his publications for the past five years. The notable increase both in the frequency and the value of these gifts in recent years is gratifying both for the present happy results, seen in the growth of the library, and as an augury of the future. Notwithstanding the addition of two thousand volumes by purchase in 1805, the catalogue of 1808 gives a total of only four thousand seven hundred volumes. In 1823, the date of the last printed catalogue, the number was six thousand five hundred; in 1835, ten thousand. In 1845, the income of the library, having been for some years husbanded with this object in view, purchases to the amount of $8,000 were made by Professor Kingsley in Europe. This important accession of books, taken in connection with the fact that the present library building was then just ready for occupation, and that the librarianship, which had hitherto been attached to some other and more engrossing college duty, became, with the appointment of Mr. Herrick, an independent office, forms a marked era in the history of the library. In 1850, the number of volumes had risen to twenty-one thousand ; in i860, to thirty-five thousand; in 1870, to fifty-five thousand; it now exceeds eighty thousand, to which must be added many thousand unbound pamphlets. For some years past, the average annual increase has been equal to the entire growth of the last century, and if even this is not equal to the multiplied demands of the present, bur- dened as we are with long arrears in the past, it is encouraging to note that the curve which marks the rate of our recent progress is a rapidly ascending one. 1 88 YALE COLLEGE. On the removal of the library to New Haven in 1718, it was first placed in the new college building erected in part by the bounty of Governor Yale, and named in his honor. It was removed in 1763 to the Athenaeum, in 1804 to the Lyceum, in 1825 to the late chapel, occupying in each case a room on the upper floor. The present library building was begun in 1843, and though not completed until 1846, one of the smaller rooms was made ready for use and the library removed to it in 1844. Sub- scriptions amounting to $18,000 were received in aid of the building, the total cost of which was $34,000. Professor Salisbury gave $6,000, President Woolsey $3,000, the Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer $600, President Day, Professor Goodrich, Mr. Henry D. A. Ward, and the Hon. Thomas S. Williams, $500 each ; and others smaller sums. The material of the building is brown sandstone from the Portland quarries, and the dimensions are as follows : length of front, one hundred and fifty-one feet ; height of towers, ninety-one feet ; interior dimensions of the main hall, forty-one feet by eighty- three feet ; of the connecting wings, twenty-six feet by forty feet ; of the side halls, twenty feet by fifty-six feet. Until 1805, the senior tutor performed the duties of librarian, receiving therefor in the time of President Clap an additional salary of £6. Professor James L. Kingsley was librarian from 1805 to I 8 2 4> Professor Josiah W. Gibbs from 1824 to 1843, Mr. Edward C. Herrick from 1843 to 1858, Mr. Daniel C. Gihnan assistant-librarian from 1856 to 1858, and librarian from 1858 to 1865. The present incumbents, Addison Van Name, librarian, and Franklin B. Dexter, assistant-librarian, have held office, the former since 1865, the latter since 1869. THE SOCIETY LIBRARIES. For the last fifty years, the undergraduate students have been accustomed to look for the supply of their ordinary needs less to the college library than to those most useful auxiliaries, the libraries of the public societies. These have been built up by the efforts of the students to provide for themselves what the college was too poor to furnish — a good collection of books in general literature. The Linonian library, which is younger by sixteen years than the society itself, was commenced in 1 769, Timothy Dwight, Nathan Hale, and James Hillhouse making the first contribution of books. The example thus set was soon followed by the Brothers in Unity, but for half a cen- tury the progress of both libraries was exceedingly slow. About 1825, the advance became more rapid, but slackened again, after 1850, when the interest in the societies began to decline. The number of volumes in the Linonian library has been as follows : in 1800, four hundred and seventy-five; in 181 1, seven hundred; in 1822, twelve hun- dred; in 1831, three thousand five hundred; in 1841, seven thousand five hundred; in 1846, ten thousand one hundred; in i860, eleven thousand three hundred; in 1870, thirteen thousand. The Brothers' library ran an almost parallel course, the mutual rivalry suffering neither to get far in advance of the other. It contained, in 1808, seven hundred volumes ; in 1825, one thousand seven hundred ; in 1835, four thousand five hundred; in 1846, nine thousand one hundred; in 1851, eleven thousand six hun- THE LIBRARY. 189 dred ; in i860, twelve thousand; in 1870, thirteen thousand. In 1871, by vote of the two societies, the libraries were placed under the control of the college library com- mittee, with the understanding that they should be united, a measure recommended by considerations both of economy and convenience, and at the same time brought into closer relations with the college library. This union was accomplished in 1872. The two libraries were placed in the north wing of the building, before occupied by the Brothers' library alone, and in the rearrangement preparatory to a new catalogue, several hundred volumes more appropriate for the college library were transferred thither, and several thousand duplicates set aside for sale and exchange. The number of volumes was reduced thereby to seventeen thousand, but has been raised by subse- quent additions to twenty thousand. The united Linonian and Brothers' library is sustained as before, by a tax included in the term-bills of the undergraduate students. The amount left for books and binding, after other expenses have been met, is not far from $2,000 a year. Though kept distinct and separately catalogued, this library forms essentially one department of the college library, and in the selection of books, which is now made for both libraries by the same committee, this mutual relation is kept steadily in view and all unnecessary duplication avoided. The books in most active circulation are in general included in the smaller library ; and for this a printed catalogue, as well as its supplements and new editions from time to time, will remain a necessity. The catalogue of the college library, on the other hand, is in manuscript ; each title on a separate card, and the authors and subjects arranged in separate alphabets. The Calliopean Society, organized in 1819, gathered a library which at the time of its dissolution, in 1854, amounted to six thousand volumes. A few of these remained in the possession of the college, but the greater part were sold. Before they were removed to the present library building, these three libraries occu- pied together the second floor of the Athenaeum. In 1867, a reading-room well furnished with newspapers and periodicals, American and English, was opened in South Middle College, four rooms having been thrown into one for the purpose. Better provision has recently been made for it in the room left vacant by the removal of the cabinet of minerals to the Peabody Museum. THE TREASURY. BY HENRY C. KINGSLEY. The Treasurers, 1701-1832. — Gifts of Money from the State of Connecticut, 1701-1830. — Gifts of Money from Individuals, 1 701-1830. — Gifts of Land, 1701-1830. — Financial Condition of the College in 1830. — Growth of the Funds, 1833 to 1852. — Growth of the Funds, 1852 to 1862. — Growth of the Funds since 1862. — Present Condition. — New Buildings. — Treasury Building. The treasurers of Yale College, as their names appear on the Triennial Catalogue, and the dates of their appointment, have been as follows : 1701. Nathaniel Lynde, l 776. John Trumbull, 1701. Richard Rosewell, 1782. James Hillhouse, 1702. John Ailing, 1 ^>33- Wyllys Warner, 1 71 2. John Prout, 1852. Edward C. Herrick, 1765. Roger Sherman, 1862. Henry C. Kingsley. The first named of these, Nathaniel Lynde, was a highly respected citizen of Say- brook, who showed his friendship to the college by giving them their first house, but it does not appear that he entered upon the duties of the office to which he had been elected. Richard Rosewell, a resident of New Haven, was then chosen, but he died a few months after. He was succeeded by John Ailing, also a citizen of New Haven, who continued to hold the office until the removal of the college from Saybrook and its establishment in New Haven. The selection of residents of New Haven to the treas- urership of the college, before the college was permanently placed here, is an indication of the tendency toward New Haven in the minds of the trustees. John Prout, whose appointment as treasurer was coincident with the establishment of the college here, was a resident of New Haven, a graduate of the college, of the class of 1708. He con- tinued to hold the office of treasurer for forty-eight years. During his long life he was a highly respected merchant in his native town, conducting what was regarded at that time as a large business. It is worth noting that his accounts with the college were 190 H I H m > c •< CD C r o z o THE TREASURY. I9I kept in ounces of silver. For instance, it is a matter of record that the total receipts of the treasury for two years ending July, 1761, were two thousand and ninety-three ounces and eighteen pennyweights of silver. To him succeeded Roger Sherman, who had recently removed to New Haven, and who in the succeeding year, 1 766, was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State. His important field of labor was in the councils of the nation, where, as one of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, his name is conspicuous among the members of that memorable body. During his nineteen years of service as a senator in Congress, his history is a part of the history of the country. He resigned his treasurership in 1776, when, at the opening of the war of independence, public affairs engrossed his whole attention. John Trumbull was treasurer for six years, from 1776 to 1782. He was a graduate of the college, of the class of 1767, and, after serving his alma mater as tutor, studied law at Boston with John Adams, who became the second President of the United States. On his returning to New Haven from Boston, Mr. Trumbull was chosen treasurer, and filled the office until his removal to Hartford, in 1782. Here he prac- ticed his profession, and, in 1801, was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Connecticut, which office he held for nineteen years. He left a high reputation for learning and integrity. He is also well known from his famous political satire, " McFingal," partly written at New Haven, which has given his name a permanent place in the literature of the country. James Hillhouse was graduated at Yale College, in 1773, and commenced the prac- tice of law in New Haven. In 1782, he was appointed treasurer of the college, and continued to hold the office until his death, fifty years later. During the whole of this period he attended to a large private business, and for most of the time he was deeply engrossed with public duties. Hardly any man has been so long intimately connected with public affairs in the State of Connecticut and in the town of New Haven as Mr. Hillhouse. He was an officer in the army of the Revolution. In 1791, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives in Congress ; this office he vacated only to become Senator, and his seat in the Senate he resigned only to enter upon the duties of Commissioner of the School Fund of the State, in which office he continued until 1825, thus completing an uninterrupted public service of thirty-four years. It will be readily understood that none of these gentlemen devoted very much time to the duties of the office of treasurer of Yale College. Some estimate of the import- ance of the office at this period, and of what was expected of the treasurer, may be formed from the fact that when Mr. Hillhouse was chosen to the office his salary was fixed at £\o per annum, while that of a tutor was £70. The services of Mr. Hillhouse were mainly confined to giving advice and devising plans for the profit of the college. By his judicious management, some valuable por- tions of the present college square were secured from the private owners ; and with the legislature of the State, and in other ways, his services to the college were important and valuable. Through all this period from the foundation of the college, the bills for tuition and 1 92 YALE COLLEGE. room rent were collected of the students by the steward, who furnished board, and received his own dues at the same time that he collected those of the college. At the time of the entrance of Mr. Hillhouse on the treasurership, the income of the college from all sources was ,£1,338 12s. The funds of the college were very small, and the care of them could not have been very onerous to the treasurers. But small as the business was, I find that much of it was performed by the president and other members of the corporate board. Repeatedly was some one member or more appointed to adjust accounts, to obtain security for debts, to prosecute claims, or to make contracts. When the farm in Newport was given to the college by Dean Berkeley, one of the trustees