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SENATE.... ....No. 37. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 PETITION OF THE TRUSTEES 
 
 AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
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 To the Honorable Senate, and the House of Representa- 
 tives, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in Gene- 
 ral Court assembled : 
 
 The Petition of the Trustees of Amherst College respect- 
 fully represents : 
 
 That the collegiate institution which was established 
 at Amherst in 1821, was incorporated as a college in 
 1825, with about one hundred and thirty-six students: 
 that, since that time, the number has greatly increased : 
 that, with this increase in the number of students, the 
 demand for buildings for their accommodation, for addi- 
 tional instructers, for additions to the library, and appara- 
 tus in the various departments, has proportionally in- 
 creased : 
 
 That the wants of the college have hitherto been met 
 <J by appeals to the liberality of the benevolent public; and 
 the friends of the college have been repeatedly called up- 
 ji on to contribute to its necessities : 
 
 That additional means, to a considerable amount, are 
 now indispensibly necessary to enable your petitioners to 
 v^ erect another college^building ; to supply deficiencies in 
 the library ; to render the various apparatus more perfect, 
 and for other purposes. 
 %" Your petitioners further represent, that they have be- 
 
 fore made application to the Legislature for pecuniary 
 aid, but were refused it, on grounds which then were sat- 
 isfactory to the majority ; and they have never received 
 any aid whatever from the State treasury. 
 
4 AMHERST COLLEGE. Jan 
 
 x\nd in renewing their application for this purpose, they 
 rely on the disposition of the General Court to regard 
 that provision of our State constitution, which makes it 
 the "duty of legislatures, in all future periods of the 
 Commonwealth, to cherish the institutions of literature 
 and the sciences, and all seminaries of them, 5 ' — that 
 they will carry out the principle which has induced for- 
 mer Legislatures to make munificent donations to the 
 University which has ever been the object of State pa- 
 tronage, and the honor of the Commonwealth — which 
 has induced them to make liberal grants to the funds of 
 Williams College, and to Bowdoin College, while Maine 
 was a part of this State — and to make endowments to 
 almost every incorporated academy within the Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 The Legislature have reserved to themselves, by the 
 act incorporating the college, li the right to alter, limit, 
 annul or restrain" the powers vested, by the act, in the 
 trustees — the right to appoint, and forever have the re- 
 appointment, as vacancies in the number shall occur, of 
 five out of seventeen of the said trustees — to appoint vis- 
 iters of the college, and retained in their own hands a 
 controlling power over the acts of the trustees. 
 
 The annual increase in the number of students, while 
 the numbers at all the other New England colleges also 
 increase, renders it manifest that a college was needed, 
 in the portion of the Commonwealth in which this is sit- 
 uated, and that it must be sustained. 
 
 And the petitioners respectfully urge, that its wants, 
 its respectable standing among the other New England 
 colleges, taken in connection with the ample resources of 
 the treasury, entitle them to the favorable consideration 
 of the Legislature ; and that it is but equal justice, that 
 
1837. SENATE— No. 37. 5 
 
 the college which has hitherto sustained itself, while it is 
 placed by its charter peculiarly within the control of the 
 government, should share with other kindred institutions 
 in the bounty which all others have received at its hands. 
 
 Wherefore the petitioners earnestly ask that you will 
 grant them such pecuniary aid as their necessities de- 
 mand, and the state of the treasury enables you to give. 
 
 And as in duty bound will ever pray. 
 
 In behalf of the Trustees. 
 
 HEM AN HUMPHREY, President. 
 Amherst, January 2, 1837. 
 
©ommoutoealtfj of j&agsatjjttsetts* 
 
 Ln Senate, Jan. 30, 1837. 
 
 The Joint Special Committee, to whom was committed 
 the Petition of the Trustees of Amherst College for 
 pecuniary aid, having heard the petitioners, and duly 
 considered the matter referred, 
 
 REPORT, 
 
 That this flourishing institution commenced the busi- 
 ness of instruction, under the name of the Amherst Col- 
 legiate Institute, in 1821, with fifty-six students. Seve- 
 ral applications were made to the Legislature by its 
 friends and patrons, for an act of incorporation, until 
 1825, when their request was granted. From that time 
 to the present, Amherst College has steadily advanced 
 in usefulness, respectability, and public estimation, satis- 
 factorily refuting the objections of its opponents, increas- 
 ing the attachment of its friends, and multiplying its 
 claims to public favor and patronage. It has literally 
 grown up, and attained its present high character, 
 " through much tribulation." Assailed in its infancy 
 by every variety of opposition, from manly argument to 
 vulgar abuse, it survived these rude and repeated assaults, 
 gaining new strength from fresh opposition. Its history 
 demonstrates, conclusively, the fitness of its location, and 
 
