5678 a63 7i. LD 5172 .a AU5 3 1924 065 507 737 U. S. BUREAU OF EDUCATION CIRCULAR OF INFORMATION NO. 1, 1888 CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY EDITED BY HERBERT B. ADAMS 3Sro. 3 THOMAS JEFFERSOK THE UNIVERSITY OF VIEGm^IA BY HERBERT B. ADAMS, Ph. D. Associate Professor of History in the Johns Hopkins Uotversity ••;«•;»,, .,1, WITH i ' AUTHORIZED SKETCHES OF HAMPDEN-SIDNEY, RANBOIPH-IACON, EMORY-HENRY, ROANOKE, AND RICHMOND COLIEGES, WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, AND VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 188S 17036— No. 1 6M*fA/ " The University of Virginia, as a temple dedicated to science and liberty, was, after Ms [^Jefferson's'] retirement from thepolitioal sphere, the object nearest Ms lieart,and so con- tinued to the close of Ms life. His devotion to it was intense, and his exertions unceasing. It hears the stamp of his genius, and will 6e a nohle monument of his fame. Bis general view was to make it a nursery of repuilioan patriots, as well as genuine scholars." (James Madison: Letter concerning Jefferson, Novembers, 1826.) "Our University, the last of my mortal cares, and the last service I can render my coun- try." (Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell.) "Our views are catholic for the improvement of our country hy science." (Jefferson to George Ticknor.) "No man of the time threw so much solid matter into his compositions as Mr. Jefferson." ( Jared Sparks.) "No cause deserves more generous support than that of, higher education in the Southern States." (George William Curtis.) "Any one who will visit the Southern colleges and schools will find in them a generation of stu^dents, alert, vigorous, manly, and tremendously in earnests It is evident that a race of exceptional moral earnestness and mental vigor is now growing up in the South, and that it is sure to be heard from." (The Century Magazine : Topics of the Time.) "The University is the natural ornament and the bright consummate flower of democ- racy." (Senator George F. Hoar: Address at the laying of the corner-stone of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., October 22, 1887.) Tlie University "is an institution iiihieh better than anything else symbolizes the aim and tendencies of modern life." (Bishop Spalding, at the founding of the Catholic Univer- sity, Washington, D. C, May 24, 1888.) 2 \ i- ■- . The recent revival of WiUiam and Mary College by the Legislature of Virginia is a gratifying proof of popular interest in higher education and in the historical associa- tions of that ancient institution. The college is to become a higher training school for the teachers of Virginia. The superintendent of public instruction, Dr. John L. Buchanan, has been appointed president, and the various chairs of instruction, in- cluding History and English, will soon be filled anew. JEFFERSON S ORIGINAL DRAWINGS. 17 The thousand and one matters which college presidents and boards of trustees usually leave to professional architects and skilled labor, were thought out and carefully specified on paper by the " Father of the University of Virginia." The student begins to appreciate the significance of the above phrase wheu he sees Jefferson's original survey of the ground for a campus or lawn, and his mathematical location of the buildings, with the minutest directions regarding every one. Cellars and fou ndation walls, windows; doors, roofs, chimneys, floors, partitions, stairs, the very bricks and timber requisite for every dormitory, were all estimated with nicest ac- curacy. " The covered way in front of the whole range of buildings is to be Tuscan, with columns of brick rough cast, their diameter 16 inches, but in front of the pavilion to be arches, in order to support the col- umns of the portico above more solidly." Not only did Jefferson draw plans and make estimates for every important feature of the University, but he trained his brick-makers, masons, and carpenters, and superin- tended every operation. He even designed tools and implements for his men, and taught them how to cover roofs with tin. One or two skilled workmen were imported from Italy to chisel the marble capitals of those classic columns which support the porticos of the pavilions in which the professors now live, but the chief work was done by home talent under Jefferson's watchful eye. lu the Colonnade of the University, West Lawn. [Published by cqurtesy of the Century Company.} , AECHITEOTUKAL TYPES. A visitor pacing slowly through those monastic colonnades extend- ing along two sides of the great quadrangle campus of the University of Virginia will receive a strange variety of impressions from the ex- traordinary architectural combinations which greet his wandering 17036— No. 2 2 18 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. eyes. The arcades themselves, from which open directly the single- chambered rooms of the students, remind one of cloistered walks m some ancient monastery. These student-rooms are like monkish cells. But what wonderful fa9ades are those which front the professors' houses or pavilions! They reproduce classic styles of architecture. In the Colonnade of the TlniTersity, East Lawn. The shadows of remote antiquity are cast upon those beautiful grassy campus, or, shall we say, the campo santo, lawns which form the of the University of Virginia. Prom Jefferson's drawings we Jearn, what is now well-nigh forgotten, that these varying types of classical architecture were copied from well-known Boman buildings, pictured by Palladio ' in his great work on architecture. There in the theatre 1 " The Architecture of A. Palladio, in four books, containing a short treatise of the five orders, and the most necessary observations concerning all sorts of buildings: as also the different construction of private and public houses, highways, bridges, market- places, xystes, and temples, with their plans, sections, and uprights, revised, designed, and published, bj Giaoomo Leoni, a Venetian, architect to His most Serene Highness, the late Elector Palatine ; translated from the Italian original. The third edition corrected. With notes and remarks of Inigo Jones : now first taken from his original manuscript in Worcester College Library, Oxford. And also as an Appendix, contain- ing the Antiquities of Rome, written by A. Palladio. And a Discourse of the Fires of the Ancients, never before translated. In two volumes. London, 1742." Palladio's service to architecture has recently been made the subject of an interesting article in the Nation,- December 29, 1887, under the title "Palladio at Vicenza." There is also an interesting sketch of Palladio in the new edition of the Euoyclopiiedia Britannioa. THE HISTORIC BACKGEOUND. 19 of Marcellus dwells the household of Professor Minor. Yonder are re- minders of the baths of Diocletian, the baths of Oaracalla, and of the temple of Eortuna Virilis. And there, at the upper or northern end of the quadrangle, stands the Eoman Pantheon, the temple of all the gods, reduced to one-third of its original size, but still majestic and imposing. This building, with its rotunda, upon which Jefferson spent almost as much pains as Michael Angelo did upon the dome of St. , Peter's, is used for the library and for various lecture halls. Tonng peo- ple dance merrily under that stately dome at the end of the academic year. The young monks thus escape from their cells into the modern social world. How charmingly old Eome, mediaeval Europe, and mod- ern America blend together before the very eyes of young Virginia! , Alley and Serpentine Brick Walls leading throngh Professors' Gardens to the Central Lawns. [FublisTied by courtesy of the Century CoTit^any.] THE HISTORIC BACKGEOUND. There is a manifest unity in Jefferson's institutional creation, and yet a reflecting student cannot fail to see that there is an interesting histori- cal background to this beautiful picture. In the material structure of the University of Virginia there is much to remind the traveller of Old World forms, and in the documentary history of the institution itself there are many indications of European influence upon the mind of Jefferson. These things have greatly interested the present writer and they may not be unworthy of the attention of friends of Ameri. can educational history, in which so little work has been done, espe- cially in the Southern States. The formative influences which entered into the making of the University of Virginia are doubtless more 20 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEKSITY OF VIRGINIA. numerous than those described in the following monograph ; but Jef- ferson was the master and controller of them all. It is no detraction from his individual power of origination to open the volnme of his large experience in the world, and to point out here and there his connection with men and things that shaped his purpose to its noble end. Instead of evolving the University of Virginia entirely out of his own inner consciousness, Jefferson combined, in an original and independent creation, the results of academic training, philosoph- ical culture, foreign travel, wide observation, and of an extensive corre- spondence with the most illustrious educators of his time. His intelli- gent study of Old World institutions prepared him to devise something new for Virginia and America. How the idea of one man became the sovereign will of the State, after a struggle of fifty years for the higher education, is an instructive study, affording grounds for encouragement in these modern days. CHAPTER I. THE UNITED STATES ACADEMY AT EIOHMOND. SURVIVAL OF FRENCH INFLUENCE. A very remarkable attempt was made in the latter part of the eighteenth century to establish the higher education in this country upon a grand scale. It was an attempt, growing out of the French alli- ance with the United States, to plant in Eichmond, the new capital of Virginia, a kind of French academy of the arts and sciences, with branch academies in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. The institution was to be at once national and international. It was to be aiflliated with the royal societies of London, Paris, and Brussels, and with other learned bodies in EuTopp. It was to be composed of a president, a vice- president, six counsellors, a treasurer-general, a secretary, a recorder, an agent for taking European subscriptions, French professors, masters) artists-in-chief attached to the academy, twenty-five resident and one hundred and seventy-five non-resident associates, selected from the best talent of the Old World and of the New. The academy proposed to publish yearly, from its own press in Paris, an almanac, announcing to the academic world not only the officers and students of the Richmond institution, with their distinguished asso- ciates, but also the work projected by the academy from year to year. Such work when completed was to be published in the memoirs of the academy and distributed to the learned societies of Europe and to the associates and patrons of the institution. The academy was to show its active zeal for science by communicating to France and other Euro- pean countries a knowledge of the natural products of North America. The museums and cabinets of the Old World were to be enriched by specimens of the flora and fauna of a country as yet undiscovered by men of science. Experts of every class were to be sent out from Paris to the new academy, where they were to teach American youth, and at the sa^me time serve on scientific commissions for governments, corpo- rations, and stock companies. These professors were to pay to the acad emy, for its economic support, one-half of all receipts for instruction and commission work. Special stress was laid upon the importance of 21 22 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. ; introducing into America French mineralogists and mining engineers. ; If this latter idea had been realized the mineral resources of the, United States would have been exploited in the interest of European capital.. CHEVALIER QTJBSNAY'S PROJECT. The projector of this brilliant scheme was the Chevalier Quesnay de Beatirepaire, grandson of the famous French philosopher and econ- omist Dr. Quesnay, who was the court physician of Louis XV. Che- valier Quesnay, the grandson, was one of those enthusiastic Frenchmen who, like La Fayette, came over to this country to aid in the war of the Eevolution. Led on, he says in his memoir,^ by the hope of achieving military distinction, Quesnay served as a captain in Virginia during the years 1777-78. A long and severe illness compelled him to give up his military ambition. Having occasion to travel through the country, he conceived the idea of improving it by the introduction of French cult- ure and the fine arts. He saw a good opportunity of multiplying the rela- tions between France and America, or, as he naively says, "de la liar avec ma patrie par de nouveaux motifs de reconnaisance, de conformity dans les gouts, et de communication plus intime entre les Individns des deux Nations." The chevalier says that the first idea of founding an academy in America was suggested to him in 1778, by Mr. John Page, of Eosewell, . the Lieutenant- Governor of Virginia, who urged him to procure professors from Europe, promising to secure their appointment and make Quesnay president of the academy. The ambitious Frenchman appears to have made diligent propaganda throughout Virginia, and indeed throughout the country, in the interest of his novel academic idea. He even suc- ceeded in raising by subscription the sum of sixty thousand francs,— a fact which indicates that the scheme was seriously entertained. There is a published list of the original subscribers in Virginia, embracing nearly one hundred names. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS IN VIRGINIA. The following " Liste des Premiers Souscripteurs en Virginie, Ann6e 1786," will have historical interest, for it represents the first contribu- tors to university education at the South: "Messieurs B. Adams, B. Armstead, Moses Austin, Henry Banks, C his well" Barett, John Barett, Smith Bleakey [Blakey?], Eobert Boling, William Booker, Eichard Bowler, Eobert Boyd, James Bronsley [Brownley ?], John Burton, Will- iam Burton, Archibald Cary, Cohen & Isaac, William Coulter, Samuel Coush [Couch'?], Beuben Coutis [Cutts*?], Samuel McCraw, Thomas ' M<5moire, Statuts et Prospectus oonoeruant I'Aoad^mie des Sciences et Beaux-Arts des Etats-Unis de I'Amfirique, (Stablie k, Eichemond, capitale de la Virginie ; pr6sent& i Leurs Majestfis, et ^ la Famllle Eoyale, par le Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire. A Paris, de I'lmprimerie de Oailleau, Imprimeur de I'Acadfimle de Eichemond, rae Gal- lande. No. 64, 1788. 118 pp. 12m6. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS IN VIROINIA. 23 McCrusey, Francis Dandridge, William Davis, Thomas M. De^ne, Henry D,ixon, Johns Dixon, William Duval, Seraflna Pormioula, William Poush^e, Gabriel Gait, A. Geoghegen, John Gibson, Erasmus Gill, H. Giroude, Francis Goode, Robert Goode, Thomas Gordon, Francis Graves, Robert Greenhow, John Guun, John flarvie, William Heslet, Gilbert Hay, Custis Haynes, James Hays, Joseph Higbee, David Humphreys, Daniel Hylton, Francis James, Richard Jernon, John McKeand, John Ker, David Lambert, Robert Lauglin, Benjamin Lewis, William Lewis, Abraham Lott, John McLurg, William Lynn, Sampson Mathews, John May, Wilham Mayo, Dabney Miller, Robert Mitchel, A. Montgomery, Richard Morris, Mme. Susanna Kevens, William Pennoch, George Pickett, Barnet Price, John Prior, IST. Raguet, Thomas Randolph, T. M- Randolph, Henry Randolph, Thomas Richard, A. McRobert, Jesse Roper, Thomas Rosses, John Stewart, John Stocdelt [Stockdell?], Tenner [Turner?] Southall, R. Southgates, Thomas Taab, Stephen Tankard, Peter Tinsley, Samuel Trower, Daniel Trunchart [Truehart ?], Edward Voss, Daniel Wandeval, James Warington, Foster Web, Bikerton Web, Nathaniel Wilkinson, Isaac Tonghusband, P. Ypnghusband." Some of these old Virginia names are somewhat disguised by the vagaries of a French printing office, but many of them were recognized by Samuel Mordecai,^ a Richmond antiquary of a former generation. Chevalier Quesnay says the first man who subscribed to his project was Colonel Randolph : " Le Colonel Randolph de Tachao [Tuckahoe], le premier qui ait souscrit, a fait d'autres avances considerables en faveur de cet fitablissemenb." Quesnay says also that " John Harvie, ficuyer, Maire de la ville, Direoteur de la Vente des Terres de I'Etat, est le premier qui ait adopts le projet de. cet 6tablissement ; il I'a tou- jours prot6g6 depuis avec fermet6." In order to convince the French public that he had the strongest social support in America, Quesnay referred to a great number of distinguished people in various American cities who had shown him encouragement. In view of the prospective rivalry of the Richmond Academy with old William and Mary College, it is interesting to find Quesnay mentioning, among his friends in Wil- liamsburg, "le R6v. M. Madison, President de I'Universite, MM. John & Thomas Carter; le G6n6ral Gibson." He mentions also friends in Norfolk, Petersburg, Fredericksburg, and Alexandria. To Baltimoreans the following local patrons of liberal cufture in the eighteenth century will not be without interest: "En Mariland, ^Baltimore, M. Martin, Avocat-G6n6ral ; M. le Docteur Buchanan (fils du feu G6n6ral de ce nom) ; M. Krocket, MM. Vanbibet, Williamson, Provayance Graves, le Colonel Brent, M. Hemsley, le Docteur Courter, etc." Thus the Cheva;- lier Quesnay proceeds in his interesting tour of social progress through the older cities of the Atlantic seaboard, from Baltimore to Philadelphia, Trenton, Elizabeth, Newark, and New York. His local lists of first ' Samuel Mordecai : Virginia, especially Richmond, in By-Gone Days. Second edition, p. SOS. 24 JEPFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. families afford an interesting criterion of the cultivated society of the period Immediately following the American Eevolution. This clever, diplomatic Frenchman evidently had the social entree wherever he went on his academic mission. While mentioning, among his friends in New York, Governor Clinton, General Oourtland, Mr, Duane (then mayor of the city), the Livingstons, Hoffmans,Halletts,Pintards,Seaton8, Whites, and the army ofdcers Niven, Ludlow, Ogden, Vandyke, Wool, and others, it is noteworthy that Qaesnay speaks of General Baron von Steuben as " le premier de cet fitat qui ait adopt6 le projet" of a French academy in America, It was an educated German in New York who first recog- nized the clever Frenchman's brilliant idea, LETTER TO FRANKLIN. Quesnay's project was clearly for something higher than an American college. He had in mind the highest special training of American stu- dents in the arts and sciences, The following extract from a letter written to Dr. Franklin by his daughter. Mrs. Bache, doubtless at Ques nay's request, shows how the proposed academy was viewed by educated people at the times The letter is here translated into English from Quesnay's French version, published in his memoir for the sake of in- fluencing public opinion in France, where the name of Franklin was greatly revered : " Philadelphia, February 27, 1783. ^ " My Dear and Honored Father : With this letter you will re- ceive a project for a French academy which is to be established here. It is a very extensive plan, which will do honor to the gentleman who has designed it, as well as to- America. If it can be executed, it will in no way interfere with the plans of the colleges ; it will be solely for the completion of the education of young men after they have graduated from college. Those who are already under M. Quesnay have made great progress. " He regards you as the father of science in this country, and appre- ciates the advice and instruction which you have never failed to give those whose talents are worthy of recognition. Money is the one thing needful; but the brother of M. Quesnay, when he delivers this letter, will inform you how you can be most serviceable. I know well how occupied you must be in this important crisis; but as a mother who desirps to give her children a useful and polite education, and who will be especially proud to have them trained in her own country and under her own eyes, I pray you to give M, Quesnay every aid and assistance that may lie in your power." Quesnay decided to establish his academy in Richmond, because his earliest American associations and his best friends were in that capital. There he acquired, he says, a superb site for the building. His topo- graphical description of Eichmond, with reference to the situation of the academy, is pleasing and graphic: "La position de cette ville est SITE OF THE ACADEMY. 25 charmante h tous 6gards, son emplacement occupe une valine et deux collines, sur I'une desquelles est b^tie I'Acad^mie. La rivifere de James forme, an pied de son enceinte, une superbe cascade, d'erivirou trois milles de longueur." The exact site of the academy was long ago re- corded by Samuel Mordecai, the Eichmond antiquary, who probably saw the building with his own eyes. He says, in his charming medley of Eichmond history ; " The site chosen by M. Quesnay, and on which he erected his academy, is the square on which the Monumesntal Church and the Medical College now stand, the grounds extending from those lower points up Broad and Marshall to Twelfth Street. The academy stood nearly on the spot where the Carlton House stands." THE ACABEMY FOUNDED. The proceedings connected with the laying of the cornerstone are described by Quesnay, in his Memoir, and by the Virginia Gazette for July 1, 1786. Thefoundation was laid June 24 with masonic ceremonies in the presence of a great concourse of citizens. The mayor of the city, the French consul, and, as Quesnay reported, " deputies of the French nation,"' were there to honor the occasion. With the corner-stone was laid a silver plate bearing this inscription, preserved in French in Ques- nay's Memoir: <' Premiere Pierre d'une Academic dans la ville de Eichemond, Alexandre-Marie Quesnay, 6tant President, pos6e^l'Orient de Eichemond, par les Maltres-Gardiens & Oompagnons de la L. No. 31, le jour de la F6te de St. Jean Baptiste, I'An de la V. L. 5786, de I'fire Vulgaire 1786. John Groves, Maitre, James Mercer, Grand Maitre, Edmund Eandolph, D. P. G. Maitre." Upon another silver plate was recorded the following Latin inscription, which perhaps suffered in the printer's hands: Anno Domini 1786, BeipuHicae 10, VIII. Kalendas Julii, Bes Virginae administrante Patrik Henri, Aeademiae quani designavit ALEXANDER-MAEIA QUESNAY atque benefioiis plurium Givium bene meritorum adjutus, tandem perfidet, prima fundamenta ponuit JOHANNES HARVIE, PBAET. UEB. The six counsellors,'' chosen by the subscribers to act with President Quesnay, are mentioned in the latter's Memoir of the academy. They were John Harwie, mayor of the city of Eichmond, and "alli6 h, la fa- mille de son Excellence M. Jefferson;" Col. Thomas Eandolph; Dr. 1 Quesnay appears to have had several French supporters in his academic under- taking. He says : " M. Claude-Paul Eaguet a rendu dea services importans &. I'Auteur ; MM. Audrin, la Case, Omph^ry, MM. les Docteurs Noel et le Maire ; MM. Dorssifere et Bartholomy, et MM. Cureau et Charles-Franpois Duval, en Virginie (tous Franfais) ont appuy^ son entreprise." , iiTho Virginia Gazette, May 1, 1786. 26 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. James McClurg; Col. Robert Goode; Dr. William Foush^e; and Eobert Boyd. Benjamin Lewis was appointed treasurer. Having founded and organized his Academy under the most distin- guished auspices, Qiiesnay returned to Paris, and began an active social and scientific propaganda in the Interest of his grand project for uniting intellectually America and France. He called upon the savants of Paris. He visited the studios of artists. He consulted everybody whose opinion, good- will, or active co- operation was worth having. Qnesnay was certainly successfulin awakening the interest of the most influential people in the idea of establishing a French academy in Eich. moud. As grandson of a distinguished scholar, and as a returned sol- dier of France, he was able to obtain access to the highest circles. His project was presented to the King and Queen and to the royal family in a memoir published with the sanctibn of the royal censor. The most cultivated men of the time appear to have favored Quesnay's undertak- ing. A commission of the Eoyal Academy of Stience, signed by De la Lande, Thouin, Tenan, and Lavoisier, and certified by its secretary, the Marquis de Oondorcet, reported favorably upon the memoir, as did ^Iso a similar commission of the Eoyal Academy of Painting and Sculpt- ure, signed by Vernet and other eminent artists. The published list of foreign associates (AssocUs Strangers) of the Eichmond Academy embraces the most distinguished French names in art, science, litera- ture, and politics, together with representative m,en of England and the TJnited States. French influence naturally predominated. DISTINGUISHED ASSOCIATES. Among the celebrities whom Quesnay managed to associate with his Eichmond Academy were Beaumarchais, secretary of the King ; Oon- dorcet and Dacier, secretaries respectively of the Eoyal Academies of Science and of Art ; the Abb6 deBevi, historiographer of France ; Mar- quis de la Fayette, then a marshal of the armies of the King ; Houdon, the sculptor; Malesherbes, minister of state ; Lavoisier ; the ComT;e de la Luzerne, minister and secretary of state ; Marquis de la Luzerne, royal ambassador to Great Britain; Marquis de Montalembert ; the Due de la Eochefoucauld ; Vernet,.and many others. Conspicuous as representatives of England and of America were Dr. Bancroft, of the Eoyal Society of London ; Dr. George Buchanan, of Baltimore, Md., "President de la Soci6t6 Physique d'Edinbourg"; Thomas Paine, member of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia; Dr. Eichard Price, of London; Thomas Shippen, of Philadelphia; Jonathan Trumbull, who is described as " John Trombul, k New Haven 6tat de Connecticut"; Dr. Eobert Walker, of Petersburg, Va.; Samuel Eutledge, of Charleston, S. C; Beiyamin West, of London, et al. Of all the names given, the most significant to a student of American ed- ucational history is that of Thomas Jefl'erson, "Ministre P16nipoten- tiaire des Etats-Unis de I'Am^rique septentrionale. h. Paris." DISTINGUISHED ASSOCIATES. 27 THOMAS JEFFERSON. Living in Paris at this very time, and mentioned by Quesnay among the supporters of the proposed Academy, Jefferson must have been familiar with this early project for introducing the higher education of France into his native State. He looked upon the project with favor, otherwise he would not have allowed his name to be so prominently used in connection with Quesnay's scheme, which was, moreover, sup- ported by some of the best men in Virginia. Indeed, Quesnay's idea was similar to that afterwards cherished by Jefferson himself when, in 1795, he began to correspond with George Washington about the feasi- bility of removing bodily to Virginia the entire faculty of the Swiss Col- lege of Geneva, which was thoroughly French in its form of culture. In this, connection it is interesting to find among the associates of the Richmond Academy M. Pictet, " citoyen de Genfeve, " probably the very man with whom Jefferson afterwards corresponded with reference to removal to Virginia. Jefferson himself say s that he met some of these Swiss professors in Paris. Undoubtedly it was in that polished circle of learned men, within which Quesnay and Jefferson moved, that the latter's ideas of university education began to take cosmopolitan form. His original idea of a university for Virginia was to develop the curric- ulum of his alma mater, William and Mary College ; but we hear noth- ing more of that idea after Jefferson's return from Paris. The idea of distinct schools of art and science, which is so prominent a character- istic of the University of Virginia to-day, is the enduring product of Jefferson's observation of the schools of Paris and of his association and correspondence with their representative men. FRENCH CULTURE IN AMERICA. If circumstances had favored Quesnay's project, it is probable that the University of Virginia would never have been founded. There would have been no need of it. The Academy of the United States of America, established at Eichmond, would have become the centre of higher education not only for Virginia, but for the whole South, and possibly for a large part of the Korth, if the Academy had, been extend- ed, as proposed, to the cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. Supported by French capital, to which in large measure we owe the success of our Revolutionary War, strengthened by French prestige, by literary, scientific, and artistic associations with Paris, then the intel- lectual capital of the world, the academy at Eichmond might have be- come an educational stronghold, comparable in some degree to the Jes- uit influence in Canada, which has proved more lasting than French dominion, more impregnable than the fortress of Quebec. l^othing is so enduring, when once established, as forms of culture. If French ideas had really penetrated Virginian society, they would have become as dominant in the South as German ideas are now be- 28 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. coming in the State uai varsities and sbhool systems of the Northwest. French ideas survived in Virginia and in the Oarolinas long after the Eevohition, and long after the French Government had ceased to inter- fere in our politics. It was one of the most diflflcult tasks in Southern educa;tional history to dislodge French philosophy from its academic strongholds in North and South Carolina. It was done by a strong current of Scotch Presbyterianism proceeding from Princeton Collegi southwards. In social forms French culture lingers yet in South Caro- lina^ notably in Charleston. FAILURE OP QUESNAT'S SCHEME. Quesnay's scheme was not altogether chimerical; but in the year 1788 France was in no position, financial or social, to push her educar tional system into Virginia. The year Quesnay's suggestive little tract was published was the year before the French Eevolution, in which political maelstrom everything in France went down. If it had not been for one copy of Quesnay's Memoir, picked up years afterward among the drift-wood of the Revolutionary period by President Andrew D. White, it is doubtful whether the project for a French academy in Richmond would have found its present place in the educational his- tory of Virginia. Provisional arrangements had been made by Quesnay in 1788, after a year or more of social propaganda, for instituting the following "schools" of advanced instruction in Virginia: foreign languages; mathematics; design; architecture, civil and military; painting; sculpture; engraving; experimental physics; astronomy; geography; chemistry; mineralogy; botany; anatomy, human and veterinary; and natural history. The selection of suitable professors, masters, and artists was intrusted to a committee of correspondence estab- lished at Paris, and consisting of Quesnay, founder and president of the Academy, or of his representative ; of a permanent and assistant secretary, a treasurer-general, and nine commissioners elected from prominent members of the Academy. The prospect of appointing a numerous faculty seems to have become darker with the approach of the Revolution in France. The committee of correspondence was organized, but when it met it appointed only one professor. His name was Dr. Jean Rouelle. He is described as a profound scholar and an experienced traveller, having a wide acquaintance with the natural sciences. He was elected (signifi- cantly enough from a French economic view) mineralogist-in-chief of the Richmond Academy. He was also to be professor of natural his- tory, chemistry, and botany, thus combining the leading natural sciences in one comprehensive chair. He was engaged for a term of ten years, and was instructed to form cabinets and collections for distribution in America and Europe. It was arranged that he should sail for America early in October, 1788 ; but it is doubtful whether he really went. FAILURE OF QUESNAY's SCHEME. 29 Quesnay's brilliant project attracted brief admiration and then sank into oblivion. FATE OF THE RICHMOND ACADEMY. The building^ which he founded in Richmond was, however, com- pleted. It served a purpose which entitles it to a monumental place in 1 Quesnay's French Academy was early converted into a theatre, the first iustitn- tion of the kind Bicbmond ever had. Dramatic art found its first American recog- nition at Williamsburg and Annapolis ; but Eichmond early became one of its fa- vorite seats. The " Old Academy," in Theatre Square, was destroyed by fire ; but a new theatre was erected in the rear of the old. This new building was also burned. Samuel Mordecai, a contemporary observer, says this theatre was "the scene of the most horrid disaster that ever overwhelmed our city, when seventy-two persons perished in the flames on the fatal 26th of December, 1811, where the Monumental Church now stands, and its portico covers the tomb and the ashes of most of the victims." This terrible holocaust and the memorial structure, piously erected upon the spot, will doubtless serve to remind the reader of the historic site of Quesnay's academy, in the beautiful city of Bichmond, which'isset upon hills. Quesnay's curious and interesting M6m,oire concernant I'AoadSmie des Sciences et Beaux J,rta des Stats- Unis d'Am4rique, ^tdblie d Bichemond, from which the above sketch is chiefly drawn, was first mentioned to the present writer by Mr. George L. Burr, instructor of history in Cornell University. Voyaging through the Thousand Islands, up that ancient river route by which the teachers and traders of France first penetrated Canada, we fell to talking of William and Mary College and of the educational history of Virginia, upon which the writer was then engaged. Mr. Burr, who had with him some of the proofs of the catalogue of the Andrew D. White Historical Library, now belonging to Cornell University, suddenly called to mind in that collection a French tract upon the Academy of Eichmond. The writer's cu- riosity was immediately aroused, and he begged to have the tract forwarded to Balti- more for examination. A careful reading of Quesnsiy's Memoir proved conclusively that a current of French influence was beginning in the last quarter of the eighteenth century to penetrate Virginia. Representing science and culture rather than relig- ious or economic zeal, this Virginia current was different from the original French influence which crept into Canada by way of the St. Lawrence ; and yet it is very interesting to note what a practical direction French science took in relation to the discovery of our natural resources. Not without significance was Quesnay's casual suggestion of the propriety of establishing "une Chapelle pour les Catholiques Re- mains 6pars en Virginie." Samuel Mordecai, the Eichmond antiquary, who must have seen in his youth the " Old Academy," had access to Quesnay's Memoirs in preparing his chapter on Rich- mond theatres. He says of the tract: " The writer is indebted to a gentleman of literary taste and research for the use of an eiceedingly rare little volume (in French), entitled Memoir and Prospectus concerning the Academy Of Fine Arts of the United States of America, Established at Eichmond, the Capital of Virginia, by the Cheva- lier Quesnay de Beaiirepaire, Founder and President." More than a generation has passed away since Mordecai thus expressed his obligation to a gentleman of literary taste and research. The present writer can not better thank President Andrew D. White for the use of his copy than by repeating the words of the Richmond antiquary. Recent inquiry has developed the fact that Mr. Charles Poindexter, the State libra- rian of Virginia, whom the writer met with Mr. Burr among the American libra- rians upOQ the river St. Lawrence, presented a copy of Quesnay's tract some years ago to the State library in Richmond, and also the fact that, within a year or two, a copy of the same rare little book was bought for a private library in Baltimore at an auction sale in the capital of Virginia. 30 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. the history of Virginia architecture. It was the place of assembly foi the Virginia convention which, in 1788, ratified the Constitution of the United States. There, in the building designed to be the Academy of the United States of America, the statesmen of Virginia met, day after day, to discuss the greatest question which was ever agitated by any American academic or deliberative body since the Declaration of Inde- pepdence. It was the question of Federal union. It was decided after long and earnest debate, in which such men as James Madison, John Marshall, James Monroe, Gfeorge Wythe, Edmund Eandolph, George Mason, Pendleton, Nicholas, Grayson, Innis, Lee, and Patrick Henry took their respective parts. It was, after all, a nobler national acad- emy than that which the Chevalier Quesnay had conceived, nobler be- cause it was American and not French. However admirable French science and the fine arts may have appeared to the Virginians at that time, it must be acknowledged that it was far better for their Common- wealth that the introduction of these excellent gifts should have been deferred until a later period, when Jefferson was able to give Virginia the ripened fruit of a long life of observation, inquiry, and reflection^ in that noble university which bears Virginia's name. ' CHAPTER II. JEFFERSON ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND COMMON SCHOOLS. POPULAR EDUCATION AND SELF-GOVERNMENT. Jefferson's ideas of university education in Virginia were closely con- nected with thoughts of instituting local self-government for the sup- port of common schools. As early as 1779 he introduced into the Gen- eral Assembly, among other useful measures, a bill for the more general diffusion of knowledge. The means proposed to accomplish this desir- able end was the annual election in every county of three so-called aldermen, who should proceed to divide, their respective counties into hundreds.' This old English territorial division, which originated in the distribution of land to military groups comprising one hundred set- tlers, of whom ten families constituted a tithing, was now suggested by Jefferson as a suitable territorial basis for school districts. Jefferson's bill provided that the electors within every hundred should be called together to " choose the most convenient place within their hundred for building a school-house." Since the days of the Germanic folk-mote of armed warriors there has been no better object for primary assemblies of the people. In an- cient days freemen assembled in mass meeting to elect chieftains for tribal forays. The noisy clash of arms and the talk of war accompanied these local elections. In times of peace the distribution of land for tillage and rules for the herding of cattle and swine occupied village attention. In modern days higher interests have developed in our agrarian communities. The local organization and support of churches, the maintenance of common schools, roads, and bridges, and, more re- cently, ideas of village improvement,^ have come to the front in the local councils of American freemen. ' That Jefferson was not altogether uoconsoious of the historic significance of his proposed "hundreds " is clear from a letter to a writer on the English Constitution, Major John Cartwright, written June 5, 1824, when the project of subdividing the counties into wards was again under consideration. Jefferson said the hundreds should be " about six miles square, and would answer to the hundreds of your Saxon Alfred." ^ Village improvement associations now flourish from Maine to Georgia. Ambng the earliest were those in Berkshire County, Mass., notably the Laurel Hill Associa- tion, at Stookbridge, Mass., which is well described by N. H. Egleston, in his Villages and Village Life. 31 32 JEFPEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. IDEA OF HISTORICAL BEADING IN COMMON SCHOOLS; Jefferson's original bill in 1779 provided not only for the popular foundation of common schools, but for the free training of all free chil- dren, male and female, for three years in reading, writing, and arithme- tic. The proposed admission of girls wan a step in advance of the times, for not until the year 1789' did Boston allow the female sex to atteud her public schools. Most remarkable, too, was Jeffersoh's idea; that reading in the common schools should be made the vehicle of historical instruction. The bill enjoins that " the books which shall be used therein for instructing the children to read shall be such as will at the same time make them acquainted with Grecian, Roman, English, and American history." Jefferson elsewhere maintains that, in the common schools, where most children receive " their whole education," it should be " chiefly historical." This was very advanced ground for an eight- eenth century educator; indeed, the nineteenth century is likely to pass away before all American teachers reach any such rational stand- point. Jefferson regarded language simply as an instrument for attain- ing knowledge ; and, in his opinion, a knowledge of what men have act- ually done in this world is a most important educational and moral force, Jefferson wished to have children's minds stored with useful historical facts. He said, " history, by apprising them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations ; it will qualify them to act as judges of the actions and designs of men." Such an historical idea of popular education, if introduced, not by wretched manuals, but by happily il- lustrated, well-selected historical reading-books, in the hands of intelli- gent, enthusiastic teachers, capable of telling now and then a good tale not in the book, would revolutionize common-school education in Amer- ica. The idea of making reading the avenue to intelligence has already begun to dawn in our modern text-books, but it was suggested more than a century ago by Thomas Jefferson. The idea is, however, capar ble of a special and most useful application to the teaching of history. The Writer has seen tried with great success the experiment of reading history to children in a Baltimore kindergarten, and he has great faith in that method for all grades of education. Jefferson proposed that a "general plan of reading and instruction" should be recommended by the College of William and Mary, and introduced by a county superin- tendent or county " overseer " of education in the local hundreds. LATIN GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. Above the common schools, according to Jefferson's original plan, there were to be grammar or classical schools, where Latin, Greek, En- glish, geography, and higher arithmetic should be taught. The counties were to co operate in local groups, from three to five or more in each group, for the institution of a joint grammar school or classical acad- ' Boston School Report, 1866, p. 28. LATIN GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. - 33 emy in a convenient location, which was to be determined by the county overseers of the common schools, who were to appoint a visitor of the grammar school from each county. The board of visitors had power to choose their own rector, to employ masters and ushers, to fix tuition, etc. The College of William and Mary, again, was to have general con- trol of this plan of superior instruction. Thus the classical academies, middle schools, or colleges, as Jefferson afterwards termed them, would centre in the higher education, as did the common schools. OONI^ECTION OP POPULAR AND HIGHER EDUCATION. Jefferson proposed to connect the three great branches of education, the primary, the secondary, and the higher. As stated in the bill of 1779, and as further explained in Jefferson's Notes on Virginia (Query XIY), the overseers of schools in the hundreds were to select annually "the best and most promising genius" whose parents were unable to afford him further education, and this " boy of best genius" was to be sent forward to the nearest grammar school, there to be educated gratis for one or two years. At an annual visitation one-third of the least promising of these " public foundationers " were to be dismissed after one year's instruction; the rest were to remain for a second year at public cost, and then all were to be dismissed or thrown on their own resources " save one only, the best in genius and disposition, who shall be at liberty to continue there four years longer on the public foundation, and shall thenceforward be deemed a senior." Thus, in the twenty or more Latin schools throughout the State, a score or more of the brightest boys would be discovered each year. After six years' public training one half of this picked number were to be dismissed for the supply of Latin school teachers, and the other half, of superior genius, were to proceed to William and Mary College for three years' specialization in such sciences as they might select. Of course other students than the "foundationers" could attend, at their own expense, either the grammar schools or the College of William and Mary. The above plan was suggested for the discovery and development of natu- ral talent among the sons of the people. By an ingenious system of natural selection and by the survival of the fittest, Jefferson hoped to secure for the service of the State the choicest products of democracy. By connecting the common schools with the academies and university, the very highest education was to be brought within the reach of the poorest boy in Virginia, if deserving of such rare educational privi- leges.^ • Jefferson remained to the end of his life an earnest advocate of the idea of making the higher education aocessihle to the higher talent which is always latent in the common people. Writing to his friend Mann Page, August 30, 1795, Jefferson said : " I do most anxiously wish to see the highest degrees of education given to the higher degrees of genius, and to all degrees of it, so much as may enable them to read and understand what is going on in the world and to keep their part of it going on right; for nothing can keep it sight but their own vigilant and distrustful superintendence." 17036— No. 2 3 34 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEKSITY OF VIEGINIA. Such was the original ground-plan of Jefferson's system of public education for Virginia. Although never adopted in its entirety, the plan served Jefiferson as a basis for all subsequent educational think- ing. For more than forty years his mind moved along these three lines of institutional reform for his native State: (1) subdivision of the coun- , ties into hundreds, wards, or townships, based on militia districts, which should become school districts; (2) grammar schools, classical acade- mies, or local colleges; (3) a State university. Of the three objects, he held that the first and the third were of the greatest importance to the State and required the highest legislative care. The second object— the classical academies — could be left with greater safety, he thought, to private enterprise and philanthropy. Jefferson never advocated university education at the expense of com- mon schools. He labored for both forms of popular instruction, although he always maintained that primary education should be based upon lo- cal taxation and self-help, with, perhaps, some assistance from county or State sources where local means were inadequate. As to the relative importance of the university and common schools for the people of Vir- ginia, he once said, in a letter to his friend Joseph 0. Cabell, January;; 13, 1823: "Were it necessary to give up either the Primaries or the University, I would rather abandon the last, because it is safer to have a whole people respectably enlightened than a few in a high state of science and the many in ignorance. This last is the most dangerous state in which a nation can be. The nations and governments of Europe are so many proofs of it." HIGHER EDUCATION THE SOURCE OF COMMON SCHOOLS. It is, however, a matter of historical fact that civilization began with the higher education of a few, and that all forms of popular culture have proceeded from higher sources. New England and Virginia both began with classical schools and colleges. Jefferson himself was compelled to repeat the university experiment of the Old World for the higher educa- tion of democracy in Virginia. In the development of popular educa- tion, as of popular government, there have always been recognized leaders. Neither science nor religion could have gone forth in fertilizing streams for the benefit of mankind unless there had been mountain sources above the plain. The wisdom of the Egyptians was that of "a few in a high state of science." Moses was trained in one or more of those sacred colleges. In no way can we better account for the mental, moral, and religious improvement of the race than by recognizing the influence of chosen men, chosen tribes, chosen peoples, and chosen in- stitutions that have served to train the masses to a knowledge of higher things. Thecommon schools of America sprang from sources higher than themselves, from lakes far back in historic mountains, more remote and mysterious than were once the sources of the Nile. The history of eda- cation is one long stream of continuous, inexhaustible flow from such HIGHER EDUCATION AND COMMON SCHOOLS. 35 bigh springs of science as the schools of Thebes, Memphis, Alexandria, the Grseco-Eoman world, and from such fountain-heads of learning as the Benedictjine monasteries, the cathedral schools, colleges, and uni- versities of mediaeval Europe. It will be disastrous for American democracy and for American edu- cators when they begin to level their high schoofe and higher education in the interest of what may be thought more popular and practical for the passing moment. To level the higher education in our towns and States in the alleged interest of the people would be as dangerous as for the General Government to level the great light-houses along our coast and suffer our ships to depend upon the friendly rays that shine out from the lowly cottages of men living along the shore. This coun- try needs to-day all the light which scholars can 9,fford. While every State should be as full of' school-houses as it is of villages and hamlets, and as rich in local colleges and classical academies as circumstances may require, there will always be need of a few men and a few institu- tions in " a high state of science.," Universities are the light-houses of popular education. They show all educators on what course to steer. All knowledge, like all science, " moves but slowly, slowly, creeping on from point to point." FAILURE OP COMMON SCHOOL LAW IN 1796. Jefferson's idea of introducing common schools into Virginia in con- nection with higher education received no attention from the Legislature until the year 1796, when a law was passed in the interest of the general education of the people. Although the merits of the measure were freely and warmly recognized, yet a fatal mistake was made by the Virginia legislators in leaving the initiation of schools for the people to a majority of the acting justices in each county. These justices were prominent, well-to-do gentlemen, but they had . no inclination to tax themselves for the education of their poorer neighbors. Accordingly free schools went by default. Jefferson strongly condemned this inefil- cient legislation. The State should have compelled local taxation for educational purposes, and not have left such a great public interest to local option. Jefferson returned again and again to the support of free schools in connection with local government and university eduflation, but this grand combination of ideas found no general recognition in Jefferson's life-time. IDEA OP LOCAL DIVISION OF C0X7NTIES. More than one hundred years ago (1779) Thomas Jefferson declared for the great principles of local independence in both education and government. They were principles second only in importance to na- tional independence and colonial union. Jefferson's political philosophy is summed up in the following striking extract from a private letter to a member of the Virginia Legislature, February 2, 1816 : " Let the Na- 36 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEKSITY OP VIEGINIA. tional Government be intrusted with the defence of the nation and its foreign and Federal relations ; the State Governments with the civil rights, laws, police, and administration of what concerns the State gen- erally; the counties with the local concerns of the counties; and each ward direct the interests within itself. It is by dividing and subdivid- ing these republics, from the great national one down through all its subordinations, until it ends in the administration of every man's farm : and affairs by himself, by placing under every one what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best." In the same letter Jefferson declared his views with reference to the joint institution of local government and common schools : " My idea of the mode of carrying it into execution would be this : Declare the county ijpno facto divided into wards for the present by the boundaries of the militia captaincies; somebody atteifd the ordinary muster of each company, having first desired the captain to call together a full one. There explain the object of the law to the people of the company ; put to their vote whether they will have a school established, and the most central and convenient place for it ; get them to meet and build a log school-house ; have a roll taken of the children who would attend it and of those of them able to pay; these would probably be suflScient to support a common teacher, instructing gratis the few unable to pay. If there should be a deficiency, it would require too trifling a con- tribution from the county to be complained of, and especially as the whole county would participate, where necessary, in the same resource. Should the company, by its vote, decide that it would have no school, let them remain without one." ^ ' Correspondence witli Jefferson and Cabell, 53, 54. Other interesting evidence of Jefferson's views of the relation of local government to popular education may be found in the above Correspondence, pp. 103, 186, 413. See also Jefferson's Writings, VI, 542, 566 ; VII, 205, 357, 358. Very suggestive upon the importance of local gov- ernment as a means of education for citizens are the remarks of Colonel Coles, Jet- feiBon's private secretary, addressed to Mr. Joseph C. Cabell, July 17, 1807. The sec- retary undoubtedly reflected th e opinions of his chief: " Our division into counties is certainly much too large, and attended with a thousand inconveniences. The di- vision into townships or hundreds might very easily be made in Virginia, if in form- ing them we would follow the bounds of the militia companies, which are already well known and which exist in ev;ery county in the State. Each hundred should be a little republic within the republic of the county. Each hundred should regulate its own police, should have a magistrate to try warrants, etc., hold elections, at which the most aged and infirm might attend ; should provide for its own poor; establish a public school, to which even the most indigent might send their chil- dren; should annually select a juryman who, with those selected by the differ- ent hundreds throughout the State, might be distributed by lot or otherwise among thfe superior and inferior courts, so as to provide a sufficient number for each. In this way the elective principle would be introduced into every department of the government, and an independent and impartial jury might always be had, which under our present system must depend entirely on the character of the marshal or sheriff. The people, too, of each hundred, becoming familiar with the transaction of business when summoned together on an occasion of emergency, would act with promptitude and force, which the particular character of a part of our population will render the more valuable."— Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell, p. 18. CHARITY SCFIOOLS. 37 FIRST APPROPRIATION FOR SCHOOLS. In the year 1818 the first general provision for elementary education was made by the State of Virginia. It was agreed by the Legislature that $45,000 a year should be appropriated from the income of the so- called " literary fund " (which will be hereafter explained, for it was the economic basis of the University of Virginia). A radical legislative mis- take was made in distributing this money to the counties as an educa- tional bounty for the education of the poor. The county authorities took the money for the support of charity schools, which were supported in certain towns or in convenient local centres. Popular education was regarded in much the same pitiful light as was the care of the poor. The better class of people provided for their children by private schools, academies, and family tutors. It was an error in public policy to grant a State subsidy for county education. The counties should have been required to tax themselves. Jefferson saw this error, and contended that local taxation was the proper basis for the support of common schools, and that State aid should be reserved for higher education. But he was not able to con- vince the men of his time of the soundness of his views. Not even a compromise between local taxation and State aid, which under the cir- cumstances would have been a wise policy, would the Virginians accept for their counties. Jefferson argued that wealthy planters could well affl'ord to tax themselves for local education, for it would people their "neighborhood with honest, useful, and enlightened citizens, under- standing their own rights, and firm in perpetuating them." He said that the descendants of the rich would usually become poor in the third gene- ration, and would then find a chance of rising again through popular education, for which other rich men would pay. The debt of one age would be repaid by succeeding ages. Jefferson said in the year 1818 : "A system of general instruction which shall reach every description of our citizens, from the richest to the poorest, as it was the earliest, so« it will be the latest, of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an interest." It was reserved for later times (1870) to begin the complete realization ' of Jefferson's generous and democratic ideal of education for the people. ' The rapid and gratifying progreas of common school education in Virginia since the year 1870 is shown in the able and highly instructive reports of the superintendents of public instruction in that State, notably those by Dr. W. H. RufPner, son of a for- mer president of Washington College, Dr. Henry RuffnCr, who wrote a remalrkable his. tory of that institution, still in manuscript and in the keeping of the secretary and librarian of Washington and Lee University. The recent history of popular educa- tion in Virginia is given in the reports of the present superintendent of public instruc- tion, Dr. JohnL. Buchanan, to whose courtesy as well as to that of Dr. Ruffner the writer is greatly indebted for documents and information. The Educational Journal of Virginia is a valuable collection of papers and discussions, showing a growing in- terest in school work, improved methodsj and educational history. The reports of the Peabody Education Fund are also a mine of useful materials for the student of these 38 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. JEFFERSON ON TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT. Jefferson greatly admired the town governments of New England be- cause of their compact, vigorous organization. He had experienced their energy at the time of the Embargo. " I felt the foundations of theGov- ernment shaken under my feet by the New England townships. There was not an individual in their States [New England] whose body was not thrown with all its momentum into action; and although the whole of the other States were known to be in favor of the measure, yet the organization of this little selfish minority enabled it to overrule the Union. What would the unwieldy counties of the Middle, the South, and the West dol Call a county meeting, and the drunken loungers at and about ihe court houses would have collected, the distances being too great for the good people and the industrious generally to attend. The character of those who really met would have been the measure of the weight they would have had in the scale of public opinion. As Gato, then, concluded every speech with the words, 'Carthago delenda est'' so do I every opinion, with the injunction, 'Divide the counties into wards.' Begin them only for a single purpose ; they will soon show for what others they are the best instruments." TOWNSHIPS IMPRACTICABLE IN RURAL VIRGINIA. While admiring Jefferson's ideal of local government, one may seri- ously doubt its practicability in that rural and widely scattered condi- tion of Virginia population. The actual condition of society must always be taken into account when measures of social, educational, or administrative reform are under consideration. As a matter of fact, hundreds, towns, and boroughs were prominent features, on paper, in the early institutional history of Virginia ; but the local government a,nd communal life which naturally evolve with such local institutions, when suited to the actual wants of the people, did not and could not 'evolve in the Old Dominion. Society dispersed and sought to repro- duce the more or less isolated country life of the English landed gen- try. The Virginians, if they could afford it or cared to do it, educated their children after the immemorial custom of Old England, by a com- bination of home training under competent tutors or local clergymen, with college training and public life. William and Mary College was -the Oxford of Virginia. County government played in Virginia the same r61e in the political education of the people as it has always played in Old England. County court day and county elections were snbjeots at the South. A good summary of the educational advantages of Virginia, based upon Dr. Ruffner's reports, was given in 1876 by Maj. Jedediah Hotchkiss, iu his Virginia: A Geographical and Political Summary, which is for our time what Jefferson's Notes on Virginia were for his contemporaries. TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT. 39 the Southern counterpart of Northern town meetings, as Southern court greens are the analogue of New England town commons. Each section of country developed its own interests as best it could, and in perfect harmony with its own environment. Communal life at the North had its peculiar advantages, and bore its peculiar fruits in common schools, libraries, lyceums, etc. Eural life at the South was not without its charms, and it certainly produced its share of able men. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Edmund Eandolph, John Marshall, and Henry Clay were rural types of good citizenship. The roll of Will- iam and Mary College affords remarkable evidence of what Virginia pro- duced without town government or common schools. With them she might have produced something different ; but the facts are sufiSciently gratifying. Virginia remained what nature and history made lier. Jef- ferson could not establish towns and village schools in a sparsely-settled country, where population had no tendency to aggregate, but rather to scatter.' By the constitution of 1850 Virginia instituted districts within her counties for electoral and other convenient purposes ; but there was still no proper economic basis for towns or for district schools. The Civil War did not improve the situation. Nevertheless, immedi- ately afterward, the reconstruction party sought a panacea for all evils by introducing the township system of New England, which was never really suited to the local needs of Virginia, and was less so than ever after the State had been a battle ground of the Eepublic for four years. It is needless to say that the institution of town government in a State where there was no adequate communal basis for the system was the height of f9lly and failed miserably. There was no raison cPStre for town government. A Northern man has only to travel in almost any direction across Virginia to realize how absurd it was to decree town government throughout regions where there were then no towns. The scattered population understood and naturally preferred their own county system, which suited their actual rural condition. "THE OLD OBDEK CHANGBTH." There are, however, to-day along the line of Virginia railways, be- sides certain old boroughs, here and there indications of the gradual germination of a natural and healthful local life. With the increase of railroad stations, mills, and of settlements at crossroads ; with school- houses, churches, court-houses, and stores; with the breakup of great plantations and the multiplication of small farms, there will come a gradual increase of population and more and more of these local aggre^ gations of society, which by and by will demand local government in smaller units than the county or the district. The more flourishing and 1 On the disadvantages of town government for Virginia, see Correspondence of Jef- ferson and Cabell, pp. 18-19, note, and Tucker's Life of Jefferson, II, 352-355. 