was appointed to go to Newport, take possession of the farm, and lease it. The same course was pursued in the case of the Litchfield county farms granted by the State. President Clap made the contracts for and superintended the building of Con- necticut Hall, the house for the Professor of Divinity, and the chapel, and settled with the contractors and made his reports to the corporation — all which services would, in these later days, be required of the treasurer. The amount of money received by the college from the State of Connecticut, from 1700 to 1792, was $24,399.10. Of this sum, $2,220 was raised by a lottery autho- rized by the State in 1747, and more than $5,000 came from the avails of a French prize brought into New London by an armed vessel of the State. Neither of these sums came directly out of the treasury. In the year 1792, the college received from the State a grant of certain taxes not then collected, and which, it was supposed, would not be needed for their original pur- pose, which yielded $40,629.80. This grant, which was very timely, as it was greatly needed by the college, was obtained by the influence and active exertions of the treas- urer, Mr. Hillhouse, whose personal character and valuable services to the State gave him great weight with the legislature. The grant was made after the report of a com- mittee appointed by the legislature to examine the affairs of the college, in which they say: "The treasury is in much better condition than we apprehended. We are bound to observe that the affairs of the corporation have been managed with great dexterity, prudence, and economy." In 181 6, the college also received from the State $8,785.70; and in 183 1, from a bonus paid for a bank charter, $7,000. The donations of individuals, up to the close of Mr. Hillhouse's treasurership, had not been large. Governor Elihu Yale gave, in addition to books for the library, goods which yielded £400 sterling ; Gurdon Saltonstall, Governor of the State, gave £50, and Madam Saltonstall, £\o; Anthony Nougier, of Fairfield, £2"/; Gershom Clark, of Lebanon, £$$ 10s. ; and the Hon. Philip Livingston £2% 10s., as the commence- ment of a fund for the support of a Professor of Divinity. Jahaleel Brenton, of Newport, Rhode Island, gave £50. Dr. Daniel Lathrop, of Norwich, Connecticut, who died in 1782, left by will £500. Dr. Lathrop was a graduate of the class of 1733. He studied medicine in London, and, in connection with his brother, Dr. Joshua Lath- rop (Yale College, 1743), established a drug store in Norwich, Connecticut, which for many years was the only store of the sort in the State. In 1789, Rev. Samuel Lock- wood, D.D., gave £100 to the college for philosophical apparatus, and after his death THE TREASURY. I93 the college received under his will $1,100. Dr. Lockwood was a graduate of the class of 1 745, and a member of the corporate board for fourteen years, until his death in 1 791. The Hon. Oliver Wolcott, who had been Governor of the State, as well as his father and grandfather before him, gave $2,000 in 1807, the income of which he directed to be expended for the increase of the library. He was graduated in the class of 1778. Noah Linsly received the degree of Bachelor of Arts at his graduation in 1 79 1, and, after serving as tutor, removed to Wheeling, Virginia, where he became successful in the practice of the law. At his death, in 18 14, he left the college, by will, the sum of $3,000 for the increase of the library. Eli Whitney, Esq., the inventor of the cotton-gin, a graduate of the class of 1792, also gave, in 1822, $500 for the pur- chasing of books in mechanical and physical science. These were the important donations in money received by the college from private persons, available for the Academical Department, previous to the death of Mr. Hillhouse. The college received several valuable gifts of land. From Major James Fitch, in the year 1701, six hundred and thirty-seven acres in the town of Killingly, which was sub- sequently exchanged for about the same quantity in the town of Salisbury ; from Rev. Richard Salter, a farm in Mansfield ; from Dean Berkeley, a farm in Newport, Rhode Island ; from Joseph Peck, two acres in the town of New Haven ; and from the town authorities, eight acres adjoining the " Peck land." The State of Connecticut also granted fifteen hundred acres of land in Litchfield county. Philosophical apparatus was purchased by friends of the college in 1 734, and pre- sented to the institution; and in 1825 the extensive collection of minerals made by Colonel George Gibbs, which had been deposited with the college since 181 2, was pur- chased with funds subscribed for the purpose. Previous to 1830, a small beginning had been made towards providing a fund for the Medical Department, which amounted to about $4,000. Funds for the Dwight Pro- fessorship in the Theological Department, amounting to about $19,000, and for the Professorship of Sacred Literature, amounting to about $9,000, were secured between the years 1820 and 1830. Timothy Dwight, Esq., the eldest son of President Timothy Dwight, was the largest contributor to these last-named funds. About the year 1830, the financial affairs of the college were at a very low ebb. The first printed statement of the finances of the college appeared in that year, from which we find that the total productive funds, not including land, amounted to $30,856.26, while there were outstanding liabilities against the college amounting to $13,000. The total income from funds that year was $2,673.66. In 1831, the receipts from all sources, including tuition, were $19,674.87, while the expenses were $20,208.38. In 1832, the receipts were $20,000.08; the expenses, $23,028.87*. The income from funds, in that year, was only $2,555.86. This state of things alarmed the friends of the college, and a movement was inaugurated to raise the sum of $100,000 for the general purposes of the college. Rev. Wyllys Warner, a graduate of the class of 1826, was selected as the agent to solicit the money. The president and professors subscribed largely from their scanty incomes, and by strenuous effort the sum was raised, mostly in moderate amounts. The Senior class, which was graduated in 1831, gave $1000. vol. 1. — 25 194 VALE COLLEGE. In 1832, Mr. Hillhouse died, having- held the office of treasurer for fifty years. Mr. Stephen Twining, a graduate of the class of 1795, who had been steward of the col- lege since 18 19, and who not only acted as assistant treasurer, as did the preceding stewards, but to whom the title and official position were given, died in the same year. Mr. Warner, who had exhibited much skill and judgment in his soliciting agency, was selected to be treasurer, and to take care of the fund he had secured. He was the first treasurer who gave his whole time to the duties of the office. His administration, which continued until 1852, was judicious, and he left the funds increased in amount. During this period, the DeForest Fund, which grew out of a donation, in 1825, of Mr. David C. DeForest, of New Haven, of the sum of $5,000, had accumulated to $25,000, and became available. Mr. Sheldon Clark, a farmer of Oxford, in New Haven county, who had become interested in the college, and especially in some branches of natural science, gave all his property to the corporation. A part of this, when it had accumulated so as to amount to $20,000, was appropriated to the foun- dation of the Professorship of Moral Philosophy — the first professorship regarded as fully endowed. Four thousand dollars were also appropriated to found the " Clark Scholarship," and about $14,000 were added to the General Fund of the college. Dr. Alfred E. Perkins, of Norwich, Connecticut, of the class of 1830, left by will $10,000 for the library. Fifteen thousand dollars were contributed to establish the Professor- ship of Natural Philosophy by a legacy from Israel Munson, of Boston, Massachusetts. Upwards of $10,000 were given by Mr. Edward E. Salisbury and others, for the beginning of a foundation for the establishment of the Silliman Professorship of Nat- ural History. Several other valuable donations were made to the Library Fund, as well as to the Gratuity Fund for the aid of needy students. The funds of the Theological Department, already existing, were increased in amount, and the Pastoral Professorship Fund was commenced, mostly from the liberal donations of Professor C. A. Goodrich. The general fund of this department now amounted to $14,000. The fund of the Medical Department had been increased, so that it amounted to $14,450. A law library was purchased for the Law Department, at a cost of between $5,000 and $6,000. The funds of the college have been also largely increased by a purchase, made by Mr. Warner, of a considerable amount of unproductive real estate in the town of New Haven, which Mr. Augustus L. Hillhouse inherited from his father, the late treasurer. This gentleman had long resided in Paris, and desired to convert his prop- erty into something which would give him an income. By the advice of his relatives, and especially of his sister, Miss Mary L. Hillhouse, whose love for the college was second only to her desire to aid her brother, Mr. Hillhouse sold the property to the college on advantageous terms of payment ; but so doubtful was the corporation of the advantage of the purchase, that it was only made upon their being secured against eventual loss. By the growth of New Haven and the rise in value of real estate, the college has gained much. In 1852, Mr. Warner was compelled by infirm health to resign his office, and was succeeded by Edward C. Herrick, who had been for nine years the librarian of the college, and who, for some time previous to Mr. Warner's THE TREASURY. ! 95 resignation, had rendered him valuable aid in the treasurer's office. Mr. Herrick con- tinued to be treasurer until his death, in 1862. Large additions were made to the funds during- this period. A second subscription in aid of the college was successful in adding a little more than $100,000 to the avail- able means of the institution. A foundation for the Professorship of Modern Languages was commenced by Mr. Augustus R. Street, of the class of 181 2; and for the Professorship of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology by Mr. Edward E. Salisbury, of the class of 1832. Several scholarships were established, among them the Harmer Scholarship, by a legacy of $10,000 from Thomas Harmer Johns, of the class of 181 8; the Macy Scholarship, by a legacy from William A. Macy, of the class of 1844. The Theological Department received an addition to its funds by the gift of $10,000 from Professor Chauncey A. Goodrich; of $15,000 from Mr. Benjamin Hoppin, of Providence, Rhode Island; of $5,000 from Miss Lucretia Deming, of New York; and a legacy of $10,000 from Mr. William Burroughs, of the class of 1843. The Scientific Department received from Mr. John T. Norton, of Farmington, its first gift, about $5,000, which was largely supplemented by Mr. Joseph E. Sheffield, whose name the department bears, who gave not only the building now known as Sheffield Hall and the land on which it stands, with the appurtenances, but also a fund of $50,000. The fund of the Medical Department was also increased by a small amount. The present treasurer commenced his term of service in 1862, and the additions to the funds since that time have been quite large. A fund for the cultivation of sacred music, for which Mr. Joseph Battell, of New York city, had previously given $5,000, has been increased to $10,000 by the liberality of Mrs. Irene Larned, who has also made several other valuable gifts for other pur- poses. The fund for the support of a Professor of Divinity, which was commenced in the year 1 746, and supplemented by some small additions, has been increased by about the sum of $40,000, the donation of Hon. S. B. Chittenden, of Brooklyn, New York. The Dunham Fund, the income of which is applied to the support of the Dunham Professor of the Latin Language and Literature, received $10,000 from Mr. Austin Dunham, of Hartford, and $12,623 from other persons in smaller sums. A fund for the support of a Professor of History, has been commenced by the gift of $15,000. The fund which Mr. A. R. Street commenced before this period, he raised, during this time, to $31,690. Fellowship funds amounting to $19,000 have been provided; $10,000 by Mrs. Theodosia D. Wheeler, in memory of her son, William Wheeler, of the class of 1855, who lost his life in the late war. The Douglas Fellowship, also, has been established by Mrs. Mary Ann Douglas Miller, in memory of her brothers — Sutherland Douglas, of the class of 1822, and George H. Douglas, of the class of 1828. A Fellowship Fund of $25,000, payable in 1883, has been devised to the college by H. W. Foote, of the class of 1866. The library funds have been increased about $14,000 in amount, $5,000 having 196 VALE COLLEGE. been sjaven by Dr. Jared Linsly to supplement the gift of his uncle, Noah Linsly, here- tofore mentioned. A legacy of $2,000 received from the estate of Mr. W. W. DeForest, of New York, has established a prize scholarship for excellence in the modern languages ; and a gift of $5,000 from Buchanan Winthrop of the class of 1862, another for the most thorough acquaintance with the Latin and Greek poets. The funds of the Theological Department have been largely increased. Hon. William A. Buckingham, late Governor of the State of Connecticut, adding $25,000 to a previous donation of $5,000 ; Mr. David Smith, of