1837. SENATE— No. 37. 7 
 
 the necessity of its existence. Situated in a pleasant 
 and healthy village, in the valley of the Connecticut, 
 easy of access, remote from vicious temptations and cor- 
 rupting examples, and in the midst of a sober, industri- 
 ous, and intelligent population, its founders might well 
 suppose, that it would receive a full share of patronage. 
 Its success, however, has exceeded the expectations of 
 its most sanguine friends, and astonished its honest ad- 
 versaries. The bare statement of the numbers of stu- 
 dents, who have resorted to this seminary, while our oth- 
 er colleges have also increased in numbers, proves that 
 the public good required its institution. It, also, demon- 
 strates the singular propriety of its location, its impor- 
 tance as a means of education, and the judicious man- 
 agement of its faculty and trustees. The number of 
 students, borne upon its catalogues, since its incorpora- 
 tion, is, annually, as follows. In 1825, 136 ; in '26, 152 ; 
 in '27, 170 ; in '28, 209 ; '29, 211 ; in '30, 188 ; in '81, 
 195 ; in '32, 237 ; in '33, 239 ; in '34, 243 ; in '35, 252 ; 
 and in '36, 259. This steady increase in numbers, your 
 Committee consider good evidence of a well earned pop- 
 ularity, as well as, of extensive usefulness. Accidental 
 causes may swell the numbers of a literary institution 
 during their continuance, but a regular and uniform in- 
 crease for a term of years, denotes the operation of a 
 permanent and well founded influence, independent of 
 contingencies. Patronage is not likely to be extended to 
 any public institution, thus regularly and generously, un- 
 less it have distinguished merit. A discerning public 
 cannot be long imposed upon by specious appearances, 
 and wherever we find an institution of learning, liberal- 
 ly patronised, for a series of years, by all classes of citi- 
 zens, it is fair to presume that this patronage is not un- 
 
8 AMHERST COLLEGE. Jan 
 
 deserved. Your Committee, therefore, are happy in the 
 belief, that the Legislature will not hesitate to add to its 
 means of promoting the public good, through fear of a mis- 
 application, or perversion, or inefficacy of its bounty* 
 
 The trustees, by the aid of private benefactions alone, 
 have be enenabled to construct three commodious college 
 buildings, and a chapel for public worship, recitation and 
 lecture rooms, &c. at a cost of about 40,000 dollars. 
 They have procured a well selected library of about six 
 thousand volumes, a very complete philosophical appara- 
 tus, a respectable chemical laboratory, and a valuable 
 cabinet of minerals and curiosities. Their present build- 
 ings will accommodate 180 students, and they are in 
 want of another building, corresponding w T ith the rest in 
 its architecture, to accommodate sixty more, who are now 
 compelled to seek lodgings in the village. The trustees 
 are greatly desirous of obviating this difficulty. They 
 consider it essential to the maintenance of their present 
 standing. Students, who cannot obtain rooms in the 
 college buildings, seek them elsewhere, to the manifest 
 detriment of college discipline, and their own proficiency. 
 Instances have occurred, where applicants could not ob- 
 tain the necessary accommodations, and have gone to 
 other colleges in consequence of this defect. It is indis- 
 pensible to the best good of the students, as well as to 
 the reputation of the college, and the correct administra- 
 tion of its affairs, that all its inmates should reside under 
 the immediate care and oversight of the faculty. Saluta- 
 ry restraints and checks cannot be otherwise imposed, 
 and wholesome and proper discipline enforced. 
 
 The students having increased from 136 to 259, in the 
 short term of ten years, the faculty and board of instruc- 
 tion have, from necessity, been proportionally increased. 
 