40 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. progressive localities will become incorporated as towns or villages, and tax themselves for schools and public improvements. In all prob- ability a compromise between county and town government will prove itself best adapted to the local wants of the South, as already has proved the case in the States northwest of the Ohio. Indeed, the model system of local government is this very compromise system, as deVel-; oped by the blending of town and county types, notably in the State of Illinois. CHAPTER III WILLIAM AND MAEY COLLEGE— EUEOPEAN INFLUENCES. SCHOLASTIC CURRICULUM. Interesting evidence upon Jefferson's original idea of promoting higher education in Virginia is to be found in a IJill for amending the constitu- tion of William and Mary College, proposed by the committee appointed in 1776 for the revision of the laws. Jefferson was a member of this com- mittee, and his hand is clearly to be traced in the provisions of the bill. After reviewing the history of the college, Jefferson describes the fac- ulty as consisting of "one school of sacred theology, with two professor- ships therein, to wit, one for teaching the Hebrew tongue and expound- ing the Holy Scriptures; and the other for explaining the common- places of divinity and the controversies with heretics ; one other school for philosophy, with two professorships therein, to wit, one for the study of rhetoric, logic, and ethics, and the other of physics, metaphysics, and mathematics ; one other school for teaching the Latin and Greek tongues ; and one other for teaching Indian boys reading, writing, vul- gar arithmetic, the catechism, and the principles of the Christian relig- ion."i This is the clearest and fullest statement which the writer has thus far discovered of the actual curriculum at William and Mary Col- lege under thie colonial regime. This fresh information will supplement what the writer has elsewhere^ said respecting the course of studj- pur- sued at Williamsburg in early days. In general, as was surmised, the course resembles that given at Harvard College in the seventeenth cen- tury. JEFFERSON'S PROPOSED CHANGES. Jefferson's propositions for the modification of this ancient scholastic curriculum represent the first current of tliodern ideas, which began in 1779, at Williamsburg, to flow into American academic life. In place of the president and six professors, Jefferson proposed that there should be eight professors, one of whom should be appointed president, with an ad- ditional salary of £100 a year. The eight professorships were to be as ' Sundry Documents on the Subject of a System of Public Education for the State of Virginia, pp. hb, 56. Richmond, 1817. ^William and Mary College ; Circular of Information, 1887, No; 1, p. 20. 41 42 JEFFERSON -AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. follows : (1) Moral philosophy, the laws of nature and f °f ^'^"f the fine arts ; (2) law and police, including economics, politics, and com- merce; (3) history, civil and ecclesiastical; (4) matheinatics; (5 anat- omyandinedicine; (6) natural philosophy and natural history; (0 an- cient languages, includingOriental (Hebrew, Ohaldee, Synac) and North- ern tongues (M(BSO.Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, Old Icelandic) ; (8) modern languages.! Very characteristic of Jefferson is the passage in the above bill respecting the Indians, a passage which is further explained in the Notes on Virginia (Query XV). Instead of the Indian school called "The Brasserton," Jefferson proposed that the faculty should appoint a missionary, who should visit the Indian tribes and "investigate their laws, customs, religions, traditions, and more particularly their lan- guages, constructing grammars thereof, as well as may be, and copious vocabularies." When the missionary had accomplished these pious ob. jects in one tribe, " he might' pass on to another." The materials which he collected were to be deposited in the college library at Williamsburg. One can almost fancy that Jefferson had in mind an ethnological bureau, foreshadowing that developed in Washington in these latter days by Major Powell. INTRODUCTION OF MODERN STUDIES. Although this bill was not passed by the Legislature, nevertheless its provisions were, to a considerable extent, actually realized by Jefferson in 1779 through the board of visitors. He says in his Notes on Vir- ginia (Query XV) that the visitors excluded the two schools of divin- ity (which included the study of Hebrew); and also the school of Latin and Greek, chiefly because it was a mere preparatx)ry school, which "filled the college with children." Jefferson was warmly devoted to the classics, and, in his original bill, provided both for them and for Oriental languages ; but it was found difficult to increase at once the chartered number of professorships, and Jefferson was accordingly compelled to change the subjects of instruction to matters of more immediate impor- tance to Virginia and the political training of her sons and citizens. Accordingly the following professorships were provided for: (1) Law and police (the science of administration) ; (2) anatomy and medicine; (3) physics and mathematics ; (4) moral philosophy, -with the law of nature and nations, and the fine arts ; (5) modern languages ; (6) the Indian ,school. Jefferson did not despair of increasing ultimately the original number of professorships by legislative enactment and of add- ing other branches of science. Here is one of his most striking sugges tions : " To the professorships usually established in the universities of Europe it would seem proper to add one for the ancient languages and literatures of the north, on account of their connection with our own language, laws, customs, and history." The modern idea of Germanic institutional and linguistic studies is here clearly foreshadowed. In- deed, Jefferson was the very first advocate of the study of Anglo-Saxon 'Sundry Documents, p. 60. WILLIAM AND MAEY COLLEGE. 43 in this country. The subject was early introduced at the University of Virginia, and Jefferson published a book upon Anglo-Saxon, which was reprinted in 1851. i ROCHEFOUCAULD ON WILLIAM AND MAKY COLLEGE." In the travels of the Due de la Eochefoucauld-Liancourt through the United States in the years 1795-97 there may be found an interesting account of Williamsburg and its famous old college, which had then fallen into decay, altbougji it was afterwards in a measure restored. He says the income, which before the Eevolution was from $17,000/ to $18,000 per annum, was then reduced to $3,500. The colonial duties on tobacco had fallen to nothing, and the principal resources of the college were the rent on 20,000 acres of land, let out on long leases, and " all in a state of cultivation." A small duty on land surveys, which were regulated by the college, eked out its slender income, which " the Legis- lature does not seem inclined to augment." ^ liochefoucauld describes'the course of study as consisting of mathe- matics, natural and moral philosophy, natural and civil law, with the modern languages. He is surprised to find the students not living in dormitories, " those vast buildings destined for their reception." He says the students " are dispersed through the different boarding-houses^ in the town, at a distance from all inspection." The duke is still more surprised to find Bishop Madison, the president, and the professors de- fending this system, and asserting that " it has been proved by experience that good order, peace, and even the success of their studies are more effectually promoted by this separation of the students than by their being united together within the same walls." The duke is inclined ta think that the faculty, in pursuing this policy, pay greater regard ta their own pase than to the welfare of the young men intrusted to their charge. The French traveller notes that the students pay a fee of $14 to each professor whose course of lessons they follow. Board and lodging then cost from $100 to $120. The entire expense of a year at William and Mary College would amount to about $170. Besides his fees from students, each professor received an annual salary of $400. The presi- dent, who was also professor of natural and moral philosophy, received $200 in addition. The internal administration of the college is described as in the hands of the professors, under the general supervision of a ' board of eighteen visitors chosen throughout the State. The condition of the college building seemed to the duke " very indifferent." The institution was too poor to indulge in repairs, unless aided by an ap- propriation from the Legislature. "It possesses a library tolerably well furnished with classical books; it consists almost entirely of old books, except two hundred volumes of the finest and best French produotions- - 'Travels of the Duo de la Roohefouoauld-Lianoourt through the United States in, 1795-97. Second edition, III, 47-56. London, 1800. 44 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. sent as a present by Louis XVI at the termination of the American war, but which a merchant at Richmond, who was commissioned to forward them to the college, suffered to lie forgotten in his cellars amid hogsheads of sugar and casks of oil until, when at length he did for- ward them, they were totally spoiled. The funds of the college do not allow any addition to their librstry, which moreover is very ill kept a point of order and cleanliness." These interesting and critical observations by an intelligent French- man upon the condition of William and Mary College at the close of the eighteenth century indicate very clearly that something better was needed in the way of higher education for the State of Virginia. Indeed, a project was already under discussion with a view to that desirable end, as will appear from the following striking extract from the duke's travels: "The Legislature of Virginia is said' to entertain the design of founding a new college in a more central part of the State, but it is not known whether that of Williamsburg is to be taken as the ground- work of the intended establishment, or suffered to continue on its present footing and left to its own scanty resources, while the new college should be liberally endowed." This information was perhaps received from Williamsburg profess-, ors who were familiar with Jefferson's early-cherished plan of trans- forming William and Mary College into a university. The reference to a "new college in a more central part of the State" is most striking, for it indicates that Jefferson's novel project was already in the air. How that new idea evolved we shall discover in the next two chapters. The duke says that Bishop Madison, and Mr. Andrews, professor of mathematics, "did me the honours of the town with that obliging politeness which I have been habitually accustomed to experience in America. In the two days which I spent at Williamsburg they intro- duced me' to the chief part of the society of the place, which appears very much united, and to consist of well-informed men. Bishop Madison is himself a man of considerable knowledge in natural philosophy, chymistry, and even polite literature. His library, much less numerous than that of the college, consists of a more cjioice selection of books, especially of those relating to the sciences. He annually augments his collection by the addition of the most esteemed scientific and new pub- lications. To him the public are indebted for meteorological observa- tions very accurately made in different parts of Virginia, and to which he has devoted much time." With this pleasant picture of a Virginia college president of the last century, who, like President Ewell, appeared serene and hopeful in a trying situation, let us pass to a new chapter in the educational history of Virginia. JEFFERSON'S INTEREST IN HIGHER EDUCATION. Jefferson's interest in matters pertaining to higher education, was quickened by acquaintance with Quesnay's project, by residence abroad from 1784 to 1789, and by a comparative study of the leading Europeafl JEFFERSON AND THE SWISS FACULTY. 45 universities. In 1785, one year before the founding of the French Acad- emy at Eichmond, Jefferson was still loyal to his alma mater, and wrote to a young Virginian that he could do quite as well in most studies at William and Mary College as at foreign institutions. At that time Jef- ferson was inclined to favor the Italian universities, and thought Rome the best of all educational centres, because of its historic associations and its rare opportunities for art study, in which Jefferson delighted. In 1791 he had come to the conclusion that there was no place ou the continent of Europe that could be compared with Geneva. Edinburgh and Geneva were, in his opinion, " the two eyes of Europe." Jefferson's educational ideals were now thoroughly European. Quesnay's project of introducing French academic culture into Virginia had its counter- part in Jefferson's scheme to transplant the College of Geneva to Amer- ican shores. THE FACULTY OP GENEVA. In 1794 the French faculty of that latter institution became dissatis- fied with their political environment, and wrote to their old friend Jef- ferson, whom some of the Swiss professors had met in Paris, saying that they were willing to come out to Virginia in a body if suitable arrange- ments could be made for the continuance of their academic work. Jef- ferson seized upon the idea at once. It was the historical origin^ of his project for a cosmopolitan university, to be equipped with the best sci- entific talent that Europe could afford. The idea of importing a learned Irishman or a sober and attentive Scotchman to be the principal of Al- bemarle Academy in 1783 was perhaps a germ of this larger thought, which had been developed by European associations with Quesnay and Swiss scholars in Paris. Jefferson dreamed no longer of developing an ecclesiastical- institution like old William and Mary College into a State university. He proposed now to the Virginia Legislature to make provision for the establishment of the Genevan college in Virginia. The practically-minded Virginians thought the scheme too expensive and too grand. Jefferson then appealed to George Washington for sup- port and encouragement. At that time Washington was in possession of certain stock in the Potomac and James Eiver Oompaniesi shares in which had been given him by the Virginia Legislatdre. Washington had accepted these shares upon the condition of his using them for a public educational purpose. Jefferson now urged Washington, in a long and enthusiastic letter, to employ the stock given him by Virginia for the pur- pose of endowing university education in his native State in the form proposed by the Swiss College of Geneva. Washington demurred; he doubted th^ expediency of importing a body of foreign professors not familiar with the English language and at variance politically with the ' This subject of the influence of the Genevan project upon Jefferson's university idea and upon Washington's idea of a national university in the city of Washington haa been treated more in detail in the writer's sketch of William and Mary College, pp. 40-47. 46 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. popular party iu their own land. If foreign professors were to be im- ported, Washington thought they should not be all from one nation. He said that celebrated Scotchmen might also be obtained. By this wise counsel Jefferson was induced to restrain his enthusiasm, and when next we hear of his importing foreign professors, he had, for practical and conservative reasons, passed over to the English training ground of Oxford and Cambridge in search of candidates. In his letter to D'lvernois, in discouragement of the Swiss proposi- tion, Jeffei'son unconsciously reveals the personal motive which after- ward made him so strenuous upon the location of the University of Vir- ginia in his own immediate vicinity: "I should have seen with peculiar satisfaction the establishment of such a mass of science in my country, and should probably have been tempted to approach myself to it, by procuring a residence in its neighborhood, at those seasons of the year at least when the operations of agriculture are less active and inter- esting."! This thought of intimate association with scientific men, a thought born of old associations in Williamsburg and Paris, was never afterward abandoned by Jefferson. He clung to the idea of introducing into Virginia a few representative scholars from the Old World. This idea grew stronger after his retirement from active politics, and after his settlement at Monticello for the enjoyment of a peaceful old age. Then the thought of himself approaching a distant academic commu- nity naturally gave place to the easier and pleasanter project of making science come to the neighborhood of Monticello. That happy realiza- tion of Jefferson's dream was, however, yet a long way off. Let us con- sider some further indications of the dawning idea of the University of Virginia as seen in his correspondence. DR. JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. In 1794 Dr. Joseph Priestley emigrated to America. He was that remarkable English scholar whose natural bent towards the physical sciences Benjamin Franklin early encouraged. He is perhaps best known to the scientific world by reason of his work on the History of Electricity, published in 1767, and his contributions to the science of chemistry. He discovered what was afterwards called oxygen, and he made the beginnings of gas analysis. Perhaps the great mass of Amer- icans would recognize Priestley's merits with alacrity if they knew that he invented soda-water, and was a good friend of the American Colo- nies. The man was a scientific genius, but he was born and bred a dis- senter. Unfortunately, besides teaching the ancient and modern lan- guages, grammar, oratory, law, natural science, mathematics, and philos- ophy, he undertook to preach dissenting doctrines. His views were too liberal for the age in which he lived. Priestley was a Socinian, or Uni- tarian, No phase of dissent was more abominated in England at tl^e close of the last century than Unitariariism. It was rivalled only in 'Letter dated at Monticello, February 6, 1795. PRIESTLEY PERSECUTED IN ENGLAND. 47 popular hatred by the French Kevolution, with which Priestley sympa- thized. In 1791 Priestley was preaching in Birmingham, where he had a con- gregation of dissenters, and enjoyed the society of James Watt and Dr. Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin. The celebration of the second anniversary of the taking of the Bastile gave rise in Birmingham to a riot, which, curiously enough, spent its fury upon the houses and chap- els of dissenters of various denominations. The walls of buildings in Birmingham were placarded with phrases like these: " Damn Priestley." " No Presbyterianism." " Damn the Presbyterians." Although Priestley had had nothing whatever to do with the political celebration, the boys in the street, sons of worthy parents, shouted out, when they saw the inoftensive pastor and scholar : " Damn Priestley ; damn him, damn him, forever, forever!" It seems almost incredible that less than one hundred years ago these things should have actually occurred in the streets of Birmingham. The facts are perfectly well au- thenticated. Indeed, far worse things are true. Priestley's chapel and house were burned, and he and his family barely escaped from that Eng- lish town with their lives. His books, papers, scientific apparatus, and all that he possessed were destroyed by a loyal and pious mob. Priest- ley bore this persecution meekly, and took refuge in the great city of Lon- don. There, however, even his scientific friends began to treat him with coldness, so that in 1794, as already stated, he emigi'ated^ to this country, where he found shelter and scientific occupation in Northumberland, Pa. ^ His son-in-law, Dr. Thomas Cooper, wjiom Jefferson regarded as 1 Some idea of the bitterness of English feeling against Priestley may be derived from William Cobbett's Observations on the Emigration of Dr. Joseph Priestley, and. on the Several Addresses Delivered to him on his Arrival at New York. (See Porcu- pine's Works, Vol. I.) Cobbett calls Priestley the " fire-brand philosopher." ^ Priestley is to-day highly honored in his own land. A statue was lately erected to his memory, and Professor Huxley delivered the commemorative address, from which the above facts have been gathered. See Humboldt Library, No. 06 : Technical Educa- tion and other Essays; Essayon "Joseph Priestley." See also Priestley's Autobiogra- phy, and the Life and Correspondence of Dr. Priestley, by J. T. Rntt. Priestley was born in 1733, near Leeds, and died, "clear-headed and busy to the last," at Northumber- land, Pa., February 6, 1804. The ESncyclopsedia Britauhica, in its interesting article on Priestley, says, " he was probably" one of the very first teaehers to appreciate the importance of physical science to early culture," Benjamin Franklin anticipated Priestley in scientific studies. These two men, with Dr. Thomas Cooper and Thomas Jefferson, were kindred spirits. To historical students Priestley is known by his Chart . of History, which gained him an LL. D. at Edinburgh, and by his History of the Cor- ruptions of Christianity, and his General IJi^tory of the Christian Church to the Fall of the Western Empire. He wrote>on the greatest variety of subjects, — history, politics, sociology, logic, philosophy, theology, biblical interpretation, and all the sciences of his time, Dr. Priestley's religious writings exerted a powerful influence upon the mind of Jef- ferson. They were the basis of his own views, which he frequently described as " Unitarian." In a letter to John Adams, dated August 22, 1813, Jefferson said : "I have read his [Priestley's] Corruptions of Christianity and Early Opinions of Jesus over and over again; and I rest on them, and on Middleton's writings, especially his 48 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. " one of the ablest men in America," also settled in Pennsylvania. In the light of the above facts, we can understand what Jefferson meant when he spoke of these two men as refugees " from the fires and mobs of Birmingham." JEFFEESON AND PKIESTLEY. To Dr, Priestley Jefferson wrote from Philadelphia, January 18, 1800 : "We have in that State [Virginia] acollege (William and Mary) just well enough endowed to draw out the miserable existence to which a miserable constitution ^ has doomed it. It is moreover eccentric in its position, exposed to all bilious diseases, as all the lower country is, and therefore abandoned by the public care, as that part of the country itself is in a considerable degree by its inhabitants. We wish to es- tablish in the upper country, and more centrally for the State, an university on a plan so broad and liberal and modern, as to be worth patronizing with the public support, and be a temptation to the youth of other States to come and drink of the cup of knowledge and frater- nize with us. The first step is to obtain a good plan ; that is, a judi- cious selection of the sciences, and a practicable grouping of some of them together, and ramifying of others, so as to adopt the professor- ships to our uses and our means. In an institution meant chiefly for use, some branches of science, formerly esteemed, may be now omitted; so may others now valued in Europe, but useless to us for ages to come. As an example of the former, the Oriental learning, and of the latter, almost the whole of the institution proposed to Congress by the Secre- tary of War's report of the 5th instant. Now there is no one to whom this subject is so familiar as yourself. * * * To you, therefore, we address our solicitations, and to lessen to you as much as possible the ambiguities of our object, I will venture even to sketch the sciences which seem useful and practicable for us, as they occur to me while hold- ing my pen: Botany, chemistry, zoology, anatomy, surgery, medicine, natural philosophy, agriculture, mathematics, astronomy, geography, politics, commerce, history, ethics, law, arts, fine arts. This list is im- perfect * because I make it hastily, and because I am unequal to the subject. * * * We should propose that the professors follow no other calling, so that their whole time may be given to their academical letters from Rome and to Wa|;erlaud, as the basis of my own faith." There would ba much less obscurity and misunderstanding about Jefferson's religious views if people would take Mm at his word and in the light of his relations to Priestley and Coopei^ All three were Unitarians. 1 The strongest reason for abandoning William and Mary College is given in a letter to Dr. Priestley, January 27, 1800 : " As I had proposed that William and Mary, under an improved form, should be the University, and that was at that time pretty highly Episcopal, the Dissenters after a while began to apprehend some secret design *f& preference to that sect." 2 In a subsequent letter to Dr. Priestley, Jefferson apologizes for the omission of lan- guages in his university scheme, and takes occasion to pay a warm tribute to olassicalj culture, including Greek. DUPONT DE NEMOUES. 49 functions; and we should propose to ^draw from Europe the first charac- ters in science, by considerable temptdtions, which would not need to be re- peated after the first set should have prepared fit successors and given reputation to tJw institution. From some splendid characters I have re- ceived offers most perfectly reasonable and practicable. * * # Will not the arrival of Dupont tempt you to make a visit to this quarter ? " These extracts indicate the shape which the idea of a university was already taking in Jefferson's mind as early as 1800, and the in- fluence which Old World associations had already exerted upon him, In another letter to Dr. Priestley, dated Philadelphia, January 27. 1800, Jefferson said: "I have a letter from Mr, Dupont, since his arrival at New York, dated the 20th, in which he says he will be in Philadelphia within about a fortnight from that time, but only on a visit. How much would it delight me if a visit from you at the same time were to show us two such illustrious foreigners embracing each other in my country, as the asylum for whatever is great and good!" DUPONT DB NEMOUKS ON NATIONAL EDUCATION. One of the most interesting of Jefferson's correspondents was the dis- tinguished French economist and philosopher, Dupont de Nemours. He was a friend of Turgot, and belonged to that group of French econo- mists who labored to avert the French Eevolution by economic meas- ures. His writings upon social and philosophical subjects were influ- 'ential in their day, and are mentioned in some detail in the sketch of his life printed in the Biographic QSnSrale. Dupont de Nemours was a 'member of the AssembUe des Wotdbles, and was one oi the best types of educated public men under the old regime. It was his earnest and un- wearied endeavor to benefit society by advocating sound political econ- "omy and popular education. He made Jefferson's acquaintance in Paris 'before the outbreak of the Eevolution, and came to this country at the %lose of the eighteenth century. He arrived in New York in January, ?1800, and soon after visited Jefferson in Philadelphia, as is indicated 'in Jefferson's letter to Priestley above quoted. On the occasion of ■this visit it is probable that Jefferson talked over with Dupont de Ne- l^ours the general project of encouraging higher education in America, tey this time Washington's scheme for a national university, to be es- litablished in the Federal city of Washington, was generally known. He ihad announced it to Congress and had provided for it by his last will 'md testament. Men's thoughts of higher education were beginning to ;ake national scope. Dupont de Nemours undertook to write a treatise on National Bduca- (iioninthe United States. This work {Sur VJSducation Rationale dans les Mtats- Unis) was written in French, and was completed June 15, 1800, at < Good Stay, pr^s New York." The work was published at Paris, and .he author took occasion to say that it was written in the year iSOO " k "a demande de M. Jefferson, alors vice pr6sident, et depuis president des 17036— No. 2 4 50 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. :fitats-Unis d'Am^riqaej il a eu le suffrage de ce grand Magistrat et de son respectable successeur." The work went through at least two French editions. A copy of, the second edition, which the present wri- ter has read with great care, bears the imprint, "Paris, 1812," and con- tains 159 small octavo pages. By a curious chance this copy was sent to the author of this report by a representative of the well-known Dupont family, long resident at Wilmington, Del., with a request for inform^ tion whether this treatise, written by their ancestor, had any influence upon the plans of Thomas Jefferson for university education in Virginia; The one who sent the treatise had no knowledge of the fact that the writer, at that very time, was investigating the origin of the University of Virginia ; hence the acquisition seemed remarkably good luck. CHAEACTEE OF THE TREATISE. Dupont de Nemours' treatise on National Education in the TJnitBd States relates in general, as the title implies, to a general system^^ popular education for the whole country, rather than to the organiza- tion 6i a university in Virginia. The author said, indeed, that it was especially concerning the establishment of a university that he had beeu desired to prepare his monograph. The university idea of Dupont de Nemours included not only the higher, but also secondary and primary education. In fact, his plan embraced the whole educational field, and was described as the University of North America. The author says that he is perfectly well aware of the fact that he has broken away from! the historic constitution of universities, with their traditional faculties; of theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. In his judgment, however, America and even European countries require a national system of ed- i ucatlon, beginning with common schools and culminating in special, > professional, and technical institutions. He proposed that the cityqi Washington should be made the educational, as well as the political, capital ot the United States. There, he said, should be planted/four grandes Scales; (1) a school of medicine; (2) a school of mines; (3)8 school of social science and legislation; and (4) a school of the higher mathematics. To be a student of the national university in the full sense ot that term, one must have passed through all the ascending grades of education, from the lowest primary to the highest special school or professional schools (" Un jeune homme qui aura suivi Wcole primaire, le college et les grandes 6coles, sera un 61feve de notre uni- versity"). There was to be no necessary connection between the various grandis Sooies in Washington, save perhaps in the fact of a common establish- ment in one grand building devoted to a national library, a national museum, with offices for the ministry of public instruction, rooms for a philosophical society, and a botanical garden attached. The brilliant imagination of the French philosopher pictured this palace of education as one of the chief adornments of the Federal city. He would have DUPONT DE NEMOUES. 51 recommended for Washington a national university in splerlaoa?, siec- ond only to the Capitol itself. He would have had the American peo- ple, instead of building royal palaces, like the Louvre, or the Tuil^ries,. or the palace at Versailles, build a People's Palace for their own higher education in art, science, and self-government. , It is obvious that the scheme for natipnal education proposed by Dupont de Nemours was altogether too grand for realization in a fed- eral republic, where the higher education was but feebly developed, even within the individual States. And yet, although conceived upon far too magnificent a scale, this broad scheme, based upon common schools and developing into a university system, has some general re- semblance to that conceived by Jefferson for the State of Virginia as early as 1779. It is possible, and not altogether improbable, that Dupont de Nemours' treatise gave both sanction and emphasis to Jef- ferson's project for a State university, composed of distinct schools for the most advanced instruction. The idea was not peculiar to Dupont de Nemours. It was originated in the schools of Paris, which formed the oldest university in Europe, centuries before the time of Jefferson and his advisers. The influence exerted by Dupont de Nemours must be regarded as one that strengthened and confirmed ideas already in Jefferson's mind. The thought of State education was in the air. Alexander Hamilton grasped it in his scheme for the University of the State of New York, regulating to this day educational interests high and low. Early in the present century the statesmen of Prussia grasped the same idea, and reformed a down-trodden, hlimiliated people by a system of public education which began with the lowest and led to the highest. PEOPESSOE MINOR ON DUPONT DE NEMOTJKS. Professor John B, Minor, in a graphic and instructive account of the ! origin of the University of Virginia, is generously inclined to credit i Dupont de Nemours with considerable influence upon Jefferson's plan ifor university organization. Professor Minor says: "The scheme adopted bears a close resemblance to that of the German universities, [but it is probable that Mr. Jefferson derived it not from that source, .but immediately from Mons. Dupont de Nemours, a Frenchman of prom- inence, wjth whom he occasionally corresponded, and who during a so- jjourn in the United States was a frequent guest at Monticello. The j writer has seen a manuscript translation (executed by Francis W. Gil- mer) of an essay written by M. Dupont de Nemours, apparently by I special request, setting forth his opinions as to the best mode of organ- izing seminaries of. learning in the United States, the ideas of which so iClosely coincide in some particulars with the scheme of the University I as to exclude the supposition of a resemblance merely casual." ^ Pro- I ' Historical Sketches of Virginia : Literary Institutions of the State ; University of i Virginia, Part I. Published in the Old Dominion Magazine, Vol. IV, March 15, 1870 ((Eichmond, Va.). This invaluable series of articles on the University of Virginia 52 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. fesf ,6r Miii,or clearly has in mind the prominence given by both Jeffer- son and his French adviser to the university system of independent schools, severing allegiance from the time-honored dogma that a univer- sity mijst "have its foundation in arts," or consist of four faculties- theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. In this respect the French- man and the Virginian certainly stood upon common ground. PEOFBSSOR PIOTET, OF GENEVA. The Dupont treatise on national education by Dupont de Nemours was doubtless shown to Jefferson in 1800. Three years later we find the latter corresponding with Professor Pictet, of the Swiss College at Oeneva, probably the same man who had been associated with Jeffer- son in Quesnay's scheme for a French academy at Bichmond. In a let- ter dated Washington, February 5, 1803, Jefferson said, respecting Pic- tet's proposed removal to Virginia : " 1 knew it was not safe for you to take such a step until it would be done on sure ground. I hoped at that time that some canal shares which were at the disposal of General Washington might have been applied toward the establishment of a good seminary of learning; but he had already proceeded too far on an- other plan to change their direction. I have still had constantly in view to propose to the Legislature of Virginia the establishment of one on es large a scale as our present circumstances would require or bear. But as yet no favorable moment has occurred. In the meanwhile I am endeav- oring to procure materials for a good plan. With this view I am to ask , the favor of you to give me a sketch of the branches of science taught ia your college, how they are distributed among the professors ; that is to say, how many professors there are and what branches of science are al- lotted to each professor, and the days and hours assigned to each branch. Tour successful experience in the distribution of business will be a valu- able guide to us who are without experience. I am sensible I am impos- ing on your goodness a troublesome task ; but I believe every son of science feels a strong and disinterested desire of promoting it in every came to the -writer's attention after his own work was substantially finished, and con- firms, by actual knowledge and independent testimony, many of the judgments formed by the present writer upon documentary evidence studied at a distance ftom. ithe University premises. The above-mentioned historical sketches relate solely tothei University of Virginia, and were continued in monthly parts from April,"l870, until June, 1871. The Old Dominion Magazine was early discontinued. Professor Minor ssaid to the writer in a private letter : "I suspect my copy, now somewhat dilapidated, is the only one extant, and it is as precious to me as an ancient MS., because Icontefo- I)late some day reprinting it in book form." The writer made a pilgrimage to the Uni- versity of Virginia to get a glimpse of this work, of which no trace could be fonndinlta libraries of Richmond. The University of Virginia and the " I'heatre of MarceUus' |iro ved such interesting object-lessons, that a studeut could really fiud no time to read Ibooks upon those premises. By the necessities of the situation he was constrained to l)orrow the precious history and to take it to Baltimore for careful examination. BSi improves this occasion to thauk Mr. Minor anew for his great kindness, and to thank also those who dwell in the " Theatre of MarceUus " for their co-operating influences. JOSEPH C. CABELL. 53 part of the earth, and it is the consciousness as well as confidence in this which emboldens me to make the present request." This is a good illus- tration of Jefferson's method of acquiring information upon educational ■matters, and of his continued interest in the university idea, even whea ■burdened with resp,onsibility as President of the Federal Eepublic.' '. JOSEPH CARRINGTON CABELL'S EUROPEAN TRAININa. In the year 1806 a young Virginian, returning from three years' travel •and study in Europe, arrived in Washington with letters of Introduc- 'tion to Mr. Jefferson, President of the United States. This young- tman, then twenty-eight years old, was Joseph Oarriiigton Oabell (1778- tlSoG). He was a graduate of William and Mary College in the year 1798, and afterward studied law in Williamsburg with Judge Tucker. SLike Thomas Jefferson, Cabell was one of the finest types of liberal and professional culture ever graduated from that royal old college, which (trained up many statesmen for Virginia. Like Jefferson, too, Cabell ifaad experienced the liberalizing and broadening influence of Huropean ijulture. He went to Europe in 1803 for his health, which remained fflelicate throughout his entire life. Like Jefferson, again, Cabell made Paris the centre of his European study. He heard the lectures of Cu- ller and other professors at the College de Prance. He studied natural Science at Montpellier, and sojourned at various Italian universities^ Qotably at Padua, Eome, and Naples. Educational methods appear to :iave been Cabell's as well as Jefferson's principal object of inquiry. iBoth men conceived the same ideal of benefiting their native State by imeans of progressive ideas from Europe. Like Jeffersoxi, Cabell in- terested himself in Swiss education. He went to Verdun and studied the novel system of Pestalozzi, which he afterwards endeavored to in- itrodnce into Virginia. He visited also the Universities of Leyden, Cam- ipridge, and Oxford, and thus completed a grand tour of educational ob- iservation. Such was the preliminary training of the man whose influ- :;nce was to become second only to that of Jefferson in founding the Pniversity of Virginia. This man's work is almost unknown outside lis native State, and it is the privilege of a student of educational [iistory to point out the important connesction established between Ca- oell and Jefferson. JEFFERSON AND CABELL. The young Vii'giuian attracted the veteran statesman so strongly, that ;ihe latter offered Cabell various positions in the civil and in the diplo- matic service ; but Cabell had lived long enough away from home. H& Vas anxious to return to Virginia and to identify himself with the in- terests of his own people. In the year 1807 he became interested in the Woject of De la Coste, a French scientist, to establish a museum of nat- ;iral history at William and Mary College. Application was made to> tlv. Jefferson for aid, but the project was discouraged by him. Jeffersoa 52 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIEGINIA. feasor Miupr clearly has in mind the prominence ^iven by both Jeffer- son and his French adviser to the university system of independent schools, severing allegiance from the time-honored dogma that a univer- sity must "have its foundation in arts," or consist of four faculties- theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. In this respect the French- man and the Virginian certainly stood upon common ground. PROFESSOR PIOTET, OF GENEVA. The Dupont treatise on national education by Dupont de Nemours was doubtless shown to Jefferson in 1800. Three years later we find the latter corresponding with Professor Pictet, of the Swiss College at Oeneva, probably the same man who had been associated with Jeffer- son in Quesnay's scheme for a French academy at Eichmond. In a let- ter dated Washington, February 5, 1803, Jefferson said, respecting Pic- tet's proposed removal to Virginia : " I knew it was not safe for yon to take such a step until it would be done on sure ground. I hoped at that time that some canal shares which were at the disposal of General Washington might have been applied toward the establishment of a; good seminary of learning; but he had already proceeded too far on an- other plan to change their direction. I have still had constantly in view to propose to the Legislature of Virginia the establishment of one on as large a scale as our present circumstances would require or bear. But as yet no favorable moment has occurred. In the meanwhile I am endeav- oring to procure materials for a good plan. With this view I am to ask the favor of you to give me a sketch of the branches of science taught in your college, how they are distributed among the professors ; that is to say, how many professors there are and what branches of science are al- lotted to each professor, and the days and hours assigned to each branch. Your successful experience in the distribution of business will be a valu- able guide to us who are without experience. I am sensible I am impos- ing on your goodness a troublesome task ; but I believe every son of science feels a strong and disinterested desire of promoting it in every eame to the ■writer's attention after his own wort was substantially finished, and con- firms, by actual knowledge and independent testimony, many of the judgments formed by the present writer upon documentary evidence studied at a distance from ithe University premises. The above-mentioned historical sketches relate solely to the University of Virginia, and were continued in monthly parts from April,'l870, until June, 1871. The Old Dominion Magazine was early discontinued. Professor Minor said to the writer in a private letter : " I suspect my copy, now somewhat dilapidated, is the only one extant, and it is as precious to me as an ancient MS., because I con tejn- j)late some day reprinting it in book form." The writer made a pilgrimage to the Uni- versity of Virginia to get a glimpse of this work, of which no trace could be found in the libraries of Eiohmond. The University of Virginia and the " theatre of Marcellns " proved such interesting object-lessons, that a student could really find no time to read Ibooks upon those premises. By the necessities of the situation he was constrained to l)orrow the precious history and to take it to Baltimore for careful examination. He improves this occasion to thank Mr. Minor anew for his great kindness, and to thank; also those who dwell in the " Theatre of Marcellus " for their co-operating influences.' JOSEPH C. CABELL. 53 / ■ part of the earth, and it is the consciousness as well as confidence in this which emboldens me to make the present request." This is a good illus- tration of Jefferson's method of acquiring information upon educational' matters, and of his continued interest in the university idea, even wheu 'burdened with resp,onsibility as President of the Federal Eepublic. - JOSEPH CAEEINGTON CABELL'S EUROPEAN TRAINING. In the year 1806 a young Virginian, returning from three years' traveJ and Study in Europe, arrived in Washington with letters of introduc- tion to Mr. Jefferson, President of the United States. This young- man, then twenty-eight years old, was Joseph Oarrington Cabell (1778- 1856). He was a graduate of William and Mary College in the year 1798, and afterward studied law in Williamsburg with Judge Tucker, Like Thomas Jefferson, Cabell was one of the finest types of liberal and professional culture ever graduated from that royal old college, which trained up many statesmen for Virginia. Like Jefferson, too, Cabell had experienced the liberalizing and broadening influence of European culture. He went to Europe in 1803 for his health, which remained delicate throughout his entire life. Like Jefferson, again, Cabell made Paris the centre of his European study. He heard the lectures of Ou- vier and other professors at the Collfege de Prance. He studied natural science at Montpellier, and sojourned at various Italian universities^ notably at Padua, Rome, and Naples, Educational methods appear to have been Cabell's as well as Jefferson's principal object of inquiry. Both men conceived the same ideal of benefiting their native State by means of progressive ideas from Europe. Like Jefferson, Cabell in- terested himself in Swiss education. He went to Verdun and studied ]the novel system of Pestalozzi, which he afterwards endeavored to in- troduce into Virginia. He visited also the Universities of Leyden, Cam- bridge, and Oxford, and thus completed a grand tour of educational ob- servation. Such was the preliminary training of the man whose influ- ence was to become second only to that of Jefferson in founding the University of Virginia. This man's work is almost unknown outside his native State, and it is the privilege of a student of educational ' history to point out the important conneiction established between Ca- bell and Jefferson. JEFFERSON AND OABELL. The young Virginian attracted the veteran statesman so strongly, thatr. the latter offered Cabell various positions in the civil and in the diplo- matic service ; but Cabell had lived long enough away from home. He- was anxious to return to Virginia and to identify himself with the in- terests of his own people. In the year 1807 he became interested in the project of De la Coste, a French scientist, to establish a museum of nat- ural history at William and, Mary College. Application was made to Mr. Jefferson for aid, but the project was discouraged by him. Jeffersoa 54 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. had 'now drifted far away from his alma mater. His private secretary,, Col. Isaac A. Coles, wrote to Cabell, expressing, naturally, Jefferson's own views, and making this important suggestion : " If the amelioration ofveduoation and the diffusion of knowledge be the favorite objects of your life, avail yourself of the favorable dispositions of your country- men, and consent to go into our legislative body. Instead of wasting your time in attempting to patch up a decaying institution, direct your efforts to a higher and more valuable object. Found a new one which shall be worthy of the first State in the Union. This may, this certainly will one day be done, and why not now ? Tou may not succeed in one seskion, or in two, but you will succeed at last." Thus, in 1807, from Jefferson's own secretary came to Cabell a Declaration of Independence in the matter of higher education for Virginia. It was at once the as- sertion of a new line of educational policy, and a practical suggestion to an ambitious young man, able and willing to carry the university idea into the "Virginia Legislature. Following the advice of his friend, Cabell went into Virginia politics. He became a member of the House of Delegates in 1809, and two years later was elected to the State Sena-te, where he remained until the year 1829, the most efficient champion of Jefferson's three great ideas, — local government, popular education, and a State university. It is the sim- j)le truth to say that, without Joseph Carrington Cabell's persistent labors in the Legislature, his self-sacrifice and indomitable courage, his wonderful political tact and unfailing diplomacy, Jefferson's university ideal would never have been realized, at least in his life-time. It was once publicly stated in the Virginia Senate, in 1828, thait in promoting " tha,t monument of wisdom," the university, Cabell was " second only to Jefferson." In visiting the library of the University of Virginia, all men gaze with interest upon the statue of Jefferson, standing there under the stately dome which he so nobly planned. Few strangers, however, seek out that interesting portrait of Cabell which hangs upon the library wall. A thoughtful, kindly, yet determined face has this Virginia scholar, who, by good politics, founded and sustained a great university. Through that one man's energy Jefferson succeeded in achieving the in- dependence of higher education in Virginia, and in uniting men of all sects in the support of a State university. STATUE OF JEFFERSON BY GALT, IN THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. CHAPTER IV. ALBEMAELB ACADEMY AND CENTEAL COLLEGE. JEFFERSON'S NEW PROJECT. In the possession of Miss Sarah N. Randolph, of Baltimore, is an original letter by Jefferson, dated at Annapolis, December 31, 1783, and containing the first intimation of an attempt to establish an institute for liberal education in the vicinity of his own home. There is no ad- dress upon the letter, but it was evidently written to some gentleman in Albemarle County. A copy has been kindly made for insertion here: "Dear Sib : Just before I left Albemarle a proposition was started for establishing there a grammar school. You were so kind as to tell me you would write me the progress of the proposition. On my part I was to inquire for a tutor. To this I have not been inattentive. I inquired at Princeton of Dr. Witherspoon, but he informed me that that college was but just getting together again, and that no such per- son could of course be bad there. I inquired at Philadelphia for some literary character of the Irish nation in that city. There was none such, and in the course of my inquiries I was informed that learning is but little cultivated there, and that few persons have ever been known to come from that nation a^ tutors. I concluded on the whole, then, if the scheme should be carried on, and fixed on so firm a basis as that we might on its faith venture to bring a man from his native country, it would be best for me to interest some person in Scotland to engage a good one. Prom that country we are sure of having sober, attentive men. However, this must await your information. " We learn with certainty that a war in Europe is unavoidable — the two empires on one side and the Turks on the other. It is probable . France and Prussia will aid the Turks ; Great Britain is likely to be employed by Ireland. The Dutch are engaged in civil commotions, the object of which is the reduction of the power of the stadtholder. We have yet but seven States in Congress, and nine are required to ratify the treaty. As the ratification should be exchanged in Paris by the 3d of March, this gives us greatuneasiness. I am, with much esteem. Dear Sir, " Your friend and servant, Th. Jefferson." Thus, in the greatest diplomatic crisis in our nation's history, and in the midst of world-moving events, Jeff'erson found time to think of the 55 56 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. higher educational interests of his native county. The letter is most | remarkable, not only as illustrating the condition of higher education in America at the close of the Eevolution, but as clearly foreshadowing that broad educational policy which Jefferson afterwards adopted for^ the University of Virginia in securing its first professors from Europe. ' The project for an academy in Albemarle County slumbered until| 1803, when the institution was chartered by the Legislature ; but it re-| mained on paper only, until after Mr. Jefferson's election to the board| of trustees, March 23, 1814. From that election dates the beginning of the actual development process of the Albemarle Academy into the University of Virginia. After long years of inquiry and reflection, Jef- ferson had evolved in his own mind a system of higher education, of which William and Mary College had supplied the original germ. That system was now to be grafted upon Albemarle Academy and made to ' flourish under Jefferson's own eye. He was present at the next meeting of the board of trustees. Peter Carr was chosen president, and Mr. Jefferson was made chairman of a committee to report a plan for raising funds. The committee reported within t«n days ; subscriptions were recommended, a lottery was pro- posed, and Jefferson was made chairman of a committee to petition the ■Legislature for the proceeds of the sale of certain glebe lands in Albe J marie County. A committee was soon appointed to select a site for the academy, who reported August 19, 1814, in favor of placing the academy in the vicinity of the town of Charlottesville, and presented a plan for improving the site. In all probability this plan was drawn by Jefferson, who certainly prepared the ground-plan of Central College, ■which became the University of Virginia. Albemarle Academy, al- though it existed only on paper, is important historically, for it was the legal foundation of those two higher institutions, and the immediat^ occasion of the educational correspondence with Dr. Thomas Cooper and Peter Carr. DK. THOMAS COOPER. Dr. Thomas Cooper was an Englishman by birth and the son-in-law of Dr. Priestley, the English philosopher. With him Cooper came out to America, and found refuge from political and religious persecu- tion in the State of Pennsylvania.' Both were liberals in politics and in religion. Cooper edited his father-in-law's writings and acquired the reputation of being a Unitarian, which greatly impeded his scien- tific career in this country. The man was well versed in the natural sciences, particularly in chemistry, physics, and jihysiology. To all the excellence of scientific training and a well-rounded university cnlt- ' Jefferson mentions Priestley and Cooper in a letter to Tench Coxe, dated Montioello, May 1, 1794 : " I am sorry Mr. Cooper and Priestley did not take a more general sur- vey of our country before they fixed themselves. I think they might have promoted their o^wn advantage hy it, and have aided the introduotlou of improvement where it is more •wanting." THOMAS COOPER. ' 5T are, he added a special aptitude for the law and for political science. He was one of the earliest writer^ in this country upon the subject of political economy, and he was absolutely the first to introduce the study of Eoman law by his edition of Justinian,^ with analogies and contrasts 1 Upon inquiry at the University of Virginia, the writer learned from Professor Minor, the head of the law department, that he owned a copy of Cooper's work on Koman law. Amid the varied interests attending the writer's hurried visit he neglected to note the exact title of Cooper's work. He owes the following informa- tion to the courtesy of Mr. Minor : " Law Department, Univbesity of Virginia, "i)ecem6er 1, 1887. " In pursuance of yours of 30th ultimo, received this morning, I inclose a copy of the title-page of Cooper's Institutes, with the number of pages covering each part of the contents, showing also that the volume is ordinary law octavo. It contains nothing hut Tribonian's elementary exposition of the leading principles of the intended Corpus Juris Civilis, and especially of that part known as the Pandects or Digest. The English translation of Dr. Cooper is ranged side hy side with Justinian's Latin text ; so that the latter alone would embrace about 250 octavo pages. Cooper's translation is founded upon that of Harris, and differs from it only in occasionally employing a more condensed expression. His notes owe very little to Harris, and in the main ap- pear to me, who am only a sciolist in the Eoman law, judicious and instructive. It is certainly remarkable that in England, as well as with us, the study of Eoman juris- prudence should have been so slowly introduced amongst the professors of the com- mon law ; and especially as amongst the practitioners in the ecclesiastical courts and the courts of admiralty a familiar acquaintance with it had been cultivated from the time of Stephen, in the eleventh century. Lord Mansfield seems to have stood alone, amongst the frequenters of "V^jj^stminster Hall, in his knowledge of Eoman law, and Judge Story and Chancellor Kent pretty much monopolized it in the United States until comparatively a few years ago. I suppose its being the basis of the law of Louisiana may have given some impulse to the more recent tendency to study it. In 1845 Makelday's Compendium of Modern Civil Law, edited by Kaufmann, was pub- lished in New York, but I have the impression that its circulation was very limited r and to this day with us the acquaintance with the Corpus Juris CivHis 'and with the. commentators is confined within the narrowest limits." The following is a copy of the title-page of Cooper's Institutes, as described by Professor Minor : The Institutes of Justinian, with Notes, by Thomas Cooper, Esq. [Second edition.] New York: Halstead and Voorhees, Law Publishers, Corner of Nassau and Cedar Streets. 1841. » • Pages. Index to notes and references - ------ xxi Dr. Cooper's preface "^ Harris's account of rise and progress of Eoman law vi Institutes, Proemium -' * Body of work 3^6 Novels, extracts from De Successions ■ 10' Dr. Cooper's notes, etc '-^O^- Index '^^ ]■ Total 65» ^ A copy of the original edition of Cooper's Institutes of Justinian, prepared when. Cooper was professor of chemistry at Carlisle, Pa., and published at Philadelphia, 1813 was presented to the writer of this report by one of his students from Penn- sylvania, after the above account of the edition of 1841 had been received from Pro- fessor Minor. 58 JEFFERSON ANb THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, between the Englisli and the Eoman law — a work which led Jefferson to propose a history of the common law and the study of historical j urisprudence.1 Cooper was driven to the practice of law as a livelihood in Pennsylvania, and rose to the position of a judge. Hence he is fre- quently mentioned in Jefi'erson's correspondence as Judge, Cooper, although more usually known in American educational history as Dr. Cooper. He was for a time professor in Dickinson College, and was after- • Jefferson anticipated some of the modern tendencies of legal education. Very in-' "teresting views with reference to historical jurisprudence and a proper course of legal study are to he found in his letter to Cooper, dated January 16, 1814, and in his ad- vice to Dabney Terrell, Fehrtiary 26, 1821. (See Works, VII, 206, 209, 382, 414.) Jef- ferson's views in regard to the subject of law were as advanced as his views of edu- cation. As early as the time of the Revolution he attempted to put the laws of Vir- ginia into simple, straightforward, intelligible English. He once said to Cabell, Sep- tember 9, 1817 : " I dislilte the verbose and intricate style of the modern English statutes, and in our revised code I ' endeavored to restore it to the simple one of the ancient statutes, in such original bills as I drew in that work. I suppose the reform- ation has not been acceptable, as it has been little followed." A valuable article on " Thomas Jefferson as a Legislator " was published in the Vir- ginia Law Journal for December, 1887, by R. G. Kean, Esq. He says that the influence of Jefferson in the reformation of the tautological style of legal expression made itself felt in the Virginia code of 1849, prepared by the late Conway Robinson and John M. Patton. The laws of Virginia, as revised by Jefferson, Wythe, [and Pendleton,] were reported in one hundred and twenty-six bills, all embraced within ninety folio pages. Bills for a system of public education and a bill prohibiting the slave trade were among these proposed laws. Among them, also, was the famous statute establishing religious freedom, passed August 13, 1786, when Jefferson was m Paris. It excited great in- terest in Europe among diplomatic circles and was inserted in the Enoi/clopedie. The criminal law was wonderfully Improved by Jefferson. Heeliminated the barbar-, ous features of English penal law, and reduced the cases requiring the death penalty from twenty-nine to two,— treason and murder. This portion of Jefferson's work as a legislator is remarkable for his citations from the original Anglo-Saxon laws (see Works, IV, 146). In regard to slavery, Jefferson and his fellow commissioners not only reported a bill prohibiting the further importation of slaves (which was one of the first laws passed, 1778; see Hening, IX, 471), but were prepared to report in favor of emancipation of all of slave descent born after the passage of the act just named; but the public mind would not bear thqf proposition then, " nor will it bear it even at this day," said Jeffersonin his memoir in 1821. " Yet the day is not distant when it must bear it and adopt it, or worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free." There is an interesting letter on abolition in Jefferson's Works, VII, 408. Jefferson prepared statutes which swept away the Eng- lish laws of entail and primogeniture, with every vestige of feudalism. So perfect was his statute of descents that "in the experience of a completed century but one single doubt as to the construction and effect of any part of it has arisen. That single doubt was resolved by the case ot Davia v. Bowe, 6 Randolph, 355." Even that case, it is said, was decided by principles contained in the original act. The above statement is condensed from Mr. Kean's interesting and suggestive ar- ticle. Similar views are expressed in 2 Minor's Institutes (3d ed.), pp. 467-470, 531-534, and in 1 Id., 6. Upon Jefferson's favorite idea of gradual emancipation, which would have been good statesmanship and good economy for the South, see Madison's Writings, III, 133 et seq., and IV, 274. There is an article by A. D. White on " Jefferson and Slavery " in the Atlantic Monthly, Vol. IX, 1862, p. 29. THOMAS GOOPEE. 59 wards a lecturer in the University of Pennsylvania. His connection with the University of Virginia and with South Carolina College, where he was the immediate predecessor of Francis Lieber, will be described in other connections. Cooper is mentioned in Jefferson's first published letter to his friend, Joseph C. Cabell, June 27, 1810, in a most graphic way : " I enclose you a letter from Judge Cooper, of Pennsylvania, a political refugee with Dr. Priestley from the fires and mobs of Birmingham. He is one of the ablest men in America, and that in several branches of science. The law opinion which he mentions I have received, and a more luminous one has not been seen. The best pieces on political economy which have been written in this country were by Cooper. He is a great chem- ist, and now proposes to resume his mineralogical studies on this sub- ject ; you will perceive that he wishes a correspondent in our State. 