Norwich, giving $5,000 ; Rev. Charles Nichols, of New Britain, $3,000 ; Mr. W. W. De Forrest, of New York, $5,000, and other donors smaller sums. By the legacy of Mr. Augustus R. Street, $47,865 have been received for a Profes- sorship in this department, but the income is not yet available. Mr. Samuel Holmes, of New York, has secured the sum of $25,000 for a Professorship of the Hebrew Lan- guage and Literature, of which $14,000 have been received. Scholarships in this department amounting to $38,219 have been established. Of this amount $14,500 were received from Rev. David Root; $5,000 from Mr. J. B. Beadle, of New York, and $3,069 from a legacy of Mrs. Mary A. Goodman. Mr. Henry W. Sage, of Brooklyn, New York, has given $10,000 to found the Lyman Beecher Lectureship. The Sheffield Scientific School has received valuable gifts. Mr. Sheffield has added to his former donations various sums at different times, which amount in the aggregate to not less than $350,000, including the cost of the two large buildings occupied by the school. Among the other large donors are Hon. William W. Phelps, Hon. W. E. Dodge, and the late Mr. Joseph Sampson, of New York; Hon. James E. English, late Governor of the State of Connecticut ; Hon. O. F. Winchester, Hon. Henry Farnam, Mr. R. S. Fellowes, and the late William W. Boardman, Esq., of New Haven. Mr. M. D. Collier, of St. Louis, Missouri, a graduate of the Academical Department, of the class of 1866, gave also, in the name of his brother, Thomas F. Collier, a student in this department, recently deceased, $6,000 for the purchase of apparatus. Dr. John De Forest, of Watertown, Connecticut, a graduate of the class of 1826, gave $5,000 to the Medical Department, in addition to other liberal gifts to other departments. In 1 87 1, a movement was set on foot to raise $500,000 for the college, to be called the Woolsey Fund, in honor of the late President of the college, and a committee was appointed by the graduates for the purpose. This committee has collected and paid over to the treasurer $150,000, and the work is still in progress. Dr. Henry Bronson, of New Haven, has given $5,000 to aid in the support of a Professor of Comparative Anatomy. Twenty-four thousand dollars have been given for the foundation of a Professorship of Botany. The Professorship of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology, which had before been partially endowed by Mr, Edward E. THE TREASURY. X o 7 Salisbury, as has been already mentioned, has received from die same liberal donor a further amount, making the fund $50,000. Hon. James E. English has given $10,000 as a fund for a Law Library, as well as other sums to the College Library and for other purposes. The foregoing statement is not intended to be exhaustive. The list of donors, even of comparatively large sums, to the first $100,000 fund, to the fund of 1854, and especially to the recent fund still in progress, is quite too large for publication in a statement like this. Indeed these funds have come into the treasury, not in detail, but in gross amounts. This sketch would be incomplete, however, without making mention of the build- ings which have been added to the college property within the past ten years, the payments for which have been made by the college treasurer, mostly from donations given for these specific purposes. Some of these are a direct source of revenue to the institution, and all contribute indirectly to the income of the college. The Yale School of Fine Arts, commenced in 1864, was the gift of Mr. Augustus R. Street, whose large donations to other departments of the college have been already mentioned. It was completed at a cost of nearly $200,000. His legacy for the support of the school, and the gifts of his widow for the same purpose, have been quite large. Farnam College was commenced in 1869, and was completed at a cost of about $1 25,000. The principal part of this sum was the gift of Hon. Henry Farnam, who has also made liberal donations to almost all the various departments of the college, some of which have been mentioned in other places. East Theological Hall was commenced in the same year, 1869, and was completed at a cost of about $180,000. Durfee College was commenced in 1870, and was completed at a cost of about $130,000. This amount was the gift of Mr. B. M. C. Durfee, of Fall River, Massa- chusetts. Mr. Durfee entered college, but was compelled to leave on account of ill health, and died soon after the completion of the building which bears his name. West Theological Hall was commenced in 1873, and was completed at a cost of about $160,000. One half of this amount was the gift of Mr. Frederick Marquand, of Southport, who also built the Marquand Chapel. Among the other large donors to the new buildings for the Theological Department may be mentioned Messrs. Aaron and Charles Benedict, of Waterbury, who gave $20,000 ; Hon. W. E. Dodge and Hon. S. F. B. Morse, of New York, and Mr. Daniel Hand, of New Haven, have given $10,000 each; Mr. E. E. Salisbury, $6,000; and there have been a large number of donations of $5,000 and smaller sums. The Battell Chapel is named in memory of Mr. Joseph Battell, of New York, who besides being a liberal benefactor of the college in other ways, gave the sum of $35,000 towards the erection of a chapel. This sum, with its accumulations, was sup- plemented by his legacy of $50,000, and by large gifts from his family connections and a few other friends of the college. Mention will more properly be made elsewhere of those funds, of which the college receives the income, which are not in the care of the treasurer ; such as the Agricul- tural College Fund in the hands of the Commissioner of the School Fund of the i 9 8 VALE COLLEGE. State ; the Higgin Fund, the Peabody Museum and its Fund, and the Fund for the Winchester Observatory. The funds of the Academical Department now amount to about $700,000; the funds of the Theological Department to about $300,000 ; the funds of the Sheffield Scientific School to about $165,000 ; the funds of the Medical Department to a little over $21,000 ; and the University funds to over $230,000. The income from all sources for the year ending June 30, 1876, was over $300,000. If this statement is compared with the condition of the college in 1830, the growth of the funds seems large ; but if the list of instructors, now numbering ninety-two, is com- pared with the list of 1830, and if the increased appliances for instruction are taken into account, it will be seen that the funds have not kept pace with the actual growth of the institution, and are now clearly insufficient for the greatest usefulness of the college. In 1 83 1, a committee was appointed by the corporation to erect a building west of the college chapel, for the exhibition of the paintings of Colonel John Trumbull, which the college proposed to purchase from him. The committee was authorized to pro- vide accommodations for other needs of the college in the same building. In pursuance of this authority the Trumbull Gallery was erected. An office on the ground floor was fitted up for the treasurer's use, where the business of the college was conducted until 1868, when on the completion of the School of Fine Arts and the removal of the Trumbull paintings to the gallery of that school, the main story of the Trumbull Gallery was altered so as to provide sufficient accommodation for the Treasury as well as rooms for the President and for the meetings of the Faculty and those of the cor- poration. The building is now known as the Treasury. v — PLOT of COLLEGE square ^ Showing* The Da/tea Of ACQUIRING THE TITLE ^ Scale 200 Feet To The Inch "I \ \ 1877 / YORK ST. ISO uo IJO lit U7.» Y U7» o 3 5 < A. r n X > •v W f s a * 3 n k 4 o 3 » Ob CD . K^ 71 ' a- -p-l r --J if* i 1 Ti" , O , fj 1 S | 18S6 £ Edw*. Wi£§lesworter " r-i 1 <*M i ! £ 1 1874 1 2 1 1««6 £ H 1 G H s T AW. Bell (A 3 M 1ZO T JO T " £ 'gi £ 17 »•! 17 96 lass ' Til H _ A/r. Cockerel/ «j! i »i i tm I i 1 | .-1 ; Mrs- Constalrle ! " 4 i i OS i 5; * ; 5 O 1 ' 0> 1796 : O 01 a 1 Old 1783 S " 100 "J Mr Atayres \ 1 John. EvaKS J i o -J ' "! , PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED. 233 is sufficient to say, in a word, that he was among these a peer, always enjoying, in a high degree, their confidence and affection. He was in the fullness of his reputation and usefulness during the fifth decade of the century. He was then widely known and honored both among the alumni of the college and the intelligent throughout the land, nor was his name without credit in the highest scientific circles abroad. His larger text-books in natural philosophy and astronomy had given him reputation in most of the American colleges, as also had the smaller ones in the schools and academies, far and wide. Even in circles where he was little known perhaps as a scientist he was in repute as an inventor, through the excellent and long popular heat-radiator known as Olmsted's stove. In the sphere of science his name was inseparably linked with showers of shooting-stars and the theories of their origin, and closely, also, with Redfield's theory of storms, and with discussions of the phenomena of auroras. He was known very widely, also, and highly appreciated as a zealous promoter of popular education, and was, besides, often called upon to lecture on educational and scientific topics, and to act as expert or adviser on questions of applied science. In short, Pro- fessor Olmsted, at that period, stood before the public as a figure somewhat conspicu- ous, yet not so much for any specially brilliant points of genius or character as for the well-rounded symmetry and beauty of his entire life; just as his personal appearance and his characteristics as an instructor were impressed on the memories of those who listened to his courses of lectures in the old Philosophical Chamber, not so much by anything that distinguished him in particular from any other well-built, regular-fea- tured, smooth-shaven, dark-complexioned, dark-eyed, dark-haired, and pleasant-voiced gentleman and speaker, as by the kindliness of manner, evenness of temper, friendli- ness and courtesy which characterized his entire bearing, and won for him, from the outset, their respect and confidence. If he lacked something of the magnetic presence, or of the fervor, and facile off-hand fluency of the eloquent professor of chemistry and geology, he was highly appreciated, nevertheless, for his clear and excellent method, and his conscientious fidelity and elaborateness in imparting instruction. And if he did not rival in quickness of wit and keenness of critical acumen his eminent colleague the professor of Latin, nor enrich college tradition with as telling bon mots as did that very modest and greatly admired yet somewhat feared instructor, he nevertheless, by his exemplary patience with dullness, and willing assiduity in solving difficulties, none the less readily, perhaps, secured the respect and affection of his pupils. He was, indeed, a man that no one was inclined to dislike — a man well-rounded, and without sharp corners — not crotchety, nor ill-balanced. His character was at all points sym- metrical, and of the highest moral tone. His mental powers, if not rising to genius, were yet versatile, and trained to a high degree of efficiency ; and his attainments in science and achievements in research, if not such as they doubtless would have been in more favorable circumstances, were yet so considerable, for the times, as amply to justify the reputation he so widely enjoyed. But if we look a little more closely at the leading points of Professor Olmsted's life, we shall see that it was in teaching, in the broad sense of the term, rather than in original research, that he chiefly distinguished himself, and really accomplished most vol. 1. — 30 234 YALE COLLEGE. for his fellow-men. He was, indeed, a teacher by nature ; his temperament and his special gifts, intellectual and moral, conspired to make him an educator. The leading influences by which he had been affected in the course of his life — his environment — had tended, directly or indirectly, to develop in him the teaching faculty. At the age of seventeen we find him in charge of a district school in Farmington, Connecticut, and in another of the district schools of that town he had had his own early training, his home for that purpose having been in the family of the good Governor Treadwell, who kindly taught him arithmetic in the winter evenings, as that study was not then taught in the public school. His preparation for college had been obtained partly in the thoroughly taught school of Mr. James Morris, at Litchfield South Farms, and partly under the tuition of Rev. Noah Porter, of Farmington, in both of whom he had before him excellent models as teachers. In college, which he entered in 1809, he had at once become inspired, like so many others, with a profound admiration of that most magnetic of educators, President Dwight, After graduating, in 18 13, with the rank of orator (nine others only taking that rank out of seventy in the class), he taught successfully a classical school for boys in New London. Two years later he accepted a tutorship in Yale College, the duties of which he discharged with fidelity and credit while also pursuing theological studies under Dr. Dwight, with a view to the ministry, and at the same time acting as amanuensis to his revered instructor, then, as the event proved, in the last year of his life, and suffering, as for many years previously, from impaired vision. This