1837. SENATE— No. 37. 9 
 
 A president, two professors and two tutors composed the 
 first faculty. The present board consists of a president* 
 five professors, and four tutors, together with a lecturer 
 on anatomy and physiology, and a lecturer on political 
 economy. The necessary expenses of the institution for 
 the few first years of its existence, were about thirty-five 
 hundred dollars annually, and now they exceed thrice that 
 sum. The term bills are found to be inadequate to meet 
 the current expenditures. There is always some loss, 
 and much delay in collecting these bills, and, was the 
 whole sum realized, it would be insufficient. This state 
 of facts is not peculiar to this institution. It is believed 
 that no one of our colleges can be supported by its term 
 bills alone. A letter from the treasurer of Yale College 
 was read to your Committee, which stated that the term 
 bills of that ancient, economical and numerously attended 
 institution fell far short of its ordinary expenses. The 
 salaries of the officers of Yale College do not greatly ex- 
 ceed, in the aggregate, those of Amherst, while the num- 
 ber of students is about one third greater, and the term 
 bills somewhat higher. Your Committee are, therefore, 
 satisfied that the college cannot be sustained in its present 
 highly flourishing condition, and made to keep pace with 
 the march of improvement, and the growing w 7 ants of the 
 community, without foreign aid. 
 
 From what source shall this necessary aid be derived ? 
 Private contributions have made this college what it now 
 is. Individual enterprise and liberality have laid its foun- 
 dations, and reared its structures, and taught it to shed 
 blessings on the Commonwealth, and shall it be crippled 
 in its efforts, and circumscribed in its operations, for the 
 want of a few thousand dollars from a rich and often re- 
 plenished treasury ? Shall a narrow minded policy shut 
 2 
 
10 AMHERST COLLEGE. Jan 
 
 the door upon their reasonable request? Benevolent cit- 
 izens throughout the Commonwealth have contributed 
 largely and frequently to its support, and they now be- 
 lieve it entitled to legislative bounty. They see the 
 Legislature annually appropriating large sums in aid of 
 education, at which they rejoice. The deaf are made to 
 hear, the dumb to speak, and the blind to see, through 
 the aids of the public treasury. The earth discloses her 
 secrets, the mines unlock their treasures, topography, 
 mineralogy and geology are illustrated, and enriched by 
 legislative grants. All this the friends of this college hail 
 as an auspicious omen. Our other seminaries of learning 
 have severally received liberal donations from the Com- 
 monwealth's treasury, and why should not this, which 
 has outstripped them all in the rapidity of its progress, 
 meet with the like favor, not to say, justice ? Harvard 
 University, even from the days of the pilgrims, has been 
 the favorite and richly endowed daughter of the State. 
 Williams, and Bowdoin Colleges have received generous 
 appropriations of the public money, and their increased 
 usefulness attests both the wisdom and policy of such 
 munificence. Every incorporated academy in the Com- 
 monwealth has received something at the hands of the 
 Legislature. Shall Amherst College, of all our literary 
 institutions, remain unendowed, and neglected by the 
 constitutional guardians of the common weal? This, too, 
 when she has forced her way, by her own unassisted ef- 
 forts, to an acknowledged equality with the best and most 
 highly favored institutions of the land? Your Committee 
 are exceedingly unwilling to adopt such a conclusion, and 
 they cannot persuade themselves that such a conclusion 
 would comport with the honorable views of a high mind- 
 
1 837. SENATE— No. 37. 1 1 
 
 ed Legislature, or be required by the condition of our 
 finances. 
 
 The circumstances of the case, seem to your Commit- 
 tee, to impose an obligation upon the representatives of 
 the people to foster this institution. In its act of incor- 
 poration, the Legislature reserve the right to control it, 
 and, also, to choose five out of seventeen trustees, and 
 supply the vancancies of these five, as often as they shall 
 occur, forever. This seems to us an undertaking on the 
 part of the Legislature to superintend its operations, to 
 watch over its usefulness, and add to its means of doing 
 good. Is not this college authorized, since its formal 
 and guarded adoption into the family of literary institu- 
 tions, to demand at the hands of their common parent, 
 an equal share of the joint inheritance, or a just propor- 
 tion of the family funds ? 
 
 The honor, as well as the interest of the Common- 
 wealth requires that this institution should be sustained. 
 During the three past years, it has had a larger number 
 of students, than either of our other colleges. The sons 
 of the farmer, the mechanic, and the man of moderate 
 means, resort hither, to acquire at a comparatively small 
 cost, the qualifications for future usefulness. And shall 
 these classes of the community, which compose the bone 
 and sinew of a republic, be forbidden to drink of the wells 
 of science, for the want of pecuniary means ? In what 
 other way can the State employ its bounty more effectu- 
 ally, than in facilitating the education of young men from 
 the middle classes, whom yet luxury hath not tainted, 
 nor idleness rendered mischievous, and sloth effeminate ? 
 