1 know of nobody to whom I can so advantageously commit him as to yourself." Although Cabell was unwilling, from his connection with politics, to revert to mineralogical studies once pursued in France and Switzerland, yet Jefferson continued to correspond with Cooper, who gave him much practical advice representing English university ex- perience. The importance of this advice to Jefferson may be suggested by the fact that Cooper was the first, chosen professor of natural sci- ence and law in the University of Virginia, and that his opinion was courted with reference to filling the chair of language and history. JEFFERSON'S COKKEBPONBENCE WITH COOPER. It is interesting to observe that Jefferson's educational inquiries of Dr. Cooper begin to have a local and definite significance just before the attempted revival of Albemarle Academy, and that the correspond- ence proceeds upon that local basis of university education. On the 16th of January, 1814, Jefferson wrote to Cooper : " I have long had under contemplation, and been collecting materials for the plan of an university in Virginia which should comprehend all the sciences useful to us, and none others. The general idea is sug- gested in the Notes on Virginia, Qu. 14. This would probably absorb the functions of William and Mary College, and transfer them to a healthier and more central position : perhaps to the neighborhood of this place. The long and lingering decline of William and Mary, the death of its last president [Bishop Madison], its location and climate, force on us the wish for a new institution more convenient to our country gen- erally, and better adapted to the present state of science. I have been told there will be an effort in the present session of our Legislature to effect such an establishment. I confess, however, that I have not great confidence that this will be done. Should it happen, it would offer places worthy of you, and of which you are worthy. It might produce, too, a biddei; for the apparatus and library of Dr. Priestley, to which they might add mine on their own terms. This consists of about seven 60 JEFFERSON AND THE UNI^^EESITY OF VIKGINIA. or eight thousand volumes, the best chosen collection of its size prob- ably in America, and containing a great mass of what is most rare and valuable, and especially what relates to America."^ A few mouths later, Alugust 25, 1814, Jefferson again writes to Dr. Cooper, from Monticello, concerning the project for a university, and asks advice respecting the courses of study : " In my letter of January 16th, I mentioned to you that it had long been in contemplation to get a university established in this State, in which all the branches of sci- ence useful to us, and at this day, should be taught in their highest de- gree, and that this institution should be incorporated with the college and funds of William and Mary. But what are the sciences useful to us, and at this day thought useful to anybody ? A glance over Bacon's arbor acimticB will show the foundation for this question, and how many of his ramifications of science are now lopt off as nugatory. To be prepared for this new establishment, I have taken some pains to ascer- tain those branches which men of sense, as well as of science, deem worthy of cultivation. To the statements which I have obtained from other sources, I should highly value an addition of one from yourself. You know our country, its pursuits, its faculties, its relations with others, its means of establishing and maintaining an institution of gen- eral science, and the spirit of economy with which it requires that these should be administered. Will you, then, so far contribute to our views as to consider this subject, to make a statement of the branches of sci- ence which you think worthy of being taught, as I have before said, at this day and in this country ? But to accommodate them to our econ- omy, it will be necessary farther to distribute them into groups, each group comprehending as many branches as one industrious professor may competently teach, and, as much as may be, a duly associated fam- ily or class of kindred sciences. The object of this is to bring the whole circle of useful science under the direction of the smallest num- ber of professors possible, and that our means may be so frugally em- ployed as to effect the greatest possible good. We are about to make an effort for the introduction of this institution."^ On the 10th of September, but little more than a fortnight after the letter to Dr. Cooper, quoted above, Jefferson addressed him again in language indicating that his plan was ripening fast: "I regret much that I was so late in consulting you on the subject of the academy we wish to establish here. The progress of that business has obliged me to prepare an address to the president of the board of trustees — a plan for its organization. I send you a copy of it with a broad margin, that, if your answer to mine of August 25th be not on the way, you may be so good as to write your suggestions either in the margin or on a separate paper. We shall still be able to avail ourselves of them by way of amendments." ' Writings of Jefferson, 'V'l, 294. » Writings of Jefferson, VI, 371-2. jeffeeson's educational views. 61 LETTER TO PETER CARR. The address to the president of the board of trustees of Albemarle Academy, of which a copy was submitted by Jefferson to Dr. Cooper for further suggestions, was a letter to Peter Carr, dated Monticello, September 7, 1814. It is the mos^t important document in the early his- tory of the University of Virginia, for it defines Jefferson's educational views as matured after more than thirty years of reflection, from the time when he first draughted abillforthe more general diffusion of knowl- edge. The letter! was originally printed in the Richmond Enquirer for the purpose of popularizing Jefferson's views. It was reprinted in 1817 in a pamphlet called "Sundry Documents, on the Subject of a Sys- tem of Public Education for the State of Virginia," which is absolutely the oldest and most original collection of materials upon the origin of the University. It is also reprinted in the appendix to the published letters of Jefferson and Cabell. This letter to Carr not only contains the plan of organization for the academy mentioned in Jefferson's letter to Dr. Cooper, but it suggests the possibility of expanding that institu- tion into a college, with professional schools. Jefferson's inquiries and his general plan of organization appear to have elicited three letters of comment from Dr. Cooper, written in quick succession, September 15, 21, and 22, but all arriving at Monticello in the same mail. The first of these letters Jefferson returned to Cooper, who wished to pub- lish it in the Portfolio. "It will give our young men," said Jefferson,^ "some idea of what constitutes an educated man." With Cooper's views that "a professorship of theology should have no place in our insti- tution," Jefferson quite agreed, although he included it in his original plan as communicated to Peter Carr. The following extracts and summary of the letter, which may be called the literary foundation of the University of Virginia, will not be without general interest to students of American educational history: " On the subject of the academy or college proposed to be established in our neighborhood, I promised the trustees that I would prepare for them a plan, adapted, in the first instance, to our slender funds, but susceptible of being enlarged, either by their own growth, or by acces- sion from other quarters. I have long entertained the hope that this, our native State, would take up the subject of education, and make an establishment, either with or without incorporation into that of William and Mary, where every branch of science, deemed useful at this day, should be taught in its highest degree. With this view, I have lost no occasion of making myself acquainted with the organization of the best seminaries in other countries, and with the opinions of the most en- lightened individuals on the subject of the sciences worthy of a place ' It appeared In Niles's Register, March 16, 1816. 2 Jefferson's reply, October 7, 1814, to Dr. Cooper's comments appears to have been ■used by the former, together with the letter to Peter Carr ancTother documents, for university propaganda. See Correspondence with Joseph C. Cabell, pp. 36, 37, 62 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. in such an institution. In order to prepare what I had promised our trustees I have lately revised these several plans with attention ; and I am struck with the diversity of arrangement observable in them, no two being alike. Yet I have no doubt that these several arrangements have been the subject of mature reflection by wise and learned men, who, contemplating local circumstances, have adapted them to the con- dition of the section of society for which they have been framed. I am strengthened in this conclusion by an examination of each separately, and a conviction that no one of them, if adopted without change, would be suited to the circumstances and pursuit of our country. The ex- ample they have set, then, is authority for us to select from their dif- ferent institutions the materials which are good /or us, and, with them, to erect a structure whose arrangement shall correspond with our own social condition, and shall admit of enlargement in proportion to the encouragement it may merit and receive." GENERAL VIEW OP EDUCATION. After this sensible introduction, which contains a wholesome warning against mere imitation in, educational establishments and a proper rec- ognition of peculiar local conditions in every individual foundation, Jef- ferson proceeds to survey the general field of education and to mark out that particular portion to be occupied by the proposed institution in his immediate neighborhood. He considers the subject under three headsr elementary schools, general schools, and professional schools. Under the first head he observes that it is the duty of government to see that every citizen is educated according to his condition and pursuits in life. He divides the mass of citizens into the laboring and the learned classes, including under the former agricultural labor and handicrafts,^ and under the latter certain skilled labor and technical knowledge. Elementary schools will sufiice for the laboring classes. Jefferson notes the fact that a plan was once proposed to the Legislature of Virginia to divide every county into hundreds or wards, five or six miles square, each ward to have its own schools, for the elementary education of the chil- dren in reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. He expresses the hope that this project, once ineffectually attempted, may be resumed " in a more promising form." Passing to the second head, Jefferson re- marks that pupils leaving the elementary schools will separate into two classes, for the pursuit of labor and science, respectively. Pupils des- tined for the latter will go to college, where higher education is afforded by general schools and is specialized in professional schools. The learned class he divides into two sections : first, those destined for pro- fessional life ; and second, the wealthy, who " may aspire to share in conducting the affairs of the nation, or live with usefulness and respect in the private ranks of life." Both the learned and the wealthy will require the highe/education, but the former will need to specialize and pass from the general to professional schools. Jefferson's educational views. 63 classification op the sciences, Jefferson then attempts to classify the branches of useful science, which ought to be taught in the general schools. He groups them under three departments: language, mathematics, and philosophy. In the first department he arranges languages and history, ancient and mod- ern ; grammar, belles-lettres, rhetoric, and oratory, and a school for the deaf, dumb, and blind. "History," he says, "is here associated with languages, not as a kindred subject, but on a principle of economy, be- cause both may be attained by the same course of reading, if books are selected with that view." This thought, originally adva'nced by Jefferson as the basis of elementary education, became in the person of George Long, the classical historian, one of the ideal corner-stones of the Uni- versity of Virginia. Under the head of mathematics Jefferson classified the following sciences: pure mathematics, physico-mathematics, physics chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, anatomy, and the theory of medicine. Under philosophy he grouped ideology, ethics, the law of nature and of nations, goTernment, and political economy. By the term ideology Jefferson meant simply the science of the human understanding. He borrowed his novel term from a French writer, Count Destutt Tracy, member of the Senate and of the Institute of Prance, whose treatise on the Elements of Ideology was first published in France in the year 1801, and is reported by Jefferson to have been condemned by ll^apoleon as " the dark and metaphysical doctrine of Ideology, which, diving into first causes, founds on this basis a legislation of the people." i This work, wh;ch the present generation would probably qpndemn on other grounds, made a profound impression upon Jefferson, who wished to establish democracy upon a philosophical basis. PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. Let us observe what Jefferson said to Peter Qarr concerning profes- sional schools, the third and last topic of the discussion. To these schools would come those students who propose to make learning their profes- sion, and who wish to pursue particular sciences with more minuteness and detail than is possible in the college proper, which would give simply a liberal education. " In these professional schools each science is to be taught in the highest degree it has yet attained." Here Jeffer- son discovers the real university idea, and at the same time the idea of specialization for a definite purpose. " To these professional schools will come," he says, " the lawyer to the school of law ; the ecclesiastic ta that of theology and ecclesiastical history ; the physician to those of the practice of medicine, materia medica, pharmacy, and surgery ; the mili- tary man to that of military and naval architecture and projectiles ; the agricultor to that of rural economy ; the gentleman, the architect, the pleasure gardener, painter, and musician, to the school of fine arts^^^ ' Jefferson's letter to Colonel Duane, April 4, 1813. 64 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. lEOHNICAL EDUCATION. Besides the university idea and the thought of these special schools, Jefferson, in his letter to Oarr, clearly anticipated the modern idea of technical education. He proposed what he called a " school of technical philosophy," where certain of the higher branches should be taught in abridged form to meet practical wants. " To such a school," he said, "will €ome the mariner, carpenter, shipwright, pump-maker, cJock-maker, mechanist, optician, metallurgist, founder, cutler, druggist, brewer, vint- ner, distiller, dyer, painter, bleacher, soap-maker, tanner, powder-maker, salt- maker, glass-maker, to learn as much as shall be necessary to pursue their art understandingly, of the sciences of geometry, mechanics, statics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, hydrodynamics, navigation, astronomy, geog- raphy, optics, pneumatics, acoustics, physics, chemistry, natural history, botany, mineralogy, and pharmacy." In this school of technology Jef- ferson proposed to group the students in convenient classes for element- ary and practical instruction by lectures, to be given in the evening, so as to afford an opportunity for labor in the day-time. Military exercises ; were to be required on certain days throughout the entire course for all grades of students. Thus the features of military schools, techno- logical institutes, and modern agricultural colleges were associated with the higher education in a people's university, as conceived by Thomas Jefferson. Of course Jefferson did not expect to realize all at once this educa- tional scheme as proposed to Peter Carr. He urged as a practicable beginning the establishment of a general school or college, with four professorships, grouping, (1) language and history, belles-lettres, rhet- oric, and oratory; (2) mathematics, physics, etc.; (3) chemistry and other natural sciences; (4) philosophy, which, in his view, included political science. He said these professorships " must be subdivided from time t6 time, as our means increase, until each professor shall have no more under his care than he can attend to with advantage to his pu- pils and ease to himself." With further increase of resources, profes- sional schools were to be added. Such were the fundamental lines of thought which gave shape to the first project for a University of Vir- ginia in Jefferson's, own neighborhood. Like the preliminary drawings of a great artist, these bold outlines have a permanent interest to the student. JEFFERSON'S APPEAL TO CABELL IN THE LEGISLATUKE. Peter Oarr sent the letter which Jefferson had written him to a menjber of the Legislature, together with other documents prepared by Jefferson in the interest of the Albemarle Academy. That member appears to have held them back for some unaccountable reason. On the 5th of Jan- uary, 1815, Jefferson wrote as follows to his energetic friend, Joseph 0. Cabell : " Could the petition which the Albemarle Academy addressed JEFFERSON AND CABELL. 65 to our Legislature have succeeded at the late session, a little aid addi- tional to the objects of that would have enabled us to have here imme- diately tlie best seminary of the United States. I do not know to whom P. Carr (president of the board of trustees) committed the petition and papers; but I have seen no trace of their having been offered. Think- ing it possible you may not have seen them, I send for your perusal the copies I retained for my own use. They consist: (1) Of a letter to him, sketching, at the request of the trustees, a plan for the institution ; (2) one to Judge Cooper, in answer to some observations he had favored me with, on the plan ; (3) a copy of the petition of the trustees ; (4) a copy of the act we wished from the Legislature. They are long, but as toe always counted on you as the main pillar of their support, and we shall probably return to the charge at the next session, the trouble of reading them will come upon you, and as well now as then. The lot- tery allowed by the former act, the proceeds of our two glebes, and our dividend of the literary fund, with the reorganization of the institu- tion, are what was asked for in that petition. In addition to this, if we could obtain a loan for four or five years only of $7,000 or $8,000, 1 thinlc I have it now in my power to obtain three of the ablest characters in ■the world to fill the higher professorships of what in the plan is called the second or general grade of education ; three such characters as are not in a single university of Europe ; and for those of language and mathe- matics, a part of the same grade, able professors doubtless could also be readily obtained. With these characters 1 should not be afraid to say that the circle of the sciences composing that second or general ."grade would be more profoundly taught here than in any institution in the United States, and I might go farther." It is very Interesting to observe, in this same letter to Cabell, that Jefferson says he has lately received a letter from Jean Baptiste Say, who was contemplating a removal to America, "and to this neighbor- hood." Undoubtedly Jefferson had him in mind as " one of the three ablest characters in the world " for a professorship in the new institu- tion. Virginia would indeed have had one of the most distinguished representatives of economics, if Jean Baptiste Sayi had been per- suaded to come, as at one time seemed highly probable. Another of the three prospective members of the faculty was undoubtedly Thomas Cooper, who would at that time have represented chemistry, and natural science in general, better than any man of Jefferson's acquaintance in America. The third genius must have been a philosopher, for, ac- cording to the above letter, Jefferson had as yet no one in view for either language or mathematics. Possibly the " ideologist " was to be Count Destutt Tracy, for whose writings Jefferson was making vig- orous propaganda at this very time. It was certainly correspond- ence with such men as these that made Jefferson so eager to develop ' On Say's project of removing to " the neighborhood of Charlottesville, on which he has oast his eye," see Jefferson's letter to M. Correa de Serfa, December 2?, 1814. 17036— No. 2 5 66 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. ' ' (■ a local academy into a larger institution, where genius could find fre^ scope. *. THE LITERARY FUND. As early as 1810 the Legislature of Virginia had instituted the so-called literary fund. A bill, drawn up by James Barbour and presented by | committee of which Mr. Cabell was a member, was passed that year ani appropriated " certain escheats, penalties, and forfeitures to the en- couragement of learning." It is not at all improbable that the influ- ence of Jefferson, through Cabell, was at the bottom of this enactment, although the credit of it was claimed by Governor Barbour in an ad- dress at a planters' convention in Eichmond, in 1836.' In the winter of 1815-16 Charles Fenton Mercer, chairman of the committee on finance, reported to the lower house a measure favoring the increase of the liter- ary fund by the addition of the debt then due to Virginia by the Gov- ernment of the TTnited States for expenses incurred in the war of 1812. This report, which was adopted, is the origin of Mr. Mercer's rival claim to the honor of establishing the literary fund, which claim lie advanced in an address on popular education, published in 1826. Undoubtedly both Governor Barbour and Mr. Mercer deserve individual credit for their part in laying what afterward became one of the most substantial eco- nomic foundations of the University of Virginia ; but we must remem- ber that the forces of legislation are always very complex, and that the secret springs of action are not always seen. Some light is thrown upon Mr. Mercer's report by the following extract from a letter to Jeffer- son, written by Cabell, January 24, 1816 : " Since writing the enclosed letter I have conversed with Mr. Mercer, of the House of Delegates, to whom I had lent your letter to Mr. Carr, upon being informed by him that he had it in contemplation to endeavor to get a considerable part of the debt due from the General Government to the State of Virginia appropriated to the establishment of a grand scheme of education. He appears much pleased with your view of the subject, and as he proposes to make a report to the lower house, concurs with me in the propriety of availing the country of the light you have shed upon this great in- terest of the community. Would you object to the publication of your letter to Mr. Carr? Indeed, sir, I may take the liberty to have your letter printed before I can get your answer.'' I do not believe the Gen- eral Assembly will make at this time so great an appropriation as the one proposed by Mr. Mercer ; but I will do anything in my power to 1 Kuffin's Farmer's Register, III, 688, quoted in the Correspondence of Jefl:erson and Cabell. 50. « Jefferson consented, February 2, 1816, to the publication of his letter, and it ap- peared in the Richmond Enquirer about that time. On the 2l8t of February, 1816, Cabell wrote to Jefferson : " You will have seen your letter to Mr. Carr in the En- quirer. It came out on the morning of the day that the resolution passed the House of Delegates appropriating the surplus [all over and above $600,000] of our United States debt to the literary fund, and, I have reasons to believe, had a considerable effect in promoting the passage of that resolution." THE LITEEAEY FUND. , 67 promote it. And should the measure succeed, my object would be to make your plan the basis of our measures. * * * My intention is, as soon as I hear from you, to secure the passage of the bill respecting the Central College, nearly or entirely in its present shape. Then, or previously, I will, if not prevented, publish your letter to Mr. Carr, so as to prevent this game from being easily taken out of the hands of those -who are entitled to it." Cabell referred to the probable rivalry of Staunton and Lexington with Charlottesville for the establishment of " a great State seminary." Jefferson early saw the possibilities of the literary fund for the en- dowment of a State university. In a letter to Cabell, dated Septem- ber 30, 1814, he urges legislative precautious with reference to " the funds of the literary society," an expression which the editor of the cor- respondence between Jefferson and Cabell is unable to explain (see note to page 30 of that volume). Jefferson meant simply the literary fund, and he meant to secure a county-dividend of the same for the benefit of Albemarle Academy, as the-petition presented to the Legisla- ture about this time clearly shows. With the development of Albe- marle Academy into Central College, Jefferson's intentions took larger scope. He proposed gradually to absorb the profits of the entire fund, and also to capture the lion's share of the endowment of William and Mary College, reducing that institution to the level of half a dozen or more small colleges, all tributary to the central university. There lurked a deep meaning in that term Central College. It was the idea of centralization in the higher education, first geographically, for general convenience, then economically and intellectually, for the highest good of the whole State. It would be the best educational policy for the United States and for the individual States. The great obstacles, to the first success of this bold idea were : (1) The democratic impulse to distribute the proceeds of the literary fund for the establishment of common schools, which, Jefferson always urged, should be founded and sustained by local government and local taxation, or by self help in townships, wards, or school districts. (2) The opposition of Federalists to Jefferson's project. (3) The powerful opposition of William and Mary College, which was fighting for life. (4) The rivalry of Washington College at Lexington, a Presbyterian institution, second only to William and Mary in historic prestige. (5) The municipal attractions of Eichmond, Staunton, and other growing places. (6J Ecclesiastical opposition, directed against the proposed non-sec- tarianism of Jefferson's university, — another great idea in modern edu- cation. (7) The policy of decentralization and local distribution of State bounties to the higher education, — the worst of all enemies to the idea of State universities. 68 JEFFEESON AND THE UJSTIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. That Jefferson and Cabell should have succeeded in triumphing over all of these foes, in securing a large part of the literary fund, and in centralizing the higher education in the vicinity of Charlottesville, is one of the greatest triumphs in American eduoatiooal history, for it was the firist of its kind and cost the hardest struggle. CENTRAL COLLEaB. The methods by which the University of Virginia was evolved from the individual thought of Jefferson into apopular institution are an un- written chapter in American educational history, but it is worth writing, because it shows how vital a connection may be established between democracy and the higher education, and that, too, under the most un- favorable conditions. There was absolutely nothing for Jefferson to Isuild upon except an idea. It was impossible to make a State univer- sity out of old William and Mary College, which was then a church in- stitution. There were not even common schools to render education popular. Jefferson had conceived the original idea of developing into a State university a county academy jcMcA as yet existed only on paper. There was no endowment whatever. Everything had to be created. Through the energy of Cabell the petition of the trustees of Albemarle Academy to receive for this institution the money which had arisen from the sale of the two glebes of the parishes of Saint Ann and Fred- ericksville in Albemarle County, was granted ; but the application to have, for the same purpose, their pounty dividend of the literary fund, was rejected by the Legislature. On the 14th of February, 1816, was passed an act changing the name of Albemarle Academy to Central College, of which the Governor of the Commonwealth was to be the patron, with power to appoint a board of six visitors and to fill vacancies. The visitors could appoint professors and other oflQcers. Thomas Jefferson was the only one of the old acad- emy board who was re-appointed. The new appointees were James Madi- son, James Monroe, Joseph C. Cabell, David Watson, and J. H. Cocke. In the new corporation were vested all the rights and privileges of the old board, which handed over the records of Albemarle Academy. The records of Central College extend from May 5, 1817, to May 11, 1818. They are interesting for the light thiey throw upon the gradual evolu- tion of the University of Virginia from a local seminary. The corner- stone of Central College was laid October 6, 1817, in the presence of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, then President of the United States. Probably no institution of learning in the United States ever had so many presidential trustees. IDEA OP AN AOADEMIOAL VILLAGE. Among the external features of the University of Virginia, as it now stands, nothing is more interesting to the visitor than the peculiar ground- plan of construction. It seems to be a modern adaptation of the mediaeval idea of cloistered retreats, with colonnades and quadrangles, the latter AN ACADEMICAL VILLAGE, 69 opeoiug toward the south. The buildings consist of pavilions, or large two-storied houses, for the professors, which', with the large library building or rotunda, are arranged at intervals around three sides of a a square, and are all connected by small one-storied brick dormitories for the students, each dormitory containing only one room, which opens upon a covered colonnade or Icreuzgang, suggestive of a monastic cell. A reproduction of the mediaeval monastery was perhaps very far from Jefterson's mind ; but, whether consciously or unconsciously, he revived some of its most striking architectural effects, although in classical rather than in Gothic style. The historical germ of the whole plan of construction may be found in the records of the first meeting of the trustees of the Central College, May 5, 1817, when " on view of a plan presented to the trustees of the Albemarle Academy for erecting a distinct pavilion or building for each separate professorship, and for arranging these around a square, each pavilion containing a school-room and two apartments for the accom- modation of the professor, with other reasonable conveniences, the board determines that one of those pavilions shall now be erected, and they request the proctor, so soon as the funds are at his command, to agree with proper workmen for the building of one, of stone or brick below ground and of brick above, of substantial work, of regular archi- tecture, well executed, and to be completed, if possible, during the en- suing summer and winter. * * * And it is further resolved, that so far as the funds may admit, the proctor be requested to proceed to the erection of dormitories for the students adjacent to the said pavilion, not exceeding ten on each side, of brick, and of regular architecture, according to the same plan proposed." In a report made by the trustees of Central College, January 6, 1818, to the speaker of the House of Delegates, it is stated that they pur- (jhased " at a distance of a mile from Charlottesville, and for the sum of $1,518.75, two hundred acres of land, on which was an eligible site for the college, high, dry, open, furnished with good water, and nothing in its vicinity which could threaten the health of the students. "Instead of constructing a single and large edifice, which might have exhausted their funds, and left nothing, or too little, for other essential expenses, they thought it better to erect a small and separate building or pavilion for each professor they should be able to employ, with an apartment for his lectures and others for his own accommodation, con- necting these pavilions by a. range of dormitories, capable each of lodg- ing two students only — a provision equally friendly to study as to mor- als and order. "The plan offered the further advantages of greater security against fire and infection, of exteriding the buildings in equal pace with the funds, and of adding to them indefinitely hereafter, with the indefinite progress of the contributions, private or public, and it gave to the whole, in form and effect, the character of an academical village.''^ 70 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. . Such was Jefferson's idea of the external form of the future University | of Virginia. In this report, of which he is manifestly the author, the I trustees of Central College assure the Legislature of their willingness to transfer all the property and rights of Central College toward the estab- lishment of a State university. They say that they have realized nearly $3,200 from the sale of the glebe lands, and altogether, including sub- ^ scriptions, they " count with safety on forty-six or forty-seven thousand A dollars." The actual subscription lists to the Central College which are printed in the Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell, show a total of over $44,000. These lists of names represent twelve different counties and three cities, Richmond, Lynchburg, and Winchester, and show a remarkably wide-spread interest in Jefferson's project. Jefferson, Mad- ison, Monroe, Cabell, Cocke, and five other gentlemen subscribed each $1,000. There were over two hundred subscriptions, ranging from $5 to $500. Such liberality and such a considerable number of names are interesting evidence of the favorable attitude of the Virginia planters at thi^ period (1818) toward the higher education. JEFFERSON TO JOHN ADAMS ON CENTRAL COLLEGE. The progress and prospects of Central College, just before its transi- tion into the University of Virginia, are well shown in a letter from Jefferson to John Adams, dated Poplar Porest,i September 8, 1817 : "A month's absence from Monticello has added, to the delay of ac- knowledging your last letters, and, indeed, for a month before I left it, our projected college gave me constant employment; for, being the only visitor in its immediate neighborhood, all its administrative business falls on me, and that, where building is going on, is not a little. In yours of July 15th, you express a wish to see our plan, but the present visitors have sanctioned no plan as yet. Our predecessors, the first trustees, had desired me to propose one to them, and it was on that oc- casion I asked and received the benefit of your ideas on the snbject. Digesting these with such other schemes as I had been able to collect, I made out a prospectus, the looser and less satisfactory from the uncer- tain amount of the funds to which it was to be adapted. This I ad- dressed, in the form of a letter, to their president, Ptjter Carr, which, going before the Legislature when a change iu the constitution of the college was asked, got into the public papers, and, among others, I think you will find it in Mies' Register, in the early part of ISIS.'' This, however, is to be considered but as apremiire Sbauche, for the consider- ation and amendment of the present visitors, and to be accommodated ' Mr. Jefferson's farm in Bedford County. ^The exact reference is Niles' Register, Marcli 16, 1816, where Jefferson's letter to Peter Carr may be found. A letter from Jefferson on elementary education oconrsin Niles, May 2, 1818. This Baltimore journal followed with great interest the progress of Jefferson's educational work. Niles, June 26, 1824, announces the courses of in- struction that were soon to he opened at the University of Virginia. JEFFERSON TO JOHN ADAMS. " 71 to one of. two conditions of things. If the institution is to depend on private donations alone, we shall be forced to accumulate on the shoul- ders of four professors a mass of sciences which, if the Legislature adopts it, should be distributed among ten. We shall be ready for a professor of languages in April next, for two others the following year, and a fourth the year after. How happy should we be if we could have a Ticknor^ for our first. A critical classic is scarcely to be found in the United States. To this professor a fixed salary of $500, with liberal tuition fees from the pupils, will probably give $2,000 a year. We are now on the lookout for a professor, meaning to accept of none but of the very first order." ' An attempt was actually made, In 1820, to secure as professors for the University of Virginia, Mr. George Ticknor, of Boston, and Mr. Bowditch, of Salem. Apartments were promised, with a salary of |2,000 and with fees guaranteed to the additional amount of |500. Dr. Thomas Cooper, an Englishman, resident in Pennsylvaniaj was appointed the year before. All of these original negotiations excited considerable sectarian opposition in Virginia, because all three of the above-named gentlemen were reputed to be Unitarians. Upon this interesting pojnt, see the Jefferson and Cabell correspondence, p. 233 et seq. The opposition to the Unitarian movement was not confined to the South. Cabell told Jefferson that it was through the corre- spondence of Bible Societies that "the discovery of the religious opinions of Ticknor and Bowditch was made." CHAPTER V. TRANSITION FROM THE COLLEGE TO THE UNIVERSITY. TWO LINES OP POLICY. Jefferson's plans for the development of university education in Vir- ginia proceeded along two lines of policy. The first was local, origi- nating in Albemarle Academy, and advancing by local subscriptions to the actual foundation of Central College. The second line of poUcy was legislative, and led from an economic base called the literary fund, to the idea of a State university. It is clearly apparent that Jeffer- son meant that these two lines should converge and unite. His pur- pose then was to have Central College adopted by the State as the University of Virginia. Cabell was in the Legislature watching his opportunity and informing Jefferson of the progress of events. On the 24th of February, 1816, the president and directors of the literary fund were requested to prepare and report a system of public education, comprehending a university to be called " The University of Virginia," and such additional colleges, academies, and schools as should diffuse the benefits of education throughout the Commonwealth. The responsible member of this commission was the president of the board of directors, W. C. Nicholas, Governor of the State. There was nothing easier for him to do than to seek the counsel of Jefferson. JEFFERSON'S LETTER TO GOYERNOB NICHOLAS. Although in retirement at Monticello, Jefferson was in constant cor- respondence with the public men of his time, both in and out of Vir- ginia. Early in the spring of 1816 we find Governor Nicholas asking Jefferson's advice with reference to the subject of education. The Gov- ernor was president of the board of directors of the literary fund and was naturally desirous of making a good official report. Jefferson was an acknowledged authority upon educational matters, and to him the Governor turned for counsel. Jefferson gave it liberally in a long letter, dated at Monticello, April 2, 1816. After reminding the Governor of the close resemblance between the present recommendation of the Vir- ginia Legislature and bills for the more general diffusion of knowledge,| reported in 1779, and proposing three grades of instruction, — a univer- sity, district colleges or grammar schools, and county or ward schools, Jefferson said: "The report will have to present the plan of an univer- 72 JEFFERSON TO GOVERNOR NICHOLAS. 73 sity, analyzing the sciences, selecting those which are useful, grouping them into professorships, commensarate each with the time and facul- ties of one man, aud prescribing the regimen and all other necessary details. On this subject I can offer nothing new. A letter of mine to Peter Carr, which was published during the last session of Assembly, is a digest of all the information I possess on the subject, from which the board will judge whether they can extract anything useful. * * * " As the buildings to be erected will also enter into their report, I would strongly recommend to their consideration, instead of one im- mense building, to have a small one for every professorship, arranged at proper distances around a square, to admit of extension, connected by a piazza, so that they may go dry from one school to another. This village form is preferable to a single great building for many reasons, particularly on account of fire, health, economy, peace, and quiet. Such a plan had been approved in the case of the Albemarle College, which was the subject of the letter above mentioned; and should the idea be approved by the board, more may be said hereafter on the opportun- ity these small buildings will afford of exhibiting models in architecture of the purest forms of antiquity, furnishing to the student examples of the precepts he will be taught in that art." Here is the "connecting architectural link between the Albemarle Academy and the Univer- sity of Virginia, as conceived by Jetferson. In his letter to the Governor the Sage of Monticello did not fail to revert to his early and favorite project of elementary education by means of ward schools. He reminded the Governor that ideas upon that sub- ject had been long ago embodied in a bill for the general diffusion of knowledge in Virginia, and that time and reflection had only served to strengthen in his mind the general principle of subdividing the counties into wards, with a school in each ward, " My partiality," he said, " for that division is not founded in views of education solely, but infi- nitely more as the means of a better administration of our goverment, and the eternal preservation of republican principles. The exam- ple of this most admirable of all human contrivances in government is to be seen in our Eastern States; and its powerful effect in the order aud economy of their internal affairs, and the momentum it gives them as a nation '■ is the single circumstance which distinguishes them so remarkably from every other national association. In a letter to Mr. Adams^ a few years ago, I had occasion to explain to him the struct- ure of our scheme of education as proposed in the bill for the diffu- sion of knowledge, and the views of this particular section of it, and iThe use by Jefferson of the word "nation'' for New Eaglaud is very remarkable. It is, however, paralleled by the ftequent employment, in American local usage, of the term " country" for section. State, or county. Aud yet such usage is in perfect accord ■with the gradual development of our ideas of country and nation from local expe-; rifinoe. The Germanic village community of united families was the prototype of united Germany and of the United States. 2 0ctober28, 1813. 74 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. • in another lately to Mr; Cabell/ on the occasion of the bill for the Albe- marle College, I also took a view of the political effects of the proposed division into wards, which, being more easily copied than thrown into new form here, I take the liberty of inclosing extracts from them, Should the board of directors approve of the plan and make ward di- visions the substratum of their elementary schools, their report may furnish a happy occasion of introducing them, leaving all their other uses to be adopted from time to time hereafter, as occasion shall occur." OIECULAR LETTER FROM GOVERNOR NICHOLAS. On the 30th of May, 1816, Governor Nicholas issued a circular letter?- to various distinguished gentlemen, asking advice respecting a system of public education for the State of Virginia. As president of the board of directors of the literary fund the duty, to collect information devolved upon him, but it is highly probable that Jefferson, or his friend Cabell, who was in the Legislature, made valuable suggestions to the Governor with reference to this letter and the proper persons to address. Among the latter was Jefferson's friend, Thomas Cooper, professor of chemistry in Carlisle College, Pennsylvaniii.. The following passage from the circular letter is worthy of Jefferson himself: "The great cause of literature and science is not local in its nature, but is an object of interest to the whole human species. The commonwealth of letters em- braces every region, however remote. It can not fail to excite pleasing emotions in every enlightened American to perceive that Virginia has taken this subject under its patronage, and devoted a fund to its accom- plishment, which is annually increasing. To you, sir, 1 think it proper to address myself, knowing your attachment to literature, and feeling great confidence that you will not consider your valuable time mis- spent in communicating any ideas which may promote so useful an ob- ject. I can assure you that they will be received with that high sense of obligation which their importance must inspire." DR. COOPER ON UNIVERSITY EDUCATION. The following extracts from the reply of Dr. Cooper are worthy of preservation, for they are characteristic of one of the most remarkable educators in the United States at this period, and of the man in whom Jefferson had perhaps more confidence than in any other in American academic circles. In the lack of illustrations of his correspondence with Jefferson, this letter of advice to the Governor of Virginia, upon the subject dearest to Jefferson's heart, is especially valuable. Cooper represents English* ideas of university education. After considering 1 Letters of Jefferson and Cabell, 37. » Other traces of English influence besides the oonnsel of Dr. Cooper may be found in Jefferson's study of English universities, as described in print. Jefferson owned Russell's Tract on the Universities of Great Britain, and lent it to Cabell, who showed it to such influential politicians as General Breckeuridge and Mr. Johnson. Cabell also borrowed Jefferson's Oxford and Cambridge Guide. COOPEE ON UNIVERSITY EDpCATION. 75 briefly the subject of schools and academies, he proceeds to state his views upon the main question : " Universities should be exclusively for aliberal and finished education. I doubt whether it be expedient to have more than one in the State, under State patronage. Such an university should, in my opinion, be instituted on a plan not much dissimilar to the following : " (1) It should be considered, held up, and taken for granted, that no young man can receive a finished education sufficient to enable him to commence the pursuit of any of the liberal professions, unless he has remained at the university till the completion of his nineteenth year ; if young men could be induced to stay for half a year longer it would be a very important acquisition, privately and publicly. They usually graduate so young that they enter upon life conceited scioUsts. " (2) It should be scrupulously insisted on that no youth can be ad- mitted to the university unless he can read with facility Virgil, Horace, Xenophon, and Homer ; unless he is able, as a preliminary to matricu- lation, to convert a page of English at sight into Latin ; unless he can demonstrate any proposition at sight in the six first books of Euclid, and shews an acquaintance with cubic and quadi-atic equations. With- out this, your university will become what all the American colleges and universities are, so far as I know them, mere grammar schools. You will have fewer students, but they will do credit to the institution, and raise its reputation ; and entrance at such an university will be sought as an honor. " (3) It can not be required, but it should be regularly and publicly ex- pected, that the university course of education should occupy four years. The more difficult Latin and Greek classics should be read at the uni- versity, — Euripides, Sophocles, Longinus, Demosthenes, etc. JV^o weeic should pass without at least three pages of composition in Latin prose, and one in verse, upon given subjects. All the prominent political men, all the learned men, all the scientific men of my day, have entered upon active life as good classic scholars and good mathematicians. Judging from times past before 1 began life, and from what I have seen and ob- served myself, I am satisfied that a young man turned into the world a good classic and mathematician is far better qualified for any other lit- erary pursuit than those who have been educated in any other, way. On this score my mind is fully made up. " Attendant on these classical studies should be the higher parts of the mathematics, conic sections, fluxions, spherical trigonometry, etc. Also the study of the French language, with drawing, fencing, and the manual exercise. " These should occupy chiefly the two flrst years. I say chiefly, be- cause perhaps logic and a course of moral and political philosophy might be introduced the second year, though I should not incline to be- gin them till the third. - 76 JEFFEE80N AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. " The two next years might be occupied (uever entirely omitting classical and mathematical studies) with — " The elements of moral and political philosophy and jurisprudence, " Lectures on natural philosophy— chemistry, botany, and zoology. ('Perhaps room might also be found for a short course of anatomy. " Further than this it is needless to go. It will sufiBce to give them of these enough to show the roads that lead to the acquirement of knowl- edge. The basis of the system being classical and mathematical knowl- edge, I should not fear for a young man who was well grounded in these alone, at his first starting on the race of life, but much more may be added by a judicious course of study." VIEWS OP PRESIDENT DWIGHT, OF TALE COLLEGE. Eeplies to the circular letter sent oat by Governor Nicholas came from two college presidents, John Augustine Smith, M. D., president of William and Mary College from 1814 to 1826, and from the Rev. Timtf- thy Dwight, president of Tale College. President Smith confined his remarks to the subject of popular education, and showed no special sym- pathy with the university idea. He said he presumed the object of the literary fund was " to inform those who must otherwise remain in total ignorance in the humbler but more important parts of knowledge than to make a comparatively few proficients in the sublimer parts of knowl- edge." The management of William and Mary College was naturally opposed to the idea of a State university, which would certainly over- shadow the old college at Williamsburg and destroy its prestige. The struggle of William and Mary for existence and its race for life with Jeflferson's younger institution have been elsewhere narrated.' An interesting side light from New England is thrown upon colleges and universities in general, at this early period, by the answer of Presi- dent Dwight, of Tale College. He said : " There are two diiflculties in the way of returning such an answer to this application as in all probability is expected. One is, that the circular does not at all explain the specific views of the Virginian Legis- lature. The literary institutions which are mentioned in it are so ex- tremely dift'erent in difl;erent countries as often to have very little re- semblance to each other. Ari university in European language is, as your Excellency perfectly well knows, a seat of education in which stu- dents are conducted through all the branches of academical and pro- fessional knowledge, so as to be fitted to enter upon the practice of medi' cine, or to appear at the bar, or in the desk, without any additional instruction. A college, in the same language, is sometimes one of the several institutions which, when combined, constitute the university, and sometimes a seminary in which students barely obtain the require- ments for admission to the university. Eton College and the celebrated school of Westminster are seminaries of this nature. 'Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education, No. 1, 1887: Tlie College of William and Mary, pp. 58-61. PRESIDENT DWIGHT OF YALE. 77 " In American phraseology, your Excellency must have observed, both these terms are used in a widely different manner. There are three sem- I inaries in JSTew Englamd, which are styled universities ; a fourth in New Fork; a fifth in Pennsylvania; a sixth in Georgia ; and a seventh in Kentucky. All these differ essentially from what is meant by the term in Europe; and in none of them is education given to the extent spec- ified above. That of Cambridge, in Massachusetts, approximates nearer to the European standard than any of the rest; but even that falls ma- terially short. " There are also in New England five colleges ; and many others which bear the name in different parts of the United States. In Tale CoUege there is, probably, more science taught than in any other seminary in the American Union ; but probably less of literature than in the univer- sity at Cambridge. Yet it is styled a college. Several American colleges pursue nearly the same course of instruction; while others are calcu- lated upon so low a degree of the scale that bachelors of arts, coming from them to Tale College, have been unable to enter at any higher grade than the beginning of the second or sophomore year ; and that without any defectiveness of talents or diligence. "After these observations, it will be unnecessary to insist any further on the indeterminate meaning of these names, or on the impossibility of my knowing the sense in which they are used by the Legislature of Virginia. But without such knowledge it must be obviously impossi- ble for me to feel assured that any opinions which I might communicate would even reach the subject to which they were intentionally directed. " The other difficulty, to which I have referred, lies in the extensive and complicated nature of the subject. Will your Excellency pardon me for observing, that, having lived more than thirty years in Tale College, and in every station included in its system, the experience forced upon me during this period has furnished me with a complete conviction that the views formed concerning such an institution by men unacquainted with this subject except by speculation, and those of the first talents, are necessarily inadequate and erroneous. If I am not deceiyed, a considerable number of American colleges have failed of success from defects in their original establishment ; defects de- rived from the want of an experimental acquaintance with such an in- stitution in those under whose direction their several systems began their operations. " If my experience has not deceived me, such a scheme pf a odllege in the American sense, and still more of a university in the European sense, as will fairly promise extensive utility, to the public, musf in- volve many important parts, all of them nearly or absolutely indis- pensable, and many more subordinate ones, each of which would con- tribute in a considerable degree to the perfection of the whole. To state in the most concise manner a scheme of this nature, and the proofs by which its expediency might be evinced, would require at least 78 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. a large pamphlet. For such work I have neither time, nor health, nor eyes. "For the prolixity of this apology 1 have no other justification be- side what is furnished by the high importance of the subject, and the respectability of the source from which the application is derived. " With this letter I transmit to your Excellency a copy of the Laws of Yale College. In them may perhaps be found the best answer, in my power, to some of the questions which would naturally be asked in the course of such an investigation as that which the president and direct? ors of the literary fund have commenced. Here these laws have had a happy efiScacy. " If I may suppose myself authorized to give an opinion concerning the' subject at large, I beg leave to suggest that the best mod^, within my knowledge, of conducting the requisite inquiries to a successful is- sue, so far as they may respect the N'ew England seminaries, will be to commission a competent person to visit such of them as may bethought proper, and by inspection and conversation to learn whatever may be useful in their respective systems. Such a person would be able to state the specific purposes which the Legislature of Virginia have in view, and could ask the questions and obtain the explanations which may be conducive to the general design." EEPOET OP GOVERNOR NICHOLAS. Letters were received from James Monroe, then Secretary of Statt under Madison, and from Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, of New York. The lat- ter sent an elaborate article upon the philosophy of education, with peda- gogical plans for all grades of instruction, from domestic to scholastic, from the school to the university. Monroe recognized the importance of a general system of education for the preservation of good govern- ment, but intimated that there were men in Virginia better qualified than himself to give advice in educational, matters. He accepted the ap- pointment as one of the board of visitors of Central College, in Albe- marle, but offered no suggestions to the president and directors of the literary fund. Their report was made through Governor Nicholas to the General Assembly in December, 1816, and is published in the collec- tion of Sundry Documents on the Subject of a System of Public Educa- tion, which was distributed among the citizens of the State by legislative order. If Jefferson was not the author of this entire report, his ideas pervade it from beginning to end. We have already seen that Gover- nor JiTicholas sought Jefferson's advice before that of any one else, and we shall now see that he followed it in preference to other views. The offlcial voice is the Governor's, but the hand is Jefferson's. We find the general subject subdivided into primary schools, acade- mies, and a university. The whole system was based upon a proposed subdivision of counties into townships, each to support one primary school and to have charge of its own roads, its own poor, and its own IDEA Oi? FELLOWSHIPS. 79 police. The Lancastrian method of teaching was recommended. Next above the common schools were to be the acadtiuies, where Latin, Greek, French, mathematics, geography, astronomy, etc., were to be taught. Jefferson's provision for " the boys of brighoest genius " re ap- pears in the proposed connection of the schools, academies, and univer- sity. "The term university," declares this report, " comprehends the whole circle of the arts and sciences, and extends to the utmost boun- daries of human knowledge." The directors of the literary fund say they have resorted to every source of information respecting the con- stitution of Qolleges in America and Europe, but they find no two abso- lutely alike. Jefferson had made that observation to Peter Carr. The peculiar conditions of Virginia must be studied and the university adapted to the needs of its people. The report advises against begin- ning on too large a scale. The purchase of land for the university is recommended " in some central and healthy part of the Commonwealth." Here surely is Jefferson's hand. The buildings are to be paid for out of the literary fund. A board of fifteen visitors is recommended, with power to appoint nine professors, chiefly in modern and scientific stud, ies. Jefferson had always wished such a curriculum. The visitors were also to have power to appoint seven fellows " out of the most learned and meritorious of those who have graduated at said university. ^^ IDEA OP iESTABLISHING FELLOWSHIPS, 1816. The following extract from this remarkable report on the University of Virginia deserves to be quoted in full, because it anticipates so much of what is essentially modern in American university education. " The recommendation of the establishment of fellowships is founded on a wish to encourage the ardent pursuit of science in such young men, who, though destitute of the means of obtaining an education, have been selected for their talents, and instructed and supported at the pub- lic expense. It is to them we ought to look as the source which is to sup- ply us with teachers and professors, and thus by the service they will render in imparting instruction to the youth of the country, they will amply repay what that country has done for their benefit. Besides, it is a consideration of great importance that you create a corps of literary men, who, enabled by receiving a decent competence to devote their whole time to the pursuits of science, will enlarge its boundaries and diffuse through the community a taste and relish for the charms of litera- ture. The effect produced by, concentrating at one place many literary men, whose co-operation, as well as whose collisions, will excite a gen- erous spirit of emulation, is incalculable." MEEOBE'S bill for the XJNIVEESITY of VIRGINIA, 1817. ; The above favorable report naturally led to a bill providing for the establishment of primary schools, academies, colleges, and a univer- sity. The bill, drawn up by Mr. Mercer partly upon the basis of 80 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIEGINIA. Jefferson's ideas, passed the House of Delegates on the 18th of Febra- ary, 1817, but it was rejected by the Senate on the 20th of the same ' month. The measure was, however, noteworthy in some of its features. It provided for a board of public instruction, to be elected by joint ballot of the Senate and House of Delegates, and to have general edMcational control of Virginia. They were to establish and locate " the Univer- sity of Virginia," together with a general system of colleges and acade- mies. The bill also provided for a system of primary schools, and for the subdivision of counties into townships and wards, and of cities, bor- oughs, or towns into wards, when containing more than one hundred white families ; if less, the corporation was to be comprehended in some township. As soon as a ward or township had provided a school-house worth $200, and a board of trustees for school management, the direct- ors of the literary fund, to whom the school-house and lot must be con- veyed, were authorized to pay over annually the sum of $200 for the teacher's salary and $10 for school books for poor children. Jefferson was always strongly opposed to such local distribution of the literary fund. He believed in the local maintenance of common schools ; but the best experience of the Old World and of the New shows that localities vary so much in economic strength that county boards of equalization are sometimes a real necessity. A compromise between public bounty and local taxation is sometimes desirable. ACADEMICAL DISTEIOTS. The bill of 1817 further provided for the division of Virginia, accord- ing to the census of free whites, into forty-eight " academical districts," containing one or more counties. Suitable and convenient academies act- ually existing were to be recognized as State institutions, when conveyed to the president and directors of the literary fund. While retaining their former trustees aod local government, they became entitled to State aid. Where new academies were to be erected, the same lin^ of policy was proposed as in the case of the primary schools. The aca- demical district was obliged to furnish the necessary land, and at least three-fourths of the cost of the necessary buildings, which were esti-- mated at $10,000. The management of the academy was to be intrusted to a board of thirteen persons residing within the district and appointed by the general board of public instruction. One-quarter of the cost of building and one-fourth of the salaries for teachers was to be paid from the literary fund. Noteworthy is the fact that the bill of 1817 author- ized the acceptance of " the Anne Smith Academy, for the education of females," and permitted the establishment of similar institutions not exceeding five. PLAN FOB NEW COLLEGES. To the colleges then existing in the State four more were to be added, called, respectively, Pendleton, Wythe, Henry, and Jefferson, in con- PLAN FOE COLLEUES. 