relation of intimacy with President Dwight must have had no inconsiderable influence in moulding his views and habits as a teacher, as well as his entire character. In 181 7, relinquishing theology, he accepted the chair of chemistry (including min- eralogy and geology) in the university of North Carolina, and after a year spent in the laboratory of Professor Silliman as his assistant, entered on the duties of his pro- fessorship. Seven years of service at Chapel Hill proved him to be a successful teacher of the sciences committed to his charge, and at the same time an enterprising worker in the field of geological investigation, as will be seen further on. The promise of which he gave token, both at Chapel Hill and previously while tutor at New Haven, led his alma mater, in 1825, to call him to the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy, made vacant by the death of Professor Matthew R. Dutton. This appointment was a highly flattering one to Professor Olmsted, yet involving, as it did, a radical change in his line of study, he could only accept it at a considerable dis- advantage. He would bring to it, indeed, a large experience in teaching, but hardly the acquisitions best fitting him for a position in many respects so different from the one he left. Indeed, at the age of thirty-four, with little training in the higher mathe- matics, it required no small courage, as well as confidence in his own powers, to make so great a change. Yet he was found equal to the emergency, and the wisdom of the choice was amply justified by his success. For, although he had exhibited no decided taste or aptitude, either in boyhood or in college, for any particular study or class of studies, he yet had shown thorough scholarship in them all, as well as capacity and industry such- as could hardly fail to secure for him distinction. in any one to which he PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED. 235 should specially devote himself. He had an early fondness, indeed, for literature ; yet he had also become fond of the physical sciences, and that fondness naturally deep- ened with his study of them. On coming to New Haven, he devoted himself to his new duties with characteristic assiduity, and soon had the satisfaction of attaining the honorable position in his department of instruction which he maintained through life. In New Haven his great work still was teaching ; and he gave himself to it not as a task, perfunctorily, but of choice. It was to him a noble profession, and he earnestly and conscientiously devoted to it his best energies. He did, indeed, do other work at times, and no inconsiderable amount of it ; some for science, as will be seen further on ; and some partly for science, partly for reputation it may be, and partly also, in simple truth, to supplement the poverty of the college, and eke out a subsistence for his family. But still he never lost sight of his responsibilities as a teacher and college officer. He always made it his first business to prepare himself with all thoroughness to meet his classes, whether in the recitation or lecture room, seeking earnestly to instruct them in the best manner, and to interest the young men as far as possible in their studies. He took unwearied pains to keep his lectures up with the times by careful revision, and sometimes by almost entirely rewriting them, not unfrequently also adding new lectures on fresh topics, even down to the last year of his life. His qualities as a teacher may perhaps best be summed up in the careful words of Presi- dent Woolsey, who was one of his associates through almost the whole period of his connection with the college. In his very candid and discriminating commemorative discourse, he said of Professor Olmsted, " His colleagues and friends regarded him as born a teacher, as possessing a most happy union of several powers, the capacity to convey instruction with clearness, system, and elegance ; the capacity to impress the pupil with the importance of the branches taught, the disposition to shrink from no labor necessary in preparing himself for teaching, and to require of the student that he master and reproduce the lessons conveyed to him." Although in the title of his professorship, mathematics preceded natural philosophy, it was not unnatural, perhaps, in the circumstances, that he should show some prefer- ence for the latter, as better suited not only to his tastes, but to his previously acquired habits of experiment and observation. He accordingly, from the first, gave to natural philosophy — which then included astronomy — his principal attention ; and it was entirely in conformity with his own wishes that, in 1835, the department of mathe- matics was made a separate chair, and assigned to the gifted Professor A. D. Stanley, while he himself retained his favorite branches, natural philosophy and astronomy. On assuming his new duties, he soon felt the want of suitable text-books in his department. "Enfield's Philosophy," which had held its place in our colleges for many years, was far behind the times, and some other text-books, then recently published, were imperfectly adapted, either in scope or method of treatment, to the wants of American students at that period. This recognized want Professor Olmsted success- fully met in his larger work on natural philosophy, which was first published in 1831 and 1832, in two volumes octavo. This work, though professedly, in parts, a compila- 236 VALE COLLEGE. tion, as in mechanics from the treatise of Bridge, and in some other parts from Arnott, and though showing deficiencies both in matter and treatment, was yet characterized by so many excellences of form and arrangement, and on the whole was so well adapted to the wants of the great majority of students, that it was from the first received with favor by the public, and in the many subsequent editions, having been carefully revised and printed in a single volume, it held its place as a text-book in most of the colleges of the country during the author's lifetime, and twice revised since his death by Professor Snell, of Amherst College, has continued to be used in many institutions down to the present day. An abridgment of this work, called the " School Philosophy," was published in 1832, for the use of high schools and academies, and passed through more than a hundred editions during the life-time of the author. A still smaller work, entitled "Rudiments of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy," was issued in 1842, for use in elementary schools. It had gone through more than fifty editions before the author's death, and, on account of its clearness and compactness, it was adopted as a text-book for use in institutions of the blind, an edition for this purpose having been printed in raised letters, in large quarto form, as early as 1845. Professor Olmsted's text-book of astronomy, published in 1839, in one volume octavo, was more elaborately prepared than his " Philosophy," and proved equally successful as meeting a recognized want among the teachers of that science. An abridgment for schools was published soon after the original work. The " Letters to a Lady on Astronomy," was a book prepared by Professor Olmsted as a reading-book, at the request of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and published in duodecimo in 1842, as one of the volumes of the Massachusetts School Library. Besides instructing in astronomy by text-book, Professor Olmsted, during the last twenty-five years of his life, delivered annually to the two upper classes in college three courses of lectures : one on natural philosophy, with experiments, to those who were studying at the same time part second of his text-book ; another on astronomy, partly historical and partly supplementary to his treatise ; and the third on meteor- ology, descriptive and theoretical. These courses were all carefully elaborated, full, clear, and often eloquent ; but that on meteorology was the one, probably, on which he bestowed the most thought, which he took the greatest pains to improve by frequent revision as well as the addition of fresh matter, and which was regarded by those who attended it as, on the whole, the most attractive and useful. But Professor Olmsted's influence as an educator was not confined to the college. The philosophy of education interested him, and he gave much attention to theories of teaching, and the principles which should govern the successful instructor. He was anxious to elevate teaching above dry, mechanical routine, and make it a means not only of imparting a certain measure of knowledge, but also of developing and training in the best manner the faculties of both mind and heart. He was especially anxious to raise the qualifications of the teachers in the public schools. The deficiencies of these schools had early impressed him, probably from his own experience and observation in boyhood ; and accordingly, as early as 18 16, in the oration which he delivered at Com- PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED. 237 mencement, on taking his master's degree, he chose for his subject, " The state of education in Connecticut," and on this occasion first suggested the establishment by the State of what he termed "seminaries for schoolmasters," — an idea which has since been so fully realized in our State Normal Schools. The importance of such schools for teachers he afterwards frequently urged, as in a lecture before the American Insti- tute of Instruction, in 1838, on the school system of Connecticut, and also in the Report of the Board of Commissioners for Common Schools, in 1840, of which body he was for several years a member, and whose report for that year was from his pen. In another address, in 1845, before the same Institute, he drew the Ideal of a Perfect Teacher, and laid down what he regarded as indispensable elements in the character of a teacher of the people. As summed up in a single sentence by Dr. Henry Barnard, in a published tribute to his memory, they are these : " Thorough, accurate, and com- prehensive knowledge, high religious character, deep enthusiastic love of his work and faith in its results, a strong and clear intellect, a lively imagination, good taste, and good manners;" qualities, it may be added, which Professor Olmsted himself exhibited in his own character in happy combination. Professor Olmsted always responded with readiness to the numerous invitations received by him to address teachers' institutes and teachers' associations, and he also lectured repeatedly in the hall of the House of Representatives during the session of the legislature, when any action was to be had in either branch concerning common schools. In a word, he warmly sympathized, from first to last, with all those who had at heart the improvement of the schools of the State, and labored himself most assiduously for this object whenever he found opportu- nity. It was the same desire to promote in every way the education of the people, that led him, in 1828, to aid by his advice and co-operation the enlightened and benevolent plan of Mr. James Brewster for bringing science within the reach of the masses by establishing in New Haven the Franklin Institute for evening courses of teaching and lectures. But while thus active as a teacher, Professor Olmsted was not neglectful of science. He was always intent on doing, in the way of original investigation, all that his time and circumstances would allow. While a professor in the University of North Caro- lina, his occasional notes in the American Journal of Science and in the local papers, showed that he was not inactive in his laboratory. But his great undertaking at that period, and one which really seems almost Quixotic for its singular boldness, was that of a survey of the geology and mineral resources of the State of North Carolina. This he proposed to do personally and unassisted, as vacation pastime, and without compen- sation. He did, indeed, suggest to the State Board of Internal Improvements, before whom he first laid the project in 182 1, an appropriation of one hundred dollars to defray his necessary traveling expenses for a year, "to be afterwards renewed or not at the pleasure of the Board." But this was declined, and the survey — the first of the kind ever authorized by any of the States — was afterwards made under the direction of the State Board of Agriculture. Professor Olmsted's report, addressed to this Board, was published in two parts in 1824 and 1825, and filled, in all, about 140 pages octavo — so humble and unpretending was this early prototype of the hundreds of pon- 238 VALE COLLEGE. derous volumes of scientific research which have since been published by so many of the States, and at so large an expenditure of money and labor. This survey, regarded especially as the gratuitous vacation-work of a single individual, and in view of the state of geological science in the country at the time, must certainly be looked upon as creditable in the highest degree both to the enterprise and the scientific spirit and ability of its projector, and it has undoubtedly resulted in great benefit not only to the State which authorized it, but to the whole country and to science generally by the stimulus which it afforded to similar enterprises in other States. While at Chapel Hill, Professor Olmsted began researches to determine the practi- cability of obtaining illuminating gas from cotton-seed — a waste material so abundant in cotton-growing districts as to be an important product of agriculture if capable of