 Before the establishment of this institution, great 
 numbers of young men went out of the Commonwealth 
 to obtain an education, (n 1824 there were in the sev- 
 
12 AMHERST COLLEGE. Jan 
 
 eral New England colleges, out of this State, 227 schol- 
 ars belonging to Massachusetts. In 1830, the number 
 had been reduced to 135. At the former period, there 
 were fifty-eight more went out of the State than came 
 into it, for the purposes of education ; and at the latter, 
 fourteen more came in than went out. This institution 
 has been the chief instrument in producing these results, 
 and is, therefore, entitled to some consideration. 
 
 Massachusetts is pre-eminent among her sister States 
 for her munificent bequests to literary institutions. The 
 amount appropriated to these objects, as appears from sun- 
 dry documents shown to your Committee, is, in round 
 numbers, as follows, viz : To Harvard University, 
 #300,000; to Williams College, #56,000; to Bowdoin 
 College, #70,000; to academies, #630,000; to other 
 institutions, #12,000; to common schools, #1,000,000: 
 making, in all, the generous sum of #2,070,000. Am- 
 herst College, with its high claims to legislative bounty, 
 and its abundant evidence of eminent usefulness, stands 
 alone in solitary destitution. Not a single mark of gov- 
 ernmental favor can she exhibit, nor a single token of 
 paternal approbation. While every other member of the 
 family has received largely of the common stock, she 
 alone has been turned empty-handed away, and compelled 
 to sustain herself on her own scantv resources. Shall 
 this be said of her longer ? Will the honor of the Com- 
 monwealth permit it? Shall this youngest and most 
 enterprising of our literary institutions be again turned 
 over to the sympathies of a generous public for relief? 
 Let the Representatives of the people answer. Let the 
 descendants of the pilgrims, who, w r hile yet the war- 
 whoop roused them from the slumbers of midnight, and 
 the hostile tomahawk glittered in the blaze of their 
 
1837. SENATE— No. 37. 13 
 
 dwellings, made liberal appropriations of their scanty re- 
 sources to the endowment of literary institutions, say, 
 whether this stain shall longer disfigure the bright es- 
 cutcheon of this ancient Commonwealth. 
 
 This college is of great service to the surrounding 
 country, inasmuch as it furnished from 100 to 150 teach- 
 ers of common schools during "the winter. Their qualifi- 
 cations for this important service would be increased, by 
 giving to the college additional means of instruction. To 
 those, who cherish a just sense of the importance of well 
 qualified instructers of common schools, this is no mean 
 argument. 
 
 The property of the corporation, as nearly as it can be 
 ascertained, is as follows, viz : 
 
 Three college buildings and a chapel, $40,000 
 
 President's house, 5,000 
 
 Library, philosophical apparatus, &c. 10,000 
 
 Certain lands and promissory notes, about 10,000 
 
 $65,000 
 The trustees are indebted about $10,000. Since their 
 last application for assistance, they have extinguished a 
 debt, under which they were then laboring, of over 
 $35,000, by an appeal to the sympathies of an enlight- 
 ened and christian public. 
 
 There is a fund, estimated at $39,850, contributed on 
 condition that five sixths of the interest should be applied 
 to the education of indigent young men for the gospel 
 ministry. The other sixth of interest is to be annually 
 added to the principal. No part of this fund can be ap- 
 plied to ordinary and general purposes. 
 
 The present expenses of the college are as follows, viz: 
 
14 AMHERST COLLEGE. Jan 
 
 President's salary, 
 
 #1,200 
 
 Five professors, 
 
 4,800 
 
 Four tutors, 
 
 2,000 
 
 Treasurer, 
 
 300 
 
 Chapel service, 
 
 250 
 
 Laboratory and philosophical apparatus, 
 
 200 
 
 Inspector, 
 
 180 
 
 Fuel, lights, &c. 
 