81 venient and healthful localities, where sufficient land had been freely offered, and at least $35,000 had been subscribed for the college and its library. Trustees were to be invested with governing aiuthority by the board of public instruction. The title to the land and college buildings was to be conveyed to the managers of the literary fund, which in turn should grant the college one-fourth as much money as had been locally subscribed, and one-fifth of the annual salaries of teachers and professors. William and Mary, Hampden-Sidney, and Washington Colleges were to be allowed to make proposals with reference to entering this general system of State colleges and of sharing State bounty in a similar manner. IDEA OF A TTNIVERSia?T. The bill of 1817 made inadequate provision for the University of Vir- ginia, but the idea was clearly in view. The board of public instruc- tion was authorized to fix upon a proper site, with primary regard " to the geographical centre of the Commonwealth, and to the principal channels of intercourse through its territory," together with health, econ- omy, and such advantages as might arise from local philanthropy. At least fifty acres of land, $100,000 for buildings, and $10,000 for a library must be secured and placed at the disposition of the literary fund for university purposes. A general subscription throughout the State was authorized through the agency of county and corporation courts. Pro- vision was also made for reports of all trustees to the board of public instruction, and for a general educational report to the General Assem- bly, concerning the state of education and embracing the University of yirginia. / The provisions of this bill, although never carried out, are interesting and instructive as showing one of the first definite plans in this country for an organized system of education under the control of the State. The bill laid chief stress upon common-school education, and gave it the preference in the distribution of public money. Jefferson, while the friend of common schools, would have made them self-supporting, and have reserved State bounty for the higher education and the University. jbfpekson's bill, 1817-18. Mr. Mercer's bill, of which an analysis has just been given, was very unsatisfactory to Jefferson. He wrote to Cabell, October 24, 1817 : " I received the pamphlet you were so kind as to have directed to me, con- taining several papers on the establishment of a system of education. A serious perusal of the bill for that purpose convinced me that, un- less something less extravagant could be devised, the whole undertak- ing must fail. The primary schools alone on that plan would exhaust the whole funds, the colleges as much more, and a university would never come into question. However slow and painful the operation of writing is become from a stiffening wrist, and however deadly my aver- 17036— ¥o. 2 6 82 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. eion to the writing-table, I determined to try whether I could not con- trive a plan more within the compass of our funds. I send you the re- sult brought into a single bill, lest by bringing it on by detachments some of the parts might be lost." The following is a r6sum6 of Jefferson's bill, which is not without sug- gestive value. The old lines of historic continuity are discernible in this plan, and it is clearly an advance upon the views advanced in the famous I6tter to Peter Carr. Jefferson proposed that the judge of the superior court, in every county, should appoint three visitors of primary schools. These visitors were to subdivide their respective counties into wards, comprehending " each about the number of militia suflQcieutfor a company." The visitors were then to call ward meetings, and the ma- jority vote of "the warders" was to determine the location of the school-house and how it should be built. A plurality vote was to elect a resident warden, to direct the process of building, and to care for school property. All persons liable to work on the highways were to be subject to the warden's call to work on the school-house, unless it should be built by pecuniary contributions. Ward meetings were to be held in the school-house after its completion. This place should become the centre of local government as well as of local education. The selection of teachers and the examination of schools were to be intrusted to the county board of visitors — a good device for economic and uniform management. Jefferson then proceeded to distribute the several counties into nine collegiate districts. The president and directors of the literary fund, henceforth to be known as the board of public instruction, were to appoint a board of visitors for each collegiate district, with one mem- ber from each county in that district. These visitors were to view their district and report to the central board of public instruction the best sites for a college, and the latter board was to decide the matter. The visitors were then to be empowered to purchase the approved site, ex- ercising, if necessary, through the county sheriff', the right of condemn- in g private property for a pu blic purpose. They were limited to $500 ex- penditure for grounds and to $7,000 for buildings. Bach college was to have two professors, with salaries of $500 each, to be paid from the liter ary fund, with such additional fees from pupils as the visitors should de- termine. " In the said colleges shall be taught the Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and German languages, English grammar, geography, ancient and modern, the higher branches of numerical arithmetic, the mensuration of land, the use of the globes, and the ordinary elements of navigation." The visitors were to have the appointing power and the general management of the college property. They could employ a steward and a bursar. Members of the board were to visit the college^ at least once a year and examine its management. The action of col- legiate boards was subject to revision by the board of public in- struction. CENTRAL COLLEGE. 83 PROPOSITION FOB A CENTRAL UNIVERSITY. To these provisions for popular and collegiate education Jefferson added a proposition for a university, " in a central and healthy part of the State." With regard to the very delicate question of the site he draughted two forms of statement, one in general terms giving the power of selection to a board of eight visitors, subject to approval by the board of public instruction; and the other in specific terms providing for the acceptance of all the lands, buildings, property, and rights of Central College, whenever its board of visitors should authorize a transfer to the board of public instruction, for the purposes of a university. In the institution should be taught " history and geography, ancient and modern; natural philosophy, agriculture, chemistry, and the theories of medicine ; anatomy, zoology, botany, mineralogy, and geology ; mathematics, pure and mixed; military and naval science; ideology, ethics, the law of nature and of nations ; law, municipal and foreign ; the science of civil government and political economy ; languages, rhetoric, belles-lettres, and the fine arts generally ; which branches of science shall be so distributed and under so many professorships, not exceed- ing ten, as the visitors shall think most proper." Each professor was to have apartments and a salary, not exceeding $1,000 a year, to be paid from the literary fund, with tuition fees from students. The visitors were to have the appointing power and the general control of the insti- tution, subject to the board of public instruction. ' To prepare the way for this bill, Jefferson addressed to the speaker of the House of Delegates a report of the visitors on the progress of Cen- tral College, already described in another connection. Of this instruct- ive report two hundred and fifty copies were printed by order of the House and distributed. Jefferson wrote to Cabell, December 18, 1817 : " I think you had better keep back the general plan till this report is made, as I am persuaded it will give a lift to that. Pray drop me a line when any vote is passed which furnishes an indication of the suc- cess or failure of the general plan. I have only this single anxiety in this world. It is a bantling of forty years' birth and nursing, and if I can once see it on its legs, I will sing with sincerity and pleasure my nunc dimittas." PUBLIC EDUCATION. I The most cherished scheme of Jefferson's life was now to be launched anew upon the current of politics. He had attempted to promote uni- versity education in connection with William and Mary College, in the ' time of the American Eevolution, but the project had been swamped. Now he was about to launch his own independent institution, bearing the name of Central College, but soon to be called the University of Vir- 'ginia. With what anxiety the old man of seventy-five years watched the fate of his carefully drawn report on Central College, and of his bill for establishing a system of public education ! In a letter to Cabell, 84 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. dated January 14, 1818, minutely explaining his plan for self-support- ing elementary schools, Jefferson concludes : "A system of general in- struction which shall reach every description of our citizens, from the richest to the poorest, as it was the earliest, so tvill it be the latest of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an interest. Nor am I tenacious of the form in which it shall be introduced. Be that what it may, our descendants will be as wise as we are, and will knofj how to amend and amend it until it shall suit their circumstances. Give it to us, then, in any shape, and receive for the inestimable boon the thanks of the young, and the blessings of the old, who are past all other services but prayers for the prosperity of their country and blessings to those who promote it." This letter was published by Cabell in the Eichmond Enquirer, Feb- ruary 10, 1818. In every possible way Cabell propagated Jefferson's" ideas. While the " enlightened few " heard and read with favor, there was in the Legislature, particularly in the House of Delegates, a strong opposition to Jefferson's bill. The printing of two hundred and fl% copies was only grudgingly allowed. The " back country" and western members were particularly stubborn. They wanted the capital of Vir- ginia removed from Eichmond to Staunton, and they were alraid that Central College would establish the idea of political centrality for the neighborhood of Charlottesville. "For two months," wrote Cabell, " certain persons have been training those members to oppose all that could come from you. The back-country spirit has been industriously excited." Cabell said the friends of Staunton and Lexington wished to keep down Central College. Sectional division and the clashing of local interests made him almost despair of any general plan. Jefferson's op- ponents admitted that his bill was a finished production in theory, but they were not willing to let it go into practice. The bill received very few votes in a House committee of the whole, and a substitute offered by Mr. Hill, of King William County, was recommended for adoption- FIRST APPROPRIATION PROM THE LITERARY FUND, 1818. The House of Delegates at first favored a small appropriation, from the literary fund for the education of the poor, and the application of the rest of the fund to the payment of the debts of the State. From such a Philistine view of an economic resource, long set apart for educa- tional interests, the House at last rose, through the influence of agita- tion, to the idea of a compromise between the highest and lowest forms of education. Hill's substitute for Jefferson's bill proposed the appoinfr| ment by local courts of school commissioners in every county, city, and corporate town, " to determine what number of poor children they will educate," and what should be paid for their education. The commis- sioners were to select the children and send them, with the assent of parents or guardian, to some convenient school, to be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. The money for tuition, books, etc., was to come EOCKFISH GAP COMMISSION. 85 out of a $45,000 reservation from the income of the literary fund, to be paid over to local school commissioners of counties, cities, and towns,i in proportion to the free white population. To this local State aid was to be added the income of all property held by the overseers of the poor and derived from the sale or forfeiture of glebe lauds.. Such wag the wretched provision for primary education as a local charity, dependent upon State aid and parish spoils. The House of Delegates had appar- ently no conception of the importance of establishing common schools and of supporting them by local taxation. The provision amounted to a State and parish bounty upon poverty. Fpon this well-meant but inadequate popular legislation the Senate had the sovereign good sense to tack a $15,000 annual appropriation for a university, wherein all the branches of useful science were to be taught. The site of the institution was to be determined by a board of commissioners, one from each senatorial district, to be appointed by the Governor of the State. The board was to meet at the tavern in Eock- flsh Gap, in the Blue Eidge, in August, 1818, and determine the follow- ing matters : (1) The site of the university; (2) a plan for its construc- tion; (3) the branches of learning to be taught; (4) the number and description of the professorships; (5) general legislative provisions for organizing and governing the institution. This amendment passed the House of Delegates on the 21st of February, 1818. It was the entering wedge for the Jeffersonian idea, and it was driven in by Joseph C. Gabell, when the commissioners were appointed. He wrote to Jefferson: "We have fifteen, districts on this side of the ridge, and I think we are safe in the hands of the executive." Mr. Preston was at this time the Gov- ernor of Virginia, and was in thorough sympathy with the university project. Cabell suggested to Jefferson that " our policy will be to invest all our funds in buildings, and get them as far advanced by August as possible." The founder of Central College needed no spurring in this direction. It had been his policy from the beginning to get his institu- tion well under way and then make the Legislature adopt it. ' The results of this policy, ■while not the best, were better than nothing. Niles's Register for December 17, 1825, says of Virginia: "By returns from 98 counties and towns, received between the 30th of September, 1824, and 30th of September, 1825, pt appears that 10,236 indigent children have been sent to school in those counties within the year." CHAPTER VI. THE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION AND JEFFEESON'S REPORT. MEETING OP THE COMMISSIONERS AT EOCKFISH GAP. Professor Scheie de Vere, of the University of Virginia, in a graphic article entitled " Jefferson's Pet," published originally in Harper's Mag- azine in May, 1872, and now forming the historical introduction to the Semicentennial Catalogue of the Studentaof the University, has given us a picturesque description of the scene of that famous meeting of the commissioners at Eockfish Gap, where the fate of the higher education in Virginia was hung in the balance. " High up in the Blue Ridge," he says, '^ at an elevation from which the eye takes in at a single glance a variety of scenes unequalled on this continent for beauty and loveliness, a little river rises in a dark gorge, to fall gently from terrace to terrace, and after a brief and rapid course, abounding with falls and cascades of infinite attractiveness, to pour its waters into the James River. As the mountains here sink to a lower level, and thus afford one of the passes through which in older days immigrants passed from what is called the Piedmont region of the State to the great Valley of Virginia, the place has received the idio- matic name of Rockflsh Gap. Here, at a modest country inn, unpre- tending in appearance, but offering an abundant and well-served table, far from the turmoil of cities and the excitement of politics, met a party of men remarkable for their ability and virtue amidst a people which had already given four Presidents to the Union, and was well known to possess as much private as public worth. In the low-ceiled, white- washed room, the whole furniture of which consisted of a dining-room table and rude ' split-bottom ' chairs of home make, sat the President of the United States, Mr. Monroe, and two of his predecessors, Mr. Madi- son and Mr. Jefferson, besides a number of judges and eminent states, men. ' Yet,' says one of Mr. Jefferson's biographers, ' it was remarked by the lookers-on that Mr. Jefferson was the principal object of regard both to the members and spectators ; that he seemed to be the chief mover of the body— the soul that animated it; and some who were present, struck by these manifestations of deference, conceived a more exalted 86 EOCKFISH GAP COMMISSION. 87 idea of him on this simple and unpretending occasion than they had ever previously entertained.' " PKOCBEDINGS OP THE COMMISSIONEES. The proceedings and rejjort of the commissioners are printed In full in the Analectic Magazine, Volume XIII, published in Philadelphia, 1819, a magazine to which Dr. Cooper was a contributor. It appears that Jefferson was unanimously elected president of the board. After some discussion, a committee of six, with Mr. Jefferson as chairman, was appointed to report on all the duties assigned to the commission by the Legislature, except that relating to the site. This subject was consid- ered by the entire board. Three places were proposed, Lexington, Staunton, and Central College. All three were acknowledged to be in healthful and fertile districts, but Jefferson is reputed to have made a point in favor of his neighborhood by exhibiting " an imposing list of octogenarians." The question, however, turned mainly upon the relative degree of centrality. And here Jefferson had made his position impreg- nable. He showed the board by diagrams that Central College was well named, for it was not only geographically more central than any other college in Virginia, but it was actually nearest the centre of white population. These calculations were afterward published by Cabell in the Eich- mond Enquirer, December 17, 181 8, There was then some bantering criticism of Jefferson's method of drawing his two transverse lines in such a way that they intersected at Charlottesville. The point of de- parture for his westerly line was the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, which is much nearer the southern than the northern boundary of Vir- ginia; but Jefferson defended that point by saying, "the greatest part of what is north is water." He did not draw his line due west, because the northern boundary of Virginia tended north of northwest. He dis- creetly balanced his geography and followed the line of " equal division of the population." Nor did he draw a north an^ south line of inter- section. He found the Blue Ridge a natural line of cross division, and he sought a parallel course to that for his line of equal division of pop- ulation. Jefferson's ingenious method of calculation is explained in a letter to Cabell, January 1, 1819, in which he took the bold ground, "Run your lines in what direction you please, they will pass close to Charlottesville." Jefferson had no trouble in convincing the commis- sioners at Rockflsh Gap, and, indeed, he was altogether fair in his gen- eral estimate of the geographical situation. A vote was taken, resulting in sixteen for Central College, three for Lexington,^ and two for Staun- ' Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, was at this juncture of affairs in the Legislature a more dangerous rival to Central College than was old William and Mary College, which came into politics a little later, and attempted to advance on Richmond, as elsewhere described in the author's monograph on that venerable college. Washington College had developed from Liberty Hall 88 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. ton. Jefferson's committee was instructed to include this expression of opinion in the report, which was made on the 3d of August, and, after sundry amendments, unanimously adopted. The next day two copies were signed by all the members present and were transmitted, one to the Speaker of the Senate and the other to the Speaker of the House. This report was probably prepared by Jefferson before he came to the. meeting at Eockflsh Gap, for it is an elaborate i>roduction, indicating careful thought. In the words of introductory comment in the Analectic Review, the report "contains many novel suggestions worthy the atten- tion of our seminaries of learning already established." A special^ consideration of some of Jefferson's views will not be out of place in this study of his influence upon education in Virginia. JEPPEESON ON THE OBJECTS OP PRIMARY EDUCATION. Jefferson defined the objects of primary education as follows : " (1) To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transac- tion of his own business ; ^ " (2) To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and pre- serve his ideas, his contracts and accounts, in writing ; " (3) To improve; by reading, his morals and faculties ; " (4) To understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided' to him by either; " (5) To know his rights ; to exercise with order and justice those he retains ; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates ; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor, and judgment; " (6) And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed." For thus instructing the mass of citizens in their rights, interests, and duties, Jefferson maintained that primary schools, whether private Academy, founded in the year 17S2. It had been endowed by George Washington with one hundred shares in the funds of the James River Company, his stock in the Potomac Company having been reserved for the foundation of a national university in Wash- ington City, as described in the Johns Hopkins University Studies, third series, No. 1, pp. 93-5. The trustees of Washington College offered all of their funds, apparatus, books, grounds, etc., together with a subscription of nearly $18,000 by the people of Lexington and vicinity, and a deed of real estate amounting to over 3,350 acres, with all his personal property and fifty-seven slaves, promised by John Robinson, to the di- rectors of the literary fund, provided the university should be established in Lexing- ton or vicinity. Mr. Robinson's proposed deed and gift were, however, subject "to the payment of his debts and fulfilment of his contracts," as Jefferson discreetly re- minded the Legislature. Over against the Lexington offer, which was altogether gen- erous. Central College placed its $41,248 in subscriptions, and $3,280 proceeds from the parish glebes; its grounds embracing 47 acres, "whereon the buildings of the col- lege are begun, one pavilion and its appendix of dormitories being already far ad- vanced, and with one other pavilion, and equal annexation of dormitories, being ex- pected to be completed during the present season ; " and "another parcel of 153 acres near the former, and including a considerable eminence very favorable for the erec- tion of a future observatory." This latter Jeffersonian idea has been realized since the War, by private philanthropy. jeffeeson's repoet. 89 or public, should teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, the elements of mensuration, and th^ outlines of geography and history. These sug gestions were skilfully inserted into the report, in order to remind the Legislature that something remained to be done for the people of Vir- ginia besides providing for the education of poor children. OBJECTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION. Jefferson then proceeded to define the objects of the higher branches of education, and it is safe to say that the relation of universities to good citiisenship and to the practical interests of American life has never been better formulated by any professional educator, much less have these objects been concretely realized by any institution of learning. American colleges and universities will need to advance a long way before they reach the Jeffersonian ideal. He classifies the objects of the higher education as follows : "(1) To form the statesmen, legislators, and judges, on whom public prosperity and individual happiness are so much to depend ; " (2) To expound the principles and structure of government, the laws which regulate the intercourse of nations, those formed municipally for our own government, and a sound spirit of legislation, which, banishing all unnecessary restraint on individual action, shall leave us free to do whatever does, not violate the equal rights of another ; " (3) To harmonize and promote the interests of agriculture, manufact- ures, and commerce, and by well-informed views of political economy to give a free scope to the public industry ; " (4) To develop the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instil into them the precepts of vir- tue and order; "(5) To enlighten them with mathematical and physical sciences, which advance the arts, and administer to the health, the subsistence, and comforts of human life ; " (6) And, generally, to form them to habits of reflection and correct action, rendering them examples of virtue to others, and of happiness within themselves." RELATION OF THE STATE TO SCIENCE. There is so much doubt in the mind of the average American citizen as to the duty of government to foster, science and education of the highest sort, that it is worth while to call attention to the views of Jef- ferson upon this point. If the father of American democracy could entertain such views as these, the sons of the people need have no fears that the functions of the state are abused when directed toward the maintenance of a university or the advancement of science. Jefferson said, in his report to the Virginia Legislature : " Some good men, and even of respectable information, consider the learned sciences as useless acquirements ; some think that they do not better the condition of man ; and others that education, like private and individual concerns, should be left to private individual effort ; not 90 JEFFERSON ATSJ) THE UNIVEESITY OF VIEGINIA. * reflecting that an establishment embracing all the sciences which may be useful and even necessary in the various vocations of life, with the buildings and apparatus belonging to each, are far beyond the reach of individual means, and must either derive existence from public patronage or not exist at all. This would leave us, then, without those callings which depend on education, or send us to other countries to seek the instruction they require. * * * Normustweomitto mentionjj the incalculable advantage of training up able counsellors to administer the affairs of our country in all its departments,— legislative, executive, and judicial, and to bear their proper share in the councils of our Na- tional Government; nothing more than education advancing the pros- perity, the power, and the happiness of a nation." RELATION OF EDUCATION TO MORALS AND RELIftlON. The strongest side of Jefferson's educational philosophy was its bear- ing upon good morals and social progress. " Education," he said, " gen- erates habits of application, of order, and the love of virtue ; and con- trols, by the force of habit, any innate obliquities in our moral organi- zation. We should be far, too, from the discouraging persuasion that man is fixed, by the law of his nature, at a given point; that his im- provement is a chimera, and the hope delusive of rendering ourselves wiser, happier, or better than our forefathers were. As well might it be urged that the wild and uncultivated tree, hitherto yielding sour and bitter fruit only, can never be made to yield better; yet we know that the grafting art implants a new tree on the savage stock, producing what is most estimable both in kind and degree. Education, in like manner, ingrafts a new man on the native stock, and improves what in his nature was vicious and perverse into qualities of virtue and social worth. And it can not be but that each generation, succeeding to the knowledge acquired by iall those who preceded it, adding to it their own acquisitions and discoveries, and handing the mass down for successive and constant accumulation, must advance the knowledge and well-being of mankind, not infinitely, as some have said, but indefinitely, and to a term which no one can fix and foresee. * * * What but education has advanced us beyond the condition of our indigenous neighbors! And what chains them to their present state of barbarism and wretched- ness but a bigoted veneration for the supposed superlative wisdom of their fathers, and the preposterous idea that they are to look backward for better things, and not forward, longing, as it should seem, to return to the days of eating acorns and roots, rather than indulge in the degea- ' eracies of civilization ? " Ethics occupied a prominent place in the plan for university educa- tion which Jefferson proposed to the Legislature. He recognized that under the Constitution of Virginia, which placed all religious sects upon an equal footing, it would be quite impossible to institute any sec- tarian theology. He proposed to place the entire responsibility for re- ligious training upon an ethical basis, where all sects could agree. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.' 91 He said : " The proofs of the being of a God, the creator, preserver, and supreme ruler of the universe, the author of all the relations of morality, and of the laws and obligations these infer, will be within the province of the professor of ethics ; to which adding the develop- ments of these moral obligations, of those in which all sects agree, with a knowledge of the languages, — Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, a basis will be formed common to all sects." Jefferson thought that it was the duty of each sect to provide its own theological teaching in a special school,^ to which students might go for special instruction, as they did to their various denominational churches. An ethical solution of the theological questions, in American universities has been found satisfac- tory in most of our State in^stitutions, which have found themselves ' In a letter to Dr. Cooper, November 2, 1822, Jefferson describes his plan of allow- ing independent schools of theology to be established in the neighborhood of the University. "In our University you know there is no professorship of divinity. A handle has been made of this to disseminate an idea that this is an institution, not merely of no religion, but against all religion. Occasion was taken at the last meet- ing of the visitors to bring forward an idea that might silence this calumny, which weighed on the minds of some honest friends to the institution. In our annual re-- port to the Legislature, after stating the constitutional reasons against a public estab- lishment of any religious instruction, we suggest the expediency of encouraging the different religious sects to establish each for itself a professorship of their own tenets, on the confines of the University, so near as that their students may attend the lect- ures there, and have the free use of our library and every other accommodation we can give them ; preserving, however, their independence of us and of each other. This fills the chasm objected to ours, as a defect in an institution professing to give instruction in all useful sciences. I think the invitation will be accepted by some sects from candid intentions, and by others from jealousy and rivalship. And by bringing the sects together and mixing them with the mass of other students, we shall soften their asperities, liberalize and neutralize their prejudices, and make the general religion a religion of peace, reason, and morality." The idea of a catholic grouping of theological seminaries around the University of Virginia was, of course, Impracticable in a rural neighborhood, and it was never re- alized according to the Jeffersonian ideal. It is, perhaps, capable of an approximate fulfilment under modern conditions of university education in large municipal centres, where students naturally find their religious afiSliations with their own form of church- life, and where connections are easily made which lead to special theological training upon the basis of a liberal education. A practical solution of the question o€ relig- ious services within the university was early found at the University of Virginia by the professors electing a university chaplain from year toyearand from different relig- ious denominations — the Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Methodist, and Baptist. Other universities have come, each in its own way, to some such representative method of religious service. Harvard has its regular university preachers engaged from th^ Uni- tarian, Episcopalian, and Congregationalist denominations. Cornell has an eclectic system, and employs occasional preachers of recognized power and reputation. The Johns Hopkins University, in the city of Baltimore, is able approximately to realize the Jeffersonian ideal, and allow its students to seek such religious associations as family training or natural preference may incline them. It is the " elective system " applied to church-going. City churches give university students free seats ; and uni- versity students have, among themselves, organized Sunday afternoon services, at which city clergymen and university professors speak by special invitation. The idea of religious freedom is working itself out in university life, as it has already in the church and in the state. The exclusion of religion is not desired by any 92 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. under much the same stress of circumstances as did Jefferson amid the sects of Virginia. Moral science, social science, history, and the languages of the Old and New Testaments afford sufficiently solid and neutral foundations for all subsequent specialization in theology. JBPFBESON ON THE MODERN LANGUAGES AND ANGLO-SAXON. «1 While recommending the study of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew in the proposed university, together with his favorite groups of mathemati- cal, physical, scientific, political, legal, and philosophical studies, Jeffer- son takes special pains to urge the cultivation of the modern languages. His reasons for specifying French, Spanish, Italian, and German are in^ teresting, but his early appreciation of the importance of Anglo-Saxon is especially striking, for this study had not yet found a place in America. He says: " French is the language of geueral Intercourse among nations, and as a depository of human science is unsurpassed by any other lan- guage, living or dead. Spanish is highly interesting to us as the lan- guage spoken by so great a portion of the inhabitants Of our continents, with whom we shall probably have great intercourse ere long, and is that also in which is written the greater part of the early history of America. The Italian abounds with works of very superior order, val- uable for their matter, and still more distinguished as models of the finest taste in style and composition. And the German now stands in a line with that of the most learned nations in richness of erudition and advance in the sciences. It is, too, of common descent with the lan- guage of our own country, a branch of the same original Gothic stock, and furnishes valuable illustrations for us. But in this point of view, the Anglo-Saxon ^ is of peculiar value. We have placed it among the modern languages because it is, in fact, that which we speak, in the earliest form in which we have knowledge of it. It has been under- going with time those gradual changes which all languages, ancient and modern, have experienced ; and even now needs only to be printed in the modern character and orthography to be intelligible, in a con- academio community. The introduction of religious liberty is what we need. That is the ideal which Jefferson attempted to realize amid great calumny and misinterpre- tation.* And he, of all men, really solved the problem in the State of Virginia, by his statute for religious liberty, and prepared the way for its solution in. all university education. 'There is an interesting article on "Thomas Jefferson as a Philologist" iutheAmeri- ; can Journal of Philology (Vol. Ill, No. 10, pp. 213-214), by Henry E. Shepherd, president of the College of the City of Charleston. " By reference to pp. 417-418, Vol. VII, of Jefferson's Works, it will be seen," says Professor Shepherd, " that Mr. Jefferson had remarkably clear and accurate views of the invigorating influence which dialects exert upon a language. In other words, Jefferson, writing about forty years before Max Miiller, seemed distinctly to apprehend the process which, in the technical language of modern philosophy, is known as ' dialectic regeneration.' He expresses himself as follows : ' It is much to be wished that the publication of the present county dialects of England should go on. It will restore to us our language in all its shades of variation. It will incorporate into the present one all the riches of our ancient dialects ; and what a store this will be may be seen by running the eye over the county glossaries, and observing the words we have lost by abandonment and PHYSICAL TEAINING. 93 siderable degree, to the English reader. It has this value, too, above the Greek and Latin, that while it gives the radix of the mass of our language, they explain its innovations only. Obvious proofs of this have been presented to the modern reader in the disquisitions of John Home Tooke ; and Fortescue Aland has well explained the great instruction which may be derived from it to a full understanding of our ancient common law, on which, as a stock, our whole system of law is engrafted." Thus, in connection with the idea of historical study of our own English language, Jefferson came to the idea of English historical jurisprudence which he recommended to Dr. Cooper, and the possibilities of which are just dawning upon students of the present generation. BODILY EXEECISB AND MANUAL TRAINING. It is interesting to note in Jefferson's report the suggestion of cer- tain modern ideas of physical, manual, and artistic training now be- coming more and more prominent in our modern systems of education. " We have proposed," he says, " no formal provision for the gymnastics of the school, although a proper object of attention for every institu- tion of youth. These exercises with ancient nations constituted the principal part of the education of their youth. Their arms and mode of warfare rendered 'them severe in the extreme ; ours, on the same cor- rect principle, should be adapted to our arms and warfare ; and the manual exercises, milit^iry manoeuvres, and tactics generally should be the frequent exercises of the ,8tudents in their hours of recreation. It is at that age of aptness, docility, and emulation of the practices of manhood that such things are soonest learned and longest remembered. The use of tools, too, in the manual arts is worthy of encouragement, by facilitating to such as choose it an admission into the neighboring workshops. To these should be added the arts which embellish life — dancing, music, and drawing ; the last more especially as an important part of military education. These innocent arts furnish amusement and happiness to those who, having time on their hands, might less disuse, whioli in sound and sense are inferior to nothing we have retained. When these local vocabularies are published and digested together into a single one, it is probable we shall find that there is, not a word in Shakespeare which is not now in use in some of the counties in England, from whence we may obtain its true sense.' Mr. Jefferson's views in regard to the relations of Anglo-Saxon to English are proba- bly better known to scholars than his opinions upon the points cited above. He held that Anglo-Saxon was 'Old English,' and that it could be turned into intelligible English by simply digesting it of its antique orthography. He has given us some entertaining illustrations of the mode in which this transformation might be effected. His conception of Anglo-Saxon is in one aspect essentially the same as that held by the school of Freeman, Morris, and Sweet in onr own time. The process by which he arrives at his conclusions is of course different from that adopted by scientific philology. Daring the recent visit of Mr. Edward A. Freeman to Baltimore^ I showed him Mr. Jefferson's essay on the Anglo-Saxon, which was published by the board of trustees for the University of Virginia in 1851. He examined it with great interest, and upon returning it remarked: 'Jefferson had the right view. It [Anglo-Saxon] is only Old English.' He further remarked: 'It seems so strange to see Jefferson quoting Bosworth. It is like Washington quoting Stubbs.'" 94 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVEESITT OF VIRGINIA. inoffensively employ it. Needing; at the same time, no regular incor- poration with the institution, they may be left to accessory teachers, who will be paid by the individuals employing them, the university only providing proper apartments for their exercise." Jefferson had somewhat the same ideas of the relation of bodily accomplishments to the higher education as have long prevailed at West Point and in Ger- man universities. In the matter of physical training, American univer- sities have advanced far beyond the Jeffersonian ideal, but there is still great room for improvement in the training of bodily powers to some useful or artistic end, as in drawing and other skilled exercise of the hand and eye. JEFFERSON ON STUDENT SELF-GOVERNMENT. It is very generally known that at the University of Virginia exists a remarkable system of student self-government, by which a high morale and a manly tone of self-reliance have been successfully maintained. In sharp distinction to the old-time method of tutorial supervision and professorial espionage, this system of self-government has devel- oped the most honorable relations between faculty and students. It has established a frank and kindly spirit of co-operation between master and pupil. It has repressed all dishonorable practices of cheating in recitations and examinations, so common under the old reign of terror, and it has promoted a spirit of independence and self-respect. This condition of student society in Virginia is in no small degree the re- sult of the teachings of Jefferson. While his ideal of student self- government was not immediately realized in that lawless period fol- lowing the first introduction of his ideas, yet a wholesome harmony between liberty and law was soon and easily secured. In the light of modern tendenfcies towards constitutional and self-government in American colleges and universities, the following extract from Jeffer- son's report may prove interesting : " The best mode of government for youth in large collections is cer- tainly a desideratum not yet attained with us. It may be well ques- tioned whether fear, after a certain age, is a motive to which we should have ordinary recourse. The human character is susceptible of other incitements to correct conduct more worthy of employ, and of better effect. Pride of character, laudable ambition, and moral dispositions are innate correctives of the indiscretions of that lively age; and when strengthened by habitual appeal and exercise, have a happier effect on future character than the degrading motive of fear. Hardening them to disgrace, to corporal punishments, and servile humiliations can not be the best process for producing erect character. The affectionate de- portment between father and son offers, in truth, the best example for that of tutor and pupil ; and the experience of other countries, in this respect, may be worthy of inquiry and consideration with ns." Jefferson adds, in a foot-note, that " a police exercised by the stu- dents themselves, under proper discretion, has been tried with success STUDENT SELF-GOVERNMENT. 95 in some couutries, and the rather as forming them for initiation into the duties and practices of civil life." This idea of student self-govern- ment, borrowed from academic centres in the old world, where college and university government has always been more democratic than in America, was successfully planted by Jefferson in Virginia, and it is destined to spread throughout the country. It has sprung up, appar- ently by spontaneous generation, in certain of our colleges, and it has long survived as a precious inheritance in certain of our public schools, based upon the best old English models. StTMMAEY OF JEFFERSON'S REPORT. AH of the foregoing special views upon the subject of education Jef- ferson contrived to introduce into the body of his report. Upon the five specific points actually referred to the commissioners for their opin- ion, the following summary statement may be made : (1) Central College was recommended as the proper site of the uni- versity. (2) The plan of building proposed was that of an academical village, with pavilions for- the professors and ranges of dormitories for the stu- dents, the buildings to be arranged on the sides of " a lawn," and. to be connected by " a passage of some kind, under cover from the weather." This Jeffersonian style of university construction has been described in connection with Albemarle Academy and Central College. ■ (3) The branches of learning to be taught were those heretofore rec- ommended by Jefferson, but now arranged in ten homogeneous groups, to be assigned to ten different professorships, as follows : I. Languages, ancient : Acoustics, Latin, Optics, Greek, Astronomy, Hebrew. Geography. n. Languages, modem : V. Physics, or natural philosophy : French, Chemistry, Spanish, Mineralogy. Italian, VI. Botany: German, Zoology. Anglo-Saxon. VII. Anatomy : III. Mathematics, pure : Medicine. Algebra, VIII. Government : Fluxions, Political economy. Geometry, elementary, Law of nature and nations, transcendental, History, being interwoven with poli- Architecture, military. tics and law. naval. IX. Law, municipal. IV. Physico-mathematios : X. Ideology : Mechanics, General grammar, Statics, Ethics, Dynamics, Rhetoric, Pneumatics, Belles-lettres and the fine arts. (4) General legislative provisions were recommended for tuition of students, board, lodging, government, prizes, degrees, etc., details to be left to the board of visitors. CHAPTER VII. ESTABLISHMENT AND BUILDING OF THE UNIVERSITY. 1 Jefferson's report was transmitted to the speaker of the Senate through Cabell, who was the original mover of the Rockfish Gap com- mission. Early in December, as appears from Cabell's letter to his friend, " the report was read and received with great attention iu both the houses. A resolution to print a number of copies passed each house. The ability and value of the report, I am informed, are universally ad- mitted. It was referred in the lower house to a select committee, and the speaker is friendly to the measure. Present prospects are very favorable to a successful issue." OPPOSITION TO THE UNIVERSITY IDEA. But a strong opposition to Jeiferson's project was speedily developed. A bill which he had prepared was reported by the House committee by a bare majority of one, " the casting vote of the chairman." Then be- ' gan the fight. The western members from the Valley of Virginia and the friends of Staunton determined to defeat the university altogether. The Lexington party sought for delay, threw discredit upon Jefferson's calculations as to the centrality of his college, and sought to re enforce 1 their own claims. Delay endangered the bill. Cabell wrote: "The hos- tile interests are daily acquiring new force by intrigue and management. The party opposed altogether to the university is growing so rapidly we have just grounds to fear a total failure of the measure. * * * The friends of William and Mary demand $5,000 per annum as the price of their concurrence, and in the event of a refusal will carry off some votes. I have advised my friends not to enter into any compacts of the kind, and sooner will I lose tiie bill than I will give my assent to it." Members of the Legislature from the region of William and Mary became the most determined opponents of the bill. Cabell, said the better edu- cated part of them, had studied at this institution, and quoted Adam Smith, the Edinburgh lieview, and Dugald Stewart to prove that educa- tion should be left to individual enterprise. Others, more ignorant, maintained that the literary fund was about to be diverted from' its j original object, the education of the poor, and applied for the benefit of the rich. Some liberal and enlightened persons thought Charlottesville too small a place for a university. " They think a town of some size necessary to attract professors, to furnish polished society for the stu- dents, to supply accommodations, to resistthe physical force, and present the means of governing a large number of you-ng men." 96 OPPOSITION TO THE UNIVERSITY. ^ 97 SERVICES OF CABELL. Cabell determiued to break down the general opposition. He went about from man to man, laboring to convert them to his views. He "passed the night in watchful reflection and the day in ceaseless ac- tivity." He published articles in the Eichmond Enquirer calculated to influence public opiuion. Jefferson's proofs of the central situation of the proposed university were published by Cabell and explained to everybody. He even wrote to liberally minded and influential men in the various localities whence the opposition proceeded, and persuaded them to write to their representatives in the Legislature urging a favor- able vote. He actually districted the entire country east of the Blue Eidge, and moved the very ground from beneath the feet of the oppo- sition by an appeal to local good sense. The chief trouble lay with the House of Delegates, which was made up of somewhat Philistine ele- ments; but Cabell, by his skilful tactics, at last won over the majority to his opinion. On the 18th of January, 1819, a motion in the House to strike Central College from the bill was lost by a vote of 114 to 69, "a decisive victory," wrote Cabell. Mr. Baldwin, of Augusta, one of the leaders of the western opposition, then rose and made an eloquent plea for unanimity of action and for the suppression of local prejudice. He said he had supported Staunton as long as there was any hope of suc- cess, but now he implored the House "to sacrifice all sectional feel- ing."i Democracy united in a suddpn rush of good feeling, and Jeffer- son's cause was overwhelmingly won. Cabell was so excited that he had to leave the House before the final vote was taken. He had beep suffering two days before from hemorrhage of the lungs, "brought on by exposure to bad weather and loss of sleep;" but he was now victo- rious; he had fought a good fight and had kept his faith in the people. It was a foregone conclusion that Jefferson's bill would pass the Sen- 'ate, where Cabell was a very influential member. On the 25th of Janu- ary, 1819, the University of Virginia and Central College were legajly united by a vote of twenty-two to one. The seal of the University — " a Minerva enrobed in her peplum and characteristic habiliments as inventress and protectress of the arts" — bears the date of 1819, which should be reckoned as the year of origin, although the institution was not formally opened to students until 1825, SERVICES OP OTHER MEN. Cabell wrote in triumph to Jefferson, December 4, 1819 : " We have got possession of the ground, and it will never be talcenfrom us.^' He said the enlightened part of the people everywhere were in favor of the uni- versity establishment. Such a complete conquest of public opinion was very remarkable, and it could have been gained only by the hearty co- operation of intelligent men in many local centres of influence. In the ' The western delegation was subseqneutly held together in the interest of the uni- versity hy Judge Baldwin, General Breokenridge, and Mr. Johusou. 17036— No. 2 7 98 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. above letter Oabell pays an honest tribute of gratitude to the gentle- men in the various counties who had aided him in the Legislature and among the people. For example, he says : " We are very much indebted to Mr. Taliaferro and Colonel Green for the favorable change in the delegation north of the James Eiver and below tide- water. At Christ- mas, every member from Eichmond to Hampton, except one, was op- posed to us. On the vote, all went with us, except one." Cabell acknowledges also the efficient services of Captain Slaughter, of Cul-' peper; Judge Brooke, Judge Brockenbrpugh, Mr. Stanard, Mr. Eitchie, Mr. Hoomes, of King and Queen ; Dr. Nicholson, of Middlesex ; Mr. iScott, of the Council; Mr. Minor, of Spottsylvania ; Judge Eoane, Colonel Nicholas, William Cabell (the brother of Joseph), Chancellor Taylor, Mr. Pannill, and others. Mr. Francis W. Gilmer did valuable work for Central College through the press. The Rev. John H. Eice, a Presbyterian clergyman in Eichmond, also lent important literary aid. He was the author of an article signed " Crito," the following passage of which is thought to have exercised great influence upon the public mind, through Cabell's frequent use of the facts stated : " Ten years ago," said Mr. Eice, " I made extensive inquiries on the subject, and ascertained to my conviction that the amount of money annually carried from Virginia, for purposes of education alone, ex- ceeded $250,000. Since that period it has been greater. Take a quar- ter of a million as the average of the last eight-and-twenty years, and the amount is the enormous sum of $7,000,000. But had our schools been such as the resources of Virginia would have well allowed, and her honor and interest demanded, it is by no means extravagant to sup- pose that the five States which bind on ours would have sent as many students to us, as under the present wretched system, we have sent to them. This, then, makes another amount of seven millions. Let our economists look to that — fourteen millions of good dollars lost to us by our parsimony! Let our wise men calculate the annual interest of our losses, and add it to this principal ! They will then see what are the fruits of this precious speculation." Such arguments, no doubt extravagant, had their weight in favora- bly balancing the university question iu the scales of public opinion. Although Thomas Jefferson is undoubtedly " the founder of the Univer- sity of Virginia," we should not forget that there were a thousand his- toric forces without which his ideas would have failed of realization.' ' At the Boston meeting, of the American Historical Association in May, 1887, Mr. James Sehouler, aatlior of a remarljable History of the United States, read a paper upon the subject of " Historical Grouping," iu which he advised a study of the minor forces and subordinate characters which enter into great events and the work of great men. Individuals are, indeed, the highest expression of human thought and social : action; but there is always a background of support without which the deeds of a Washington are incomprehensible, and thus it was with Jefferson's university crea- tion. Without the aid of Cabell, it is perfectly clear that Jefferson would have been helpless, and back of Cabell were the Virginia Legislature and Oie common people. ..,, '■I THE UNIVERSITY ESTABLISHED. « 99 SUMMAET OF JEFFERSON'S BILL, 1819. I The act establishing the Univetsity of Virginia in definite form pro- vided for the acceptance by the State of the property of Central College, conveyed to the president and directors of the literary fund, which .was really a board of public instruction. Seven visitors were to be ap- pointed forthwith by the Governor of the State, and they were to have authority to choose a rector from their own number, and to control the general interests of the University. The provisions for instruction were much the same as in Jefferson's report. The various branches of science were to be distributed among ten professorships. Each profes- sor should have apartments free, and those first appointed, such salary as the visitors might determine; their successors, however, a standing salary not exceeding $1,000 a year; but all professors should have such fees from students as the visitors might allow. The visitors were to hold two stated meetings each year, in April and in October; to visit the I^niversity once a year, and to report annually to the president and directors of the literary fund. Such, in general, was the legal basis of the University of Virginia. It was generally understood that the re- port of the Eockfish Gap commission was to be the accepted platform of the university party. That "plan," said Jefferson, in 1821, "was ex- actly that now carried into execution." The significance of previous inquiries into the details of that report is now, therefore, clearly appar- ent, for we have already seen on paper the whole substructure and the detailed plans of the University of Virginia. ^ JEFFERSON THE FIRST RECTOR. The visitors appointed for the University of Virginia comprised four members of the old board representing Central College, namely : Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Joseph C. Cabell, and John H. Cocke. The new appointees were James Breckenridgfe, Chapman Johnson, and Robert Taylor. They met March 29, 1819, and chose Thomas Jefferson to be their rector, as he had been of the former board. Henceforth, until his death in 1826, Jefferson was the directing and shaping power in the upbuilding of the University of Virginia. Prom his original and sovereign interest in university education, and from his residence ii. immediate proximity to the University, the other visitors were well con- tent to leave to him practically the entire management of affairs. Never was an institution more completely the materialization of one man's thought than is the University of Virginia. Not only did he evolve the entire system of education there introduced, but he actually devised every feature of construction and administration. He drew plans, made estimates and contracts, busied himself about bricks and moiftar, and superintended the whole process of building. BUILDING POLICY. ' The gradual rise of the University of Virginia can be best reviewed in the proceedings and annual reports of the board of visitors, and in 100 JEfFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIEGINIA. Jefferson's correspondence with Oabell and other personal friends. The original visitors of Central College were empowered by Jefferson's bill to continue their functions until the first meeting of their successors. This gave a fine opportunity " of expediting the objects of said institu- tion." The old board met for the lasttime February 26, 1819, and voted to apply all available funds toward the erection pf additional buildings for the accommodation of professors and students. It was Jefferson's policy, from the beginning, to push forward the material construction of the University ; to make it an accomplishedifact) and thus an influence in appealing to the public imagination and to legis- lative support. It was perhaps a necessary policy in the early history of the University, before its pre-eminence over rivals and its superiority to all opposition was fully established. There was absolutely nothing in the neighborhood of Charlottesville to attract either professors or students. Jefferson was compelled, by the necessities of the situation, to create something visible and impressive which should compel admira- tion, Jefferson defined his building policy in a letter to Cabell, Decem- ber 28, 1822, in which it appears that he regarded a good material basis for the University as necessary to its intellectual superstructure. Jef- ferson said : " The great object of our aim from the beginning has been to make the establishment the most eminent in the United States, in order to draw to it the youth of every State, but especially of the South and West. We have proposed, therefore, to call to it characters of the first order of science from Europe, as well as our own country, and not only by the salaries and the comforts of their situation, but by the dis- tinguished scale of its structure and preparation, and the promise of future eminence which these would hold up, to induce them to commit their reputation to its future fortunes. Mad we built a barn for a college and log huts for accommodations, should we ever have had the assurance to propose to an European professor of that character to come to it ?" Cabell also was thoroughly convinced of the soundness of the build- ing policy of the University. Even the enemies of the institution acknowledged that Jefferson's course was wise. President Smith, of William and Mary College, and Judge Semple, of Williamsburg, said that " Virginians would never be pleased with anything on a small scale." The judge confessed to Cabell that an influential politician from Charles City had been won over to the University by a mere visit of Inspection, which impressed him with " the extent and splendor of the establishment." Undoubtedly Jefferson's building policy served an excellent purpose, politically and educationally, but candid students of the history of the University must admit that he carried his architect- ural crotchets rather too far for the best economy of slender educational resources. akohiteotural oharaoter op the university. Jefferson early conceived the ingenious idea that college buildings should afford perpetual object lessons to students in the right principles ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER OF THE UNIVERSITY. 