being put to any valuable use. But these researches were broken off, as well as his further cultivation of chemistry and geology, by his transfer to New Haven. In his new department of mathematics and natural philosophy, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which he labored, he exhibited at once his characteristic industry and energy, and over and above the heavy work which he performed in the way of instruction, preparation of text-books, and general college duties, he found time to do something from year to year for science itself. In discussing points of natural philoso- phy he early began to theorize for himself, and to advance on several topics views more or less his own. Some of these have stood the test of later investigation, at least in the main, and become generally accepted among men of science. Others, if not yet verified, cannot be said to have been destitute of plausibility as speculations, and pertain to topics on which generally accepted conclusions have not even yet been reached. Of the first class may be named his paper published in the Journal of Science, in 1830, "On the Origin of Hail-storms," in which, in opposition to the electrical theories then in vogue, he referred the origin of hail chiefly to the sudden and violent mingling of hot and humid air from the lower regions of the atmosphere with the intensely cold air of the upper regions ; the electrical phenomena usually observed being a con- comitant rather than a cause. Though no theory of these storms has yet, in every feature, been generally accepted by physicists, the one maintained by Professor Olm- sted is in substantial agreement with the latest and most satisfactory explanations of what Pouillet long ago characterized as among the most formidable scourges of agriculture, and the most perplexing of phenomena to meteorologists. In the same class, also, of hypotheses substantially confirmed, may, perhaps, be reckoned Mr. William C. Redfield's theory of the great storms of the Atlantic coast. For although this did not originate with Professor Olmsted, it was yet so largely indebted to him in many ways, and especially for his zealous advocacy of it, as fairly to be entitled to mention in connection with Professor Olmsted's services to science. Such was the modesty of Mr. Redfield that he did not publish his discoveries con- cerning the laws of storms until, at the urgent solicitation of Professor Olmsted, he brought them out in the American Journal of Science, in 1831, some ten years after he began his investigations. The theory, in its main features, was early espoused by PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED. 239 Professor Olmsted, and by his encouragement of its author as well as by his discussion of the facts and principles involved in it, he contributed in no small degree to secure its general acceptance as a sound meteorological theory. For although Mr. Redfield's leading idea of the rotatory character of these storms was long regarded generally as antagonistic to Espy's radial vortex theory, it may be said that more mature investiga- tion, as is often the case in respect to seemingly inconsistent views, has shown them to be both true in their main points, and that neither necessarily excludes the other, but rather that the true theory is found in a combination of both. Among hypotheses of the other class alluded to — those which subsequent investiga- tion has failed to verify, or relating to phenomena the true theory of which is still unknown — may be cited Professor Olmsted's views respecting the origin of the aurora borealis and of the zodiacal light. Rejecting all electrical hypotheses of the aurora, he held that it originated in some unknown cosmical source — some sort of nebulous or vaporous matter with which the earth, in its motion around the sun, came periodically into close proximity. The zodiacal light, also, he was inclined to attribute to substan- tially the same, or a similar, cause. Science has not yet been able to explain quite satisfactorily either of these phenomena. Yet the tendency of discovery, in the case of the zodiacal light, has been towards an explanation somewhat related to that of Professor Olmsted, viz., some sort of nebulous or meteoric matter moving around the sun within the orbit of the earth. In respect to auroras, however, the drift of later theory has been quite the other way, and towards the older electrical or electro- magnetic hypothesis. But whatever may be thought of his speculations as to the origin of auroras, Professor Olmsted certainly did excellent service for this branch of science in general, both by carefully observing the phenomena himself and by col- lecting diligently and carefully discussing the observations of others. This he did in various papers printed in the American Journal of Science, and especially in an extended and elaborate memoir " On the Secular Periodicity of the Aurora Borealis," published in the eighth volume of the " Smithsonian Contributions." In this memoir he recognizes and maintains the fact of such periodicity, and although he may not have succeeded in determining from the data within his reach the true length of the period, he nevertheless deserves credit for being among the first to undertake a sys- tematic discussion of the phenomena with a view to such determination, and for the stimulus and assistance thus given to the investigations of others. With respect to shooting-stars, Professor Olmsted was more fortunate. His suc- cessful studies of these bodies, indeed, and the reputation he acquired for the part he took in establishing the cosmical theory of their origin, doubtless tended to entice him into his somewhat analogous cosmical hypotheses respecting auroras and the zodiacal light. But it was in the case of the shooting-stars alone that subsequent discovery confirmed the theory and gained him repute. His interest in these bodies was first excited by the wonderful display of November 13th, 1833, the later portion of which, from five o'clock in the morning on to broad daylight, he was himself so fortunate as to observe. A conviction of the cosmical character of the phenomenon at once forced itself upon him, as it did, also, and even 240 VALE COLLEGE. more promptly, perhaps, upon his friend and correspondent Professor A. C. Twining, who observed the meteors at West Point. These two gentlemen appear to have been the first to state at all definitely the cosmical theory, and establish it by satisfactory proofs. It was in Professor Olmsted's papers on this subject, particularly in the extended article published in the Journal of Science, in the July following the shower, that the principal observations made in different parts of the United States were first carefully collected and discussed, and the cosmical theory outlined in distinct terms. At the close of this paper he stated it as his general conclusion, " that the meteors of November 13th consisted of portions of the extreme parts of a nebulous body which revolves around the sun in an orbit interior to that of the earth, but little inclined to the ecliptic, having its aphelion near the earth's path, and having a periodic time of one hundred and eighty-two days nearly." This statement, it will be noticed, fully recognized the cosmical origin of shooting-stars, referring them to some mass or train of such bodies moving around the sun in an orbit which the earth traverses in its annual course, although the character of the "nebulous body" is, apparently, not very clearly conceived, and the orbit designated is quite different from that which has since been conclusively established. The exact credit due to Professor Olmsted in connec- tion with the theory of star-showers it is difficult to state, for lack of evidence. Cer- tainly no just representation of the case can be made without also defining the relation of Professor Twining to the same theory, for they were both intimately connected with the first development of it. They both observed the display of November 13th, both took up the discussion of the observations with the utmost zeal, and corresponded with each other on the subject. They both noticed the fact that the radiant, or point at which the apparent paths of the meteors would meet if traced backward on the sky, did not partake of the earth's motion of rotation, but was fixed with reference to the stars, and recognized at once the proper interpretation of this fact : the meteors must come from beyond the atmosphere — must have a cosmical, not a terrestrial, origin. And Pro- fessor Twining pointed out the further fact that the position of the radiant was in that part of the heavens, approximately, towards which the earth, in its orbit, was at the time moving. This circumstance is, indeed, by no means a necessary one, since the radiant in different cases may, as we now know, be situated in any part of the heavens what- ever, its direction being the resultant of the real motions both of the earth and of the meteors in their orbit ; yet, in the case in question, the recognition of the coincidence essentially helped, doubtless, towards a substantially correct conclusion as to the gen- eral character of the phenomenon. Professor Twining did not, indeed, fix upon a defi- nite orbit for the meteoric stream, as did Professor Olmsted. The first data, in fact, were entirely too scanty for this purpose. It was not until thirty years later that the labors of Professor Newton in this country, and of Professor Adams and others abroad, made it possible to designate the precise orbit of the November stream, and to identify it with that of a comet having a period of thirty-three and a quarter years. But the necessary astronomical relations of these bodies, as indicated by the facts respecting the radiant, were stated by Professor Twining almost as definitely and accurately in a letter written but two months after the shower, as if the statement had been penned in PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED. 24 1 the light of our present knowledge. But though Professor Olmsted must, apparently, divide with Professor Twining, in some proportion, the credit of first recognizing and establishing the essentially true theory of meteoric showers, he cannot well be deprived of that credit by the claims of others, and especially of European philosophers, since the very facts on which alone such claims could be based — as in the case of Encke, to whom Humboldt assigns the credit of discovering the coincidence of the radiant with the direction of the earth's motion, and its astronomical significance — were originally gathered and published by Professors Olmsted and Twining, who, in connection with the facts, also published in substance their theoretical views. The facts once pub- lished, they were of course discussed by many philosophers, and similar results were almost necessarily reached. But, as we apprehend the matter, the credit of establish- ing and interpreting the two main facts on which the cosmical theory of meteors primarily rests, namely, the sidereal fixedness of the radiant, and its position with respect to the earth's orbital motion, is due to the joint investigations of Professors Olmsted and Twining. The merits of Professor Olmsted in this connection have been recognized more or less fully by leading European philosophers, who had been led to adopt substantially the same views ; such as Humboldt, Biot, Olbers, Encke, and others. Chladni's ill-defined claims can hardly be put in competition with those of Professor Olmsted, inasmuch as his cosmical theory of meteors related especially to aerolites and their associated fire-balls rather than to star-showers, the two classes of phe- nomena having been regarded in his day as entirely distinct from each other. And besides, the cosmical origin of aerolites had been suggested in general terms, though without adequate proof or theoretical explanation, by many preceding philosophers, even as far back as Anaxagoras. It is certainly very much more natural to imagine that a mass of stone or iron seen to fall from the sky had come from beyond the atmosphere, and been sent down from heaven, like the Palladium of Troy or the holy Kaaba of Mecca, than that the evanescent flying sparks called shooting-stars, which suddenly flash forth apparently close to us and shoot swiftly out of sight, are really bodies moving in vast orbits around the sun, and occupying scores or hundreds of years in completing their circuits. It required the discovery of a distinct radiant and of its astronomical relations before the true theory would be likely to occur to even the acutest philosopher. The discovery once made, it is seen to be, like great discoveries so often, extremely simple in outline, and the world is surprised that no one had hit upon it sooner. Professor Olmsted's love of astronomy led him to feel deeply the want of an astro- nomical observatory in connection with the college — of one sufficient for purposes of instruction at least, if not of investigation. This want was partially met, in 1830, by the excellent refractor of ten feet focal length and five inches aperture, by Dollond, the gift of Mr. Sheldon Clark, and for many years the finest telescope in the country. Professor Olmsted had the satisfaction of observing with it, in connection with Mr. Loomis (now his successor), Halley's celebrated comet, at its predicted return, in 1835, some weeks before news arrived of its having been seen in Europe. But this telescope VOL. I. ^1 24- YALE COLLEGE. was comparatively useless on account of its