 250 
 
 Repairs, 
 
 300 
 
 Insurance, 
 
 140 
 
 Other expenses, 
 
 140 
 
 $10,000 
 The present annual income of the institution is, nearly, 
 as follows, viz : 
 
 Tuition of 225 students, at $32, is $8,775 
 
 Rent of 90 rooms, at $18, 1,620 
 
 Rent for land, 150 
 
 $10,545 
 The more immediate wants of the corporation, to sup- 
 ply necessary accommodations to the increasing number 
 of students, and to give wider scope and greater efficiency 
 to its circle of instruction, seem to be as follows, viz : 
 
 A college edifice like the others, estimated to 
 cost $13,000 
 
 For additions to library and apparatus, 10,000 
 General repairs and improvement of col- 
 lege grounds, 3,000 
 To pay debts, 10,000 
 As a contingent fund, 14,000 
 To endow two professorships, 30,000 
 
 $80,000 
 
1837. SENATE— No. 37. 15 
 
 The necessary annual expense of a student at this col- 
 lege, is from $ 100 to 120. 
 
 Your Committee, feeling deeply impressed with the 
 importance of this subject, cannot forbear to urge upon 
 the attention of the Legislature a general remark or two, 
 which seem to them of paramount importance. 
 
 There is an intimate connexion between colleges, acad- 
 emies and common schools. Academies and schools are 
 dependant upon colleges for their instructers, and unless 
 they be kept in a healthy condition, the lesser institutions 
 must necessarily participate in their declension. It is a 
 mistaken and most mischievous notion, that primary 
 schools can exist in their most perfect state, independent- 
 ly of higher seminaries of learning. Colleges are the 
 life blood of all our literary institutions, and it must be 
 propelled through the greater and lesser arteries of the 
 system, to give them a healthy and vigorous action. In- 
 crease the force of the propelling power, and you will 
 increase the volume propelled, and add strength and vital- 
 ity to the current of circulation. Purify the fountain, 
 and the issuing streams w r ill be pure ; suffer that to be- 
 come stagnant and corrupt, and its issues will bear on 
 their current pestilence and death. 
 
 It is the duty, as well as the interest of Massachu- 
 setts, as a prominent member of this great confederacy 
 of States, to do all she can to advance the common weal. 
 From he rlimited extent, and the uncongenial character of 
 her soil and climate, she can never expect to compete 
 with many of her sister States in the amount of produc- 
 tion, or weight of popular influence. She can never ex- 
 port her millions of bushels of grain, or her thousand 
 bales of cotton, or make her voice heard, by a numerous 
 representation, in the councils of the nation. Her situa- 
 
16 AMHERST COLLEGE. Jan 
 
 tion forbids this. But, while "ice and granite consti- 
 tute her native exports, she may exert a commanding 
 influence on the destinies of the Union, by the exporta- 
 tion of men. This is a product, in which, she has 
 ever excelled. She may raise up and qualify her thou- 
 sand sons, to lay broad and deep, the foundations of the 
 rising states in the w r est, and south-west. She may send 
 off her young men of talent, and learning, and enter- 
 prize, bearing with them our institutions, habits, customs, 
 and religion, and thus exert an influence on the destinies 
 of our common country, superior to millions of an uned- 
 ucated and untamed population. And will not a patriot- 
 ic Legislature, mindful of the solemn obligations of the 
 constitution, and the example of our fathers, and the 
 highest interests of our country, contribute to this result, 
 by a further endowment of our colleges ? Such is the 
 state of the Commonwealth's treasury and such our an- 
 nual revenue, that a liberal grant can be attended with 
 little or no financial embarrassment, while the good, it 
 may produce is incalculable. 
 
 From a full consideration of the circumstances of this 
 case, your Committee are clearly of opinion, that Am- 
 herst College deserves and has richly earned, a share of 
 the public funds, and we, therefore, unanimously recom- 
 mend the passage of the accompanying Resolve. 
 
 Per order, 
 
 M. LAWRENCE, Chairman. 
 
<£ommotttoeattt) of jmassacljusetts* 
 
 In the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred 
 and Thirty-Seven. 
 
 RESOLVE 
 
 On the Petition of the Trustees of Amherst College, 
 
 Resolved, For reasons set forth in the petition of the 
 Trustees of Amherst College, for pecuniary aid, that 
 there be allowed and paid out of the Treasury of this 
 Commonwealth, to the Treasurer of said College for the 
 time being, for the use of said College, the sum of two 
 thousand five hundred dollars on the first day of May, 
 and on the first day of November, in each year, for ten 
 successive years, the first payment of two thousand five 
 hundred dollars, to be made on the first day of May next. 
 And his Excellency, the Governor is hereby authorized 
 and requested to draw his warrant accordingly. 
 
 3