101 of architecture. This idea, excellent in itself, was difficult for Jefferson to realize according to his classic ideals, for, unlike Pericles, he could not fully command the public treasury. It is interesting, historically, t6 note the beginning of Jefferson's architectural project. In the proceed- ings of the visitors of Central College, July 28, 1817, it is agreed " that it is expedient to import a stone-cutter from Italy, and that Mr. Jeffer- son be authorized and requested to take the requisite measures to effect that object." The intention was to have chiselled capitals for the col- umns of the pavilions, or professors' houses, and to make their porticos illustrate Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders of architecture. Two "Italian artists" were accordingly imported, and they proceeded to chisel the stone of Virginia into classic forms. At the second meeting of the visitors of the University in 1819, it was voted " that as the stone in the neighborhood of the University is found not capable of being wrought into capitals for the columns of some of the pavilions, and it may be necessary to procure elsewhere proper stone or marble, and to have such capitals executed here or elsewhere, the proctor be au- thorized to take such measures relative thereto," etc. The proctor was the business agent of the University and Jefferson's right-hand man. The above resolution prepared the way for having the capitals cut in Italy, from excellent marble, and imported, like the original master workman, or " our artist," with whom Jefferson settled for $1,390.56, including " his past wages, his board, and passage hither." The seven- teen capitals cost by contract but a trifle over $2,000, and no one who has ever visited the University of Virginia will feel disposed to find fault with Mr. Jefferson for indulging in these inexpensive architectu- ral luxuries, which are among the most charming features of that origi- nal creation. PAVILIONS COMPLETED. In the third annual report, 18U1, to the president and directors of the literary fund, Jefferson stated that " the visitors, considering as the law of their duty the report of the commissioners of 1818, which was made to the Legislature, and acted on by them from time to time sub- sequently, have completed all the buildings proposed by that report, except one; that is to say, ten distinct houses or pavilions containing each a lecturing room, with generally four other apartments for the ac- commodation of a professor and his family, and with a garden and the requisite family offices; six hotels for dieting the students, with a single room in each for a refectory, and two rooms, a garden, and offices for the tenant ; and an hundred and nine dormitories, sufficient each for the accommodation of two students, arranged in four distinct rows between the pavilions and hotels, and united with them by covered ways; which buildings are all in readiness for occupation, except that there is still some plastering to be done, now on hand, which will be finished early in the present season, the garden grounds and garden walls to be com- pleted, and some columns awaiting their capitals, not yet received from 102 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVEKSITY OF VIRGINIA. Italy." Here is the picture of an academical village, taking form am comeliness according to original designs first conceived by Jefferson fo Albemarle Academy. COSr OF THE PAVILIONS. According to Jefferson's third annual report, 1821, the ten paviliom for the professors cost something over $86,000. The one hundred auc nine dormitories for the students required an outlay of about $65,000 The six "hotels," or boarding-houses, were estimated at $24,000, For back yards and gardens $1,500 were allowed. The entire expendi ture proposed for buildings, lands, labor, etc., was reckoned at some- thing over $207,000. The final cost^ proved much more than that amount. The library building, with its dome, proved very expensive. Jefferson continued to report progress from year to year until 1825, when the University was opened to students. He early declared in favor of prudent delay in organizing instruction. He said in his.fourth report, 1822 : "The visitors, from the beginning, have considered it in- dispensable to complete all the buildings before opening the institution; because, from the moment that it shall be opened, the whole income of the University will be absorbed by the salaries of the professors and other incidental and current expenses, and nothing will remain to erect any buildings still wantmg to complete the system." JEFFERSON'S FINANCIAL POLICY. One of the most extraordinary features of Jefferson's management of the University was his financial policy. To begin with, he had persuaded the Legislature to adopt Central College, with its modest fortune of $41,000, chiefly in unpaid subscriptions, and with its three thousand and odd dollars arising from the sale of glebe lands. In 1821, as appears from Jefferson's own report, only about $25,000 of the above subscrip- tion money had been collected. The balance was for the most part deemed good, but it appears to have come in slowly and to have suf- fered ^ome losses from theremovalorinsolvency of certain subscribers. In 1823 Jefferson estimated the probable loss at 6 per cent, of the $43,808 up to that time subscribed. But he more than made up for any such trifling disappointment by securing money from the Legislature. The annual appropriation originally made to the University from the income of the literary fund was only $15,000 a year. Of course it was impossible to build^ organize, and equip a real university upon such meagre resources. But Jefferson and Cabell were good politicians. They took what they could get, and then asked for more. Jefferson's financial policy in dealing with the Legislature of Virginia was some- thing like the camel's method of entering an Arab's tent, or like a wood- man's method of splitting a log. To follow one's nose, or to drive a 1 NileB's Eegister for March 4, 1826, estimates the total cost at about $400,000. q Jefferson's financial policy. 103 wedge is a very simple procedure, but it sometimes requires discre- tion. Jefferson had it. The entire income of the literary fund was about $60,000 a year. Of this amount $45,000 annually was appro- priated for the education of poor children. This sum was not entirely exhausted by the demands of local commissioners, and Jefferson asked for the surplus. Through Cabell he tried again to establish common schools upon a self-supporting basis, and to liberate the entire fund. Failing in this excellent project, he did the next best thing. He bor- rowed the fund ; that is, as much as he could obtain on legislative au- thority at one time, and pledged the annual appropriation of $15,000 for payment. The first loan amounted to $60,000. When this was exhausted, Jefferson asked the Legislature for another loan. This process was repeated until he had borrowed from the literary fund $180,000. There was, of course, but one end to all this, and that was legislative relief for the university debt. Cabell supported Jefferson's financial policy in the strongest way. As early as December 23, 1822, he wrote to Jefferson : "Let us have nothing to do with the old bal. ances, or dead horses, or escheated lands, but ask boldly to be exon- erated from our debts by the powerful sinking fund of the State. This is manly and dignified legislation ; and if we fail, the blame will not be ours." Jefferson's financial policy is illustrated in the following naive state- ment to the managers of the literary fund, in his fifth annual report, 1823 : " The several sums advanced' from the literary fund as loans, when the balance of the last shall have been received, will amount to $180,000, bearing a present interest of $10,800. This, with the cost and neces- sary care and preservation of the establishment, will leave, of the an- nual endowment of the University, a surplus of between two and three thousand dollars ouly. As before mentioned, this loan of $180,000 will be extinguished by an annual payment of a constant sum of $2,500, at theend of twenty-five years — a term too distant for the education of any person already born, or to be born for some time to come, and within that period a great expense will be incurred in the mere preserva- tion of the buildings and appurtenances. These are views which it is the duty of the visitors to present, and to leave to the wisdom and pa- ternal consideration of the Legislature, to whose care are confided the instruction and other interests of the present, as well as of future gener- ations proceeding from us." THE UNIVERSITY FEEED FEOM DEBT. On the 27th of January, 1824, the Legislature voted to liberate the annual appropriation to the University from the incumbrances with which it was charged. This generous action, which the State could well afford from the surplus accruing to the literary fund from the United States Government and other sources, left immediately availa- ble, after all university debts had been paid, $21,000 toward the com- 104 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. pletion of the library or central academic building, upon which nearly $20,000 had already been expended. It left the annuity of $15,000 for the year 1824 altogether clear for current expenses and the salaries of professors, for whose engagement Jefferson had that year sent to Eu- rope Mr. Francis W. Gilmer, " a learned and trustworthy citizen." Jefferson's financial policy was grossly misrepresented the last year of his life by a contributor to the Eichmond Enquirer, February 4, 1826, who called himself an "American Citizen." He professed to have paid a visit to Jefferson at Monticello, and to have had a familiar talk with him about his method of obtaining money from the Legislature. Being asked why he had not asked for a lump sum, Jefferson is reported to have said jocosely, that no one liJced to have more than one hot potato at a time cratrlmed down his throat. This story naturally offended the politicians and seriously injured the pecuniary prospects of the Uni- versity. Jefferson was highly indignant at the gossip, and repudiated the insinuations made by the tattling correspondent. Jefferson wrote to Oabell, February 7, 1826: "He makes me declare that I have inten- tionally proceeded in a course of dupery of our Legislature, teasing them, as he makes me say, for six or seven sessions for successive aids to the University, and asking a part only at a time, and intentionally concealing the ultimate cost, and gives an inexact statement of a story of Obrian. Now, our annual reports will shew that we constantly gave full and candid accounts of the money expended, and statements of what might still be wanting, founded on the proctor's estimates. STo man ever heard me speak of the grants of the Legislature but with acknowledgments of their liberality, which I have always declared had gone far beyond what I could have expected in the beginning. Yet the letter- writer has given to my expressions an aspect disrespectful of the Legislature, and calculated tO give them offence, which I do ab- solutely disavow." But it was impossible to counteract the impression made by that an- cient political anecdote, in which there was just enough truth to put Jefferson in an unfavorable light before the public' And yet his de- fence was perfectly sound. No man ever approached a Legislature in a mor(^ frank and manly way, stating fairly and fully what he had done and what he wanted to do. He even acknowledged the mistakes be had made in importing Italian sculptors and in engaging Dr. Cooper before the University was able to pay his salary. In reading his annual re- ports to the president and directors of the literary fund, one can not fail to be astonished at the minuteness of detail and the completeness of statement with reference to the use made of every appropriation for the University. His method of modest and repeated applications to 1 Contemporary public opinion oonoerniug Jefferson's undertaking is well illustrated in the following extract from the Richmond Whig, quoted in Niles's Register, Mareh 4, 1826: "Much of the popularity which the institution might and ought to have en- joyed hasheen frittered away by incessant demands for pecuniary aid, anti-republican and meretricious ornament, and injudicious selections of professors." jeffeeson's financial policy. 105 the Legislature was the only practicable way of building up a great State university from small beginnings at that period, when 'public opinion was unfavorable to higher educational enterimse. Sooner or later all the friends of public education will learn that a frank and hon- est appeal to the public through the Legislature, or to representatives of the people, is quite as honorable business as begging money from pri- vate individuals for institutions of learning. Both methods will endure, and both are equally legitimate; but the era of democratic support of university education has dawned in many States, and it will not de- cline before individual or sectarian endowments, however generous. Institutions like the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan are destined to live and to grow from more to more. CHAPTER VIII. THE FIEST PROPBSSOES. DR. KNOX, OP BALTIMORE. The first professor for the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, .was obtained from the University of Virginia, and the first professor for Jefferson's original institution was sought in Baltimore. On the 28th of July, 1817, the visitors of Central College agreed "that applica- tion be made to Dr. Knox,i of Baltimore, to accept the profes8orshij| of languages, belles-lettres, rhetoric, history, and geography; and that an independent salary of $S00, with a perquisite of $25 from each pupil, together with chambers for his accommodation, be allowed him as a compensation for his services, he finding the necessary assistant ushers." Here was theoretical provision for an entire faculty, if Dr. Knox had been willing to exercise the appointing power, pay his own faculty, and teach all, the humanities for $500 a year. We are not much sui'prised to learn from a letter of Jefferson's to Cabell, Septem- ber 10, 1817, that " Dr. Knox has retired from business, and I have written to Cooper." DR. THOMAS COOPER. On the 7th of October the visitors rescinded their original appoint- ment and resolved to offer the first professorship to Dr. Thomas Cooper, of Pennsylvania, from whom Jefferson had received an encouraging letter. Cooper was elected to the chair of chemistry, to which wa§ added provisionally the chair of law, with a fixed salary of $l,Oi>0 a year and tuition fees of $20 from each of his students. If Dr. Cooper accepted, it was resolved to appoint a professor of mathematics. Writ- ing to Cabell, December 18, 1817, Jefferson speaks of " a letter I have just received from Dr. Cooper, engaging himself for our physiological and law schools." At the first meeting of the visitors of the University, March 29, 1819, Dr. Cooper, " heretofore appointed professor of chemistry and of law for the Central College, "was confirmed university professor of chemis- try, mineralogy, natural philosophy, and also of law, until the develop- ment of the institution and the increase of students should justify a sep- arate appointment to the latter chair. As we have already seen in Jef- ferson's correspondence with Cooper, the latter was an accomplished lawyer, as well as one of the ablest men of his time ia p hysical science. 'In Niles's Kegister, September 28, 1823, may be found a letter on "Improvement in Public Education," by Samuel Knox, 31 East Street, Baltimore. 106 PROFESSOR THOMAS COOPER. 107 In view of the extraordinary amount of work which the iirst professor was to undertake, it was voted that, in addition to his regular salary of $1,500, he should receive such an extra allowance as would make his income, including tuition fees, not less than $3,500 a year. The Uni- versity agreed to take his apparatus at. cost, and 2,500 specimens from his mineralogical collection. Dr. Cooper was in position to dictate his own terms, for at this juncture his services were demanded in New York by Governor Clinton, also in Philadelphia, and at the same time in New Orleans. Jefferson said enthusiastically of his first professor : " Cooper is acknowledged by every enlightened man who knows him to be the greatest man in America in the powers of his mind and in acquired information, and that without a single exception.'" OPPOSITION TO DB. COOPER. This first appointment to the faculty created a decided opposition on the part of many real friends of the University. Cooper's religious views proved for him a stumbling-block. He was known to have been obnox- ious to the prevailing religious sentiment of England, and partly for that reason to have sought refuge in America. Prejudice and suspicion were naturally arous^ed against him in orthodox and conservative Virginia. Cooper had supplied an arsenal of attack upon his philosophical and religious opinions by editing and annotating the writings of his father- in-law, Dr. Priestley. Dr. John Kice,' the editor of a religious magazine which was published in Eichmond, and one of the original promoters of the University, led the crusade against Cooper in a critical article based upon extracts from Cooper's own writings, which, in the judgment of many, were sufflcient to condemn him. The clergy of Virginia could not be oblivious to the danger of iqtroducing among Virginia youth a propagandist of new and strange doctrines, as Cooper's views appeared to the men of his generation. Bo much pressure was exerted upon public opinion, and through it upon Cooper himself, that he felt con- strained to offer his resignation, which, after honorable treatment by the board of visitors, was finally accepted in 1820. From an economic point of view this arrangement was altogether wise, for the University needed every dollar for building purposes, and was not ready for stu- dents until five years after this unfortunate affair. JEFFERSON ON THE LOSS OF DR; COOPER. The loss of Dr. Cooper, the first appointed professor of the Univer- sity of Virginia, was a heavy blow to i,ts founder, and moved him to re- ' Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell, 169. Interesting references to Cooper occur also on pp. 164, 165, 167, 169, 172, 178, 234, 235, 397-399, 454, 458, and 469. ^A strong defence of Dr. Rice and of the Presbyterian party which, under his leader, ship, opposed the appointment of Dr. Cooper, may be found in the Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell, pp. 234, 235, notes. The spirit of the age is perhaps explana- tion enough. The Presbyterians were among the dissenters who made a State uni- versity possible in distinction from William and Mary College, which was Episcopa" lian, but they were not prepared for such extremes of dissent as were represented by Dr. Cooper. 108 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. peatedi expressions of indignation in private letters to his friends. In a letter to General Taylor, May 16, 1820, Jefferson said : " You may have heard of the hue and cry raised from the different pulpits on our appointment of Dr. Cooper, whom they charge with Unitaiianism as boldly as if they knew the fact, and as presumptuously as if it were a crime, and one for which, lil^e Servetus, he should be burned ; and perhaps you may have seen the particular attack made on him in the Evangelical Magazine. For myself, I was not disposed to regard the denunciations of these satellites of religious inquisition; but our colleagues, better judges of popular feeling, thought that they were not to be altogether neglected, and that it might be better to re- lieve Dr. Cooper, ourselves, and the institution from this crusade. I had received a letter from him expressing his uneasiness, not only for himself, but lest this persecution should become embarrassing to the visitors and injurious to the institution, with auofl'er to resign if we had the same apprehensions. The visitors, therefore, desired the committee of superintendence to place him at freedom on this subject, and to ar- range with him a suitable indemniflcation. I wrote accordingly, in an- swer to his, and a meeting of trustees of the college at Columbia [S. C] happening to take place soon after his receipt of my letter, they re- solved unanimously that it should be proposed to, and urged ou, their Legislature to establish a professorship of geology and mineralogy, or a professorship of law, with a salary of $1,000 a year to be given him, iu addition to that of chemistry, which is $2,000 a year and to purchase his collection of minerals ; and they have no doubt of the Legislature's com- pliance. On the subject of indemnification, he is contented with the balance of the $1,500 we had before agreed to give him, and which he says will not more than cover his actual losses of time and expense. He adds: 'It" is right I should acknowledge the liberality of your board with thanks. I regret the storm that has been raised on my account, for it has separated me from many fond hopes and wishes. Whatever my religious creed may be, and perhaps I do not exactly know it my- self, it is pleasure to reflect that my conduct has not brought, and is not likely to bring, discredit to my friends. Wherever I have been, it has been my good fortune to meet with or to make ardent and affec- tionate friends. 1 feel persuaded I should have met with the same lot in Virginia had it been my chance to have settled there, as I had hoped and expected, for I think my course of conduct is sufficiently habitual to count on its effects.' " "I do sincerely lament," continues Jefferson, "that untoward circum- stances have brought on us the irreparable loss of this professor, whom I have looked to as the corner-stone of our edifice. I know no one who could have aided us so much in forming the future regulations for our infant institution; and although we may perhaps obtain from Europe equivalents in science, they can never replace the advantages of his ex- 'An earlier and more indigaaut letter ia that to William Sliort, April 13 1820. LOSS OF PROFESSOR COOPER. 109 perieuce, his knowledge of the character, habits, and manners of our country, his identification with its sentiments and principles, and high reputation he has obtained in it generally." DR. COOPER GOBS TO SOUTH CAROLINA. Jefferson's good-will followed Dr. Cooper to his new professorship in South Carolina College, at Columbia, whither, in 1820, Jefferson sent his grandson, Eppes, and another young Virginian for collegiate educa- tion, the University of Virginia being not yet open to students. Jeffer- son wrote to Cooper that the institution at Columbia was now "of im- mediate interest to me," and that he had proposed to send his grandson "to Columbia, rather than anywhere northwardly." At Columbia, S. C, Cooper taught natural science, politics, and economics. He be- came an exponent of free-trade doctrines, and was the academic repre- sentative and supporter of the economic views of Calhoun. He was one of the greatest and most influential teachers in the entire South. Dr. Cooper, at Columbia, and Professor Dew, at William and Mary College, were the scientific advocates of the two leading ideas in Southern poli- tics. Cooper attacked the tariff, or protection. Dew defended slavery. A study of the writings of these two men will show the influences which shaped the political opinions of Southern statesmen. The laws of South Carolina were edited by Dr. Cooper, and his influence upon legislation in that State resembles that of Jefferson in Virginia. He was a bold and aggressive character, with warm friends and bitter enemies. He provoked considerable opposition by reason of his outspoken religious views, which were not altogether in harmony with those of the society in which he lived. The man walked rough-shod over other men's opin- ions, and suffered the inevitable consequences. His relation to his as- sociates in South Carolina College is described at length, and with some feeling, in LaBorde's history of that institution, where he was succeeded in 1835 by Francis Lieber. JEFFERSON ON THE QUALLPICATIONS OF PROFESSORS. With regard to the qualifications of professors, Jefferson was from the first determined to have the best. His acquaintance with European men of learning and distinction, his correspondence with the faculty of Geneva, and with distinguished men like Dr. Priestlej^ Dr. Cooper, and M. Dupont de Nemours, had inspired him with a high ideal of professo- rial excellence. Upon this scientific foundation he proposed that the University of Virginia should be erected. He wrote to Cabell upon this point, February 23, 1824: "You know that we have all, from the begin- ning, considered the high qualifications of our professors as the only means by which we could give to our institution splendor and pre- eminence over all its sister seminaries. The only question, therefore^ we can ever ask ourselves, as to any candidate, will be, is he the most highly qualified ? The college of Philadelphia has lost its character of 110 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. primacy by indulging motives of favoritism and nepotism, and by con- ferring the appointments as if the professorships were entrusted to them as provisions for their friends. And even that of Edinburgh, you know, is also much lowered from the same cause. We are next to observe that a man is not qualified for a professor, knowing nothing but merely his own profession. He should be otherwise well educated as to the sci- ences generally ; able to converse understandingly with the scientific men with whom he is associated, and to assist in the councils of the fac- ulty on any subject of science on which they may have occasion to delib- erate. Without this, he will incur their contempt and bring disreputa- tion on the institution." IDEA OF EUROPEAN PROFESSORS FOR 'JHE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, There was at least one substantial result of Jefferson's correspond- ence upon university matters with men like Cooper, Pictet, Dupont de Nemours, Destutt Tracy, and other men of European training or celeb- rity. He determined to secure a faculty of distinguished men, who should represent the best science and academical experience of the old world. Thomas Cooper, the Englishman, educated at Oxford and rep- resenting natural science and historical jurisprudence, was practically Jefferson's first choice as early as 1817. That same year he was en- deavoring to persuade Jean Baptiste Say to come to the neighborhood of Charlottesville. The following year correspondence with Cabell in- dicates that the latter was the first special agent selected by Jefferson to go to Europe and engage professors for Central College. As we have seen, Cabell had himself studied at European universities, and it was his European culture which first attracted the friendly notice of Jefferson, and made Cabell the representative of the university idea in the Virginia Legislature. Personal and political interests compelled Cabell to remain in this country, and Francis W. Gilmer,^ "a learned 1 Francis W. Gilmer had early been interested in the subject of higher education, and at one time had seriously thought of becoming a professor in WlJliam and Mary College, but was dissuaded by the advice of Mr. Jefferson. The following letter is not without interest as illustrating Gilmer's relations with the founder of the Univer- sity of Virginia : " MONTICELLO, Api-il 10, 1818. " Dear Sir : I thank you for the letter of Mr. Tioknor, which I have thought myself justified in communicating to his friends here on account of the pleasure it would give them, and that, I am sure, will give you pleasure. I trust you did not for a moment seriously think of shutting yourself behind tlie door of William and Mary College. A more complete cul de sao could not be proposed to you. No, dear sir, you are intended to do good to our country, and you must get into the Legislature, for never did it more need the aid of all its talents, nor more peculiarly need them than at the next session. For although the prospect of our University is so far good, yet all is to go again to the Legislature, and who can tell who they will be, and what they will do? The visitors of our college meet next on the 11th of May ; Correa and Cooper will then probably be here. Make you the third, and be assured of the pl^snre it will give to them and to "Yours, affectionately, "Th. Jefferson. "Francis W. Gilmer, Esq." EUROPEAN PROFESSORS. Ill aud trustworthy citizen," who had supported the Uuiversity by his pen, was sent abroad by Jefferson upon the professorial errand. We can follow Gilmer in Jefferson's correspondence with friends in England, Eichard Eush and Maj. John Oartwright. A letter to the first of these scholars is so interesting and instructive as to Jefferson's ideas of university appointments— the crucial test of all academic ad- ministration — that the text is given in full : JEFFERSON'S LETTER TO RICHARD RUSH. " MoNTiCELLO, April 26, 1824. " Dear Sir : I have heretofore informed you that our liegislature had undertaken the establishment of an University in Yirginia; that it was placed in my neighborhood, and under the direction of a board of seven visitors, of whom I am one, Mr. Madison another, and others equally worthy of confidence. We have been four or five years engaged in erect iug our buildings, all of which are now ready to receive their tenants, one excepted, which the present season will put into a state for use. The last session of our Legislature had by new donations liberated the rev- enue of $15,000 a year, with which they had before endowed the insti- tution, and we propose to open it the beginning of the next year. We require the in rervening time for seeking out and engaging professors. As to these, we have determined to receive no one who is riot of the first order of science in his line, and as such in every branch can not be ob- tained with us, we propose to seek some of them at least in the countries ahead of us in science, and preferably in Great Britain, the laud of oni own language, habits,^ and manners. But how to find out those who are of the first grade of science, of sober, correct habits and morals, harmo- nizing tempers, talents for communication, is the difficulty. Our first step is to send a special agent to the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh, to make the selection for us, and the person appointed for this office is the gentleman who will hand you this letter, Mr. Francis Walker Gilmer, the best-educated subject we have raised since the Eev- olution, highly qualified in all the important branches of science, profess- ing particularly that of the law, which he has practised some years at our Supreme Court with good success and flattering prospects. His morals, his amiable temper, and discretion will do justice to any confidence you may be willing to place in him, for I commit him to you as his mentor and auide in the business he goes on. We do not certainly expect to obtain duch known characters as were the Cullens, the Eobertsons, and Porsons, of Great Britain, men of the first eminence, established there in reputa- tion and office, and with emoluments not to be bettered anywhere. But we know that there is another race treading on their heels, preparing to take their places, and as well, and sometimes better, qualified to fill them. These, while unsettled, surrounded by a crowd of competitors of equal claims and perhaps superior credit and interest, may prefer a comfortable certainty here for an uncertain hope there, and a lingering 112 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. delay even of that. From this description we expect we m ay draw profess- ors equal to those of the highest name. The difficulty is to distinguish them ; for we are told that so overcharged are all branches of business in that country, and such the difficulty of getting the means of living, that it is deemed allowable in ethics for even the most honorable minds to give highly exaggerated recommendations and certificates to enable a friend or ;protSgS to get into a livelihood, and that the moment our agent should be known to be on such a mission he would be overwhelmed by applications from numerous pretenders, all of whom, worthy or unwor- thy, would be supported by such recommendations and such names as would confound all discrimination. On this head our trust and hope is in you. Your kuowledge of the state of things, your means of finding out a character or two at each place truly trustworthy and into whose hands you can commit our agent with entire safety for information, caution, and co-operatiou, induces me to request your patronage and aid in our endeavors to obtain such men, and such only, as will fulfil our views. An unlucky selection in the outset would forever blast our prospects. From our information of the character of the different uni versities, we expect we should go to Oxford for our classical professors, tb Cambridge for those of mathematics, natural philosophy, and natural history, and to Edinburgh for a professor of anatomy, and the ele- ments or outlines only of medicine. We have still our eye on Mr. Blaet- terman for the professorship of modern languages, and Mr. Gilmer is instructed to engage him if no very material objection to him may have arisen unknown to us. We can place in Mr. Gilmer's hands but a moder- ate sum at present for merely text-books to begin with, and for indis- pensable articles of apparatus, mathematical, astronomical, physical, chemical, and anatomical. We are in the hope of a sum of $50,000 as soon as we can get a settlement passed through the public offices.^ My experience in dealing with the bookseller Lackiugton, on your recom- mendation, has induced me to recommend him to Mr. Gilmer, and if we can engage his fidelity, we may put into his hands the larger supply of books when we are ready to call for it, and particularly what we shall propose to seek In England. "Although I have troubled you with many particulars, I yet leave abundance for verbal explanation with Mr. Gilmer, who possesses a full knowledge of everything, and our full confidence in everything. He ' Jefferson hoped to get this extra snm of $50,000 from Congress in payment of the interest on tlie debt to the State of Virginia for expenditures during the war of 1H12. The principal of the debt had been for the most part paid, but this was a claim for interest paid by the State of Virginia to the local banks which advanced the money. The whole matter is explained in a letter from Cabell to Jaraes Monroe, then Presi- dent of the United States, April 2, 1824. (See Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell, pp. 488-499. ) Abou t that time the Legislature of Virginia "appropriated, for the pur- pose of procuring the requisite library and apparatus for the University of the State, the sum of |50,000, to be paid oiit of the ttrst moneys which might be received from the General Government in further discharge of the debt still due to the Common- wealth." (Compare also Jefferson's letter to Cabell, January 11, 1825.) JEFFERSON TO CARTWRIGHT. 113 takes with him plans of our establish meat, which we think it may be encouraging to show to the persons to whom he will make propositions, as well to let them see the comforts provided for themselves as to show, by the extensiveness and expense of the scale, that it is no ephemeral thing to which they are invited. " With my earnest solicitations that you will give us all your aid in an undertaking on which we rest the hopes and happiness of oar coun- try, accept the assurances of my sincere friendship, attachment, and respect." LETTER TO MAJOR JOHN CARTWRIGHT. The following extract is from a letter to Maj. John Oartwright, June 5, 1824, in acknowledgment of his work on the English Constitution, deducing " the English nation from its rightful root, the Anglo-Saxon." After a most remarkable tribute to early English institutions, Jeffer- son adverts to the University of Virginia and Gilmer's professorial miis- sion. He expresses his " acknowledgments for your good wishes to the University we are now establishing in this State. There are some novelties in it. Of that of a professorship of the principles of govern- ment, yon express your approbation. They will be founded in the rights of man. That of agriculture, I am sure, you will approve; and that also of Anglo-Saxon. As the histories and laws left us in that type and dialect must be the text-books of the reading of the learners, they will imbibe with the language their free principles of government. The volumes you have been so kind as to send, shall be placed in the library of the University. Saving at this time in England a person sent for the purpose of selecting some professors, a Mr. Gilmer of my neighbor- hood, I can not but recommend him to your patronage, counsel, and guardianship against imposition, misinformation, and the deceptions of partial and false recommendations in the selection of characters. He is a gentleman of great worth and correctness, my particular friend, well educated in various branches of science, and worthy of entire confidence. " Tour age of eighty-four and mine of eighty-one years, insure us a speedy meeting. We may then commune at leisure, and more fully, on the good and evil which, in the course of our long lives, we have both witnessed ; and in the mean time, I pray you to accept assurances of my high veneration and esteem for your person and character." This letter from the Sage of Monticello, looking backward with his- toric appreciation to the Saxon sources of the great modern stream of liberty and self-government then flowing through Virginia, and looking forward with perfect calm to higher ranges of philosophic contempla- tion, is one of the most noteworthy in Jefferson's later correspond- ence, rich as it all is in suggestive thought. To see him turning to a sage of the old world for counsel and guidance in the manning of "our University, the last of my mortal cares, and the last service I can ren- der my country," ' is a nobler spectacle than the Homeric picture of 1 Extract from a letter to A.hh6 Correa. Jefferson's Works, VII, 183. 17036— No. 2 8 114 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. ? old men conversing together upon the walls of Troy ; and yet it is butj one of ten thousand subjects for the poet of modern democracy. GBEMAW ANl) ENGLISH PROFESSORS. Agreeably to the wishes of Jefferson, the first faculty of the Univer- sity of Virginia was largely selected from younger professorial talent in England. His practical reasons for preferring English to Continental sources of supply are highly creditable to Jefferson's good judgmeBl,, At one time he had thought of importing bodily into this country a French faculty from the College of Geneva. Although no Anglo-mg niac, Jefferson recognized that kinship of ideas, English antecedents, habits, and manners, and, above all, a good knowledge of the Englisl language were important considerations. For German and Romance, iAi course, German and French professors were requisite. As intimated in Jefferson's letter to Eichard Eush, Mr.Blaettermann had been recom mended for the modern languages, and he was promptly engaged. He was an accomplished Anglo-Saxon scholar, and served the TJniversity for fifteen years, from 1825 until 1840, when he was dismissed.' One of the finest representatives of English scholarship secured bj Mr. Gilmer^ was Mr. George Long (1800-1879), a graduate of the TJni- 1 The Southern Literary Messenger for January, 1842, in a well-meant article upon tihe University of Virginia, has some unfavorable comments upon Dr. Blaettermann, who was perhaps too familiar with the manners of " Die alten Deutschen." ^Afterthe present monograph was completed, the writer obtained possession of a large mass of original correspondence relating to the beginnings of the University of Virginia. Among the letters were those addressed by Francis W. Gilmer to George Long and other English scholars, and their replies. The correspondence is too es.teii- sive for reproduction here, and it has been intrusted to a graduate student at the Johns , Hopkins University, Mr. William P. Trent, of Richmond, who will prepare a ftesh contribution to the early history of the University of Virginia, with copious extracts from the Gilmer letters. A brief account of this new material may befonnd in the writer's bibliography of authorities relating to the subject of the present mono graph. The following specimen letters are introduced in this connection as a fore taste of what is to come. Francis W. Gilmer to George Long {London, Augusts, 1824). " I am sure the nature of this letter will be a sufficient excuse to Mr. L. for his re^ celving such a one fl:om a perfect stranger. , f The State of Virginia has for six years been engaged in establishing a university on a splendid scheme. The homes are now finished, an avenue for the support of th« professors, etc., appropriated, and I have come to England to engage professors in some of the branches in which Europe is still before us. I have heard your quali- fications as professor of Latin and Greek highly commended, and wish to know whether such an appointment would be agreeable to you. My powers are absolute, and whatever engagement you make with me is binding on the University wifcjiout further ratification. " You will have (1) a commodious house, garden, etc., for a family residence, en- tirely to yourself, free of rent ; (2) a salary of $1,500 per annum p^id by the University, and tuition fees from |50 to |25 from each pupil, according to the number of profes- sors he attends ; (3) your tenure of office is such at you can be removed only by the ENGLISH PEOFESSOES. 115 versity of Oxford. He was an excellent type of Oxford classical cult- ure and became the founder of the school of ancient languages, for the cultivation of which the University of Virginia has remained dis- tinguished, from the three years' service of Long (1825-1828) and the concnirence of five out of seven, all the first men in our country, with Mr. Jefferson at the head. ' ' Mr. Key suggested that your beln^ obliged to be in Cambridge next July might be an obstacle. That may be removed by a stipulation that in that year, 1825, you shall have liberty to come to England, for which reasonable time shall be allowed, so as to make your visit to Cambridge certain. "You will be required not to teach a mere grammar school, but to instruct young men somewhat advanced in reading the Latin and Greek classics. Hebrew is also included, but there will not be occasion for it, I think, and you could easily learn enoagh for what may be required. You should explain the history and^geography of the famous ancient nations as illustrative of. their liberation. " The whole is now only waiting for my action to go into full and active operation. You will see, therefore, the necessity of mraking an early decision. I should like the professors to sail October or November, and shall thank you for an intimation of your wishes on the subject as soon as convenient. " Yours, very respectfully, etc., "Francis W. Gilmer." George Long to Francis W. Gilmer, written after his arrival in Virginia. " University of Virginia, Monday, January 25, — . "Dear Sir: I am sorry to learn that you still continue so weak from the effects of your illness. I anticipated the pleasure of seeing you in this neighborhood daring Christmas; your presence would have contributed to enliven the University up, which, being almost without inhabitants^ looks like a deserted city. * " I have been settled for some weeks in one of the pavilions. I bought only a few articles in Charlottesville, as I found the prices of most things extravagantly high. Mr. Peyton has forwarded me some chairs from Eichmond, and these, little that I have, will be sufficient at present. You may probably recollect that I told you I had sent my books from Liverpool, consigned to Mr. Peyton ; they would be sent either to Baltimore, Norfolk, or Eichmond. I shall be obliged to you if you will remind that gentleman of them, and by him to forward them to me as soon as he receives them. "I dined with Mr. Jefferson last Monday. He was in good health, but, like all of us, very uneasy about the delay of our friends. I do not yet, being acquainted more fully with all the circumstances of the case, entertain any apprehensions about their safety, but I regret, both for the University and my own personal comfort, that they were so foolish as to embark in an old log. The people in Charlottesville, having nothing better to do, amuse themselves with inventing stories on this unfortunate subject. Almost every day, from undoubted authority, I am informed the professors have arrived ; a few hours after I had received your letter a man very gravely assured me the professors were at that momeilt in Eichmond. "Tlie books have arrived in safety; we have not been able to find a catalogue of them, and I believe we shall not take them out of the boxes before Mr. Jefferson receives one from you. I bronght a sufficient number to employ myself on during this most anxious expectation of our friends' arrival. Besides the loss of their society at present, I am truly concerned for the interests of the University. I hear daUy of many who are most eagerly looking forward to the opening of the institution ; it is possible their short delay at first may cause the University some temporary loss. " We have just had a heavy fall of snow. I am confined to my house, and see no living being but my black friend Jacob, and Mr. Grey's family where I eat. "I remain, with the best wishes for your speedy recovery, yours, very respectfully, " G. Long." . 116 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. longer term of Gessner Harrisou down to the regimes of Gildersleeve (1856-1876), Price, and Wheeler in Greek, and Peters in Latin (since 1865). GEORGE LONG. Professor Long was the first of those engaged to arrive upon the University premises, and he seems to have made a favorable impre8sia1i| upon Jeft'erson. The latter wrote to Cabell, December 22, 1824 : " Mr. Long, professor of ancient languages, is located in his apartments at the University. He drew, by lot. Pavilion No. 5, He appears to be a most amiable man, of fine understanding, well qualified for his de- partment, and acquiring esteem as fast as he becomes known. Indeed, I have great hopes that the whole selection will fulfil our wishes." Professor Long more than met the expectations of the friends of the University during the few years that he tarried in Virginia, although the English don must have surprised the authorities by marrying. a Virginia widow. Jefferson had imagined that his professors would re- main single and live up stairs in the pavilions, leaving the ground floor for recitation-rooms ; but professors' wives soon changed all that, and the classes were driven out-doors. Mr. Long gave a character and a standard to the classical department which it has never lost. He represented history in connection with the classics ; and certainly ancient history never had a more scholarly representative upon American shores. Unfortunately for this country, but to the great gain of historical science in his own land, Mr. Long was called home in 1828, to a professorship of Greek in the new Univer-; sity of London. Madison, in a letter to Monroe, dated January 23, 1828, says, " I have received a letter from Mr. Brougham urging our release of Professor Long."' The university authorities in Virginia parted most reluctantly with Mr. Long, but recognized the superior attractive- ness and advantages of his call to the English capital. They urged, however, most strongly that the professor should find a suitable suc- cessor. On thelOth of March, 1829, Madison wrote to Joseph C. Gabelh " I have just received from our minister in London and from Professor Long letters on the subject of a successor to the latter*. Mr. B. is do- ing all he can for us, but without any encouraging prospects. Mr. Long is pretty decided that we ought not to rely on any successor from England, and is equally so that Dr. Harrison will answer our purpose better than any one attainable abroad. He appears to be quite sanguine upon this point." ^ Dr. Harrison was one of Mr. Long's own pupils, and one of the first graduates of the University of Virginia. No more fitting nomination or appointment, nor one better deserved, could pos- sibly have been made. It would be interesting to follow in detail the brilliant record of Pro- fessor Long after his return to England, if space permitted. He and his former colleague at the University, Mr. Key, who was made professor ' Writings of Madison, III, 613. 2 Writings of Madison, IV, 35. GEORGE I^ONG. 117 of Latiu in the London University, introduced into England the com- parative method in classical study. Long edited a great variety of class- ical texts, some of which remain standard to this day. The Encyclopse- dia Britannica, in a striking article upon this remarkable scholar, says: " Long has exercised by his writings, and indirectly through some of his London University pupils, a wide influence on the teaching of the Greek and Latin languages in England." He was prominent in found- ing the Eoyal Geographical Society, and became a leading authority in both ancient and modern geography. Long's Classical Atlas is known to school boys in both England and America. One can not help suspect- ing that Long's knowledge of this country had something to do with the inception of his Geography of America and the West Indies. He became a thorough democrat in education, resigning his professorship to edit the Quarterly Journal of Education, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, of which he was for years a most active member. Thirteen years of his life he devoted to the Penny Cy- clopaedia, of which he edited twenty-nine volumes. This was his great est work for the education of the English people. He returned to aca- demic life, and wrote his great work on Boman history. He was the chief English authority upon Eoman law and was one of the academic pioneers in this study, although he was anticipated by Dr. Thomas Cooper, who, in Pennsylvania, edited parts of the Code of Justinian long before his call to represent law jn the University of Virginia. That in- stitution may well be proud of the scholarly Englishman first chosen by Jefferson to represent sound learning within its walls. THOMAS HEWETT KEY AND CHARLES BONNYOASTLE. Another well-trained university man from England, who was secured for Jefferson's institution, was Thomas Hewett Key. He afterward went with Long to the University of London and became its first professor of Latin. He founded in Virginia that wonderful school of mathe- matics for which the institution has always remained famousu He was succeeded by Charles Bonnycastle, a third Englishman who came over with Key and founded a school of physics. Bonnycastle remained at the University of Virginia until his death, in 1840,' when he was succeeded 'The Southern Literary Messengei; for January, 1842, speakiug of the recent loss of three university professors, says of Professor Bonnycastle : " Mr. Bonnycastle was one of the early professors who came over from England with Mr. Gilmer in 1824. Though young, his high qualifications fitted him alike for several of the chairs in the University. He first filled that of natural philosophy, and, on the return of Mr. Key to England, succeeded to the mathematical, which he filled with pre-eminent ability up to the time of his death. He was always acknowledged to be the possessor of a great mind, which readily made him master of the most abstruse learning. The study of mathematics seemed to be to him but a process of attentive 'reading. As a lecturer he was clear, patient, and powerful ; and in matters of science he was a complete agrarian, level- ling its difficulties to the comprehension of every mind. At times, iu one short apho- rism, he would display a profundity of thought quite startling ; and his students de- clared that, by way of illu8tration,he frequently solved difficulties which had perplexed 118 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIEGINIA. by Prof. J. J. Sylvester, who afterward returned to England, but who, iu 1876, came oat to America again, and founded a flourishing de- partment of mathematics at the Johns Hopkins University. In 1884 he was called home to the chair of mathematics in Oxford. Among the American successors of this distinguished line of English mathe- maticians was Albert T. Bledsoe, famous after the civil war as the editor of Ijhe Southern Eeview, published in Baltimore. The present able representative of the mathematical department at the University of Vir- ginia is Professor Charles S. Venable, now the chairman of the faculty, to whose courtesy the writer is greatly indebted for prompt and efficient co- operation in acquiring material infoi-mation for this educational report. EOBLBT DXINGLISON. Eobley Dunglison was the fourth Englishman originally appointed professor at the University of Virginia. He was the founder of the medical school, and became a distinguished contributor to medical sci- ence. His published works are still spoken of with great respect. He was Jefferson's favorite physician, and attended him in his last illness. It is to Dunglison's journal and reminiscences of Jefferson that we owe the most pleasing glimpses into Jefferson's friendly social relations with the professors of the University. Jeifferson was highly gratified with the choice of these European schol- ars as instructors. In a letter to William B. Giles, December 26, 1825, he said: "Our University has been most fortunate in the five professorsij , procured from England. A finer selection could not have been made. Besides their being of a grade of science which has left little superior behind, the correctness of their moral character, their accommodat- ing dispositions, and zeal for the prosperity of the institution leave us nothing more to wish. I verily believe that as high a degree of educa- tion can now be obtained here as in the country they left." Cabell also was delighted with the strength and promise of the new faculty. He wrote to Jefferson : "I cannot describe the satisfaction which I feel in reflecting on the present prospects of the University. Our corps of pro- fessors is full of youth and talent and energy. What will not such men accomplish with such advantages?" them in other branches of their studies, Mathematios was rendered by him what he repeatedly said it was, 'a pure system of logic' Many parts of his course were sup- plied by himself, and he wrote a text-book for his class, which gained him great re- nown. • *' * In society and at home he was often taciturn, and it was only at cer. tain times that he opened his stores of information ; but when he did, he never failed to charm and surprise. * » f I do not know that he ever became a citizen of the United States, ttiough he frequently spoke of his intention to do so. He thought very favorably of our country and her institutions. Mr. Bonnycastle was a close student, and perhaps his devotion to study led to a premature death. He took very little ex- ercise, studied in an unhealthy posture and until a late hour of the night." This glimpse of Bonnycastle, evidently by one of his former students, reveals the mathe- maticalprofessor. PROFESSORS OF ETHICS AND LAW. 119 AMEEIOAN PROFESSOES. There were two professorships which, for practical reasons, Jefferson was determined to have filled by native Americans. These chairs were (1) ethics and (2) law and politics. He had the conviction that American youth should be trained to a knowledge of their duties, laws, and system of government by American teachers. The above subjects were as sacred in the mind of Jefferson as is the Protestant or Catholic religion to its respective adherents, who wish their own teachers for their own faith. GEORGE TUCKER AND JOHN TATLOE LOMAX. For the chair of ethics or moral science, Hon. George Tucker, a mem- ber of Congress from "Virginia, was chosen, and he served the University ably and well for twenty years, 1825-45. Greater difiSculty was ex- perienced in filling the chair of law and politics. The first choice, after Dr. Cooper, was Francis Walker Gilmer, who had selected the English professors with such excellent judgment, but he declined the lioner which was thrice urged upon him. The position was then offered in succession to Chancellor Tucker, Mr. Barbour, Judge Carr, and Judge Dad« 5 but, for professional and other reasons, all were unwilling to ac- cept the professorial office. It was then tendered to the Attorney-Gen- eral of the United States, the Hon. William Wirt, together with the presidency of the University, an additional honor specially created iii order to induce Mr. Wirt to take the chair of law and politics. Jefferson heartily approved of the choice of Mr. Wirt.as professor, but he entered with his own hand upon the records, at the last meeting of the board of visitors which he ever attended, a vigorous piotest against the office of a permanent president, as being inconsistent with republican ideas. After Mr. Wirt's declination, the " presidency " was never revived. The executive headship is annually committed to an appointed '' chairman of the faculty," a democratic office corresponding to the pro-rectorship of a German university. The professorship of law and politics was finally accepted by Mr. Gilmer, but he died in 1826. John Tayloe Lomax, of Fredericksburg, was appointed in the spring of 1826, and he held the office with distinction for four years. He was not only ah able pro- fessor, but he contributed substantially to the development' of jurispru- dence in Virginia. He published a digest of Virginia law and various useful texts. The law school which Lomax founded has had other able representatives, but none more able or more widely known for his learn- ing and power as a teacher than Professor John B. Minor, who has beeii the head of the school for many years, and whose pupils' are conspicu- ous wherever they go. ' One of the most successful and distinguished of Mr. Minor's pupils is Woodrow Wilson, author of Congressional-Government, sometime professor of history and poli- tics in Bryn Mawr College, novr of Wesleyan University, and lecturer on Administra- tion at the Johns Hopkins University, where he took his doctor's degree in the year 1886. 120 JEFFEBSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIEGINIA. JOHN P. EMMET. In addition to Tucker and Lomax, Dr. John P. Emmet should be counted among the original American professors. Although born m Ireland, he was educated in this country, chiefly at West Point and in New York City. He is the nearest approach to a " literary character of the Irish nation," such as Jefferson wished in 1783 to introduce into Albemarle Oountyl But the young Irish-American, a nephew of Eobert Emmet, the great orator, was engaged to tSach chemistry and natural history, in which subjects he had been well trained in connection with medical and other scientific studies. Jefferson regarded Dr. Emmet as a representative of the natural sciences. THE UNIVEESITY OPENED TO STUDENTS. The University of Virginia was opened to students on the 7th of March, 1825. Jefferson, in his seventh, annual report to the president and directors of the literary fund, dated October 7, 1825, said there were forty students present at the beginning ; " others continued to arrive from day to day at first, and from week to week since ; and the whole number matriculated on the last day of Septeihber was 116. Few more can be expected during the present term, which closes on the 15th of December next ; and the state of the schools on the same day was as follows : " In the school of— Scholars. Ancient languages - oH Modern languages 64 Mathematics , .-... 68 Natural philosophy 33 Natural history 30 Anatomy and medicine 20 Moral philosophy 14" Jefferson said the dormitories would accommodate about 218 students, and the neighboring town of Charlottesville perhaps 50 more. Seven of the schools were organized and in successful operation in the course of the year 1825. There was some delay in securing a professor of law, as we have already seen. The original numbisr of professors recommended in Jefferson's report to the Legislature in 1818 was ten ; but motives of economy conipelled a reduction to eight. Jefferson showed the most active interest in shaping and expanding the course of study. There are two interesting letters to Professor Emmet, in Jefferson's Correspondence, dated, respectively, April 27 and May 2, 1826, concerning the importance of introducing botany into university instruction, and Indicating Jefferson's views ^ with regard to the develop- 1 Jefferson's scientiflo merits have been sketched in "A Discourse on the Character and Services of Thomas Jefferson, more especially as a Promoter of Natural and Phys- ical Science. Pronounced by request before the New York Lyceum of Natural His- tory on the 11th of October, 1826." Published by (J. & C. Carville, New York, 1826. JEFFERSON ON BOTANY. ' 121 ment and co-ordinatiou of the various branches of scientific study. Jef- ferson proposed the establishment of a. botanical garden and a seminary for forestry upon the university premises. He communicated to Em- met a detailed plan, prepared by the Abb6 Correa, a distinguished European botanist, one of Jefferson's old friends, who had served Port- ugal as foreign minister at Washington. " Our institution being then on hand," writes Jefferson, " in which that was of course to be one of the subjects of instruction, I availed myself of his presence and friendship to obtain from him a general idea of the extent of ground we should employ, and the number and character of the plants w;e should intro- duce into it. He accordingly sketched for me a mere outline of the scale he would recommend, restrained altogether to objects of use, and indulging not at all in things of mere curiosity, and especially not yet. thinking of a hot-house, or even of a green-house." JEFFERSON'S CONNECTION WITH THE JARDIN DBS PLANTES. Jefferson was extremely practical in some of his scientifl* projects, and especially in the pursuit of botany. He wished to (introduce plants and trees that would be useful to his countrymen. "For three-and- twenty years of the last twenty-five, my good old friend Thonin, super- intendent of the Garden of Plants at Paris, has regularly sent me a box of seeds, of such exotics, as to us, as would suit our climate, and con- taining nothing indigenous to our country. These I regularly sent to the public and private gardens of the other States, having as yet no employment for them here." This letter was written only about two months before Jefferson's death. Maintaining fo^ nearly a quarter of a century his' connections with Paris, the original source of Jefferson's enlarged ideas of uni- versity education, he had been scattering seeds from the Jardin des Plantes over the public and private gardens of America. Gould there be a more pleasing historic picture of that dissemination of educa- tional ideas which has now gone on for more than two generations from the University of Virginia, ,that seminary of higher learning, founded by the Sage of Monticello'? Broadcast over the entire South have been scattered the seeds of culture and the germs of science. Some have fallen by the wayside ; some where there was not much earth ; but some have fallen upon good ground. Little is known at the North concerning the University of Virginia, but it is barely possible that some seeds of Jeffersouian Influence have been wafted by the winds of destiny into the very gardens of New England culture. CHAPTER IX. THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA AND HARVARD COLLEGE. GEORGE TIOKNOB VISITS JEFFERSON, 1815. 1 • It is not beyond the range of possibility that the advanced ideas of Thomas Jefferson had some quickening influence upon educational reform at Harvard College. When only twenty-three years old George Ticknor, of Boston, on a Southern tour, visited Jefferson at Monticello. One of the most charming glimpses of social life in that hospitable man- sion, in its "best estate, may be found in Ticknor's letter home. In his interesting Life, Letters, and Journals, it is said that Mr. Jefferson " formed quite an affection for the young Federalist from New England." A pleasant correspondence sprang up between the old Virginian and the young Bostonian, who went abroad ^ after conscientiously travelling through historic portions of his own country. OORBESPONDENCE WITH TIOKNOB. As early as 1817 Jefferson communicated to Ticknor, while the latter was yet abroad, the entire plan for the advancement of education in Virginia. In 1818 Jefferson wrote to Ticknor : " Tou will come home fraught with great means of promoting the science, and consequently iln a letter to M. Dupont de Nemours, dated February 15, 1800, JeflEerson thus reo- ommends young Ticknor: "This letter will be delivered to you by Mr. Ticknor, a young gentleman from Massachusetts, of much erudition and great merit. ' He has completed his course of law reading, and before entering on the practice, proposes to pass two or three years in seeing Europe, and adding to his store of knowledge what he can acquire there. Should he enter the career of politics in his own country, he will go far in obtaining its honors and powers. He is worthy of any friendly ofaces you may be so good as to render him, and ,to his acknowledgments of them will be added my own. By him I send you a copy of the Review of Montesquieu, from my own shelf, the impression being, I believe, exhausted by the late president of the Col- lege of Williamsburg having adopted it as the elementary book there. I am persuad-' ing the author to permit the original to be printed in Paris. Although your presses, 1 observe, are put under the leading strings of your Government, yet this is such a work as would have been licensed at any period, early or late, of the reign of Louis XVI. Surely the present Government will not expect to repress the progress of the public mind further back than that. Th. Jefferson."— Jfaitpire MS. Collection. JEFFERSON AND TICKNOE. 