peculiar mounting - , and the very unsuitable place in which it was set up ; and all efforts made from time to time by Professor Olmsted and others towards the establishment of an observatory suitable for research as well as instruction, proved fruitless of immediate results. The college was too poor to provide the necessary funds, and sufficient outside interest could not then be awak- ened. It is only lately that the provision, which Professor Olmsted so earnestly desired, for the establishment ultimately of a first-class observatory in New Haven, has been made by the Hon. O. F. Winchester, in the munificent gift of a very valuable tract of land in the suburbs, the proceeds of the sale of which will, it is expected, in due time yield an ample fund for the maintenance of such an institution. While Professor Olmsted was thus successful as a teacher and cultivator of science, he was also, as a man and a citizen, just what was to have been expected of one so even in temper, so friendly in disposition, so well balanced in all his faculties, so philan- thropic and public spirited both by nature and principle, and withal so irreproachable in character and consistently Christian in the whole tenor of his life ; a man not spot- less indeed, nor faultless, for he was but a man, yet one whose spots and faults came seldom to the surface, and if ever apparent were little noticed and readily forgotten. President Woolsey, who was intimately associated with him for twenty-eight years in the government of the college, says of him, in effect, that he never on any occasion, however trying, saw him irritated, or uncourteous, or unmindful of what was due to others ; in short, that if he ever had unlovely feelings he never exhibited them. He was unselfish in disposition, and always ready to engage in services that promised in any way to benefit his fellow-men. He had a warm heart, was constant in his friend- ships, and as a consequence was highly respected and beloved by his colleagues, as well as by all who became intimately acquainted with him. He was, in fine, a fair example of an educated New-Englander, having inherited from his parents, who traced their Connecticut ancestry to the first settlement of the State, an amiable disposition, and excellent natural abilities ; and having received from the social influences of the characteristic New-England life around him, and especially from the training of his excellent mother, of whom he always spoke with tenderest reverence, that moulding of mind and heart which, with his academic culture, made him a man of refined tastes, of settled convictions, of untiring industry and perseverance, in short, of such traits of character as did credit to his New England origin, and secured for him the measure of usefulness, success, and reputation that fell to him in life. His native place was East Hartford, Connecticut, where he was born June 18, 1791. His father, Nathaniel Olmsted, a well-to-do farmer, was a descendant of James Olm- sted, who was among the first settlers of the State, and died some four years after the planting of Hartford. His mother became a widow when he was a year old, and on her marrying again and removing to Farmington, he was taken with her to that place when at the age of nine. It was here, as we have before mentioned, that he attended school for a time, and had his home temporarily in the family of Governor Treadwell, by whose son he was afterwards employed in a store, first in Farmington and then in a neighboring town, until he made up his mind to go to college. In these early years PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED 243 he was particularly fortunate, not only in the example and wise counsel of Governor Treadwell, but still more in those of his mother. Her influence over him was most happy. She was a woman of the highest excellence, and he felt that to her religious training and her high principle and wisdom he owed a debt which could not be repaid. " Never had son," wrote the Rev. Dr. Porter of him, " a more profound reverence or a tenderer affection for his mother than he for his ; and her character seems to have been his pattern." In his domestic relations, Professor Olmsted is described by those who knew him best as in all respects most exemplary. His first wife, Miss Allyn, with whom he became acquainted while teaching in New London, died in 1829, leaving five sons and one daughter. His second wife, Miss Mason, of New York, a lady of superior culture and great excellence of character, made his home a happy one, and for many years that happiness was unbroken. But at length the clouds of affliction gathered, and many and heavy sorrows tried severely his Christian fortitude. Four of his sons, after graduating from college, and giving good promise of future usefulness, were in a few years taken away by consumption; the eldest in 1844, two others in 1846, in which year also died his excellent mother at the age of ninety, and the fourth in 1853. The last two, Denison and Alexander Fisher, had taken oration rank in col- lege, and gave special promise of distinction as men of science. Of the whole family of five sons and two daughters only the daughters and one son survived him, and only the youngest daughter and her mother are now living. Of his Christian character, first consciously entered upon while living in New Lon- don, and apparently continually strengthening under his repeated trials, his colleague President Woolsey, whom we have before quoted, says : " He was ever, so far as I am able to judge, a consistent exemplary Christian ; one who did his duties as in sight of God and under the power of the motives which the Christian system furnishes ; one who was habitually, and not now and then, a Christian ; one who made religion a com- panion of his joys and sorrows — mingled it with all his pursuits ; who was not simply a philosopher and a Christian, but a Christian philosopher ; one who was fitted by it for the discharge of his earthly relations, was bettered by it, was sustained by it in sor- rows, met pain and death with composure and resignation through the strength which it imparted. He was one who felt a warm interest in the progress of true religion, both at home and elsewhere ; who rejoiced especially whenever in college, by the grace of God, any of the students seemed to become thoughtful, penitent, and devout ; one who took occasion to bear testimony for God before his pupils, in the lecture-room and elsewhere, and whose voice was heard in counsel and prayer at the meetings of the church. He was one whose self-control sprang, as we believe, from religious prin- ciple, and who, living habitually in the fear of God, sought to correct the evil in him- self and opposed temptation by a reference to the Divine will. He was one, finally, who brought religion into the family, trained up his children by the Bible — wished their spiritual prosperity more than any other good which could pertain to them." This sketch has already exceeded the space it was intended to occupy in this work, and yet many points of interest still remain which have been only incidentally alluded 244 YALE COLLEGE. to or not touched upon at all. Among these are his taste for literature and the fine arts, his enjoyment of flowers and horticulture, his social and domestic life, and his influence in developing the taste and shaping the career of his pupils, especially of those possessing a natural aptitude for astronomy and physics. This article must con- clude, however, with a few paragraphs on only two of these points, namely, his literary work apart from his scientific, and especially his relations to a few of his pupils who have attained distinction as men of science. As a writer he was master of a clear and flowing style, and he published many valu- able literary articles in the quarterlies and other periodicals. Among these were a number of interesting biographical memoirs, the principal of which are those of Presi- dent Dwight, Eli Whitney, Governor Treadwell, Professor A. M. Fisher, Hon. Roger Sherman, William C. Redfield, and E. P. Mason — the latter in a duodecimo volume. Among his more important reviews may be named those of Dick's " Christian Philoso- pher;" of Sir Humphry Davy's "Salmonia;" of Davy's "Scientific Labors;" of Sir John Herschel's "Observations at the Cape of Good Hope;" of Silliman's "Travels in Europe;" and of "The Plurality of Worlds." Other valuable articles were entitled, "The Ideal of a Perfect Teacher;" "Thoughts on Leverrier's Planet;" "Revelations of the Microscope ;" "Riches of the Natural World;" " The World made for Man;" "Democratic Tendencies of Science;" "The Gift of Teaching;" on the "American Association for the Advancement of Science;" "Analysis of the Character of President Dwight as a Teacher;" "The Divine Love of Truth and Beauty;" and "The Meteor- ology of Palestine." The last two were published during the last year of his life. Many of these articles appeared in the pages of the New-Englander. He also pub- lished many articles on scientific subjects, in addition to those already particularized in this sketch, such as: "A Catalogue of the Minerals of North Carolina;" on "The Preparation of Mortar;" on "The Gold Mines of North Carolina;" on "The Present State of Chemical Science;" on "The Use of Anthracite Coal;" on "The New Haven Tornado of 1839;" on "Protection from Lightning;" on "Some Points of Electrical Theory;" on "The Zodiacal Light;" and on "Maury's Wind and Current Charts." It remains to notice briefly the influence of Professor Olmsted on the scientific career of his pupils. How far those of them who became distinguished as astronomers or physicists owed their interest in these sciences to his encouragement, it is of course impossible to say definitely. As a rule it is probable that the influence of individual instructors in this particular is much less than is commonly supposed, especially in the case of pupils of decided genius. The great philosopher is doubtless no less born such than the great poet. Genius for a specialty is quite likely to take its course, little influenced by other minds. A universal genius, however — a strong intellect equally capable of distinguishing itself in any direction, but with no decided bias — may doubt- less often be turned into a special channel by the influence of a favorite teacher. And the same is true in general of ordinary intellects, if well balanced. Slight causes may give them a bent, and concentrated zeal and industry may be the full equivalent of genius in securing for them success and eminence. While the cases are few in which any direct or marked influence of Professor Olmsted on his pupils can be definitely PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED. 245 traced, there are many, it is believed, in which he was instrumental in confirming and strengthening a predilection for science already existing, although he may have had nothing to do with the original bias. Among those of Professor Olmsted's pupils who enjoyed his friendship, and on whom he is known or presumed to have had a greater or less influence, the following may be named : Elias Loomis, of the class of 1830, his immediate successor in the chair of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. He is elsewhere noticed in this work. F. A. P. Barnard, of the same class, now President of Columbia College, New York. Ebenezer Porter Mason, and Hamilton L. Smith, of the class of 1839, the former a most remarkable genius, of whom more will be said further on, and the latter his inti- mate associate and scientific co-worker in their college days, and now Professor of Astronomy and Physics in Hobart College, New York. William Chauvenet, of the class of 1840, afterwards Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and Chan- cellor of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri ; an eminent mathematician, and the author of superior treatises on trigonometry, geometry, and other branches, and of a large work on spherical and practical astronomy, quite unsurpassed by any treatise of the kind in any language. Joseph S. Hubbard, of the class of 1843, a leading astronomer in the United States Naval Observatory at Washington from its foundation, in 1845, to ^ e ti me °f ^' ls death, in 1863. He was eminent both as an observer and computer, as well as for mathematical ability and untiring devotion to his favorite science. A native of New Haven, and intimate with Professor Olmsted both in college and afterwards, he always cherished for him a warm affection, and heartily co-operated with him in his efforts to promote the interests of astronomy in Yale College, particularly in his plans for secur- ing the establishment of an observatory. The remarkable degree of astronomical interest which prevailed in the college between 1835 and 1840, and of which Mason and Smith were the source and center, affected many of the students and some outside of college, who, although they did not engage in scientific professions, yet, for the time, became zealous and skillful observers, and in after life, though absorbed in other pursuits, always retained their interest in this science. These were all more or less intimately associated with Professor Olmsted, enjoying the freedom of the observatory, receiving his encouragement and aid, and co-operating with him in special observations, as of auroras and shooting- stars. Among these may be named David T. Stoddard, of the class of 1838, a young man of rare ability and character, who, catching the astronomical enthusiasm around him, constructed for himself, while in college, a fine reflecting telescope, which, with his astronomical acquisitions, he found afterwards of the greatest service to him in his missionary work in Persia, where, also, he made observations of great interest touching the power of the unaided eye to scrutinize the heavens in the pure atmosphere of that elevated home of the old Chaldean astronomy. He died in Persia, in 1857. 