123 the happiness of your country." Jefferson then describes the progress of his plans, and suggests that Ticknor take the professorship of ethics,' belles-lettres, and the fine arts. " I have some belief," he continues, " that our genial climate would be more friendly to your constitution than the rigors of that of Massachusetts; but all this may-yield, pos- sibly, to the hoc ccelum, sub quo natus educatusque essem. I have in- dulged in this reverie the more credulously, because you say in your letter that ' if there were a department in the central government that was devoted to public instruction, I might have sought a place in it ; but there is none ; there is none even in my State government.'" Jeffer- son then attempts to convince Ticknor that there is no possible outlook for a bureau of education in Washington without an amendment to the Constitution, and that the University of Virginia will supersede the necessity for it. On the 3d of October, 1820, immediately after the arrangement with Dr. Cooper had been cancelled, and fully four years before any nego- tiations were opened with professors in England, the board of visitors of the University of Virginia, acting, as always, under Mr. Jefferson's leadership, authorized the engagement of "Mr. Bowditch,^ of Salem, and Mr. Ticknor, of Boston," as professors, with the promise of apartments, ' a salary of $2,000 per annum, and lecture-fees guaranteed to the amount of $500 extra. This was an extremely liberal offer for those times. Harvard College had already secured" Ticknor for the professorship of French, Spanish, and belles-lettres, at the moderate salary of $1,000, of which Ticknor afterwards regularly renounced $400 a year to aid the embarrassed finances of the institution. JEFFERSON ON THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM. Ticknor's interest in the development of the University of Virginia was ke^en and pronounced. He continued his correspondence with Jef- ferson, and proposed a visit to the University as soon as it should be " fairly opened." In acknowledging Ticknor's Syllabus of Lectures on Spanish Literature, Jefferson said, June 16, 1823 : " I am not fully in- ' Nathaniel Bowditoh (1773-1838) was originally a Salem sea-captain, who became eminent for his contributions to mathematics and to the American Academy of Aits and Sciences. He was deservedly recognized by Harvard College, which gave him the degree of LL. D. President Quincy, in his, History of Harvard (II, 438) says Bowditoh "received successively the offer of three professorships of mathematics — in Harvard University, in that of Charlottesville in Virginia, and in the United States Military Academy at West Point — all which he declined." Dr. Bowditch was a very modest and unassuming man. After retiring from sea-voyages he became president of the Salem Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and after 1823 was the Boston act- nary of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company. His nearest approach to academic life was membership of the corporation of Harvard University. One of his many works was a commentary on the M&amque Celeste of La Place, which he translated into English. ^Ticknor was elected professor in June, 1816; he accepted in January, 1817, and entered upon his duties in 1819. (Quincy's History of Harvard University, II, 324.) 124 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA.. formed of the practices at Harvard, but there is one from which we shall certainly vary, although it has been copied, I believe, by nearly every college and academy in the United States. That is, the holding the students all to one prescribed course of reading, and disallowing ex- clusive application to those branches only which are to qualify them for the particular vocations to which they are destined. We shall, on the con fcrary, allow them uncontrolled choice in the lectures they shall choose to attend, and require elementary qualification only and sufficient age. Our institution will proceed on the principle of doing all the good it can, without consulting its own pride or ambition ; of letting every one come and listen to whatever he thinks may improve the condition of his mind." Jeflferson then urges Ticknor not to defer his visit beyond the autumn of thei ensuing year, when the last building would be nearly finished. " I know that you scout, as I do, the idea of any rivalship. Our views are catholic, for the improvement of our country by science, and, indeed, it is better even for your own university to have its yoke-mate at this distance rather than to force a nearer one from the increasing necessity for it." TIOKNOR VISITS THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGrNIA. In December, 1824, Ticknor visited Jefierson and the University of Virginia, and wrote a most charming description of both the man and the institution to William H. Prescott, the historian. The following sketch of the new foundation has an historic value : " Yesterday we formed a party, and, with Mr. JefiPerson at our head, went to the Univer- sity. It is a very fine establishment, consisting of ten bouses for pro- fessors, four eating houses, a rotunda on the model of the Parthenon [Pantheon], with a magnificent room for a librarj', and four fine lecture- rooms, with one hundred and eight apartments for students; the whole situated in the midst of two hundred and fifty acres of land, high, healthy, and with noble prospects all around it. It has cost $250,000, and the thorough finish of every part of it and the beautiful architect- ure of the whole show, I think, that it has not cost too much. Each professor receives his house, which in Charlottesville, the neighboring village, would rent for $600, a salary of $1,500, and a fee of $20 from every student who attends his instructions, which are to be lectures three times a week. Of the details of the system I shall discourse much when I see you. It is more practical than I feared, but not so practical that I feel satisfied of its success. It is, however, an experiment worth trying, to which I earnestly desire the happiest results; and they have, to begin it, a mass of buildings more beautiful than anything archi- tectural in New England, and more appropriate to an university than can be found, perhaps, ift the world." TIOKNOR'S EFFORTS FOR REFORM IN HARVARD QOLLEGB. This is high praise from a Harvard professor, who had seen the best institutions of Europe. But the point to which this narrative is di- ticknor's reforms at harvard. ' 125 rectly tending is this: George Ticknor was now beginning to introduce into Harvard College precisely those educational reforms which Jeffer- son had been advocating in Virginia for many years. Jefferson's ad- vanced ideas were probably well known to Ticknor by reason of his long correspondence with Jefferson, and by reason of the early negotiations regarding a professorship in the University of Virginia. There is but one opinion as to the pioneer influence of Ticknor in the reform move- ment at Harvard College. The history of that movement is given in the Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor, Vol. I, Chap. XVIII, on the "Efforts for Reform in Harvard College." It is perfectly clear that Ticknor, through a letter to Hon. William Prescott, a member of the corporation, sei on foot, in the year 1821, the first systematic in- quiries which led to important educational reforms. Ticknor's views found absolutely no support from the faculty ; on the contrary, the pro- fessors voted repeatedly against his innovations. It was chiefly through , Hon. William Prescott and Judge Story that Ticknor's ideas found favor with the corporation and the board of overseers, who adopted them in June, 1825. At the request of Judge Story, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Prescott, Ticknor prepared an article for the North American Re- view explaining and vindicating the proposed changes. This article, although invited and accepted by the editor, was finally suppressed " by the advice of friends." It appeared, however, in pamphlet " form in September, 1825, and went through two editions that year. The changes ordered by the governing authorities encountered great opposition from the faculty. In the annual visitation by the overseers, in 1826, "the new arrangements were not found working successfully in ahy department but that of the modem languages." The corpora- tion was forced to relax the binding force of its own legislation. In 1827, the faculty resolved that the new law " should not be applied to the departments, or by individual instructors, without the assent of thei faculty," but " that if the department of modern languages choose to apply the law to the classes instructed by that department, the faculty assent." It is therefore clear that George Ticknor, the head of that de- partment, was the acknowledged representative of a novel policy which is best described in the following extract from President Eliot's annual report for 1883-84. Speaking of the new code of 1825, President Eliot says : THE NEW CODE OP 1825. " These laws provide, among other new things, for the admission to the university of persons not candidates for a degree (Statutes and Laws 1 Remarks on Changes Lately Proposed or Adopted in HSrvard University. By George Ticknor, Smith professor, etc. Boston: Cummings, Hilliard & Co. 1825. Speaking, on p. 40, of the desirability of an elective system, Ticknor said: "This, perhaps, is not yet possible with us, though it is actually doing in the University of Virginia ; and will soon, it is to be hoped, be considered indispehsable in all our ad- vanced colleges." 126 JEPFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. of the University of Cambridge, 1826, § 11); for the division of the in- struction into departments, with a professor at the head of each depart- ment responsible for its efficiency (§§ 58 and 60); for the division of classes according to proficiency (§ 61); and for the coasideration, to a limited extent, of the desires of students in the arrangement of their studies (§ 63). These provisions originated in the overseers, and were adopted by the corporation and overseers against the judgment of the 'immediate government,' or faculty, and obtained but very imperfect execution; but they gave to George Ticknor, Smith professor of the French and Spanish languages and literature, the means of demonstrat- ing, during the ensuing ten years, in the single department which he organized and controlled, the admirable working of a voluntary sys- tem." TICKNOE'S RESIGNATION. In 1835, when Ticknor resigned his professorship, he reviewed his fifteen years' work at Harvard in a letter from which the following sig- nificant passage is taken. He says : "Within the limits of the depart- ment I have entirely broken up the division of classes, established fully the principle and practice of progress according to proficiency, and in- troduced a system of voluntary study, which for several years has em- braced from one hundred and forty to one hundred and sixty students, so that we have relied hardly at all on college discipline, as it is called, but almost entirely on the good disposition of the young men and their desire to learn. If, therefore, the department of the modern languages is right, the rest of the college is wrong ; and if the rest of the college is right we ought to adopt its system, which I believe no person what- soever has thought desirable for the last three or four years." ORIGIN OP TIOKNOR'S EDUCATIONAL IDEAS. Now the question arises, where did G-eorge Ticknor get all these ad- vanced ideas of university education, upon which Harvard has been growing from more to more during two generations ? N^ot in Cambridge,' surely, for Ticknor was a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Cam- bridge faculty bitterly opposed his innovations. Not from Mr. Prescott and the board of corporation, for he first inspired them with the policy which the faculty "for a long time successfully obstructed. The college environment was not favorable to the evolution of educational theories utterly at variance with the scholastic experience of nearly two cen- ' Geims of an elective system appear to have existed at Harvard College as early as 1834. Among the questions proposed to the immediate government of Harvard Col- lege by the committee of the hoard of visitors, October 16, 1824, was the following: "Question II. How far have the students a choice as to what studies they way pur- sae? "Answer II. The Juniors have an option between Hebrew and several other studies, viz, French, mathematics, Latin, and Greek ; and the Seniors,^betweeu the recitations in chemistry and in fluxions." JEFFERSON AND TICKNOE COMPARED. 127 turies. It may be suggested that, Ticknor came home from Goettingen and from European travel with a uew educational philosophy which he was eager to put into practice. But he says: " When I came from Eu- rope [1819], not having been educated at Cambridge, and having always looked upon it with great veneration, I had no misgivings about the wis- dom of the organization and management of the^coUege there. I went about my work, therefore, with great alacrity and confidence; not, in- deed, according to a plan I proposed in writing, but according to the es- tablished order of things, which I was urged to adopt as my own, and which I did adopt very cheerfully." Called the very next year, 1820, to a professorship in the University of Virginia, with more tljan double his salary at Cambridge, and in frequent correspondence with Jefferson after the year 1815, Ticknor had sufficient occasion and opportunity to become acquainted with Jef- ferson's educational ideas. Ticknor was a Bostonian, always on the alert for new and suggestive things. That he was deeply interested in the new institution is shown by his visit in 1824, and by his letter to William H. Prescott, the son of the man who, from the first, was Tick- nor's avenue of approach to the corporation of Harvard College. The year before, in 1823, when Ticknor had proposed making this visit to Vir- ginia, Jeffersou had, by letter, distinctly emphasized the following points as characteristic of the new educational departure in Virginia: ANALYSIS OF JEFFERSON'S VIEWS. (1) The abolition of a prescribed curriculum for all students, and consequently the overthrow of the class system. (2) The introduction of specialization, or, as Jefferson phrased it, " ex- clusive application to those branches only which are to qualify them [students] for the particular vocations to which they are destined." (3) The elective system, or " uncontrolled choice in the lectures they shall choose to attend." (4) The reduction of discipline to a minimum, "avoiding too much government, by requiring no useless observances, none which shall merely multiply occasions for dissatisfaction, disobedience, and revolt," etc. ANALYSIS OF TICKNOR'S REFORMS. Let us now analyze the reforms actually introduced into the modern language department at Harvard by George Ticknor, and reviewed by himself in 1835. (1) The division by classes had been broken up in the modern lan- guage courses. (2) Progress was recognized according to "proficiency." (This is the only standard of progress which has ever been recognized in the University of Virginia.) (3) Voluntary study, or the elective system. 128 JEPFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. (4) Eeliance on the good disposition of the students, rather than upon discipline. This correspondence of ideas, to say the least, is very remarkable. There are other likenesses between reforms urged by Ticknor at Har- vard and certain ideas of Jefferson. For example, Ticknor urged "in- struction by subjects rather than by booTcs, so that, for instance, a student should not merely read Livy add Horace, but learn Latin." The crea- tion of well-organized departments, controlled by a single responsible head, was also one of Ticknor's favorite notions, which was carried into effect, however, only in the teaching of the modern languages. Ticknor had three or four tutors ^ under his direction. His was the only depart- ment thus responsibly organizeji under the law of 1825. The system corresponds exactly to Jefferson's plan for autonomous " schools," one of the most efficient systems of department administration in modern aca- demic life. Ticknor was absolutely alone in representing these advanced ideas of university education and administration. In 1835 he wrote : " I have been an active professor these fifteen years, and for thirteen years of the time I have been contending, against a constant opposi- tion, to procure certain changes which should make the large means of the college more effectual for the education of the community. In my own department I have succeeded entirely, but I can get these changes carried no further. As long as I hoped to advance them, I continued attached to the college ; when 1 gave up all hope, I determined to re- sign." THE QUESTION STATED. The whole spirit of Ticknor's educational reforms was clearly foreign to his environment. His ideas were far in advance* of his age, and yet they were identical, in many respects, with the ideas of Jefferson. That they wer^ consciously borrowed from him is not asserted, but the possi- bility of a connection between the educational projects of the two men has been already suggested. ' The question is here stated : Did Jefferson and Ticknor come to absolutely the same educational conclusions in in- dependent ways, or was some influence wafted northward from Monti- cello, whence Jefferson for many years had been scattering seeds of thought and suggestion. A single copy of one of Jefferson's printed educational reports, like that noticed in the North American Review in 1820, would have explained the whole situation to Ticknor. Jeffer- son borrowed many of his own educational notions from that Jardin des Plantes— the schools of Paris, and the universities of the Old World. The elective system was then, and is now, the life principle of higher ' Franois Sales, Charles Folsom, and Charles FoUen all taught in Professor Tick- nor's department. ''President Eliot, in his report for 1883-84, said (p. 10): " Professor Ticknor, who had so effectively promoted the legislation of 1825, was a reformer fifty years in ad- vance of his time. Professor Longfellow, succeeding Professor Ticknor, held iu the main to his methods, and the reform gradually gained new ground." THE QUESTION STATED. 129 education in Europe. Ticknor must have seen it in operation at Goet- tingen. But the point of inquiry is this : Did Ticknor devise that entire group of advanced ideas independently of the personal influence of Thomas Jefferson, who had been writing to him for ten years'before those ideas were adopted at Harvard, and who called Ticknor to a pro- fessorship in Virginia five years before the reform of 1825'? It mu^t have required considerable gathered mpmentum of interest to cause Ticknor to travel all the way from Boston to Virginia to see an institution of learning. The writer had to spend some monthsin study- ing the history of the University of Virginia before he could muster enough zeal to take a few hours' trip by cars from Baltimore to (Jhar- . Ibttesville. There was not a railroad in the country when Ticknor made his visit to the University of Virginia. Having announced his in- tention to do so eighteen months before, what was Ticknor's motive in putting himself to all this trouble? There is a psychological element in the'problem. One must discover a sufficient cause to induce a man to travel six hundred miles by stage-coa^ch and the slow conveyances of that period, and to bepreffared to endure with patience the annoyancg '. of bad roads and the discomfort of bad inns. Probably Ticknor had no idea of leaving Boston to become a professor in the University of Vir- ginia. What was he thinking of in such a long journey southward f Possibly for the reformation of Harvard College he was seeking the best American model. He was going to see Jefferson's new univer- sity "fairly opened," He found ''the system" "more practical" than he had feared. He fotind " an experiment worth trying," MADISON'S LETTEK TO TICKNOR. i Ticknor's interest remained unabated. On the 6th of April, 1825, James Madison wrote to George Ticknor : " Our University has been opened with six or seven professors, and a limited but daily increasing number of students. I shall take a pleasure 'in complying with your re- quest of such information as may explain its progress. In compiling a code of regulations, the University has had the benefl't of that of Har- vard, which was kindly transmitted. Of all exchanges, that of useful lights ought to be the freest, as doubling the stock on both sides, with- out cost on either. Our University is, as you observe, somewhat of an experimental institution. Such, however, is the nature of our federa- tive system, itself not a little experimental, that it not only excites emu- lation without enmity, but admits local experiments of every sort, which, if failing, are but a partial and temporary evil ; if successful, may become a common and lasting improvement, " JOSIAH QTJINOT AND THE TJNIVEESITT OF TIE&INIA, In the life of George Ticknor, it is said (Vol, I, p, 368) that after Dr. Kirkland's resignation, in 1828, and after Josiah Quinoy's succession, to the presidency, a new spirit and vigor were infused into Harvard College, , 17036— No. 2 9 , 130 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. and Mr. Ticknor " had no longer the same dMculties to contend wi^ as in earlier years." The biographer of Quincy says he favored the eW tive system.! It is interesting to note that, the very next year after his election, President Quincy began to inquire about the origin and meth- ods of the University of Virginia. In the writings of James Madison, then rector of the University, is a letter to Joseph 0. Cabell, indicating that the lihe of inquiry which George Ticknor had first opened, by his visits to Monticello and Montpellier, and by his correspondence with Jefferson and Madison, was now leading even the president of Harvard University to a knowledge of Jefferson's original ideas, particularly with reference to theological education.^ The following is the extract in question : "I have received a letter from Mr. Quincy, now president of Harvard University, expressing a wish to procure a full account of the origin, the progress, and arrangement of ours, including particularly what may have any reference to theological instruction; and requesting that he may be referred to the proper source of all the printed documents, that he may know where to apply for them. Can a set of copies be had in Richmond, and of whom ? Mr. Quincy is so anxious on the subject that he was on his way to the University when the report of the fever stopped him." ' The historian of Harvard University was doubtless properly sup- plied with annual reports by Joseph C. Cabell. PEANCIS WATLAND AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. There was another college president who, twenty-one years later, not only set out for, but actually reached the University of Virginia. That ' Quincy : Life of Josiah Quincy, 442. President Quincy in his History of Harvard University, II, 344-353, 369, gives some account of the changes attempted in 182.5. He says George Ticknor had recommended to the overseers ' ' that the division into classes should he abolished, and the whole course be thrown open, as in some foreign univer- sities." The latter statement has weight, hut this very elective system made both Ticknor and Quincy interested in the University of Virginia. =A writer in the North American Review, January, 1820, had called attention to a rather startling f4ct. Speaking of the profession of divinity, the writer said: "No provision is made for instruction in this department in the University of Vir- ginia. As this is probably the first instance in the world of a university without any such provision, our readers will perhaps be gratified with seeing' the portion of the report in which this subject is mentioned: 'In conformity with the principles of car Constitution, which places all sects of religion on an equal footing ; with the jeal-i ousies of the different sects, in guarding that equality from encroachment and sur- prise; and with the sentiments of the Legislq^ture in favor of freedom of religion, manifested on former occasions, we have proposed no professor of divinity; and the rather, as the proofs of the being of a God, the creator, preserver, and supreme ruler of the universe, the author of all the relations of morality, and of the laws and obli- gations these infer, will bft within the province of the professor of ethics, to which, adding the developments of these moral obligations, of those in which all sects agree, with a knowledge of the languages of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, a, basis will be formed common to all sects. Proceeding thus far without offence to the Constitution, we have thought it proper at this point to leave every sect to provide, as they think fittest, the means of further instruction in their own peculiar tenets.'" 3 Madison to Cabell, March 19, 1H29. DOCTOR WAYLAND AND THE UNIVERSITY. 131 visitor was Francis Wayland, D. D., LL. D., the distiuguished presi- deut of Brown University. "The result of his observation," his biog- raphers say, "so far as it related to the practicability and efftcacy of the system, was highly favorable. He was particularly impressed with the earnestness and enthusiasm of the officers of instruction." ^ Presi- dent Wayland had just presented a report to the corporation of Brown University recommending a reorganization of its system of instruction. The changes proposed were quite in harmony with Jefferson's ideas of higher education. Both men advocated the elective system, specializa- tion, modern studies, degrees for merit rather than for seniority, and the payment of professors, at least in some measure, according to their aca- ' demic success, as shown by the number of students. The publication of Dr. Waylaud's report in 1850 is said to have marked "an era in the history of collegiate education in America." It is, however, very reasonable-to suppose that Dr. Wayland had heard something of the abave ideas from Harvard or from the University of Virginia. Every one of these ideas had been published by Jefferson in educational reports more than thirty years before the date of Dr. Wayland's recommendations to the corporation of Brown University. These ideas, moreover, had been actually realized at the University of Virginia, which Dr. Wayland visH;ed doubtless for that very reason. At the time of George Ticknor's visit, the University was on the point of architectural completion, and was not yet open to students ; but its proposed educational features had been described by Jefferson in mani- fold ways, by correspondence and by published reports, before Ticknor returned from Europe in 1819. Ideas of the University of Virginia were doubtless in the minds of educational reformers in Ifew England, before the administrations of Wayland and Quincy, and before Ticknor succeeded in putting his proposed reforms into practice in 1825. One excellent source of information concerning the good example set in the South may be found as early as the year 1820. BDWABD ETEBBTT'S REVIEW OP JEFFERSON'S UNIVERSITY REPORT. The proceedings and report of the commissioners for the Univer- sity of Virginia, printed in 1818, were elaborately noticed by Edward Everett in the North American Eeview for January, 1820. He made the report the basis of an article of twenty-three pages on <' University Education". The phenomenon of a real university at the South must have commanded not only Everett's attention, but that of other thought- ful men of his and Ticknor's time. Speaking of the literary fund of Virginia, amounting, in 1818, to $1,114,159, Mr. Everett, then one of the professors in Harvard College, said : " Nothing in the United States, except a similar fund in Connecticat, which amounts, we believe, to < 'Life aud Letters of Francis Wayland. By his sons, Francis W. and H. L. Wayland. Vol. II, p. 93., 132 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. between thirteen and fourteen hundred thousand dollars, can be com- pared to this splendid public dotation of literature." Mr. Everett copies into his arUcle Mr. Jefferson's entire scheme of studies proposed for the University of Virginia. While criticising it in some points, the reviewer says : " We highly approve of the professor- ship of the modern languages, and could wish to see this example fol- lowed by such of our universities as have not already made provision for them. • * * We rejoice, too, at the kindly remembrance in which our almost forgotten ancestor, the Anglo-Saxon, is borne. An acquaintance with it unquestionably belongs to a thorough education in the English tongue." After reviewing the entire scheme of study, Mr. Everett proceeds to discuss the two questions, what a university ought to be, and how it should be founded and supported. He regards it as a defect of the American, as well as of the English university system, "that no refer- ence is had to the destination of the student, but that he is required to dip into the whole circle of science. "He pleads for a higher order of special education, or for the elevation of universities into professional schools. He then takes a bold stand for the support of the highest education by the state. He reviews the origin and history of European establishments of sound learning — universities which very generally were founded or are supported by the state. He contrasts this fact with the public indifference in America to higher education : " One knows not where to find the cause of the indifference which the Amer- ican Government has at all periods testified to national education. One would have thought that, as a favorite object with Washington, and one of which he had himself in some sense laid a foundation, it would have found an early place among the measures adopted by the Government. It has perhaps been thought that national education should be left to the States. * • * But what have the States done! In the first place, have they founded any institutions for the most im- portant and crowning part of education — the professional — from Georgia to Maine, from New York to Indiana ? Not one. They have, indeed, in some cases, patronized the existing colleges. Massachusetts, a few years since, granted $160,000 to her three colleges. New York has liberally endowed Hamilton College, Something, we believe, has been donei in Pennsylvania; and Virginia is now establishing schools and universities. But are two or three hundred thousand dollars appro- priated to colleges scattered over the country at vast distances from each other, and granted by independent bodies, without mutual concert or system, all that the people of America think that literature is en- titled to?" After this suggestive plea for the national endowment of higher edu- cation, Mr. Everett considers briefly the prevailing method of support- ing institutions of learning by private endowment. He recognizes the fact that almost all of our literary establishments have been " alms- EDWAED EVERETT ON UNIVEESITY EDUCATION. 133 gifts of public-spirited men." While according to private beneficence the "warmest gratitude and praise," he takes the ground that it does not become this nation " to depend on charity for the education of our sons and the upholding of our national character." He says : " This dependence on single and private bequests of rich individuals is a relic of a state of society which never existed among us, and to which we have nothing else corresponding. In the Catholic ages, * * * when men thought their peace with heaven could be made at dying for lives spent in violation of all its laws, by founding or endowing public institutions for religion and literature, there was no need of the interference of the state for the erection of these establishments." Mr. Everett says that the situation has entirely changed. We now lack the means of " extort- ing bequests from departing profligates and heretics." There are few good men who can really afford to build colleges, regardless of the in- terests of their children or natural heirs. In any case, the public has no right to depend solely upon private philanthropy for the endowment of educational institutions. Mr. Everett maintained that " enlightening, instructing, and elevating the nation" is the most sacred of public du- ties. " Who can see without shame that the Federal Government of America is the only government in the civilized world that has never founded a literary institution of any description or sort?" When we reflect that the establishment of university education by the State of Virginia was the immediate occasion of this extraordinary declaration, by a Harvard professor, in favor of the Federal endowment of the highest education, we shall realize that Jeft'ersonian ideas were capable of starting something more than a local ripple in academic cir- cles at Cambridge. It is very interesting to note that in 1820 the only two men in the Harvard faculty who had been educate^ in Europe were Edward Everett ^ and George Ticknor. Both were friends and 'In a biographical sketch of Edward Everett (1794-1865) by Edward Everett Hale, in the Encycldpaadia Britannica, it is stated that after resigaing a Boston pastorate in 1814, Mr. Everett devoted five years to European study, in preparation for a professor- ship in Greek literature at Harvard College. Entering upon his duties about the same time as did Mr. Ticknor, Mr. Everett, " for five years more gave a vigorous im- pulse, not simply to the study of Greek, but to all the work of the college. About the same time he assumed charge of the North American Review, which now became a quarterly ; and he was indefatigable in contributing on a great variety of subjects, with a spirit like Sydney Smith's in the early days of the Edinburgh Review. He vigorously defended American institutions against the sneers of English travellers, and had reason to congratulate himself on the success of a series of articles writte? to bring about a better mutual understanding between Englishmen and Aipericans. The success of his lectures in Cambridge, and the enthusiasm aroused by the rebellion in.; Greece, led him to deliver a series of popular lectures on Greek antiquities in Boston . They were the first lectures oil purely literary or historical subjects ever delivered in America, and were the first steps toward a system of popular entertainment and, education which now has very wide sweep in the United States." In 18^4 Mr. Ever- ett resigned his professorship and became a member of Congr ess. He had a seat in the House for ten years. In 1835 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and served in that ofBoe fbr four years. He was United States minister to England in 134 JEFFERSON AND THE UN^IVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. correspondents of Tbonjas Jefferson. The broad minds of these two able professors, liberalized, like Jefferson's, by European travel and study, were moved by his suggestions to thoughts that will widen in future generations. jeffbeson's comment on the review. Everett's review of Jefferson's report came under the eye of the latter, although it is doubtful whether he knew the authorship of the article. On the 15th of August, 1820, Jefferson wrote to his old friend, John Adams : " I have lately had an opportunity of reading a critique on this institution in your North American Review of January last, having been not without anxiety to see what that able work would say of us ; and I was relieved on finding in it much coincidence of opinion, and even where criticisms were indulged, I found they would have been obviated had the developments of our plan been fuller. But these were restrained by the character of the paper reviewed, being merely a report of oat- lines, not a detailed treatise, and addressed to a legislative body, not to a learned academy." 1841> Hewasthe immediate successor of Josiah Quincy as president of Harvard College in 1846, resigning two years later. He was Secretary of State nnder Fillmore, and later became Senator from Massachusetts. Resigning on account of his health in 1854, he devoted the rest of his life to literary pursuits. He delivered his last great oration at Gettysburg in 1865, an effort which resulted in his death that year. CHAPTER X. JEFFERSON'S SCHOOL OF LAW, POLITICS, AND HISTORY. i PATRIOTIC MOTIVES OP JEFFERSON. Patriotic motives moved Jefferson to the idea that youth who were to become' American citizens needed such training in moral and political science as would fit them for the practical duties of citizenship and self- government. Nothing is clearpr in Jefferson's educational philosophy than his recognition of the importance of moral and political education under our American system of government. Our American colleges and universities have hardly yet risen to the Jeffersonian ideal in either of these great branches of education. As a matter of fact, there is almost no recognized connection between morals and politics, either in our organized systems of instruction or in political life. Jefferson , had the idea of establishing a school of law and politics, based upon ethics, natural science, and the ancient and modern lan- guages, which were to be associated respectively with ancient and modern history and literature. All the arts and sciences were to be tributary to the education of American citizens for their highest duties. Separate the patriotic idea from the institution of the Univer- sity of Virginia and you have removed its roof and crown. Jeffersou repeatedly expressed the idea that the University was patriotic in pur- pose; it was to be for the beneflt of his State and native country. He looked upon the appointment of English professors "as one of the efft- eacious means of promoting that cordial good will which it is so much the interest of both nations to cherish." He wrote to the Hon. J. Evelyn Deuison, a member of Parliament, that it was the interest of America to receive instruction through English teachers, and it was England's interest to furnish It ; " for these two nations holding cordially together have nothing to fear from the united world. They will be the models for regenerating the condition of man, the sources from which represent- ative government is to flow over the whole earth." Through Jeffer- son's plans for university education ran a broad and generous purpose ; but he was practical enough to see that America must have her own political philosophy. 135 136 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. -V? JEFFERSON'S INFLUENCE UPON POLITICAL EDUCATION. Jefferson early interested himself in devising a proper system of polit- ical education for American youth. As far back as 1816 he recommended to the president of William and Mary College Destutt Tracj^'s Review of Montesquieu as " the best elementary book on the principles of gov- ernment and as equally sound and corrective in political economy." He said Ohipman's and Priestley's Principles of Government and the Fed- eralist vrere excellent, but not comparable to the above review for funda- mental principiles. Tracy's work was actually adopted by Dr. Smith for the students of William and Mary College. A more formal treatise by Tracy upon political economy Jefferson caused to be translated. He revised the copy and proof with his own hands and prepared an anony- mous prospectus^ or preface to the work, sketching the history of politi- cal economy and ranking Tracy as a worthy successor of Jean Baptiste Say, Adam Smith, Dupont de Nemours, Turgot, LeFrosne, Goarnay, and Qnesnay who were the founders of the modern science of poUti- cal economy. This preface is perhaps the first attempt of an American to treat economics from an historical point of view. The translation, published by Joseph Milligan, of Georgetown, D. C, in 1817, is proba- bly the first systematic treatise on political economy that ever appeared in this Country." The work was translated from the French manuscript, the publication of which had been forbidden in France, as was Tracy's Eeview of Montesquieu, which Jefferson brought out as a political text- book on the science of government for American youth. Thus Jefferson prepared the way for the entrance of political science into American colleges. He deserves the credit of first introducing at Williamsburg, as early as 1779, thfs modern current; but it was strength- ened by correspondence with the French economists. Count Destutt Tracy and Dupont de Nemours, and with the English refugee. Judge Cooper, who was one of the earliest economists in the United States and the first professor appointed for the University of Virginia. Into this in- stitution the modern current was turned by Jefferson, and from thence it hurried on to the College of South Carolina, whither Cooper^ was ' See Jeiferson's letter to Milligan, the publisher, April 6, 181ti. 2 Professor Cooper brought out in the year 1819 an adaptation of Say's Political Economy for the use of American youth. This work continued to be used as a text- book by Francis Lieber, whose annotated copy is now in the possession of the his- torical department of the Johns Hopkins University. Cooper early dabbled in eco- nomics while' living at Carlisle, Pa., where he appears to have edited or contributed to a publication called the Emporium. Jefferson wrote him January 16, 1814 : " Yen have given us, in your Emporium, Bollman's medley on Political Economy. It is a work of one who sees a little of everything and the whole of nothing, and were it not for your own notes on it, a sentence of which throws more just light on the sub- ject than all his pages, we should regret the place it occupies of more useful matter." In the same letter Jefferson acknowledges the receipt of Cooper's edition of Justinian, with notes, probably the first work on Roman law ever published in America, and advises the historical study of the common law of England, with valuable sugges- tions to that end. A SCHOOL OP POLITICS., 137 called, and where he was succeeded by Francis Lieber, the great German tributary to American political science. POLITICAL TEXT-BOOKS FOE THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. When the University of Virginia was founded, it became a vital question in Jefferson's mind what political philosophy should be tq;Ught to students. While he believed in general in leaving the matter of text-books entirely to the professors, yet he maintained in a letter to Cabell, February 3, 1825, " there is one branch in which we are the best judges, in which heresies may be taught of so interesting a char- acter to our own State, and to the United States, as to make it a duty in us to lay down the principles which are to be taught. It is that of government. Mr. Grilmer being withdrawn, we know not who his suc- cessor may be. He may be a Eichmond lawyer, or one of that school of quondam Federalism, now consolidation. It is our duty to guard against such principles being disseminated among our youth, and the diffusion of that poison, by a previous prescription of the texts to be followed in their discourses." Thereupou Jefferson inclosed a list of authorities which he and Madison had previously agreed upon as sufil- ciently sound for American pedagogical purposes. While recognizing the impropriety of using the University of Virginia as a school of party polities, the critic can really find no gejieral fault with th§ political pabulum chosen for Virginia youth at that period, l^he works recom- mended were the product of their time, and were congenial tp the minds of most Virginians. i The following list of authorities appears to have been agreed upon by Jefferson and Madison, after due consultation : (1) Sidney's Discourses and Locke's Essay on Civil Government. Madi- son said these were " admirably calculated to impress on young miflds the right of nations to establish their own governments, and to inspire a love of free ones," although, as Madison admits, they " afford no aid in guarding our republican charters against construistive violence." (2) The Declaration of Independence, " as the fundamental act of union of these States." (3) The Federalist, "as the most authentic exposition of the text of the Federal Constitution, as understood by the body which' prepared and the authority which accepted it." Madison adds that the Federal- ist " has been actually admitted into two universities, if not niore — those of Harvard and Ehode Island — but probably at the choice of the pro- fessors, without any injunction from superior authority." (4) The Virginia Document of 1799. This was a political commen- tary on the famous Virginia resolutions of 1798,' which affirmed that the 1 Upon this point see Madison's Writings, III, 481-482, and IV, 308. The Virginia" Document may be found reprinted in Niles's Register, 1833. An interesting discussion of a similar set of resolutions, prepared chiefly by Jefferson, may be found in the Na- tion for May 5, 1887, entitled ',' The Kentucky Resolutions in a New Light," by Miss 140 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. ure right. To a certain extent, American youth require American training in the duties of citizenship. There are lines in politics, as ia religion, which must be drawn. In the former they mark what incH call patriotism, national independence, loyalty to kindred, country; or race. JEFFERSON ON THE STUDY OF HISTORY. It was provided in Jefterson's educational plan that ancient history and ancient geography should be studied in connection with theancient languages, and modern history and modern geography in connection with modern languages. The representatives of these great historical fields were George Long on the one side, and George Blaetterman on the other. From the excellence of the historical and geographical work represented by Long's History of Eome and Long's Classical Atlas, we may rest assured that his teaching in these branches was of a high or- der. Of Blaetterman's work we have only the presumptive evidence of German training, which has favored history most decidedly since the time of the Napoleonic wars, when the restoration of Germany began in schools and universities. Jefferson's own views upon the study of history are precisely stated in a letter addressed to one of the newly-appointed professors, and dated October 25, 1825 : " I know not whether the professors to whom ancient and modem history are ass igned in the University have yet decided on the course of historical reading which they will recommend to their schools. If they have, I wish this letter to be coiisidered as not written, as their course, the result of mature consideration, will be preferable, to any- thing I could recommend. Under this uncertainty, and the rather as you are of neither of these schools, I may hazard some general ideas, to be corrected by what they may recommend hereafter. " In all cases I prefer original authors to compilers. For a course of ancient history, therefore, of Greece and Eome especially, I should advise the usual suite of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Diodorus, Livy, Caesar, Suet onius, Tacitus, and Dion, in their originals if under- stood, and in trans lations if not. For its continuation to the final destruction of the Empire we must then be content with Gibbons [sic], a compiler, and with S6gur for a judicious recapitulation of the whole. After this general course, there are a number of particular histories filling up the chasms, which may be read at leisure in the progress of life. Such is Arrian, Q. Curtius, Polybius, Sallust, Plutarch, Dionysius [of] Halicarnassus, Micasi, etc. The ancient universal history should be on our shelves as a book of general reference, the most learned and most faithful, perhaps, that ever was written. Its style is very plain but perspicuous. ' Long 'wrote a very valuable work on historical geography, and a treatise on the Q-eography of America and the West Indies. He was also one of the editors of a special work on the Geography of Great pritain (Part I, England and Wales. Lon- don, no date). ' JEFFEESON ON HISTORY. 141 "In modern history, there are but two nations with whose course it is interesting to us to be intimateily acquainted, to wit: Prance and England. For the former, Millot's General History of France may be sufficient to the period when 1 Davila commences. He should be fol- lowed by P6r6flxe, Sully, Voltaire's Louis XIV and XV, Lacretelle's XVIII"* Sifecle, Marmontel's E6gence, Foulongion's French EeVolu- tion, and Madame de Stael's, making up by a succession of particular history the general one which they want. ^ ' " Of England there is as yet no general history so faithful as Eapin's. He may be followed by Ludlow, Fox, Belsham, Hume, and Brodie. Hume's, were it faithful, would be the finest piece of history which Mas ever been written by man. Its unfortunate bias may be partly ascribed to the accident of his having written backwards. His maiden work was the History of the Stuarts. It was a first essay to try his strength before the public. And whether as a Scotchman be had really a par- tiality for that family, or thought that the lower their degradation the more fame he should acquire by raising them up to some favor, the object of his work was an apology for them. He spared nothing, tl^ere- fore, to wash them white and to palliate their inisgovernment. For this purpose he suppressed truths, advanced falsehoods, forged author- ities, and falsified records. All this is proved on him unanswerably by Brodie. But so bewitching was his style and manner, that his readers were unwilling to doubt anything, swallowed everything, and all Eng- land became tories by the magic of his art. His pen revolutionized the public sentiment of that country more completely than the standing armies could ever have done, which were so much dreaded and depre- cated by the patriots of that day." Jefferson then proceeds, in a somewhat elaborate way, to criticise Hume's history of the dynasties preceding the Stuarts, in which Hume maintained the thesis of his first work, that " jt was the people who en- croached on the sovereign, not the sovereignwho usurped the rights of the people." Hume's third work was a complete history of England, basing its Constitution upon the physical force oJf the iTorman conquest. Condemning this philosophy of English history, Jeftierson maintained that whig historians " have always gone back to the Saxon period for the true principles of their Constitution, while the tories and Hime, their Coryphaeus, date it from the Norman conquest, and hence conclude that the continual claim by the nation of the good old Saxon laws, and the ^ruggles to recover them, were ' encroachments of the people on thp crown, and not usurpations of the crown on the people.' " Jefferson said that Hume, with Brodie, was the last of English histories which the stu- dent should read. "If first read, Hume makes an English tory, from whence it is an easy step to American toryism [Federalism]. But there is a history, by Baxter, in which, abridging somewhat by leaving out some entire incidents as less interesting now than when Hume wrote, he has given the rest in the identical words of Hume, except tha;t when he comes to a fact falsified, he states it truly, and when to a sup- 144 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OP VIRGINIA. urgency, A letter of a page or two costs me a day of labor, and a painful labor." Cabell's more active service to the University in the Virginia Legis- lature lasted for about twenty years. His record there is all the more remarkable, because he wsis a man of delicate constitution. He suf- fered from malaria and hemorrhages of the lungs. His declaration, Desk on which the Declaration o! Inaependenoe was written. From a Drawing by Jefferson.' that he could not risk his life in a better cause than that of the Univer- sity, was no unmeaning phrase, for he repeatedly exposed himself with the utmost daring in those arduous educational campaigns. Only once did he falter. In 1821, when suffering from bodily weakness, worn out ,n--aj^ Jefferson's Chair and Writing Table.' with public speaking, utterly weary of politics, and of Eichmond hotels,: where he had lived for thirteen winters, and longing for return to " do- mestic, rural, and literary leisure," Cabell wrote to Jefferson, expressing a purpose of speedily withdrawing from the Legislature. Then it was that the old hero felt his soul stir within him. He wrote a letter from theheightsofMonticello, words of almost prophetic significance, moving 1 Published ty courtesy of the Century Company. VIEW OP MONTICELLO 145 I § 1 3 17036— Fo. 2 10 146 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. Cabell to remain loyal to the greatest purpose of his life. AppeallH,| at once to his patriotism and his sense of duty, Jefferson said : "I know well your devotion to your country, and your foresight of the awfal scenes coming on her, sooner or later. With this foresight, what service can we ever render her [the University] equal to this ? What object of our lives can we propose so important ? What interest of our own which ought not to be postponed to this ? Health, time, labor, on what in the single life which nature has given us, can these be better bestowed thain on this immortal boon to our country? The exertions and the mortifications are temporary ; the benefit eternal. If any member d| our college of visitors could justifiably withdraw from this sacred duty,' it would be.myself, who, ' quadragenis stipendiis jamdudumperactis,' have neither vigor of body nor mind left to keep the field ; but I will die in the last ditch. And so, I hope, you will, my friend, as well as our firm- breasted brothers and colleagues, Mr. Johnson and General Brecken- ridge. * * * Pray then, dear and very dear sir, do not think of deserting us, but view the sacrifices which seem to stand in your way as the lesser duties, and , such as ought to be postponed to this, the greatest of all. Continue with us in these holy labors, until having seen their accomplishment, we may say with old Simeon, 'nunc dimittas, Bomine.'' " ' Cabell replied, " It is not in my nature to resist such an appeal. " Without further words upon the subject of domestic comfort, rural pleasure, or literary ease, this noble scholar returned to politics and to the business of sustaining the University by good legislation. He con- tinued to serve the institution as legislator, visitor, add rector until his death, in 1856. Such was the self-sacrificing and devoted spirit which entered into the life and constitution of the University of Virginia. The final recognition of the university idea and its lo^al maintenance through every crisis, by the common people of Yirginia, illustrates the truth of Eobert Browning's verse : " A people is but the attempt of many To rise to the completer life of one, " THE FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. Emerson's words, with which the writer began the present mono- graph, recur now with renewed force: '■'■An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man." This saying has peculiar significance to one who has studied with some care the origin of the University of Virginia, and who has stood in front of Jefferson's house at Monticello and looked across that beautiful country toward tfie " academical village" which- represents the best energies of his life. From that height Jefferson watched Aaj by day the building of his University. It is a local tra- dition that often, when the work of the masons appeared to be going wrong, Jefferson would mount his horse and ride over in hot haste to ' Jefferson's letter to Cabell, January 31, 1821. VIEW OF MONTICELLO. Ul 5- o a H n f f o ^ a ? 5 148 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIYEESITY OF VIRGINIA. correct the error. We can well believe it ; for in August, 1820, he wrote to John Adams : " Our University, four miles distant, gives .me fre- quent exercise, and the oftener, as I direct its architecture." The build- ings of the University of Virginia are Jefferson's thoughts material- ized in artistic form. If those pavilions and that grand rotunda should ever be shaken down by an earthquake, the future archaeologist might perhaps find the name of Jefferson upon every stone in the ruins. Jefferson died with the feeling that the University w^s not yet fully appreciated by his fellow-citizens ; but he was confident that posterity would do it justice. He once wrote to Cabell : " I have long been , sen- sible that while I was endeavoring to render our country the greatest of all services, and placing our rising generation on the level of our sis- ter States (which they have proudly-held heretofore), I was discharging the odious function of a physician pouring medicine down the throat of a patient insensible of needing ir. I am so sure of the future approba- tion of posterity, and of the inestimable effect we shall have produced in the elevation of our country by what we have done, as that I can not repent of the part I have borne in co-operation with my colleagues." The University was the noblest work of Jefferson's life. His system of higher education marks the continuation of his personal, vitalizing in- fluencjB in Virginia and in the country at large more truly than does any other of his original creations. By order of Congress a new monument^ has lately been erected upon the site of the old and battered shaft which stood over his grave in that little burying-ground by the road-side, to the left as one goes toward the valley from Jefferson's old home. The new monument bears the in- scription copied from the old stone, which has been piously remove* to the campus of the University of the State of Missouri, at Columbia: '' Here was buried Th'omas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Eeligious Free- dom, and Father of the University of Virginia. Born April 2d, 1743, O. S. Died July 4th, 1826." Here lies a man who gave the best that he had to his country, his State, his friends and neighbors, and to the University which bears not his name but that of Virginia. He sacrificed a large private fortune in ex- penditures for the public good, in the exercise of generous hospitality^ and in meeting obligations incurred by indorsing the notes of a family ' Monument over the Grave of Thomas Jefferson. Letter from the Secretary of State (William M. Evarts) to Hon. D. W. Voorhees, chairman of the Committee on the Library, transmitting letter of the Attorney-General in relation to the obstacles in the way of erecting a monument over the grave of Thomas Jefferson, May 11, 1880. 8vo, pp. 4, Forty-sixth Congress, second sess., Senate, Mis. Doc, No. 88. The Jefferson Monument. Correspondence relating thereto. 1883. Letters from James S. Rollins and Mary B. Randolph concerning "the old Jefferson monument, transplanted from Montioello, Va,, to the campus of the University of the State of Missouri, at Columbia." NEW MONUMENT TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, ERECTED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS, 1882. Jefferson's death. 149 friend, whose bankruptcy gave Jefferson what he called his coup de grdee. . Although the last year of his life threatened to end in trouble and poverty, yet before his death the State of Virginia and its grateful coun- ties, together with friends in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, came to his relief. The spontaneous offering of help by grateful citi- zens throughout a whole country gratified Jefferson beyond measure, and " closed with a cloudless sun a long and serene day of life." OLD MONUMENT TO THOMAS JEFFBESON, NOW ON THE CAMPUS OF THE UNIVEK8ITY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, COLUMBIA, MO. IPuilished by courtesy of the Century Com/p Since 1848 ' It must be stated here that the master's and the bachelor's degrees have no neoea- sary connection with one another. INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHEEN LIFE AND THOUQHT. 155 nine additional degrees have been authorized by the visitors, viz. : Bach- elor of letters, bachelor of science, bachelor of philosophy, bachelor of scientific agriculture (shades of mediaeval Oxford defend us!)^ civil engineer, mining engineer, doctor of letters, doctor of science, and doctor of philosophy. The three last-mentioned degrees are post-grad- uate, and denote a departure from established custom pregnant with interest to the future of the University. Whether the first four degrees enumerated serve any very good purpose is, I conceive, an open ques- tion. It is necessary to add that no honorary degrees are ever con- ferred by the University; a rule originating, I doubt not, in the deter- mination before alluded to, of providing the South with an institution whose degrees should be sure evidence of high merit. We have thus seen the truth of the statement that the faculty and visitors have never been content with present standards, but have always aimed at higher things. We have found points to criticise, it is true, but such as do not affect the general conclusion. Now, it is at once plain that this striving after better results, being, as it were, part of the mental and moral atmosphere of the place, could not fail to affect the minds and characters of many of the students. It is impossible to fully trace the effects of this spirit of enterprise and thorough-goingness^ it , will be sufficient to remark that from 1830 the cause of secondary edu- cation in the South began to revive, and that this revival was largely, if not entirely, due to the graduates of the new institution who went forth as teachers. Another result of this constant iniprovement in method and scope of instruction is found in the fact that there is, scarcely any college in the South which has not to a greater or less, extent modelled its system of teaching after that of the University ; ^ and in the further fact thait the University has always furnished these vari- ous colleges with a large proportion of their professors.^ But I have abeady dwelt too long upon this matter ; the remaining heads can,, however, be more summarily dealt with. ' Mr. S. W. Powell, in an article entitled " Schools in Dixie," which appeared in the Independent for August 18, 1887, gives the number of these colleges as thirty-five. He also adds a statement which is perfectly true : " A scholarly Northern man, who has taught many years inthe South, told me that when he met a graduate of this insti- tution (University of Virginia) he generally could count on finding him a man of exact knowledge and opposed to all shams." I may mention here that a member of our historical seminary at the Johns HopMus, who is also an alumnus of Vanderbilt University, told me that at the latter institution it is a common thing to hear men say, " Oh, if we can just get our standard up to that of the Virginia University we shall be all right." Such praise from a progressive university like Vanderbilt is very gratifying, and shows that rivalry ^rows there like a flower and not like a weed. ^In reviewing- my work, I find it necessary to call attention to the fact that the University is leading in the South along new lines of education as w.ell as along the old. Since Professor Mallet began to teach industrial chemistry in 1868, the Univer- sity has sent out over a dozen professors of chemistry, all of whom have their own 'lahoratories. The great success of the Miller Manual Training School has been largely due to the fact that all tlje principal teachers, and nearly all the subordinate ones, have been University men ; and the best school of the kind in Maryland has been since its foundation in the hands of an alumnus of the University. 156 V JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. SUBSTITUTION OF ELECTIVE FOE CUREICULAK SYSTEM. To enter into a disoussiou of the respective merits of the elective and curricular systems, though logically not ont of place here, would scarcely harmonize with the promise just made. I can dwell on only one point of advantage which the elective system offers, naturally the one which in my opinion has most increased the influence of the University upon the South, viz., the fact that under the elective system poor men who desire to become proficient in one study can come to the IJniversity at a moderate expense, and in one year by hard work fit themselves as thoroughly in that special study as they can under the ordinary col- lege system in three or four years. It is easy to see what a powerfiil lever this has been for raising the poorer classes throughout the South; nor is the beneficial reaction upon the wealthier classes less apparent or important. When we come to the statistical part of our work, we shall see that the above reasoning is in no sense fanciful. HONOR SYSTEM OP DISCIPLINE. I shall be equally brief with regard to the third cause mentioned, viz., the confidence reposed in the students in allowing them to exerci&e col- lege discipline by means of the honor system. To argue at length as to the merits of this system would be superfluous. College spies are as odious as those of government, and have not as much excuse for their existence. All the best principles of paternalism have been present at the University, but the worst principles have been banished since "its foundation. The history of the institution itself furnishes the best com- mentary upon the workings of the honor system. Only one instance is recorded of any serious insubordination, and the cure for that insubor- dination was found in an appeal to the honor of the guilty parties. The effects of such training are not doubtful. Self-reliance, love of truth, jealousy for the good name of all with whom one is intimately con- nected — these are qualities which were inculcated in every student, and which went to form that type of Southern manhood which has had so many noble exemplars. ^ 'With regard to the honor system as extended to examinations, it may be interest- ing to note that such a thing as cheating is almost unheard-of, although the fallest freedom is allowed to the students during the hours set for the examination. The few instances that occur of a student's taking unfair advantage of this confidence re- posed in him furnish further proofs of the excellent results of the honor system ; for it is the students who practically expel the culprit, the faculty's pow^erof expulsion being rarely exercised. An interesting letter upon this subject, addressed to the Hon. N. H. R. Dawson, Commissioner of Education, by John T. Harris, Jr., of Harrison- burg, Va., now lies before rae. I cannot do better than quote his closing sentence: " It [the principle of relying upon a student's honor during examinations] is now a part of the life of the institution, and there are none of her alumni who do not remem- ber with feelings of intense satisfaction that the honors of their alma mater are all the more worth the wearing, because they are not only testimonials of mental at- tainments, but evidence as well the fact of their having been fairly and honorably obtained," INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHEEN LIFE AND THOUGHT. 157 BALANCE HELD BETWEEN THE SECTS ANB PARTIES. The fourth cause of the University's influence was stated to be the even balance held between sect and sect, party and party. Somewhat before the foundation of Mr. Jefferson's ideal college a reaction had set in against the religious indifference of the preceding generation. The history of the colonial church in Virginia is not a bright one, and after the lievolution the gloom deepens. French thought seems to have played an important part m strengthening the general opposition to religion; but that opposition had long been at ^ork in the form of in- difference — a form which, though it may be called weak from a philo- sophical stand-point, is in its effects upon the lower classes of society most subtle and dangerous. It is a mistake to suppose that the gentry alone were irreligious; the clergy and the common people were equally so. Here and there a man like Devereux Jarratt would succeed in arousing some religious enthusiasm ; but one has only to read his let- ters of 1794 and 1795 to see the truth of the statements made above. Indeed, he gives as his reason for writing his life that he must, be do- ing something, for, work as he would, his clerical duties left him ample time for bitter reflection. It is not my intention to describe the manner in which the revival was conducted. By 1825 its effects were very manifest.^ That Mr. Jefferson was foolish enough to believe that he could establish, in the face of this reaction (to say nothing of the total inutility of the project), a university to be conducted on atheistical principles, I, at least, can never be brought to believe. That such a re- port was long current is true ; but in view of the statistics I am about to present, I cannot think that it did the University any great harm. The opinion that the new institution was to be a seminary for atheists has left its evil fruits, as everything that is false must do ; but it is a com- fort to think that the holders of the opinion gathered the crop. It has not even yet wholly died out ; but sensible people are at last becoming a little ashamed to express it — a proof of the truth of the assertion I am about to make, that this principle of holding an even balance between the sects (and^ the same is true to a less degree of parties) has liberalized Southern thought to a most gratifying extent. If any of my readers are opposed to such liberalizing influences, the argument may as well be dropped here ; to those who appreciate the necessity of such influ- ences, any further discussion of the point will seem superfluous. iFor an account of the condition of the early church in Virginia, see Henshaw's Me- moir of Bishop Moore, Chapter IV (Philadelphia, 1843) ; see also Bishop Meade's Old Churches, etc.. Article I ; but the best source of all is the " Life of the Reverend Devereux Jarratt, Rector of Bath Parish, Dinwiddle County, Virginia, written by Himself, in a series of letters addressed to the Rev. John' Coleman," etc. Baltimore: printed by Warner & Hanna, 1806. This book, in addition to its historical value, is as interesting as a novel. But for certain obvious considecatioDS one might imagine Defoe had written it. 158 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OP VIRGINIA. HIGH QUALIFICATIONS OP THE PEOFESSOES. In considering the fifth cause mentioned, viz., the high qualifications, both mental and moral, of the men chosen as instructors, I shall en- deavor to avoid prdlixity ; but, when one is describing character, detaijs are often invaluable, and I may have to employ tfiem, even at the risk of some impatience on the part of my reader. It can hardly be doubted that the influence of a few fine teachers upon their scholars will be felt over almost the whole territory from which those scholars are drawn. Indeed, this will be readily admitted in the case of men of genius; such names as that of Coleridge, or, if a teacher in the professional sense of the word must be chosen, of Dr. Arnold, will at once recur to every mind. Nor must the proposition be essentially modified when we speak of men below the rank of genius ; probably the influence they exert will not be so great, but even this is by no means certain. It remains then for me to show as briefly as I can that the faculty of the University of Virginia has been composed of men whose influence has been great and for the good. To avoid the invidiousness inherent in such an under- taking, is by no means an easy task ; but the attempt must be made. I need hardly state that I do not intend to refer here to any professor \^ho is still living. Mr. Jefferson, determined that his pet institution should not start handicapped, had to look to Europe for a majority of the first faculty. *'Only the two professorships of law and moral philosophy," says Pro£ Scheie De Vere, " Mr. Jefferson, with his usual tact and intuitive just- ness of perception, determined to bestow at all hazards upon natives, as the subjects here to be taught ought to be national in the highest sense of the word. He even suggested that the textbooks to be used by the professor of law should be prescribed, so that ' orthodox political principles ' might be taught and ' the vestal flame of republicanism ' be kept alive." This last is not exactly what we should have expected from a statesman so far ahead of his age. Possibly he was not serious. Certain it is that, had his suggestion been adopted, the Andover con- troversy would have had its parallel in politics. The two pative pro- fessors were George Tucker in the chair of moral philosophy, and John Tayloe Lomax in the chair of law. We shall speak of these before turn- ing our attention to the distinguished foreigners whom Mr. Jefferson invited over to Virginia. GEORGE TUCKER. George Tucker was a native of Bermuda, but was educated at William and Mary College, and for the rest of his life was a resident of the State of Virginia. He engaged at first in the practice of the law, and ■ such was his success, that he was chosen a member of Congress in 1819, and held his seat until called to the University in 1825. In Congress he won deserved recognition as a debater and a constitutional lawyer. He had been known as an author before Mr. Jefferson's choice placed INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT. 159 him at the head of the school of moral philosophy, aud during his long and useful life he can almost be said to have never laid aside his pen. A reference to the list of his works given at the en(i of this monograph will show that Mr. Tucker's heart must have been in his labors, especially in those connected with political economy. Nor must we forget another fact connected with his work, viz., that he early recognized the necessity of teaching literature aud rhetoric systematically, instead of allowing his students to pick up a knowledge of them as they could. To this end he combined instruction in these departments with his own special work in philosophy; a not illogical combination, and a most advanta- geous one to young men who must be presumed to have had little gen- eral educ£ition. As might have been expected, he did not include polit- ical economy in this grouping, but gave special lectures upon this subject, as Mr. Jefferson had before advised. On the whole, we are justified in concluding that the twenty years of Mr. Tucker's stay at the University were highly profitable onies, both to himself and to his stu- dents. In 1845 he retired to Philadelphia, where he lived quietly but not idly ; for much of his best literary work was done during this well- earned rest. He died in 1861, in Albemarle County, Va. When we consider what a condition the country was then in, and when we remem- ber that not twenty years before he had written a history of its progress and development, we are almost tempted to wish that he had not lived so long. , JOHN TAYLOB LOMAX. w ' Of John Tayloe Lomax little need be said, as he only occupied the chair of law for four years — 1826 to 1830. He was a distinguished law- yer in his day, and published two works — a Digest of the Law of Eeal Property, and The Law of Executors and Administrators. This last work is still highly prized in Virginia, and perhaps in other States. Mr. Lomax, after severing his connection with the University, became one of the justices of the General Court. He was succeeded by John A. G, Davis, a lawyer of high ability, who published a work on criminal law. Indeed, the making of books seems to have characterized the pro- fessors in this department. Mr. Davis was followed by Judge H. St. Oeorge Tucker, who was a son of the still more distinguished St. George Tucker, and who had been a member of Congress (1815-19) and presi- dent of the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Judge Tucker was the author of several legal works of high repute. The foreigners invited over by Mr. Jefferson were five in number : George Long, George Blaetterman, LL. D., Thomas Hewett Key, ■Charles Bonnycastle, and Eobley Dunglison. Of these we shall speak briefly. . GEORGE LONG. George Long filled the chair of ancient languages from 1825 to 1828. He was a master of arts and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and 160 JEFFERSON A.ND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. on the establishment of the University of London was called home to ' fill the chair of Greek in that institution, Mr. Long's influence upon ' his fellow teachers and his students was great, notwithstanding his short stay ; for he fixed the standard of requirement in his classes at a higher point than was then known in this country, and he was the in- structor and life-long friend of his successor, G-essner Harrison, whose immense influence upon the University we shall soon consider at some length. To characterize the scholarship of a man so well known would be a work of supererogation on my part, if not of impertinence ; but I can not forbear quoting in this connection the opinion of the man who was perhaps the best fitted of all English critics to judge such matters- Mr. Matthew Arnold. In his essay on Marcus Aurelius,^ speaking of Mr. Long's translation of the Meditations, Mr. Arnold said: "Mr, Long's reputation as a scholar is a sufficient guarantee of the general fidelity and accuracy of his translation : on these matters, besides, I am hardly entitled to speak, and my praise is of no value. But that for which I and the rest of the unlearned may venture to praise Mr. Long is this : that he treats Marcus Aurelius's writings, as he treats all the other remains of Greek and Eoman antiquity which he touches, not as a dead and dry matter of learning, but as documents with a side of mod- ern applicability and living interest, and valuable mainly so far as this ' side in them can be made clear ; that as in his notes on Plutarch's Eo- man Lives he deals with the modern epoch of Caesar and Cicero, not as food for school-boys, but as food for men, and men engaged in the cur- rent of contemporary life and action, so in his remarks and essays on Marcus Aurelius, he treats this truly modern striver and thinker, not as a classical dictionary hero, but as a present source from which to draw j j ' example of life, and instruction of manners.' Why may not a son of Dr. Arnold say, what migbt naturally here be said by any other critic, J ! that in this lively and fruitful way of considering the men and affairs of ancient Greece and Rome, Mr. Long resembles Dr. Arnold?" GEOKGB BLAETTEEMAN. I regret that 1 have not been able to obtain more facts of importance with I'^egard to Dr. George Blaettermau. He was a German by birth, but^was residing in London at, the time Mr. Jefferson selected him to teach the modern languages. Dr. Adams has already laid sufQcienf stress upon Mr. Jefferson's wonderful anticipation of modern educa- tional ideas, so 1 need only remind the reader that the University of Virginia was the first college in this country which taught these lan- guages as carefully as it did the classical, and which included among them the Anglo-Saxon. Dr. Gessner Harrison bears testimony to Dr. Blaetterman's abilities in the following words : " He gave proof of ex- j i tensive acquirements, and of a mind of uncommon natural vigor and penetration. In connection more especially with the lessons on German ' Essays in Criticism, by Matthew Arnold. INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT./ 161 and Anglo-Saxon, he gave to his students much that was interesting and valuable in comparative philology also, a subject in which he found peculiar pleasure." ^ Dr. Blaetterman occupied his chair until 1840. f THOMAS HEWETT KEY.^ The first professor of mathematics was Thomas Ilewett Key, a mas- ter of arts of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a few years older than Long, and spent two or three years after getting his degree in studying medicine. The climate of Virginia did not suit him, so he re- turned to England in 1827, and in the following year was elected pro- fessor of Latin in the University of London, thus again becoming a col- league of Mr. Long's. About 1840 he gave up the chair of Latin, and became professor of comparative grammar and head-master of the pre- paratory school connected with the University. He. died in November, 1875. Mr. Key's reputation as a philologist has been assured by the publication of many valuable works, of which a partial list will be found at the end of this monograph. CHARLES BONNYCASTLE. Charles Bonnycastle was first invited to teach natural philosophy, but on the removal of Mr. Key to England the department of mathematics was assigned to him, Eobert M. Patterson, of Philadelphia, afterwards , sub-director of the United States Mint, succeeding him in the chair of natural philosophy. Mr. Bonnycastle was educated at the Eoyal Mili- tary Academy of Woolwich, where his father was a professor. This Mr. John Bonnycastle was a noted mathematician in his day, and the University got the benefit of much of his experience through his son, who seems to have had a decided influence upon its methods of instruc- tion. From a letter from Chairman Venable, the present professor of mathematics, I gather that the examinations set by Mr. Bonnycastle were "years ahead of any mathematical instruction given to any college classes in the United States." He introduced the use of the ratio meth^od of the trigonometrical functions, first used in the English universities in 1830. This is but one of the many facts which show how thoroughly the University of Virginia kept abreast with the times — ^in many in- stances almost even with the institutions of Europe — far ahead of those in this country. Mr. Bonnycastle held his chair Until 1840. He was succeeded by J. J. Sylvester, who was followed by Edward Courtenay, a graduate of West Point and a mathematician of high standing. A treatise on the integral calculus, which Mr, Courtenay left at his death, was published for the benefit of his fiamily, and was used as a text- book at the University for many years. Only within the last three or four years has a more suitable book been found for the class. ' Dnyokinok'a Cyclopaedia of American Literature, II, 725. 'I find Mr. Key's middle name spelt Hewitt in many places, bat autograph letters prove that he himself wrote Hewett. 17036— N"o. 2 11 162 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. I DE. EGBLET DUNGLISON.* The name of Dr. Eobley Dunglison is so familiar to all who have dipped into medical literature, even to those whose attention is not directed further than to the backs of the books, that I need hardly dwell upon it here. Dr. Dunglison was born at Keswick, England, in 1798. He was educated at Erlangen, in Germany, and came to this country at Mr. Jefferson's request in 1825. He remained eight years at the Uni- versity, and left a deep impression upon the minds of all who knew him. In 1833 he became a professor in the University of Maryland, and was afterwards called to Jefferson College, Philadelphia. He died in this latter city in 1869. Dr. Dunglison, in addition to his vast professional acquirements, was a man of scholarly feelings and of general culture. His contributions to medical science were valuable and extensive. Next to Mr. Long, he was probably the most widely distinguished man con- nected with the early faculty. " It may be well to note here that the medical school was at first estab- lished to give culture and training in medical science to the general stu- dent, rather than to furnish thorough professional training to the would- be practitioner. But this idea was, in some respects, too much ahfead of the times, and in some not sufflciently in keeping with the requirements of the position the new college had taken upon itself to fill, so in 1827, as we have already seen, the school was re-organized as follows : Eob- ley Dunglison, M. D., professor of physiology, theory and practice of medicine, obstetrics, and medical jurisprudence; John P. Emmet, M. D., professor of chemistry and materia medica ; Thomas Johnson^ M. D., demonstrator of anatomy and surgery. Certainly, if the date be borne in mind, no one can complain of the narrowness of this scheme of studies. DE. JOHN P. EMMET. John P. Emmet, M. D., who first taught chemistry and natural history, was a nephew of the famous Irish patriot, and was born in Dublin in 1797. 'I have before me a copy of Danglisoa's Human Physiology, Sd edition, Philadel- phia, 1838. I am informed by high medical authority that this work has a most im- portant position in the history of American medical science. The first edition was published before the author had left the UnlTersity, and was designed aa a text-book for his students. It was dedicated to ex-President Madison, whom Dr. Dunglison had known while the former was rector of the board of visitors. Foreign and native scientific journals were loud in their praise of it, and it is still interesting even to the general reader, who is at once struck by the author's acquaintance, not only witih German contributions to science, but also with general literature. * The facts presented in the preceding sketches are mainly derived from a compari- son of the accounts to be found in various encyclopaedias, and from an article on the University of Virginia, by Dr. Gessner Harrison, in Duyckinok's Cyclopsedia of Ameri- can Literature, II, 725. A memoir of Dr. Dunglison was published by his soni Dr. E. J. Dunglison, in 1870. For the early years of the University the preface to Dr. Scheie De Vere's catalogue, and an address delivered by the late Professor Tat" wiler, of Alabama, before the alumni in 1883, may be consulted. INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT. 163 His father having emigrated to New York, young Emmet was sent to West Point; then he got a year of travel abroad, and finally was gradu- ated a doctor of medicine from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Few Tork. Dr. Emmet was highly qualified for the position he occu- pied, and was for a long time a contributor to scientific journals. His disposition was genial and winning, and we shall not be wrong in at- tributing to him many of those fine endowments which are not to be gained from the study of books, but which are eminently necessary to the teacher who would animate and encourage as well as instruct. ' i DR. aESSNEK HARRISON. We now come to the man who of all others had, as far as I am able to see, the greatestinfluenoe upon the University, and, throughhis students, upon Southern life and thought; I refer to Dr. Gessner Harrison.^ Whatever may be the value of memorial literature for the historical student, it too often belongs to the *' no-booii " class of literature which excited — I can not say the ire — perhaps I had better say the pity of Charles Lamb ; but the memorial address of Dr. John A. Broadus upon Gessner Harrison is certainly worth reading, apart from its interest to the friend or special student. The subject of the address was born in 1809, and was one of the first students entered at the new University. At the beginning of his career he intended to make a physician of himself, but he devoted much attention to the study of the ancient languages under Mr. Long. In 1828 he was one of the threei graduates in Greek and also one of the three in medicine, these being the first men regularly graduated by the University. But he was not destined to be a physician. Mr. Long had been recalled to England and had been asked to name his suc- cessor. To the surprise of all he named Gessner Harrison, then barely twenty-one. The visitors, with many misgivings we may imagine, gave him the appointment for one year ; the^'next year they made it perma- nent. Of course such a thing could not happen now except in the case of a second Mill. The study of Sanskrit and of comparative philology has so widened the field of investigation that no man of twenty-one would now be qualified to undertake the teaching of oneof thecl^-ssical languages in a. college of high standing, much less of both. But the case was very different in 1828. The philosophy of language was to all intents and purposes unknown, and the ignorance of a few facts more or less as to syntax would hardly make against a teacher's general effii- oiency. That it was a highly responsible position can not, however, be denied ; that the young man filled it nobly is equally patent to the stu- dent of his life. We may pass over the troubles of the youthful professor, although they were serious enough, owing to the bad state of secondary educa- ' The best source of information -with regard to Gessner Harrison seems to be a memorial address delivered before the alumni by Dr. John A. Broadus, published as a pamphlet, also in the Southern Review, Vol. XIH,' p. 334 (1873), and in his SermonB and Addresses (Baltimore, 1887). I have drawn largely upon this in the following sketch. 164 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. tion and to the lawlessness of a few of the students. It is sufficient to say that in the opinion of many who from a long life and distinguished position have had opportunities for judging, Gessner Harrison achieved a remarkable triumph over his difficulties, and that without invidious- uess he may be said to have done more than any one man, with the single exception of Mr. Jefferson, in raising the standard of education throughout the South. From 1828 to 1859 he labored zealously and successfully ; then, worn-out and fearing that he could not make a proper provision for his large family, he resigned his professorship and opened a classical boarding school. Attracted by hie reputation, pupils came from all parts of the South. But the War broke out and Gessner Har- rison did not survive it. From nursing a son who had sickened with camp-fever, he contracted a modification of the disease and died on the 7th of April, 1862. A more fitting end to his career could not have been wished : he lived for others, he died for another. A few words as to his methods of teaching, and I shall hasten on to the consideration of our sixth and last cause. He laid great stress on the necessity for a thorough knowledge of history and geography in studying the classics ; and as text-books were wanting he prepared a pamphlet to meet the needs of his students. Says Dr. Broadus : " In history he seized at the outset upon the ideas of Niebuhr, and even in the first half of his cajreer made a great impression upon, at least, a few minds, though greatly hindered by the lack of a text-book. In the latter half he was cheered and assisted by the appearance of Ar- nold's Eome and of Grote's Greece, followed by manuals not ill-suited to the wants of his class. There was then in the University no profes- sor of history in general, and many remember as an epoch in their lives the views of history and enthusiasm for its study which they derived from Dr. Harrison." With regard to comparative philology the labors of Gessner Harrison deserve more attention than I could give them in this article, even were I qualified to pass judgment upon them ; but a few words must be said on the subject. Mr. Long sent his successor copies of the earlier por- tions of Bopp's Comparative Grammar, the first part of which appeared in 1833. Dr. Harrison seized upon these, and began independent work in the application of the new methods to the ancient languages. Nat- urally his students came in for a share of the benefits derived from this study, and Dr. Broadus gives an amusing account of how the profes- ' sor's enthusiasm was received by some of them. " Old Gess's humbug- ' gery " seems quite a fit expression for the modern sophomore. This application of the German methods was long after unknown in any other American college ; it was still unpracticed in the English univer- sities, and had not met with general recognition even in Germany itself. When Dr. Gildersleeve entered the faculty of the University, he found, to use Dr. Broadus's words, " that his colleague, Dr. Harrison, had long been making free use of coniiparative philology at a time when in the INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT. 165 leading universities of Germany it was scarcely at all applied to the ex- planation of Latin and Greek, and that he himself could profit by the views found in Dr. Harrison's Latin Grammar." ^ Besides a sketch of the University in Dayokinck's Oyclopsodia of American Literature, Dr. Harrison published a Latin Grammar, and a Treatise on the Greek Prepositions and the Cases of Nouns with Which They are Used. Of the value of these last I am not able to speak per- sonally ; for various reasons they were not adapted to popular use, and the predominance of German works on the subjects they treated may account for their not having taken a higher stand with advanced philo- logians. Dr. Broadus mentions that Bishop Bllicott, the distinguished English commentator, spoke very favorably of the "Greek Prepositions." About 1870, according to the same authority, an American student showed the Latin grammar to Curtins at Leipsic. On returning it the great scholar said : " This is a good book, an excellent book for the time at which it appeared, though of course we have got a good way beyond it by this time." " Had Ourtius known," continues Dr. Broadus, " that nearly all of the etymological portion, to which alone his attention was ' directed, had appeared in the earlier volume which Dr. Harrison printed for his class in 1839, only six years after Bopp's first part was published, and at least six years before Oartiua himself made his first publication, he would doubtless have used still stronger language." Such was the character and work of this extraordinary man. Al- though more attention has been given to him than to any other of his fellow- workers, I can not think that attention disproportionate. It ne- cessitates, however, my passing over the names of others upon whom I would willingly dwell, vl should love to write of William B. Rogers, so well known for his devotion to science, and dear to Massachusetts as the first president of her Institute of Technology. ' Then there are other names that come to mind: Socrates Maupin, William H. Mc- Guffey, Stephen O. Southall, John Staige Davis. All these did their work nobly and faithfully, and shall they not be mentioned? But a line must be drawn somewhere, and I draw it with my humble tribute to one whose loss the University has had recently to deplore. I refer to that highly gifted man, Dr. John H. Wheeler, a graduate of Harvard ' and Bonn, a pupil of Professor Gildersleeve, a.nd the successor of Dr. ^ Price as professor of Greek in the University of Virginia. He was one of the very few of whom it may be said that outside and inside the teacher you found the whole-souled man. UNIQUE POSITION OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE SOUTH. The sixth and last cause mentioned is also a resultant of the five causes previously enumerated. But the unique position of the University with regard to Southern education was also due to the absence of statesmen of Mr. Jefferson's calibre, to the inability in a large measure of the other ' A memorial of William B. Rogers by William Cabell Elves was published at Cam- bridge, Mass., in 1883. 166 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRaiNIA. Southern States to shake off the trammels of sectarian prejudice, and to the condition of secondary education which made it practically need- less that each State should have a separate university of high standing. That of Wginia for a long time suflced for the whole South; and the wideness of the field from which it drew its students is a partial explan- ation of the wide-reaching character of the influence it exerted. I now pass to the statistical portion of my inquiry. IL— Statistics. The following tables have been prepared with great pains, and it is hoped that they are comparatively free from errors. In dealing with over nine thousand names and nearly one hundred thousand facts, some small errors may have crept into my calculations, but from the nature of the work these will be found on the side of underestimatioa. I have still further guarded against the possibility of any mistakes in fayor of the University by giving round numbers and percentages in the first two tables, always striking off the eytra units and decimals. The third table could not be treated in this way; but I think it is to all intents correct. In this connection I should state that the source from which I have mainly derived my information is the semi-centennial catalogue of the University, compiled by Prof. Scheie De Yere and Oapt. Joseph Yan Holt Nash, and published in Baltimore in 1878. This is a very valuable work, and a treasure to the alumnus who has not forgotten his alma mater. Its preparation cost immense labor, bnt its editors have already had their reward in the thanks of all well wishers to the University. Speaking of the memory of an alumnus, re- minds me of a curious psychological fact mentioned in the preface to the catalogue, that not a few letters were received written by men who claimed to have won honors at the University and to be warmly attached to it, but who were found never to have been entered on the record. I have been through this catalogue, from A to Z, and have discovered very few errors. Some mistakes with reference to the degrees conferred I was enabled to correct by means of a valuable little pamphlet issued by the university authorities in 1880, entitled " A Sketch of the His- tory of the University," etc. Table I.—Statiatioa with regard to the wlioJe hody of students from 1825 to July, 1874. [Whole number of students estimated at 9,160.] Profeasion, etc. Per cent. Round Nos. Profession, eto. Per cent. Eonnd Xoa. Law Medicine Theology Engineering Editors Teachers Farmers Merchants, banlcers, eto Unlsnown 21 22.8 2.g .8 1 5.6 12 13 21.2 1,935 2,090 265 80 100 520 1,110 1,950 In Confederate service.. Emigrated from native State Degree men One-year men ..'. Two-year men Three-yoar men Four-year men 'Longer term men 25 16 13.7 55 28.5 U 3.5 1.5 2,300 1,485 1,260 5,0iS 2,615 1,040 320 140 INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT. 167 « Table II. — General atatiatics relative to the individual Statea, 1826-74.' States. Virginia and 'West Virginia. North Carolina South Carolina Florida Georgia Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Texas Tennessee Eentaclcy Missouri .liTaryland and District of Colnmbla Other States, eto Students. No. 5,390 380 S20 67 320 575 *365 265 135 48 230 203 110 390 165 Per cent. 58.8 i 5.6 .7 3.1 6.2 3.9 2.9 1.4 .5 2.5 2.2 1.2 1.2 1.7 Law. Uedlcine. Per cent. 20.4 15.1 16.8 23.8 22.8 21 21.7 18 33 41.6 25.8 24.6 21.4 28.6 22.2 Theology. Per cent. 27.2 31.2 14,3 11.7 11.2 17.5 16.8 13.1 11.7 11.5 11.6 13 30.3 11.5 12.1 Engineer- ing. Per cent. 3.3 1.8 3.2 3.4 1.3 .5 .3 .7 3.8 2.8 3.5 4.6 2.5 Per cent. .8 .5 2.9 .6 .8 1.5 4.1 1.7 Editors. Per cent. 1.1 1.8 1.3 1 .7 2 .4 1.4 .8 .5 L9 States. Teachers. Farmers. In Confed- erate serT- ice. Emigrated. Merchants, etc., and unlknown. Degree men. Virginia and "West Virginia . Korth Carolina South Carolina Florida Georgia t Alabama ....-.-. .Mississippi Louisiana Texas Arkansas Tennessee Kentucky Missouri Maryland and District of Columbia \Other Statea, eto Per cent. 1 1.1 5.3 2 1.6 1.1 2.5 3.8 3.8 4.4 3.6 3.1 Per cent. 11.2 11.2 22.4 11.7 16.2 ,14.2 13.8 17.2 8.8 la? 8.6 11.5 3.5 7.2 1.9 Per cent. 27 19.9 31.6 37.3 28.1 27.6 22.5 30 17.6 22.9 14.6 16.9 15.1 9.7 5.7 • cent, 16.9 15.1 15.9 11.7 13.4 16.9 16 12 8 20.8 11.2 17.8 16.9 13.1 20.3 Per cent. 31 11 11 43.8 40 42.8 15 19.2 39.8 19 41.7 12.2 35.7 42.8 66.8 Per I 17 7 3 7 . 3.7 8.6 6 8.7 11 18 11 8 18.7 13 12 S. ' The fact that the percentages In the third, fourth, flfOi, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and twelfth iaolumns, when added together, slightly exceed 100, is due to the fact that In some oases fuen have been i^Unted twice; «. g., clergymen who conducted schools in addition to their clerical work. 168 , JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. Table III.— Particular ataiistics relative to the individual States, 1826-74. States. ! 11. ai 0) § I' s If J lie 3 226 13 23 3 18 20 4 12 2 8 5 10 4 16 1 1 6 3 1 42 2 1 1 6 1 1 14 2 1 4 1 .> 3 5 8 1 r 1 1 MiasisBionl 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 Maryland And Bistrict of Colimibia 2 1 167 348 30 69 22 8 i 111 DO O o 1° 1 Memtiers of CongreBB. Cabinet ministere. U.S. C. S. U.S. C. S. Virginia and West ViTginia.. .......... . .. 6 2 •2 38 17 2 3 ITorth Carolina..... : 2 1 2 4 4 ^Florida «... Georgia 1 3 8 1 6 1 2 1 Louisiana 2 1 3 4 4 2 Maryland and District of Colnmbia Other StateB - 1 1 1 * 1 -'- Total 11 6 7 62 31 2 *' EXPLANATOET REMARKS ON THE TABLES. The tables in which my statistics are presented almost explain tliem- selves. A few explanatory remarks may not, however, be amiss. I shall then proceed to give such additional facts as are worthy of note, but which could not well be put into a table, and shall conclude by drawing such inferences as are in keeping with my subject and my fig- ures and which have not been introduced in other places. These infer- INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT. 169 ences, if their truth be admitted, together with the results obtained by our analysis of the wcrkings of the University, will abundantly suffice to prove the truth of my thesis — that the influence of the University of Virginia upon Southern life and thought has been highly beneficial. The figures presented in all three tables are true for the period of time between March, 1825, and July, 1874. The first table gives staiis- tics for the whole body of students ; but it must be carefully borne in mind, when attention is directed to particular percentages, that over 21 per cent, of the men enrolled as students have left no record behind them, and that of many who are not entered under the head of " unknown," our information is extremely slight and often misleading. It must further be borne in mind that of the 9,160 students who attended the University during these years, 8,505 ( I am speaking in round num- bers, of course), or over 92 per cent., were from the South; and further, that of the 1,485 men who left their native States to settle elsewhere, over half settled in the South, so that the University's field of influence has been emphatically Southern, although Maryland and Missouri have felt that influence strongly. It is especially interesting to note the fact that many of the students from the Korth and West were tempted to remain in the South, and that not a few of these immigrants took sides with the Confederacy — a fact which, whatever else may be thought of it, certainly testifies to th^ strength of the attachment which the Univer- sity has always been enabled to elicit from its students. With reference to the omissions in the work, it is but just to say that they are not due to any carelessness on the part of the compilers of the oatalogae, but rather to the indifi^erence of individual alumni or of their relatives and friends. Under the head "In Confederate service" are included not only active soldiers, but all surgeons, chaplains, or others who took any part in the labors or perils occasioned by the War. The significance of the last five heads will be explained farther on. lu Table II the same general statistics are given for each of the South- ern and allied States, the language of percentage being employed only to avoid cumbrousness. For convenience the District of Columbia has been grouped with Maryland, and West Virginia with Virginia. The justness of the latter grouping will be obvious when it is remembered that for three-fourths of the time to which these figures apply, the two States were united. In Table III particular statistics of interest have been brought to- gether and referred to the individual States. It must be borne in mind, however, that the name of the State simply indicates the place of birth ; it does not mean that the ofiQce was held within that State, for, as a mat- ter of fact, many of those who emigrated rose to high positions in the State of their adoption. 170 JEPFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIEGINIA. ADDITIONAL FACTS OF INTEREST. We now come to what may be termed the gleanings from my first harvest. The statistician, as well as the poet, should have sufficient patience and self-control to review his work. Of the 1,935 lawyers, over 8 per cent, became judges, many of whom rose to the highest courts of their respective States. The number of commonwealth's and district attorneys is very large; but few seem to have been elected to the office of attorney-general. For this last fact I have been unable to find any satisfactory reason, unless it be that the office is not a lucrative one for a successful practitioner; but this reason applies also to the judgeships of many of our States. The proportion of degree men (bachelors of law) to the whole number of lawyers is nearly 25 to 100. The lawyers have, as might have been expected, proved very prominent in politics. Some of them have written law treatises of value, for example, Daniel on Negotiable Instruments. With regard to the physicians, I quote some interesting facts from an address recently delivered at the University by Dr. Paul B. Barringer, a graduate of '76. "The record shows that from 1827, when the medi- cal school was established, until 1880 there were over 3,000 matriculates and 616 graduates. Of these, 43 are now, or have been, professors and teachers in medical colleges. Notwithstanding the high standard ex- acted by the Army and Navy, 60 graduates of this school have been professionally in their service. From 1880 to 1885, 38 of the 180 grad- uates gained entrance into the Army and Navy ; 16 of the 57 passed- assistant naval surgeons were University of Virginia men, while in the Army the number was 14." A comparison of these figures will show a decidedly increasing tendency to engage in the service of the' Govern- meiit (the proportion is about 9 to 20), a significant fact, if we are allowed the presumption that the standard of requirement for service in the Army and Navy has increased pari passu with that for graduation at the University. If the increase has been in favor of the Army and Navy service the fact is still more significant. ALUMNI IN THE WAR. In considering the part played by the University alumni in the late War, many interesting points are brought to our notice. In the first place, the number of generals and brigadiers is very large ; I should have wearied of the task of counting the colonels, the majors, and the captains. Chairman Venable writes me that with regard to the ord- nance department, so many University men got in by examination that a certain number of appoiutments had to be assigned to each State to avoid dissatisfaction. A large proportion of the engineers employed in the service were University men, as were most of the staif officers of rank. Perhaps more than three hundred alumni fell. If attention be turned to the legislative and executive departments of the Oonfeder- INFIiUENCE UPOir SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT. 171 ate Government, the statistics are equally striking. In the cabinet we find Eobert Toombs and E. M. T. Hunter, Secretaries of State ; George Wythe Randolph and James A. Seddon, Secretaries of War; and Thomas H. Watts, of Alabama, Attorney-General. In the Con- gress we count thirty-one alumni, many of whom were senators. The number of authors, etc., is surprisingly small, although I was very liberal in including the producers of the " no book " class. I shall dis- cuss this fact in a more appropriate place, and need only mention here the names of Edgar Allan Poe and John E. Thompson, and, forrecent years, of Virginius Dabney and Thomas Kelson Page. After all, how many of our hundreds of American colleges can boast the name of even one man of great literary genius ? It may not be amiss to notice here that Dr. Kane, the great Arctic explorer, was an alumnus of the Uhiversity, as were also Capt. J. Melville Gilliss, astronomer and super- intendent of the U. S. Naval Observatory, and Eear Admiral John Eodgers, who served with such bravery during the late War. CLERGY AND TEACHEES. If regard be had to the clergy, the statistics would not seem to prove that the University has served as a nursery for atheists. Three per cent, in the money market is considered a low rate; but that 3 per cent, of the alumni of a non^sectarian institution should, in the land of the dollar, turn aside into tbis laborious and often poorly paid field is a fact, to say the least, somewhat remarkable. Of those who entered the ministry, five have become bishops, viz, Bishops Lay, Galleher, Peter- kin, Dudley, and Doggett. My information on this point is not ex- haustive, however, and I am inclined to think that the number may be greater. To the various theological seminaries the University has furnished such men as John A. Broadus, R. L. Dabney, P. S. Sampson, of Virginia, Cbarles A. Briggs, of New York, and William H. Whitsitt, of South Carolina. Prof. Crawford H. Toy, of Harvard University, may be mentioned as one of the most distinguished of the masters of arts. A large number of the alumni have entered on missionary work; in- deed. Colonel Venable says : "Wipe out the foreign missionaries of the Southern Presbyterian Church who are University men, and you almost destroy the enterprise." I In estimating the number of teachers I have not counted those wlio only taught for a year or two preparatory to entering one of the other professions. These men have unquestionably done much in helping to raise the standard of instruction throughout the South, and if they be added to the number given in the first table, we may safely say that over one thousand of the University alumni have been engaged in the good work of education. It would seem well to acknowledge individual merit here as always; but I must again disclaim any invidious inten- tions. My information is by no means full, nor have I too much space at my disposal. I think I shall be safe, however, in calling to mind the 172 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITT OF VIE&INIA. noble work done in Alabama by the late Professor Tutwiler. He was one of the first graduates of the University, and was the room-mate of Gessner Harrison. I am informed by competent authority that his labors for secondary education in Alabama were as successful as They were great j and I regret that this meagre notice is all that I can give to this great pioneer of educational reform. Tha work of Dr. Thomas E. Price at Eandolph-Macon College, at the University of Virginia, and now at Columbia College, New York, may be cited as a further illustration of what the University has done in behalf of education. Dr. Woodrow Wilson, of Bryn Mawr, will long be known as the author of Congressional Government, but proba- bly Princeton and the Johns Hopkins will dispute our claims to him. Among Anglo-Saxon scholars the names of Prof. James M. Garnett and of Prof. James A. Harrison stand deservedly high, and the latter is equally well known for successful literary work. To the Virginian the names of McCabe, Norwood, McGuiire, Blackford, and Abbott, and to the North Carolinian that of Bingham, will at once suggest the noble efforts that are being made today in the cause of secondary education. It is a noteworthy fact, if the zeal of the University for obtaining the > services of first-class scholars be borne in mind, that of the nineteen pro- fessors now composing its faculty, twelve are its own alumni, and that of fifty-five full professors since 1826, twenty have been alumni. ALUMNI IN POLITICS. Turning to politics, we find that the number of those who have served in the State legislatures is quite large, the percentage with respect to ihe whole number of students being about three and eight-tenths. The number of mayors is small ; perhaps the dirty political work so often necessary for obtain. ng the of&ce has deterred alumni from aspir- ing to it. The number of consuls and secretaries of legation is also small, but is easily accounted for by the same reason which may be given for the comparative absence of University men from the higher executive and diplomatic positions. The men who graduated between 1830 and 1840, and who might have stood forward prominently in na- tional politics, were fighting against the Government at the very time when they would have been qualified by age and experience for positions in the cabinet and abroad. For some time after the War statesmen from the South were not greatly in demand. , The two alumni who sat in cabinets were both Virginians — the late William Ballard Preston, Secretary of the Navy under the Taylor ad- ministration, and Alexander H. H. Stuart, Secretary of the Interior un- der Millard Fillmore. There have been two Speakers of the House : E. M. T. Hunter, Speaker for the Twenty-sixth Congress (1839-41), and James L. Orr, of South Carolina, Speaker for the Thirty-fifth Congress ( 1857-59). Mr. Orr was also the only minister plenipotentiary furnished by the University during the first fifty years of its existence. He was INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT. 173 made minister to Eussia by President Grant in 1873, but died shortly after his arrival at St. Petersburg. Mr. Orr vas also one of the coru- missioners sent to Washington in 1860 by South Carolina. He was a Confederate Senator, and the provisional Governor of his State. Since the election of Mr. Cleveland the University alumni from the South have come more and ilnore to the front. Of the ministerial ap- pointees, Hubbard, Tree, Keiley, Winchester, Lewis, and Maury are all University men. In the consular service we find the names of Withers, Cardwell, Wingfield, Old, and others. The number of Congressmen furnished by the University is, in my opinion, a large one. Since the period covered by the tables (1825-74) the figures have been greatly increased. Colonel Yenable calculates that there were thirteen alumni in the last Congress, a greater number than was furnished by any other college. Of these I may mention Tucker, Daniel, and Barbour, of Vir- ginia; Herbert, of Alabama; and Davidson, of Florida. Of the govern- ors we may name Swann and Ligon, of Marylaii4 ; Watts and Lewis, of Alabama; and Stevenson, of Kentucky. To these the name of F. W. M. Holliday, of Virginia, may be added. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. A few words now as to the general conclusions to be drawn from these statistics. In thO' first place, let me again call attention to the fact that the University's influence has been distinctly Southern. Let it next be considered what a leavening force one really educated man is. Then let it be remembered that before the advent of the modern news- paper and the railroad, a large part of the population of the South de- pended itt)on the hustings for their instruction, and that the lawyers trained by the University of Virginia furnished much of that instruction. K these facts are lost sight of, I am afraid that my statistics and any conclusions I can draw from them will be of little value. Waiving all subtleties as to the distinction between productive and unproductive labor, we may safely assert that the influence of such a body of alumni distributed through all the channels of intellectual labor must have been enormous. Those who went to the bar carried with them, in addition to thorough professional knowledge, a sense of honor highly developed by the system of discipline to which our praise has been already given ; those who went to the pulpit had chosen without constraint of any kind their life of self sacrifice, and were ready to abide by their choice ; and those who gave themselves up to the educatiou of the young had already learned, in their own persons, the value of thorough-going work and systematic training. Many who were landed proprietors went back to their estates to introduce new methods of ag- riculture, to represent their counties in their respective legislatures, to set an example of upright living to those beneath them, and to affect the society of their equals in that subtle way which can be better un- derstood than described. I^Tot a few left their homes and carried to the 174 JEFFERSOlSr AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. Still unsettled West the brains and hands that were needed for its de- velopment. Many entered business at home, to apply to all the affairs of mercantile life those habits of perseverance and calm study of details and that strict spirit of integrity which had been fostered by their uni- versity life. A cursory glance at the catalogue will show that, they succeeded. "Bank president", "president of railroad", "treasurer", and " cashier", are words frequently seen on its pages. But I promised to explain the significance of the last five heads of the first table. We see that over one-half of the students spent only one year at the University. This means, as I showed before, that these men were enabled to get, not as much education as they needed, but enough to fit them either to i)ractise law, or to teach some special branch, or to .]inrsue their studies without further assistance. Of course it is not claimed that all of these five thousand men made the most of their ad- vantages, but they had them offered, and no other college could do the like. The large number of two-year men shows an appreciation on the part of the students of the work that was being done for them. The fifteen hundred who remained three, four, and five years mean at least a thousand finely educated men ; and what a force was here ! As was to be expected, the influence of the University has been larg est upon Virginia ; but we must, in this connection, take into account the fact that over five hundred and fifty alumni went from Virginia to settle in the other Southern States. Virginia of course received contri bubions from her sister States, but not in any considerable numbers. THE TTNIVEESITT AND SOUTHERN LITERATURE. The excess of the physicians over the lawyers would afford ^.n oppor- tunity for interesting but rather fine-spun reasoning, if I were to forget the impatience of my readers ; but I have no such intention, and shall only dwell briefly on one more point, — ^the paucity of authors among the alumni. I should hardly have been tempted to notice this fact, but for the consideration that it might cause doubt in some minds as to the extent I have claimed for the University's influence, especially upon Southern thought. I do not think that the University can be blamed because her sons have not been foremost in strictly literary work — for where is the literature of the South ? The truth seems to be that the University must have instilled a love of literature into the minds of manyof its students, but that counter-forces were at work which checked or diverted the faculty of literary expression for the whole South. A diversion of this faculty is seen in the oratory, bad as it too often was, of the hustings and of the court-room. The causes of the repression are far to seek. It will not suffice to lay the charge to slavery. That much enduring'institution, to whatever extent it may have retarded the Soath's industrial development, did not degrade society, nor could it well have checked the growth of a Southern literature.^ Old Greece had her arts and letters in spite of slave labor. We must go deeper if we expect to 1 See Bagehot'8 Phybios and Poiitios, II, J 3. INFLUENCE UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT, 175 find a solution of the Southera problem. From a study of colonial lit- erature we must endeavor to ascertain how and in what manner a change of environment affects the literary capabilities of a race. Our conclusions may be exceedingly general and imperfect, but I can see no other way worthy of a serious student; and, even after such consci- entious study, our results are sure to be worthless, unless we carry with us in our investigations that true literary touchstone which so few possess. How amusing, then, are many of the grave opinions we every day hear advanced with regard to the South's backwardness in literary production 1 The fact is there, the true explanation of it will long be wanting. There are indications, however, that the season of our bar- renness is over and that the spring is at hand. If premature praise, like a March wind, do not blight this promise, we may confidently ex- pect that the University of Virginia will play an important part in that ■ literary development for which we are all watching and praying — many of us as if there were something almost criminal in our not having had a literature before. CONCLUDING EEMAEKS. And now my work is over, but I part from it with reluctance. The words " influence," " alumnus," " University," which the reader is as tired of seeing as I am of trying to find substitutes for them, will occui> no more. In this respect I can not even take comfort from the example of the great reiterator, for Matthew Arnold might reiterate till doomsday and still be charming. I have also tried not to assume the attitude of a special pleader (I use the phrase, of course, in its objectionable sei/se), but it would be too much to hope that I have always succeeded. The labor I have given to the preparation of my statistics has been very tedious, but it has been occasionally lightened in unexpected ways. For instance, it was highly interesting to watch the careers of the " rolling stones" from the University, many of whom, after trying three or more professions, finally wound up as " forty-niners" in California. One got into Garibaldi's service ; one was made chief medical inspector of the Egyptian army ; one started from Virginia, was a member of the Texas Congress, then treasurer of Texas, then got a diplomatic appointment abroad, and finally settled down as a farmer in Maryland. One student from Peru became a professor of law in the University of Lima, was afterwards Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and then represented his gov- ernment in China and Japan. But perhaps the entry which gave me most food for reflection was the following : " Nathaniel Holt Clanton, of Augusta, Ga. ; born 1847 j student, Paris, France ; pressed into serv. ice of Commune, and killed on barricades, 1872." In conclusion, it may be permitted a loving son to apply to his college mother a verse from a great old poet, whom he learned to love within her walls — "Is she not worthy of gaining golden honor?"' ^Sophocles: Antigone, 699. CHAPTER XII. PRESENT OEGANIZATION AND CONDITION OF THE UM- ' VERSITY OF VIRGINIA. By Professor John B. Minor, The organization of the University, its government, discipline, and methods of instruction were virtually left to be prescribed by Mr. Jef- ferson alone ; and 'they -still retain, in a great degree, the impressioB| derived ficom him, and in many respects bear the stamp of his charac- teristic traits. ORG-ANIZATION. The supreme government of the institution, under the Oeneral Assem- bly, is vested in a rector and visitors, appointed by the Governof, by and with the consent of the Senate, for four years. They are nine in number, thf ee being selected from the Piedmont division of the State, in which the University is situated, and two from each of the other grand divisions. The visitors elect a rector from amongst themselves, and the style of the corporation is declared to be " The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia." They are required to meet at the Uni- versity at least once a year, and as much oftener as circumstances re- quire ; and to submit to the General Assembly an annual report setting forth the condition and progress of the institution. The board of visitx)rs, thus constituted, is declared by law to be charged with the care and preservation of the property belonging to the University ; with the appointment of as many professors as it shall deem proper ; with the power to prescribe the duties of each professor, and the course and mode of instruction; and, with the assent of two- thirds of the whole number of the visitors, may»remove any professor. It is also empowered to appoint a bursar and proctor, and to employ any other agents or servants, to regulate the government and discipline of the students, and generally, in respect to the government and man- agement of the University, to make such regulations as it may deem expedient, not being contrary to law. Under the general direction of this board, and subject to its regula- tions, the affairs of the institution are administered immediately by the faculty and its chairman. The faculty, as a body, exercises the jwdicwtl 176 PRESENT ORGANIZATION AND CONDITION. 177 functions incident to the administration of the University, in respect to students and tho subord inate officers, and is empowered also to make general rules for the government of those persons, provided, of course, they shall be consistent with the regulations prescribed by the board of visitors, and with the laws of the State. The chairman is selected an- nually, by the board of visitors, from among the professors, and dis- charges most of the functions usually devolved upon a president, being for the time the chief executive of the University^ To this republican feature of rotation in the office of chairman, Mr. Jefferson attached not a little importance. The system is not without its disadvantages, but its benefits decidedly preponderate. The chairman does not monopolize the administration, as a president would do, but each professor, feeling that he is a constituent element of |;h6 governing body, with his proper share of influence in shaping its destiny and fortunes, is animated at once by a sense of duty, of responsibility, and of ambition to devote his utmost powers of thought, care, and assiduous effort to angmentits use- fulness and prosperity. The professors were at first paid in part by salaries ($1,000^ year each), and in part also by fees of tuition received from each student who might attend them se^'erally, thus, as Mr. Jefferson conceived, pre- senting to each at once the most natural and the strongest motive to exert himself with all the strenuousness he could command to promote in all ways the efficiency, and consequently the suceess, of the institu- tion. But circumstances, in the opinion of the board of visitors, and of most of the professors, -were judged to require a departure from this plan, ami for some^ears past each professor has been paid a salary of $3,000 per annum; which, together with an official residence, or a money equivalent therefor, constitutes his sole emolument. SCHOOLS OF INSTRUCTION. The scheme of instruction contemplates no fixed and uniform curricu- lum of study to^be purfeued by every student alike without discrimina- tion ; but each distinct branch of knowledge is assigned to a separate "school" by itself, with its own instructors; and in these several schools, which are exclusively under the control of the instructors therein (sub- ject only to the board of visitors), a separate degree is conferred, de- nominating the recipient a " graduate" in that school, and in a few cases carrying with it a title, as of doctor of medicine, bachelor of law, civil en- gineer, mining engineer, or bachelor of scientific agriculture. The Uni- versity may, therefore, be fairly regarded as a collection of schools, each devoted to a special subject, but under a common government. I This plan gives ample scope to the just ambition of each professor, and affords a strong stimulus to each to advance the standard of attain- ment in his school, in point as well of accuracy as of extent, whilst it holds him, besides, to an undivided responsibility for any neglect or de- fault. It admits also, and contemplates, an indefinite multiplication of . 17036— Ko. 2 12 178 JEFFEKSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. " schools," so as to keep pace with the progress of knowledge and the demands of society. Dr. Dunglison, afterwards so distinguished in the medical world as an author, was expected to teach anatomy and medicine merely as a branch of liberal education. But in 1827 the school was enlarged to a department, organized as follows : Eobley Dunglison, M. D., professor of physiology, theory and practice of medicine, obstetrics, and medical jurisprudence ; John P, Emmet, M. D., professor of chemistry and ma- teria medica ; Thomas Johnson, M. D., demonstrator of anatomy and surgery. Two other schools have since been added to this department ; so that its organization at present embraces : (1) A school of the theory and practice of medicine, obstetrics, and medical jurisprudence; (2) a school of physiology and surgery; (3) a school of chemistry and pharmacy; (4) a school of anatomy, materia medica, and therapeutics ; and (5) a demonstratorship of anatomy. In 1851 the school of law was converted into a department, by the creati'oa of an adjunct professorship, which, in 1854, was made a full professorship; so that thenceforward in the department of law there were, and are, two schools, namely, (1) the "school of common and stat- ute law and (2) the school of constitutional and international law, equity, evidence, and the law-merchant. In 1856 the school of ancient languages was divided into two schools, namely, (1) the school of Latin, and (2) the school of Greek and of Hebrew, In the same year was also established the school of history and gen- eral literature, which, however, did not go into operation until the 1st of October, 1857: In 1867 the school of applied mathematics, with reference especially to engineering, was created as an adjunct to the school of mathematics, and has since (in 1869) been constituted an independent school. ^ In the same year was instituted, as an adjunct to the school of chem- istry, the school of technology and agricultural science, a designation .soon after changed to tjiat of analytical. Industrial, and agricultural chemistry. In 1870, by means of a munificent endowment of $100,000, derived from the liberality of Samuel Miller, Esq., of the county of Campbell, the school of scientific, experimental, and practical agriculture was created ; since, with some change of subjects, denominated the school of agriculture, zoology, and botany. In 1882, by the extraordinary liberality of Leander J. McCormick, Esq., a native of Virginia but a citizen of Chicago, of William H. Vanderbilt, Esq., of New York, and of a number of other friends of learning and of the University, the means were provided to maintain, and there was in- stituted, the school of practical astronomy, in connection with the Lean- der McCormick Observatory. PRESENT ORGANIZATION AND ■ CONDITION. 