246 VALE COLLEGE. Another of the same circle, but outside of college, was Francis Bradley, whom Nature clearly intended for an astronomer, instead of the bank cashier that he was at that time. He shared with Mason and others in the use of the observatory, and worked with them in the construction of telescopes. He became an acute observer, and at times aided Professor Olmsted in the practical instruction of the students. His name often appears in the Journal of Science in connection with the astronomical and meteoric observations of the day. He has resided for many years in Chicago, but has never suffered banking or other business to prevent his maintaining a small private observatory, and a lively interest in the progress of astronomy. Of Mr. Edward C. Herrick, who was perhaps more intimately associated with Pro- fessor Olmsted in scientific matters than any one else, unless it be E. P. Mason, it is unnecessary to speak here, as a separate notice of him is given elsewhere in this work. Of E. P. Mason, already named, it seems proper to give some further account, both because of his intimate relations with Professor Olmsted, and of his extraordinary genius. Little can be said of Mason, however, without further allusion to his astro- nomical associate and most intimate friend and classmate, H. L. Smith. The latter brought with him to college a telescope, as well as deep love of astronomy and much mechanical ingenuity. He and Mason were early brought together by their scientific tastes, and they worked together through all their college course in the construction of telescopes, and in various experiments and observations which made the names of both familiar in all college circles and helped awaken the enthusiasm for astronomy among the students which has already been mentioned. E. P. Mason, a son of Rev. Stephen Mason, pastor of the Congregational Church in Washington, Connecticut, was born in that town, December 7, 18 19. He early developed extraordinary mental endowments — reading everything — charmed with poetry — astonishing his arithmetical teachers at the age of eight — absorbed in natural philosophy and in Bacon's " Novum Organum " at nine — a sober, sensitive, precocious child, of whom a loving aunt wrote at that time : " A boy ! yet in his eye you trace The thoughtfulness of riper years, And tales are in that serious face Of feelings early steeped in tears." At eleven he is found modestly correcting his mathematical teacher in Nantucket, whither his father had then removed, and not long after he had begun to write respect- able verses, for such a child, under the inspiration of that unique island and its society. At the Ellington school in Connecticut, where he spent a year or more in preparation for college, he displayed marked ability in poetical translations from the classics, and in all his studies. Another year and over in Nantucket, as scholar and assistant teacher, brought him to the age of fifteen, when he was ready to enter college. Pre- vious to this period he had written several creditable poetical effusions, a few lines PROFESSOR D EMS ON OLMSTED. 247 from one of which on the Pleiades will serve as a specimen of his readiness in versifi- cation. " 'Twas on creation's radiant morn, We, sisters, to existence sprung, When darkness fled and light was born, And chaos far away was flung. "We've seen the mightiest empires fall, We've seen all human grandeur fade, But ah ! the change that withers all On us his powerful hand hath laid. " For since our bright harmonious choir Have seen the dawning light of day, One of our number is no more, The loveliest one hath passed away." He entered Yale College in 1835, a slender, pale-faced, physically undeveloped boy, not yet sixteen, very child-like and immature in appearance and manner, yet able to astonish his examiner, Professor Olmsted, by his adroitness in extracting the cube root mentally, as well as by other proofs of extraordinary mathematical ability. That examination, and the eager love of astronomy which the boy soon exhibited, enlisted deeply Professor Olmsted's interest and friendship, which only grew stronger as the delicate youth more than fulfilled in his college course the high promise he had given on entering. Young Mason was truly a universal genius. His mind was acute and fertile in all its faculties. In whatever direction he chose to exert it he was sure of success. He was capable of distinguishing himself either as poet, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, artist, or artisan. He early took high stand as a scholar in all branches. He enjoyed the classics. He was an elegant writer of English. His mathematical and scientific studies were easily and thoroughly mastered. His poetry was the fruit, not of mere skill in versification — a mechanical talent — but of this power, combined in no ordinary degree with strength of imagination and delicacy of sentiment. All that he wrote in this line was but the pastime of boyhood, yet it was enough to prove his possession of the true "faculty divine." In college, however, he soon became absorbed in astronomical pursuits, which occupied a large portion of his leisure time. Professor Olmsted, in his appreciative and very interesting memoir of Mason, pub- lished in a duodecimo volume soon after his death, has given in detail the incidents of his short life — incidents mostly of his quiet college career, and of the single year following it before his death, yet of very great interest as exhibiting the growth of so rare and gifted an intellect — an intellect far too restless and energetic for the delicate frame in which it was placed. There is no room for these details here. Suffice it to say, that in his college course, besides the tasks of the curriculum — enough of them- 248 YALE COLLEGE. selves, if faithfully mastered, to absorb the time and attention of the most gifted — he performed an amount of work, in the way of mechanical labor, celestial observation, and mathematical calculation, sufficient to make the reputation of a professional astron- omer. The grinding and polishing of his specula, the calculation and observation of eclipses and occultations, in which he possessed great expertness ; a very elaborate series of observations on certain nebulae, made in his senior year with a twelve-inch reflector of Smith's, in the construction of which he himself had assisted ; the deline- ation, with exquisite accuracy and by an original method, of the details of these observations, so as to present a faithful map of the nebulae to the eye, together with the preparation of the accompanying memoir, which fills fifty quarto pages in the " American Philosophical Transactions," with four large plates — these labors, and others besides, considered as the amateur work of an undergraduate student in deli- cate health, and without detriment to his general scholarship, certainly imply ability and industry of no ordinary character ; and when it is added that this memoir of Mason's on the nebulas, by its originality of method and intrinsic value as a contribu- tion to science, attracted at once the attention of European astronomers, and especially elicited the admiration of Sir John Herschel himself, from whose catalogue the nebulae observed were selected ; and further, that it has become a classical paper with astron- omers, serving to-day, and for all time, as a standard of comparison for subsequent observers, it does not seem surprising that Professor Olmsted regarded him as the most remarkable genius that ever graduated from Yale College. And especially when we take into the account that Mason's labors had at the time of his graduation under- mined his health, and that, while wasting with consumption, he contrived, during the short year that remained to him of life, besides a great deal of other work, to find time and strength to write an original and elaborate mathematical treatise of one hundred and forty octavo pages on practical astronomy, and to conduct in the field the most important part of the astronomical work of the United States government survey of the disputed boundary between Maine and Canada, we can restrain neither our admi- ration of a youth so gifted, nor our regret that abilities so transcendent could not have been longer spared to science and the world. Mason came back from the boundary survey, late in the autumn of 1840, too weak to undertake the reduction of the obser- vations, which otherwise would have been wholly intrusted to his care ; and after a brief visit at Professor Olmsted's, in New Haven, where he penned the last paragraph of his "Practical Astronomy," when almost too feeble to write at all, he made his way by slow stages to his relatives in Richmond, Virginia, where he arrived December 15th, in a state of great exhaustion, and died on the 26th, at the age of twenty-one years and nineteen days. Professor Olmsted, in his memoir of Mason, very justly says of his astronomical qualifications: "The peculiar assemblage of faculties requisite to form the great astronomer is seldom found united in the same individual, comprising, as it does, so many of the higher attributes of genius — a head of exquisite delicacy to construct and adjust, an eye endued with extraordinary powers of vision to observe, an intellect the most profound to follow out all the consequences of astronomical discovery, and that PROFESSOR D EMS ON OLMSTED. 249 unconquerable enthusiasm which is regardless of the loss of rest, of exposures by night, and even of life itself. These qualities were severally possessed by young Mason in an unusual degree ; but it was their striking and harmonious union, which, from the time I first discovered it, led me to recognize in him the promise of one probably destined to enlarge the boundaries of astronomical science." And he remarks with equal justness, in view of the fact that the memoir on the nebulae is the first considerable contribution to astronomy, in the way of original observation and discovery, made on this side of the Atlantic, that " Mason, young as he was at the time of his death, was clearly entitled to rank among the first astronomers of America." His friend Smith very aptly likened him to the younger Herschel, with the suggestion, however, that in many points he even excelled that versatile and distinguished astron- omer. His acuteness as an observer, his quickness and penetration as a mathema- tician, his capabilities as a poet, his delicate and unobtrusive manners, his sweetness of temper, and his purity and elevation of character, produced a strong impression, not only on the classmate who knew him best in his college days, but also on all who ever had the pleasure of his acquaintance. " Among his comrades," the same class- mate testifies, " he was acknowleged by all to be a wonder." Professor S. C. Walker, himself among the first of American astronomers, and well acquainted with Mason personally, speaks of his genius as of the highest order, and says: " His drawings of the telescopic appearances of four remarkable nebulae, two of them in part or altogether his own discoveries, are the most remarkable works of the kind extant." And again : " In both these pursuits — the discovery of nebulae, and the computation of the orbits of double stars — our Mason was, I believe, the first American whose efforts have been crowned with success." Some of Mason's papers, particularly one on his telescopic observations of shooting-stars, were handed to Professor Walker for publication at their last interview, when he was in Philadelphia, on his way to his final resting-place in Virginia. This paper, as well as that on the nebulae, and his book on astronomy, Mason never had the pleasure of seeing in print, as they were only passing through the press at the time of his death. Professor Olmsted, as a classmate and intimate friend of Professor Alexander M. Fisher, was naturally led to a comparison of his genius with that of Mason. After characterizing Fisher's excellence as that of pure intellect, great strength of mind, and soundness of judgment, with no bias or genius for a specialty, and noting that Fisher died at twenty-eight, while Mason was only twenty-one, he remarks: " It is impossible to say whether Mason, if he had lived to the same age with Fisher, would have exhib- ited an intellect as profound and a judgment as strong ; but he had, unquestionably, a much greater variety of powers, uniting as he did, in the finest proportions, the quali- ties of the artist, the mathematician, and the poet." And we may conclude this article with the following words of Professor Olmsted, in his parallel between these two stars of genius: "Without attempting further to draw nice distinctions between forms of high and acknowledged excellence, we may venture to predict that in the annals of Yale, Alexander Metcalf Fisher and Ebenezer Porter Mason will ever occupy a page among the most gifted of her sons." vol. 1. — 32 WILLIAM A. LARNED, PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LITERATURE. B V RE V. HENR Y N. DA Y, NE W HA VEN. His Parentage. — Leading Incidents in his Life. — Estimate of his Character as a Man and as an Officer in College. — Special Characteristics of his Labors as Teacher of Rhetoric. — Comparative Results of his Methods on the System of Rhetorical Instruction in the College. Rev. William A. Larned was the immediate successor of Professor Goodrich, and was, accordingly, the second occupant of the chair of Rhetoric and English Litera- ture in the college. He was born of a family characterized by intelligence and piety, in Thompson, Connecticut, June 23, 1806. He was fitted for college at Monson Academy, and was admitted to the Sophomore Class in Yale College in 1823, and graduated with honor in 1826. After spending two years in teaching, in Salisbury, North Carolina, he entered upon the duties of a tutor in Yale College in 1828, which office he resigned in 1831. Up to that year he had contemplated engaging in the profession of his father, that of the law ; but experiencing at this time a fundamental change in his religious life, he relinquished the law for theology, and pursued his studies in the Theological Department, till May, 1834, when he was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Millbury, Massachusetts. In October of the following year he was constrained by failing health to resign his pastorate, which had been most happily and hopefully begun. The following three years he spent in a theological institution in Troy, New York, as instructor in the original languages of the Bible. His health languishing, and the institution becoming financially embarrassed, he removed to New Haven, devoting himself to the study of the Anglo-Saxon language. In the autumn of this year, 1839, on the transfer of Professor Goodrich to the Theo- logical Department, he was elected Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature, in which office he continued till his very sudden death, which occurred on Monday after- noon, February 3, 1862. At about three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, in taking his regular exercise, he walked to the house of a friend, just out of the city lines, which had been left in the charge of a poor family. In this family he had long taken an 250 ^S-»'*-*' j/f* PROFESSOR WILLIAM A. LARNED. 25 1 interest, and with them he spent about half an hour in hearing the Sunday-school lessons of the children, complaining at the time of a pain in his head, and then left for home. On his way he fell unconscious on the railroad track, which he was crossing, and died about six o'clock, giving no signs of recovered consciousness. Mr. Larned was married, in 1843, to Miss Irene Battell, of Norfolk, Connecticut. He left no children. In his physical constitution Mr. Larned was not over robust, and in his maturer life he was subject to a disease — chronic dyspepsia — which somewhat enhanced his natural sensitiveness and self-distrust, at times depressing his spirits, and dampening his char- acteristic earnestness and ardor. But, although modest and retiring in disposition, he was frank, open, bold, firm and strong in his convictions, and fearless in his adherence to them. Cautious and thorough in his investigations of truth, and especially of that truth which bears upon the life, conscientious, too, in all pursuits, his very self-forgetfulness explained his fearlessness in action. He was from boyhood thoughtful, diligent, faith- ful to every obligation. He was earnest, too, and became an assiduous and successful student. His culture was broad, which turned more towards the intellectual and moral than the aesthetic side of his nature. Truth and duty were more to him than form. He was, however, amiable, gentle, sympathetic, kind. Piety was to him principle and life. Altogether his character was one of great simplicity and loveliness. He was trusted, respected, beloved, by all who knew him, and most by those who knew him best. As an officer of the college he was unselfishly devoted to its interests, consecrating to it his best and fullest energies. By his characteristic magnanimity and sympathetic kindness, by his own unsuspicious and trusting spirit, he easily won the confidence of his pupils, and was thus enabled to impress upon them, all unconsciously to them- selves, the high qualities of his own character. This highest function of a teacher, training through unconscious personal influence, he fulfilled with eminent success, moulding insensibly and gradually their habits of thought and conduct after his own, He was a good disciplinarian. He was also a good teacher. He was thorough in his own preparations for meeting his classes ; earnest in his endeavors to impart instruction, while sympathetically thoughtful of the difficulties and perplexities of the learner ; and simple and clear in his statements and explanations. If he did not over- strain the immature capacity of his pupils by urging them into the depths of philo- sophical abstractions, he led them securely along the level path of those established principles that had been matured into a well-defined body of expression. It was, however, in his province of training, particularly in his own department of rhetoric, of stimulating and shaping the faculty of thought and expression, that is to be found the crowning merit and success of his work in the college. As the professorship of rhetoric enjoys this high distinction above the other chairs of instruction that it has more directly to do with the personal habits of thinking and speaking in the pupil, so the personal qualities of Mr. Larned peculiarly fitted him to exert this developing and fashioning power. So sympathetically genial in his own spirit, so sunny and hopeful, so self- forgetting, and so earnestly intent on his pupils' profit, he easily brought their minds under his quickening and plastic power. 252 VALE COLLEGE. There are three leading characteristics easily discernible in his labors in this province. In the first place, he emphasized the thought to be expressed, and relatively depressed the outward forms of expression. He labored with unwearying patience to secure from his pupils accurate thinking and clear unfolding of actual thought, leaving it to the elaborated and matured thought, as of its own instinct, to take on its appro- priate body of verbal expression. In this particular his work contrasted widely with that of his predecessor, Professor Goodrich, who turned the attention of his pupils more on the completed endeavor as fully formed out in word and utterance, emphasiz- ing imagery and diction. This was a natural and most happy advance in the method of instruction in rhetoric in the college. While the outward methods remained substan- tially unchanged — with a like number of rhetorical exercises, similar modes of pre- scribing or selecting themes, similar criticisms and revisions — the spirit of instruction and training in these methods was essentially different. The art of rhetoric had not in his time so distinctly advanced to the third stage in its progress, in which, with diction and thought, a rational aim is proposed as governing in all construction of discourse, directing every step from beginning to end, attracting and prompting to the under- taking, guiding, and facilitating the work itself, and making every performance in a certain degree a satisfying success ; but the advance made in the method of teaching rhetoric, from absorbing care for style to supply of thought, was a vast improvement ; and the service of Professor Larned in this particular way, both to his pupils and to the college generally, was great and most worthy of commemoration. A second noticeable characteristic of Mr. Larned's teaching was his inspiration of confidence into the minds of his pupils, making them to feel conscious of their full ability to perform creditably their rhetorical tasks. One of the greatest difficulties which a teacher of composition has to encounter arises from this — that the pupil's taste is generally developed disproportionately to his power of execution. His conscious inability to realize his ideal in writing discourages him from undertaking. The best cultured student thus is often most disinclined to the effort of writing, sometimes indeed to the degree of entire desperation as to the possibility of performance. Mr. Larned's personal temperament, his gentle mode of dealing with his pupils, and above all his fixing their minds on the essential thing in writing — the simple expression in natural diction of their own thoughts — eminently enabled him to inspire confidence in their ability satisfactorily to perform the tasks assigned them. The third characteristic to be noticed in Mr. Larned as an instructor lay in his efficient helpfulness to his pupils, in his deep desire to be helpful, and in his judicious and acceptable way of helping. He helped because he loved and sought to help ; his aid was therefore freely asked and freely accepted and made available. But he helped not by doing the work himself, but by directing and encouraging exertion on the part of his pupils. He talked over with them their first draughts in composition, drew out their thoughts before their own consciousness, put them in satisfying possession and control of their thoughts, and thus inspired in them that strong incentive to artistic production which arises from the feeling that the work is all one's own. His help, accordingly, was not such as saved exertion, but rather incited to more earnest PROFESSOR WILLIAM A. LARKED. 253 and patient effort, by making it appear practicable and promising of ultimate suc- cess. Professor Larned's term of service in his professorship almost exactly paralleled itself with that of his predecessor, exceeding it by only the few months of his twenty- third year. Each accomplished a noble work for the college, the one beginning as in the order of nature with the outward form of discourse and laying the foundations of effective rhetorical training in careful study of imagery and diction, the other building up a grand superstructure on these foundations in his method of emphasizing the thought as the paramount element in discourse ; each fitted to his own stage of pro- gress in rhetorical art ; each turning to the best account the long period of time allotted to them for developing, improving, and establishing in the college their respective methods of training ; each carrying into his actual work the same spirit of self-sacrificing consecration along with high native endowment and liberal culture ; each, in short, winning a memorable fame for himself while contributing, in his own peculiar way, to the just fame of the college. ANTHONY D. STANLEY, PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS. BY PROFESSOR ELI AS LOO MIS. His Birth. —Early Education. — College Course. — Indication's of Mathematical Talent. — Elected Tutor in Yale College. — Elected Professor of Mathematics. — Publication of Logarithmic Tables and Treatise on Spherical Geometry. — Failure of his Health. — His Death. — Characteristic Traits. — Estimate of his Scientific Abilities. Anthony Dumond Stanley, son of Martin Stanley and Catharine (Van Garsbeck) Stanley, was born in East Hartford, Connecticut, April 2, 18 10. He fitted for college at the Hartford Grammar School, under the instruction of Edward Beecher and William M. Holland, the former of whom subsequently became President of Illinois College, and the latter became Professor of Greek and Latin in Trinity College. Mr. Stanley entered college in the autumn of 1826, and graduated in 1830. During his college course he was known as a regular and faithful student, accurate in all the prescribed studies ; but he was especially distinguished for his excellence in the mathematics. Whenever any unusual difficulty occurred, either in the solution of a problem or in the demonstration of a theorem, he was generally found to be the first to solve it. After leaving college he was for two years one of the instructors in the Hartford Grammar School. In the autumn of 1832 he was elected tutor in Yale College, and he continued in this office for four years. During this period his spare time was chiefly devoted to the study of the mathematics. He took special interest in the theory of numbers, and on one occasion had an excellent opportunity to display his skill in that department. In the summer of 1835 an anonymous writer in the Stamford Sentinel challenged the entire Faculty of Yale College to arrange the nine digits in such order that their square root could be extracted without a remainder. In a few days, Mr. Stanley, over the signature "X," gave the required solution, and added that the question admitted of more than one answer, and called upon the proposer to pro- duce them. To this challenge his opponent made an evasive reply, in which he stated the number of solutions to be nine, but did not communicate any solution. Mr. 254 c7 td rendered his subsequent recovery almost hopeless. While Professor Stanley never obtruded his opinions upon others, and often ap- peared reluctant to express his views even when called upon, he was, nevertheless, decided in his convictions and tenacious of his opinions. His temperament was remarkably even and free from excitement, and he seldom had occasion to retract or modify an opinion once expressed. Few persons were admitted to his confidence, but those who enjoyed this privilege found him a genial companion and a friend who could always be trusted. As a man of science his influence was felt upon a succession of classes of Yale College, and if his life and health had been spared he would doubtless have secured a reputation not American merely, but cosmopolitan.