17^ lu 1879 Mr. W. W". Oorcoraa added to his previous noble benefactions to the University the gift of $50,000, wherewith to endow a school of natural history and geology, which was instituted accordingly. In 1882 was established the school of the English language and liter- ature, which necessitated a change in the subjects taught in the school of history and literature, and it was enacted that that school should thenceforward be known as the school of historical science. Thus it appears that since 1867 the University, maimed and enfeebled as it seemed to have been by the Civil War and its consequences, has added six schools of great value to the thirteen previously existing, and so is enabled to supply the largest and most thorough instruction that the advanced requirements of the country and the times can demand. At present the University consists of nineteen schools, with one or more instructors in each ; of these schools, twelve are academic and seven professional ; and of the twelve academic schools, six are literary and six scientific. Thus arranged, they may be enumerated as follows : f, I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. o ■° J tn XIII. ^ XIV. 1 XV. -g XVI. XVII. XVIII. xfx. ' School of Latin, School of Greek, School of modern languages, School of English language and literature, School of historical science, School of moral philosophy. ^ School of mathematics, School of naturai philosophy, School of general chemistry, School of analytical and agricultural chemistry, School of natural history and geology, , School of practical astronomy. ■ School of physiology and surgery, School of anatomy and materia medrioa, School of medicine, obstetrics, and medical jurisprudence. School of common and statute law, School of constitutional and international law, mercantile law, evidence, and equity. School of mathematics applied to engineering. . School of agriculture, zoology, and botany. Medical department, including also chem> istry and pharmacy. Law department, engi. ueering department, Agricultural ment. depart. Students attend as many of the schools as they think fit, paying a tu- itian fee for each ; but in order to insure that every student shall have his time sufficiently occupied, no one can attend less than three, without leave from the faculty. In this feature is seen Mr. Jefferson's character- istic confidence in the capacity of individuals to determine, each for him- self, what is best for him. He thought it safe to submit to the j ndgment of each student and his friends, the choice of subjects best adapted to the cast of his mind and to his views in life. The system is certainly liable to some grave objections, but it is specially adapted to a univer- sity as distinguished from a college, and the results have upon the whole proved eminently favorable. Custom recommends a general order or 180 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. succession of studies, which experience has approved ; but if one, from peculiar circumstances, is led to prefer a different course, he is free to pursue it. One of the chief advantages, however, is found in the effect on the several schools, in stimulating the professors having them in charge to unceasing progress. And it may be observed that of late many institutions of the higher education in the United States have remodelled their methods in accordance with this example. SCHOLARSHIPS. It is only withiu a recent period that scholarships have existed in the University. The design in instituting them is to encourage sound and advanced learning by assisting the poor to attain to it, and by stimulat- ing those to attempt it to whom such pecuniary aid is not indispensable and yet welcome. Such expedients have been resorted to ever since the revival of learning in the twelfth century, and led to the establish- ment, throughout western Europe, of great institutions of education* . The colleges in the English universities were devised to this end, and were, indeed, simply endowed boarding-houses, with a provision for the " fellows," who were admitted to share their beneficence which, in pro- cess of time, by the enhancement in value of the lands bestowed upon them, has become, in modern times, extremely munificent. At present there are in the University four classes of scholarships, namely: (1) University scholarships, (2) free scholarships, (3) Miller scholarships, and (4) alumni scholarships. (1) University scholarships are supplied by the University itself. They are eleven in number, and entitle the successful candidates at a com- petitive examination to prosecute the studies of one session at the Uni- versity without the payment of matriculation or tuition fees, and are open to new-comers from all the States at the beginning of each aca- demic year, which at present is October Ist. Of these eleven scholarships five are in the academic department, and two, severally, in the departments of medicine, of law, and of engineer- ing. The examination is uniform for all, and embraces Latin, Greek, mathematics, and English. In order to secure positive attainments, the right is reserved to reject any papers that do not reach the standard re- quired for a distinction at the final examination in junior Latin, junior Greet, and junior mathematics, and do not show a competent acquaint- ance with the grammatical and rhetorical structure of the English'lan- guage. (2) Free scholarships. — The board of visitors in 1882 founded three free scholarships, to be called, respectively, the Corcoran scholarship, the McOormick scholarship, and the Vanderbilt scholarship, in com- memoration of three of the principal benefactors of the University, the appointments to be made by them respectively, or, if they decline, by the faculty. Each scholarship admits the beneficiary to the University in all the departments, professional as well as academic, free from the payment of matriculation and tuition fees. PRESENT ORGANIZATION AND CONDITION. 181 (3) Miller scholarships. — The agricultural department having been founded upon the liberal benefaction of Samuel Miller, three scholar- ships have been instituted in that department, and named from the founder, Miller scholarships. The emolument belonging to each is 8333.33^, and they are bestowed upon such as upon competitive exam- inations appear to be the most worthy. (4) Alumni scholarships. — These scholarships are founded, some by the Society of Alumni, and some by individuals. The emolument at- tached to them is various, and the appointments to them rest with the persons who founded them, or with the executive committee of the Society of Alumni. DTJEATION OP THE SESSION AND OP THE TACATION. The session extends from the 1st day of October to the Wednesday before the 4th day of July, with no break or holiday during that period (Sundays of course excepted), save only one day at Christmas. There is no remission of college exercises even on Saturday, the school-boy's immemorial weekly hoi iday. The number of working days in the session is therefore about two hundred and thirty-two, which exceeds, it is be- lieved, the number of working days in any collegiate institution in the world. The vacation is of about three months' duration, extending from the Wednesday before the 4th of July to the 1st of October. THE LOCAL AKEANGEMENT AND EQUIPHENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. According to its original design, the University buildings were dis- posed in four parallel ranges, which, it seems, it was contemplated should be extended indefinitely in both directions, as occasion might require, although the configuration of the ground seems hardly adapted to such a scheme. Their present length is about 600 feet each. The eastern and western ranges look, respectively, towards the east and west, and front upon a broad street, which makes the circuit of the University. They consist of one-story dormitories for* students, with an arcade running along the front, of some 12 feet in width, the outer wall of which consists of a series of arches, exhibiting a not unpleas- ing effect, reminding one of the cloisters of a monastery. This long range of low. structures is broken by wide alleys, giving access to the two interior ranges, and is relieved further by dwellings which rear their roofs somewhat higher than the dormitories, and were originally meant to serve as hotels or boarding-houses for the accommodation of the students, to which use two of them, much enlarged, are still ap- plied, whilst one is the residence of a professor, another of the proctor, and two others are society halls. I The two interior ranges front upon a grassy lawn, shaded by trees, and about 200 feet wide. They also consist of one story dormitories for students, broken by the above-mentioned alleys communicating with the east and west ranges respectively, and agreeably relieved by five houses 182 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVJEKSITY OF VIRGINIA. in each range, the dwellings of as many professors, the fronts of which display considerable regard to architectural effect. In the front of the dormitories and of the professors' houses is a continuous colonnade of about 12 feet in width, taking the place of the arcade of the east and west ranges, the arches being replaced by handsome columns, which support a roof, nearly flat, over the paved walk below, the whole sur- mounted by an iron balustrade, and affording a communication in the upper story between the professors' houses on each side. At the northeastern extremity of the two lawn-ranges stan(^s the Eo- tunda, a structure modelled nearly after the Pantheon at Eomcj about 70 feet in diameter, and about the same in height to the bottom of the dome, which rises about 20 feet above the body of the building. It is adorned with a very striking and classical, marble portico in front, reached by stone steps extending the whole width of the portico, and contains on the ground and second floors four handsome elliptically shaped lecture-rooms, and on the third floor a circular library -room cov- ering the whole area of the building, with two galleries between the floor and the dome extending quite around the capacious circle, and supported by graceful Corinthian columns. Accommodation is thus af- forded for about 42,000 volumes, which is the present extent of the library. In the course (tf a few years, slowly as, with the slender rev- enues of the University, the books increase, it will be necessary to make some additional provision for their safe-keeping and accessibility. This library hall, itself a remarkably handsome apartment, is g'taced by a statue in marble of Mr. Jefferson, executed by Gait, the Virginia artist. It was the gift of the General Assembly, and represents the great statesman in a costume modelled after that which he was accus- tomed to wear, the needful flowing drapery being supplied by a cloak flung over the shoulders. The pedestal bears the following inscription, which, it will be observed, is that prepared by himself for his tomb: THOMAS JEFFBESON, author of The Declaeation of American Independence; Op-thb Statute op Virginia for Eeligious Freedom; AND Father of the University op Virginia. : Born April 2d, 1743, O. S.; Died July 4, 1826. PRESENT ORGANIZATION AND CONDITION. 183 Thecolumns of the hall also are adorned by a number of portraits, among which are those of General Eobert E. Lee and of Mr. W. W. Oorcoran, one of the chief benefactors of the institution. The buildings thus far described constitute all belonging to the Uni- versity at the beginning. But as soon as the Medical School became the Medical Department, it was indispensable to provide therefor addi- tional lecture- rooms, an anatomical theatre, and a dissecting hall, which were accordingly erected opposite the northwestern extremity of the west range. The need of still additional lecture-room accommodation led, in 1851- 63, to the erection of a building in rear of the Eotijnda, and connected with it by a porch, corresponding in architectural design with that in front, and terminating towards the northeast in a like porch. This building is about 100 feet long by 54 wide, and the connecting and ter- minal porches, of about 30 feet each, make the whole additional struct- ure extend some 160 feet towards the northeast. The ground and second floors of this building, and also the fourth floor, an attic, are occupied by lecture-rooms, and rooms for the safe keeping of the costly apparatus belonging to the school of natural philosophy; the third floor, corresponding with the second in the Rotunda, and imme- diately connected therewith, is taken up with the extensive public hall, used upon commencement and other similar Occasions, capable of seating, upon the floor and in the galleries, about twelve hundrpd persons. In this hall, occupying the greater part of one extremity of it, is a copy, made by Baize, of Eaphael's famous painting of " The School of Athens," which it may be hoped will be the gerni of an art gallery at some future day. In 1854-55 a comfortable house was erected by general subscription for the residence of the chaplain, and a short time afterwards (in 1855- 56), also by general subscription, a hall for the use of the Temperance Association, which has for many years existed amongst the students of the University. In 1859 the number of students resorting to the University had so much increased (being upwards of six hundred), as to make additional accommodation needful, and accordingly a row of six buildings, con- taining in all about fifty rooms, was constructed to the southwest of the University, distant from it about 200 yards, arranged in the arc of a circle, which having been built largely from the proceeds of a tract of land devised to the University by the win of Martin Dawson, Esq., received the designation of " Dawson's Eow." At the close of the Civil War, in 1865, the situation of the University eeemed well-nigh hopeless. Its buildings required extensive repairs, its apparatus needed to be refitted, and its revenues were virtually an- nihilated. The institution was much endeared, however, to the General Assembly and to the people of Virginia, and as a place of liberal and 184 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. thorough edncation enjoyed the entire confidence of the South and of a great part of the West ; and the faculty and visitors, addressing them- selves energetically and hopefully to the work of rehabilitation, with the cordial co-operation of the Legislature, experienced a success so gratify, ing as to warrant an enlargement of the corps of professors, and a conse- quent addition to the buildings. Thus a small house, once occupied by President Monroe, on what from that circumstance has been denomi- nated " Monroe Hill," at the extreme northwestern limit of " Dawson's Eow," was enlarged and otherwise fitted up so as to make a comfortable dwelling for a professor, whilst a new and handsome residence for an- other was erected in extension of the same line, and west of West-range,, ' together with a chemical laboratory, said to be one of the largest and best appointed in the United States. In 1875-76, by the muniflceuce of Lewis Brooks, Esq., a venerable and honored citizen of Eochester, N. Y., supplemented, after his decease, by the liberality of his brother and. heir, of Prof. William B. Kogers, and others, a museum of natural history was erected and equipped in the completest manner, so as to afford unsurpassed facilities for illus- trating the principles taught by the sciences of zoology, botany, min- eralogy, and geology. The collections are large and have been selected solely with a view to be aids in teaching. This building, which is of a style of architecture entirely variant from the previous structures of the University, is much admired. It is placed just at the entrance to the institution, and has its interior adorned with heads, executed in stone, of various animals, and with the names, also in stone, of the great naturalists of the world, in all ages, includingj on the front, Aristotle, Linnseus, and Cuvier ; on the rear, Pliny, Werner, and Humboldt ; on the north or right side, Hall, Gray, Audubon, Agassiz, Dana, and Eog- ers ; and on the south or left side, Lyell, De Candolle, Owen, Darwin, St. Hilaire, and Huxley. In 1880-81, in response to the generous Invitation of Leander J. McCormick, Esq., of Chicago, as already mentioned in this sketch, who proposed to contribute for the purpose the refracting telescope, complete, estimated at $50,000, the enterprise of establishing an astronomical ob- servatory in connection with the University was set on foot, and, by the singular liberality, as before stated, of William H. Vanderbiit, of New York City, and an additional most liberal gift from Mr. McCormick, and by the contributions of many other friends of learning, not only was au endowment fund created to maintain a professor of astronomy, with his assistants, and to defray contingent expenses, but also to erect the observatory building, and to put the telescope and other needful appliances in position, the University itself providing suitable accommo- dations for the professor and his assistants in immediate proximity to the observatory. These buildings, which are substantial and elegant, are situated ou "Observatory Mountain," or, as it is more recently styled, " Mount Jef- LEWIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. PBESENT OEGANIZATION AND CONDITION. 185 ferson," about a mile southwest of the University, on a spot selected for such a structure by Mr. Jefferson himself, and where, indeed, he caused to be erected a small building for the purpose of an observatory, bbt which was never used nor even completed, and in 1859 was pulled down, and the material composing it applied to other purposes. This description of the equipment of the University for its great work ' would be by no means complete without reference to the experimental farm, which occupies a considerable portion of the open arable laud within the University domain. It affords to the students of agriculture opportunities for observing, in connection with the scientific exposition of the principles of the subject, most of its practical processes, con- ducted in the most careful and approved manner, under the supervision of the professor of agriculture, by a skilled, practical farmer ; and also of noting the structure, character, and working of the best agricultural implements and appliances, and of following the progress and methods of the experiments always going on under the same intelligent and skilled direction. Summing up the various equipments which have been mentioned un- der this head, they may be enumerated as follows : (1) Provision of dwellings and necessary grounds for professors ; (2) Abundant provision of lecture- rooms ; (3) SufiBLciency of lodgings and boarding-houses for students ; (4) Costly and continually enlarging apparatus for the school of nat- - ural philosophy ; (5) Costly and remarkably complete anatomical illustrations ; (6) A laboratory building containing a well-equipped chemical labora- tory', capable of accommodating some seventy students in chemical analysis, a very complete chemical apparatus for general chemistry, a commodious lecture hall, and a museum of industrial chemistry, ,the valuable illustrative collections in which are hardly equalled in this country, and are said not to be surpassed in Europe ; (7) The Lewis Brooks Museum of natural history and geology, with singularly extensive and complete illustrative collections, costing in the aggregate, including the building, no less a sum than $86,000 ; (8) The Leander McCormick Observatory, on Mount Jefferson, about a mile from the University, but still within its domain, which is fully equipped for its work, with the great refracting telescope, the greatest, with one or two exceptions, in the world, and with other suitable in- struments and appliances ; and, lastly, (9) The experimental farm, under the direction of the professor of agriculture, affording to the sttidents of that school ample illustra- tions of all manner of farming operations, and of the best agencies and implements for conducting them. 188 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. 1 GIFTS MADE TO THE tTNIVERSITY. 1. In 1818. -A gift, by general contribution, to "Central College," the germ of the University, of about $40,000 3. In 1826.— A gift of- his library, by the will of Mr. Jefferson, which the condition of his estate rendered abortive. 3. In 1826.— A gift of books by Mr. Bernard Carter, of Maryland, estimated at, say 100 4. In 1831.— A gift of books and prints by Mr. Christian Bohn, of Richmond, a brotherof the well-known London publisher, estimated at, say 500 5. In 1835.— A gift of land by the will of Mr. Martin Dawson, realizing, when sold, a|bout, 14,000 6. In 1836. — A gift by the wiU of Mr. Madison, ex-President of the United States, of a part of his library, estimated at 1,000 7. In 1855-56. — Gifts, by general contribution, to erect a parsonage for the residence of the chaplain, about - 2,500 8. In 1855-56. — Gifts, by general contribution, to erect a temperance hall, about 4,000 9. In 1856. — Gifts, by general contribution, to procure a copy, by Baize, of Raphael's painting of "The School of Athens," about 4,000 Total of gifts prior to the late Civil War |66,100 10. In 1869-81. — Gifts to library and museum of industrial chemistry, esti- mated at more than 10,000 11. In 1869-81.— Gifts to library by Mr. A. A. Low, Of Brooklyn, N. Y., $1,000 ; by Mr. Robert Gordon, of New York City, $500 ; by Mr. W. M. Meigs, of Philadelphia, $100 1,600 12. In 1869-71. — Gift of " Thompson Brown Alumni Scholarship." — Appoint- ment by donor's representative 2,000 13. In 1870-76.— Gifts by Mr. W. W. Corcoran, of Washington City, to the chemical department and to the University library 6, 000 14. In 1875-76. — A gift by Mr. Lewis Brooks, of Rochester, N. Y., for the erec- tion and equipment of a museum of natural history and geology 68, 000 15. In 1876-77. — Gifts, for the completion of the same purpose, by Mr. Brooks's brother and heir, $4,000 ; by Prof. William B. Rogers, of Boston, for- merly professor of this University, $1,000; and by alumni of the Uni- versity, $1,000 ; 6,000 16. In 1881-82. — Gifts by Mr. Leander J. MoCormick, a native of Rockbridge County and a citizen of Chicago, of a refracting telescope, esti- mated at $50,000; and of the cost of the observatory building, say $18,000 68,000 17. In 1883.— A gift by the late Mr. Isaac Carey, of Richmond, to found scholarships for the benefit of poor and deserving young men 7, 000 18. In 1884.— Gifts, by general contribution, to erect a chapel ($5,000 sup- plied by the extraordinary liberality of a lady connected with the University) 15,000 19. In 1884.— A gift, by the will of the late Arthur W. Austin, a liberal- minded citizen of Dedham, Mass., in remainder, after certain life-in- terests, of about 470,000 $719,700 Grand total of gifts, $719,700, of which $p53,600 have been given since the termination of the Civil War ; indeed, since 1869. As the $470,000 given by Mr. Austin will not be available for a number of- years, it is not reckoned amongst the fixed endowments yielding income. PEESENT ORGANIZATION AND CONDITION. 187 PERMANENT AND FIXED ENDOWMENTS. The permanent and fixed endowments, whence the University de- rives a present revenue, are as follows : 1. In 1836. — By the will of ex-President Madison, a legacy of $1,500, the an- nual income to be applied to the library; income, |90 $1,500 2. In 1859.— Price of land leased to J. L. Maury, $1,100 ; income, $66...... . 1, 100 3. In 1869.— Gift by the late Mr. Samuel Miller, of Campbell County, of $100,000, to endow a department of scientific and practical agricult- ure ; income, $6,000 100,000 4. In 1876.— Gift by Mr. W. W. Corcoran, of Washington City, of $50,000, to endow the existing schools of moral philosophy, and of history and / literature; income, $3,000 50,000 5. In 1878. — Gift by Mr. W. W. Corcoran, of Washington, to endow a. new chair of natural history and geology ; income, $3,000 50, 000 6. In 1878-81.— Gifts amounting to $75,000, by sundry liberal friends of the University, to endow the directorship of the observatory, etc. ; in- come, $4,780 75,000 7. In 1883.— Gift by the will of Mr. Douglas H. Gordon, of Baltimore, of $5,000, in aid of the library; income, $300 5,000 Aggregate of permanent fund, principal $282, 600 Income |17,236 Of the foregoing sum of $282,600, permanent and fixed funds, about $2,600 had accrued before the Civil War. The residue of $280,000 has been contributed since 1869. And if to this very large sum be added the $653,600 mentioned under the preceding head, it appears that since 1869 the University has received gifts and contributions amounting to $891,100 ! Thus wonderfully realizing, even in a period of general de- pression, the anticipation of Mr. Jefferson, that tor the promotion of the higher education of the people, private munificence would ere long richly supplement and eclipse the contributions of the State. THE ANNUAL INCOME OP THE UNIVERSITT. The annual income of the University arises from sundry sources, some of which are variable, depending on the number of students. It is in- deed no small hinderance to its growth and prosperity that so large a proportion of its annual receipts is derived from students, and imposes unavoidably a considerable tax on them, instead of coming from fixed investments. Some of the wealthier institutions of the country are en. abled to admit pupils at lower rates of expense for tuition and other charges, and thus secure the advantage of numbers, although they may be possessed of no more educational merit. It may be hoped that ere very long the munificence of friends of learning will contribute such ad- ditional endowments as will make it possible for the University to lower its present necessary charges. The revenues of the institution may be stated thus : The annuity derived from the treasury of the Commonwealth, subject to the condition of admitting "white students of the State of Virginia over the age of sixteen years" without charge for tuition in the academic department. $40, 000 188 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. Matriculation and library fees ($20 each student), supposing the number of students to be 300 $6,000 Infirmary fees (|7 each student), defraying medical attendance and nursing in the infirmary 2,100 Fees of schools, say 300 students 17,000 Diploma fees 1,600 Rents, hotels $550 Dormitories occupied by students 4,578 5, 128 Fines and contingent receipts 110 Income from fixed and permanent investments ; State bonds belonging to University 6, 156 Observatory bonds 4,780 Miller fund „ 6,000 Douglas Gordon fund 300 17,236 Total aunual income on the basis of 300 students $89,147 CHAPTER XIII. THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM OP THE UNIVERSITY OP VIR- GIlSriA.i By Propessoe J. M. Gaenett. [The discussion started in the November number [1885] of the An- dover Review by the article of Professor Palmer on " The New Edu- cation" will doubtless be continued by. the advocates respectively of . the curriculum and the elective system of education. The present ar- ticle is in no sense polemic, and the system described is not new. This elective system has been in operation in the University of Virginia for over sixty years. Its working is well known throughout the South but it is not so well understood in the North, and discussions of the elective system of education have grown out of the adoption of the sys- tem, in a somewhat diflferent form, by Harvard University in recent years. The writer ha^ thought that a plain and simple description, without argument, of the system pursued for so long in a sister univer- sity may not be without interest to educators who are seeking to find out the best way to attain the objects which we all have in view. The success which has attended the University of Virginia, and the prom- inence which its alumni have attained in all walks of life, are at least a testimony to the suitableness of the system for this particular institu- tion. J This article was prepared, by invitation, for the International Con- gress of Educators, which met at New Orleans in February, 1885, dur- ing the World's Exposition, and has already appeared in the proceed- ings of that body published by the United States Bureau of Educa- tion. It was intended to show the inner workings of the University, and as a supplement to a Sketch of the University of Virginia, pre- pared by a committee of the faculty as a part of the University exhibit in the Exposition, and containing a brief history of the origin of the University, an account of its early organization, and the subsequent ad- ditions to its subjects and means of instruction, and a particularly full account of its local arrangements, endowments, and income. Such mat- ters are, therefore, not described in this article, except in so far as the present organization of the University illustrates the working of its elective system. The University of Virginia was the first institution in the country to adopt this system, and its work has been consistently done on the lines originally laid down, the question of changing it for ' Reprinted from the Andover Eeview, April, 1886. 189., 190 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. any other having never even been mooted, as far as the present writer is informed.] . The University of Virginia was first opened for the reception of stu- dents on March 7, 1825, so that it may now be said to have completed its period of middle life, and to have attained the comparatively vener- able age of sixty years. The system with which it started, then alto- gether unique in this country, continues to be the system at the present day, notwithstanding the many changes and additions which have since taken place. This system was an arrangement of the subjects of in- struction taught at that time into eight separate and distinct schools, as they are technically termed, namely, ancient languages, modern lan- guages, mathematics, natural philosophy, natural history (soon, how- ever, limited to chemistry), moral philosophy (including mental phi- losophy), anatomy and medicine combined, and law. These eight schools have expanded into nineteen, in some of which, besides the pro- fessor, there are assistant instructors ; and of these, twelve are academic schools, six being literary, and six scientific (though two of the latter are attended only by specialists), and seven are professional schools, three being in the medical department, two in the law, one in the en- gineering, and one in the agricultural.^ Each of these schools is inde- pendent of every other as far as its course and methods of instrnctioa are concerned. The professor himself is the sole judge of the special subjects which he shall include in his course, and of the manner in which he shall teach those subjects. Within the limits, then, of each particular chair there is the greatest freedom allowed in the selection of subjects and arrangement of the course. One of the cardinal princi- ples of German university organization, Freiheit des Lehrens (freedom of teaching), was thus initiated in this country sixty years ago. The faculty, as a whole, consisting of the professors at the head of each school, is the immediate governing body of the University, and controls the number of hours, and even the particular hours, which are devoted to instruction in each school ; and, subject to the approval of the board of visitors, representing the State authority, directs what honors shall be awarded in a part, or the whole, of the course taught in each school, and what schools, in whole or in part, shall be required for I These schools are now designated as follows : Academic Schools. — Literary department. — Schools of Latin, Greek, modem lan- guages, English language and literature, historical aoienoe, and moral philosophy (six). Soientijio department. — Schools of mathematics, natural philosophy, general and industrial chemistry, analytical and agricultural chemistry, natural history and geology, and practical astronomy (six). Pkofessional Schools. — Medical department. — Schools of physiology and surgery, anatomy and materia mcdica, medicine, obstetrics and medical jurisprudence, and chemistry and pharmacy [same as academic] (four). Law department. — Schools of com- mon and statute law, and of constitutional and internationallaw, mercantile law, evi- dence, and equity (two). Mngineering department. — School of mathematics applied to engineering (one). Agricultural department— Sohool of agriculture, zoology, and botany (one). THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM. 191 the academic and professional degrees of the University. The faculty is presided over by a chairman, appointed annually by the board of visitors, although in practice the same professor is reappointed as often as he is willing to undertake the onerous duties, which no one desires to undertake, notwithstanding the additional compensation. Upon the chairman devolve all the administrative and executive duties usually discharged by the president of a literary institution, but his power is more limited, for every qtiestion that arises outside of the ordinary rou- tine must be referred to the faculty, and be decided by that body. The faculty acts usually through committees, but no decision of a com- mittee is final unless approved by the faculty. This feature of the Uni- versity system is thought by some to be open to objections, and the more common organization, with a president at the head of the institution, is considered, in some respects, better ; but the plan has been found to work well in practice; it. is thought to place more responsibility upon the in- dividual professor, and it is at least an open question whether a different organization would be better for this particular institution. Moreover, it was a pet idea of Mr. Jefferson's, derived, perhaps, from the annual election of a rector magniflcus in the German universities, and we are told in a paper from the pen of Professor Minor, written thirty years ago, that " Mr. JefferSon attached not a little importance to this repub- lican feature of rotation, insomuch that at the very last meeting of the board [of visitors] before his death [in 1826] Mr. Wirt, then Attorney- General of the United States, having been appointed professor of law and president of the University, Mr. Jefferson, while expressing his hearty concurrence in Mr. Wirt's appointment to the chair of |law, en- tered upon the minutes, with his own hand, so strong a protest against the creation of the ofl&ce of president that, upon Mr. Wirt's declining, the proposition was never renewed." ^ But though the rotation existed in the early days of the University, no professor having then held the office more than two years in succession, this ceased forty years ago, and, as already stated, it is customary for the board of visitors to re- elect the same professor as often as he is willing to retain the office. Another feature of the organization- of the faculty deserves notice^ and that is, that there is no distinction whatever between the professors in the academic and in the professional departments. , They all meet on an equal footing as one body, and questions relating to each depart- ment are decided by the whole body. The division of the philosophical faculty, which has recently agitated the German universities, has not yet been suggested here, even so far as relates to a separation of aca- demic and professional schools, but each professor avails himself of whatever light may be thrown upon the subject under discussion by any one of his colleagues. This tends to prevent narrowness, to avoid considering the claims of one school or department separate from the rest, and to give force to a decision of the faculty as that of the whole body, and not of a fractional part of it. 1 Jefferson and Cabell Corresitondence, Appendix Q, p. 519. 192 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OP VIRGINIA. The board of visitors has been referred to as the highest authority of the University. This board consists of nine members, appointed every four years by the Governor of the State, and confirmed by the Senate, three from the Piedmont region, in which the University is situated, and two from each of the other three grand divisions of the State, the Valley, Southwest Virginia, and the Tide-water region. In the hands of this board are lodged all powers usually exercised by boards of trus- tees, and especially the control of the finances of the University, although in respect to these the faculty, at the close of each session, through one of its committees, prepares for its annual report a state- ment of estimated receipts and expenditures for the ensuing session, with such suggestions as it may think proper in respect to expenditures for special purposes, which statement serves as a guide to the board of visitors in authorizing the disbursements. This board is required by law to make to the Legislature an annual report of'the condition of the University. The University receives from the State an annual appro- priation of $40,000, in return for which it is required to admit, free of charge for tuition in the academic schools, all Virginia students sixteen years of age who pass an elementary examination for admission into the respective schools which they desire to attend, or who present cer- tificates of satisfactory attainments from some college or preparatory school. The limit of age has heretofore been eighteen years, but this was changed by th^ Legislature in 1884 of its own motion. Having thus briefly sketched the organization of thB University as re- gards its subjects of instruction and its governing bodies, let us con- sider it from the point of view of those for whose benefit the University is established, and see how it affects them. A student who enters the University is supposed to have arrived at such an age as to know what he wishes to study, or to have had directions from his parents to pursue certain subjects of study. This is, of course, true with respect to profes- sional students, whose average age on entrance is over twenty-one years, and it is presumed to be true with respect to academic students. The average age of these students on entrance is about nineteen years, so that the presumption is reasonable.^ The entering student finds at least ten academic schools open for his selection, three of which he is required to enter, unless he is.of age or has his parents' authority to enter a less num- ber. Sometimes as many as four are entered, in whole or in i)S,rt; bat it is seldom advisable for a student, and especially a first-year student, to enter more than three. Cases frequently occur where a student has taken up more studies than he can attend to, and therefore applies to the faculty for permission to drop some one school. If the student is a candidate for a titled degree, he will find these schools grouped in ac- cordance with the requirements for that degree, but the order in which be shall take up the specified schools is left entirely to his own selection. The schedule of hours is to some extent a limitation upon his selection, ' See the table ou next page. THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM. 193 as, of course, students can not enter the same year schools of which the lecture hours conflict. If the student is not a candidate for a titled de- gree, he may select any three schools he pleases; there is absolutely no restriction upon his choice but that necessarily imposed by the schedule of lecture hours. Thus another principle of German university organ- ization \^as introduced into this country at the inception of the Univer- sity of Virginia, sixty years ago, that is, Freiheit des Lernens (freedom of learning). As is well known, this is termed the elective system in distinction from the curriculum system, and it has been gradually intro- duced into many of our higher institutions of learning. But the mis- take has been made, as it seems to me, of introducing it into many of our lower institutions of learning also. We are told by Prof. Charles F.Smith, of Vanderbilt University, in an article on " Southern Col- leges and Schools," in the Atlantic Monthly for October, 1884 (p. 548), that "at least thirty five Southern colleges and universities have adopted this system, following the example of the University of Vir- ginia." I am inclined, however, to agree with the president of Tulane University, who is quoted in the above article as saying (p. 551) : "lb is just as demoralizing for a college to invade the domaip of true uni- versity work as for a preparatory school to attempt to be a college;" and again: "While I approve of the 'elective system' for real univer- sities, I regard its application to colleges and schools as a misfortune." Table of ages of first-year students in the University of Virginia for session 1884-85. Academio. Professional. Mixed. Ages. Virginia. Foreign. Virginia. Foreign. Virginia. Foreign. 1 10 6 11 7 4 7 9 7 3 1 1 2 3 4 8 9 6 4 1 1 1 1 3 2 4 1 2 3 8 4 6 9 A 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 i *IA 1 1 1 n "1 PM' ^a tef ^» 1 Total -- - --■ 42 19i 33 181 35 21i 40 21i 13 201 7 19} Average age of Virginia students in aoadtmio department, excluding the two marked -with an asteriak aa being resident clergymen, 19. Total number of first-year students of all kinds, 170 ; average age of first-year students of all kinds, 20i. Number of students of 1884-85 according to duration of attendance : First year, 170 ; second, 64 ; tliird, 44 ; fourth, 14 ; fifth, 8 ; sixth, 1 ; aeventh, li eighth, 1. Total, 303. 17036— No. 2 13 194 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. The elective system as it prevails in the University of Virginia, which has uover known any other system, has been often misunderstood. It has been sometimes imagined that the tJniversity of Virginia confers la titled academic degree for any combination of studies that the student himself may select, provided that he fulfils the requirements of the written examinations. This is, of course, an entire mistake. There is attached to each school the dogreo of graduate in that school, conferred on completion of the entire course taught in that school, which is tested by means of rigid written examinations, on which the student is re- quired to attain at least three-fourths of the total value of the questions. A student who has received this diploma of graduation in Latin, say, is entitled to call himself " a graduate of the University of Virginia in Latin ; " and so for all other schools. In some schools, where the sub- jects are capable of division, the degree oi proficient is similarly con- ferred on completion of certain specified pariial courses in these schools, and in a few schools the attainment of two such proficiencies on distinct subjects constitutes graduation in the school. These degrees, towever, are not titled degrees. The requirements for titled degrees are strictly specified.^ In some of these degrees there is no option possible, but certain fixed requirements are made, which the student must fulfil if he wishes the particular degree ; in others option is permitted within very narrow limits; andin only one — the recently established degreeof bach- elor of philosophy — does the option vary to the extent of one-half of the academic schools of the University, graduation in five schools, any three of the^ix literary andany twoof the four scientific schools, being re- quisite for the attainment of this degree, which is, to my mind, more con- sonant with the genius of the elective system and of a university than any other one of the bachelor's degrees. It will thus be seen that the require- ments of the University of Virginia are stricter with respect to subjects for the titled degrees than those of many institutions which still retain the curriculum system ; which fact, comibined with the high standard requisite for graduation in each school, will account for the small num- ber of titled degrees conferred by tho University. In respect to titled degrees, there is another point which deserves mention. The B. A. de- gree is not preliminary to tho M. A. degree, as in most institutions; it is merely a degree conferred for lower attainments. A Student may attain the M. A. degree without ever having received the B. A. degree, or, in certain cases, without ever having studied some of the subjects specified for the B. A. degree, as in this last a limited substitution is allowed. Again, a student may receive the B. A. degree and never attain the M. A. degree, for it is not conferred in course, but only after, graduation in the specified schools. The two degrees have, then, no relation to each other, and, as a matter of fact, the M. A. degree was established in 1 831, seventeen years before the institution of the B. A. degree, the only degree originally instituted being that of graduate in a ' For these see Annual Catalogue. THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM. 195 school, which may be called the basis of all degrees. Just here I may be permitted to correct a slight error into which Prof. 0. P. Smith has fallen, in the article above referred to, with reference to the require- ments for the M. A. degree in the University of Yirginia. There is no such " student public opinion " which " holds students to a certain order of studies" (l. c, p. 549) as that with which the University is credited. I presume none would be more surprised than the students themselves to hear that such " public opinion " was reported to exist. The illus- tration given— namely, that " a student who had taken French and Spanish as the two modern languages for his [M. A.] degree found, after he had gotten his certificates of proficiency [read, diplomas of gradua- tion], that student public opinion regarded no other modern language as an equivalent for German for the M. A. degree, and he therefore took German in addition," must have been based on misinformation as to the requirements for the M. A. degree. From 1832, when graduation in the school of modern languages was first required for the M, A. degree, to 1859 the student was at liberty to take any two of the four modern languages taught for his M. A. degree. In 1859 the requirement of French and German as the two modern languages necessary for this de- gree was made obligatory, and has so continued ever since. It is the faculty, under approval of the board of visitors, that regulates the re- quirements for all degrees at the University of Virginia as at other institutions, and no " student public opinion " affects these or con- cerns itself in any way with the order of studies that any student chooses to pursue. As already stated, if the student is a candidate for a titled degree, he finds the requirements strictly specified; if not, he is at liberty to study any subjects he pleases, and the only con- cern of the faculty is to see that his time is fully occupied, which is sought to be effected by the requirement that he must enter at least three schools, unless special circumstances exempt him from it, and that, having entered these schools of his own choice, he attends the lectures regularly and discharges the duties incumbent upon him. If the student is a candidate for any titled degree, he will find, also, that no limit of time is specified for its attainment ; this depends entirely upon his ability to fulfil the requirements. Of nine M. A. graduates of 1884, the time of attendance at the University varied from three years to six, the usual time being three and four years. The one B. S. bad attended for two years, and the one B. A. for six years. (I should add that the last was a professor's son, who had entered quite young — only fifteen years of age — and had therefore gone very slowly through the course.) In like manner graduation in a school is not dependent upon the time of attendance. While a student who is well prepared may graduate in a particular school the first year, another may take several years to accomplish graduation ; and cases have occurred where a student has attended the Senior class of the same school for three years and still failed to graduate. As there is no annual promotion 196 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. from class to class, as in a curriculum, the element of time does not enter, and a student may accomplish his course fast or slow, according to his inclination and ability. The same standard is set for all, and it must be reached regardless of time. There is also no entrance exami nation, except for Virginia students who desire free tuition— and thisig of a very elementary character in each school — so that no student Is rejected for lack of preparation. Upon the student himself rests the responsibility of undertaking the courses prescribed. In^the schools of Greek and mathematics there are three classes— Junior, Intermediate, and Senior ; and in those of Latin, modern languages (that is, in French and in German), and natural philosophy, there are two classes— Junior and Senior, and the student enters whichever one, after consultation with the professor, he finds himself prepared for; but only those who complete the course of the Senior class can apply for graduation in the school. The class-work during the year, consisting of the preparation of cer- tain portions of the text- books, the writing of exercises in the languages, and the preparation of the notes taken from the oral lectures of the professor, is by no means all of the student's work. In all the language classes certain authors are assigned to be read privately, from which reading of the Senior classes one of the pieces for translation in the graduation examination is usually taken, the other being taken from the classical writers of the language at will. The pieces for translation in the graduation examination are never taken from what has been read in the class-room. It was formerly customary to leave to the student himself the selection of his private, or extra, reading, both pieces for translation in the examination being taken from the classical writers of the language at will, but now the so-called "parallel reading" is assigned by the professor at the beginning of the session, and the student reads it from time to time during the year. In the mathemat- ical classes extra problems are assigned for solution each week, or even each day, so that the student's original powor for this kind of work is continually tested. In some other schools a course of parallel reading in connection with the subjects studied — or corresponding private work in addition to that of the class-room — is assigned, the object being to encourage the habit of private study along with the preparation of a cer- tain portion of the text-book or a certain quantity of lecture notes from day to day. The proper preparation of this last also is tested by careful questioning at each lecture on the portion of the text-book assigned and on the subjects of the preceding lecture. The student's presence at each lecture is ascertained by a regular roll-call, and if his absences reach as many as three during the month in any one school without valid excuse, his name is reported to the fac- ulty, and he is admonished to be more particular in attendance. Also, the number of times that he has absented himself from lectures in each school, and a brief statement as to how he is doing, are entered upon THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM. 197 the monthly report regularly rendered to his parents. A student who is persistently idle and neglectful of admonition, or whose conduct is deserving of severe censure, is usually informed at the close of the session that his presence during the following session will be dispensed with; or, in flagrant cases, his parents are requested to with- draw him forthwith. It may be truthfully said that cases of this kind seldom arise, and I do not suppose that any institution in the country Enjoys greater immunity from bad conduct on the part of its stu- dents than the University of Virginia. Every student is treated as a gentleman, he respects himself as such, and conducts himself accord- ingly, and cause for censure very seldom arises. Supposing that the student has applied himself to his studies, and maintained a good class- standing during the year, which is determined by the regularity of his attendance at lectures and by the judgment of the professor as to the student's answers in the class questioning — for there is no marking system in vogue in the University — he presents himself for the written examinations- These occur twice during the year, in February and in June, and in some schools the two examinations count as of equal value, being on different portions of the course, while in others the whole stress is laid on the final examinations. The professor endeavors in these ex- aminations by a series of questions, some of which often require lengthy answers, to test thoroughly the student's knowledge. A list of exami- nation questions is often very deceptive; so much depends upon the character and extent of the answer required, and even upon the judg- ment of the examiner. While the professor in each school sets the ques- tions and examines the papers, two other professors along with him eoustitute the committee of examination for that school, and any ques- tion that may arise relative to the examination or to the student's papers is decided by the committee and not by the professor alone. The examinations for graduation last usually from six to eight hours on each subject, though sometimes, in the case of students who write slowly, they may extend to ten hours or more. They are seldom limited to a shorter period than six hours, so that a student is not required to write against time; he is given a full opportunity to state what" he knows, even if he may think slowly. As already stated, he must attain three-fourths of the total value of the questions, or he fails of graduation, and in the professional schools the standard is higher, being four-fifths in the medical department, and five-sixths in the law department. Each student appends to his examination paper a pledge that he has "neither given nor received any assistance during the examination," which pledge is most rigidly observed as a point of honor by all the stu- dents. I have never known personally of but one violation of this pledge, and in that case a committee of his fellow-students waited upon the of- fender and informed him that he must leave the University, which he did forthwith. I have heard that a few similar cases have occurred in the his- tory of the University, which were similarly treated. Here it is " stu- 198 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. ' deut public opinion " that regulates the matter and sets the tone of the University. A violation of the examination pledge may not even reach the ears of the faculty, but is dealt with by the students themselves. It is simply an impossibility for any faculty to regulate this, and it must be left to the honor of the students. The University of Virginia is not peculiar, however, in this respect, for the same tone and practice exist in other institutions in Virginia and the Southern States, and have extended to the preparatory schools also. They may, too, exist in in- stitutions in the Northern and Western States, but as to this I am no so well informed. Thus by means of class teaching and private study during the year, and rigid written examinations at the close, the University of Virginia en- deavors to secure thoroughness of attainment on the part of its students. A diploma of graduation in any school is an evidence that the student has worked hard on the subjects taught in that school, and has come up to the standard required, whether he has spent one, two, or threeyears in obtaining his diploma. A titled degree is evidence that the student has accomplished such hard work in several specified schools, and as the M. A. degree requires graduation in more schools than any other, it has always been regarded as the highest honor of the University. There have been established, however, recently, doctorates of letters, science, and philosophy, which require that a student who has obtained the corresponding bachelor's degree, or, in the case of the last, the de- gree of B. A., or of B. Ph., shall pursue post-graduate courses in two schools of his own selection out of those in which he has graduated. His proficiency in these courses is tested by theses and examinations, and while no limit of time is fixed, it is estimated that the completion of the post-graduate courses will require at least two years of study after attainment of the, bachelor's degree. The candidate's thesis must show independent research in the subject of his selection, and, on approval, must be printed. The effort is tlius made by means of the doctorates to encourage and reward specialization. Tho system has been in operation too short a time as yet to produce results, but there are now certain students pursuing post-graduate courses who will apply for the doctorate in due time.^ It deserves to be added here that no honorary degree is conferred by the University of Virginia. It may be taken for granted that any one of its graduates who writes a titled degree after his name has worked hard for it, and has attained on the written examinations the standard requisite for graduation in the several schools specified for that degree. In order not to prolong this paper to too groat length, it remains to notice briefly, in conclusion, the character of the preparation necessary ' The degree of doctor of pliilosophy was conferred for the lirst time in 1885, and it was in that year also decided to recognize the B. A. degree from other reputable insti- tutions as a preliminary to this doctorate, tho requirement, however, of graduation in the two selected schools of the University being still maintained. THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM. 199 for academic students to enter the University of Virginia profitably. Professional students, of course, being over twenty-one ye^rs of age, will enter ■with whatever preparation they may have been able to ac- quire, and will profit accordingly. From the average age of entrance of the academic students, already stated as about nineteen years, it will be seen that they have attained greater maturity of mind than the first- year students of many institutions of learning, and their preparation should correspond. In several schools of the University no previous knowledge of the subjects taught is required, and a student may enter these schools without further preparation than is implied by the possession of a good common English education, such as the highest grade of public schools can supply, for the teaching begins with the elements of the subject, as in chemistry, for example, or moral philosophy; but some maturity of mind is requisite in order to profit by the courses taught. In judging of this preparation, then, it will be necessary, to take those subjects which the preparatory schools profess to teach, namely, Latin, Greek, mathematics, French, and German, if, indeed, these last can be rightly added. I wish I could add English also, but as yet the courses in English are so meagre and so varied in the preparatory schools that one can not, for the large majority of students, count upon more than in- struction in the ordinary English' grammar, and in the elementary principles of composition and rhetoric. There are some important ex- ceptions to this statement, but I think that I speak rightly as regards the English course taught in the great majority of prepara^iory schools in the South, which is the chief constituency of the University of Vir- ginia, and possibly in the North and West ; but of these I speak under correction. In my judgment the great want in most of our preparatory schools is a thorough course in English parallel with the courses in Latin, Greek, and mathematics, and of equal importance. We are not so de- ficient in good preparatory schools, at least in Virginia, ^s one would infer from a letter of Prof. W. M. Baskervill, of Vanderbilt Univer- sity, printed in the Kation of December 18, 1884 (ISTo. 1016), in which, after enumerating five schools by name — one in North Carolina, one in Tennessee, and three in Virginia — he adds: "All the rest of the South can not add five more such schools to this list." I would beg leave to say that I can easily add from Virginia alone "five more such schools " and over, whose course is equally as high in grade as that of those mentioned, and, in fact, a colleague informed me that he could count fifteen. But these schools have not yet established full and thorough courses in English equal in extent and importance to their courses in classics, mathematics, and modern languages, though I look hopefully for this to come in time, even if something else must " go by the board." While our schools are doing good work, and sending up some students every year prepared to enter the Senior classes in the Uni- versity, they are not now equal in numbers, nor, perhaps, in the grade 200 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. Of their work, to the schools ia what was " the golden age " for Virgiuia preparatory schools, aad for the University— the decade from 1850 to 1860. Then there were at least a half dozen schools in the State whose number of boarding pupils varied from sixty to a hundred, and several others with a less number, all preparatory to the University, and draw- ing their pupils from all parts of the South. The University during this period was in its most flourishing condition, having for at least six years successively over six hundred students in attendance, nearly four hundred of whom were academic students, coming from all of the South- ern States from Maryland to Texas. Almost all of these preparatory schools either were conducted by graduates, usually M. A.'s of the Uni- versity, or drew their principal teachers from it. Having been educated in one of these schools and having taught in another, I may be permit- ted to speak from personal experience of the preparation afforded, as anil- lustration of the school course. In the school attended we had been read- ing for three years the higher Latin and Greek authors — others having been previously studied — of which I recall, in Latin, Tacitus and Juve- nal, Plautus and Terence, Cicero's Letters, and Tusculan Disputations ; and, in Greek, Euripides, Sophocles, Thucydides, and Theocritus, and we had written weekly exercises in Latin and Greek composition, retranslat- ing into these languages a piece of English translated from some classi- cal author; we had studied trigonometry and surveying, analytical and descriptive geometry, and the class succeeding ours studied also the differential and integral calculus ; we had pursued a French course during the three years, reading lastly Eacine and Moliere, and writing weekly exercises. I do not now recall any English studies pursued, except spelling, which was rigidly insisted on for the whole school, and composition and declamation ; for the time of English was not yet. I can not say that all, or even a majority, of the students entering the University enjoyed this amount of preparation, but it was not any too much for entering the Senior classes in the respective schools, and any student who desired to graduate the first year in the schools named must have had somewhat equivalent preparation, even if he had not read quite as much Latin and Greek. I speak of "Senior classes" and of " graduation the first year," because a student maj- enter the lower classes in the schools of Latin, Greek, mathematics, and modern lan- guages with very much less preparation, or he may even enter the Senior classes and profit by the instruction given ; but he will not grad- uate the first year. Comparing the courses taught in these schools of the University now with those taught twenty-five years ago, I should say that graduation in Latin and mathematics is somewhat more diffi- cult now than it was then ; in Greek and modern languages it is about the same. The preparatory schools have, therefore, now a somewhat harder task than they had then, and, with some exceptions, it does not seem to me that they fulfil it as well, but I may be mistaken. Educa- tion in Virginia, if not in the whole South, does not seem to have re- THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM. ' 201 covered from the great cataclysm, notwithstanding twenty years have elapsed, and a new generation has come on the scene. The University of Virginia is certainly now much better equipped for its work than ever before. Its thirteen schools of 1860 have expanded to nineteen ; it pos- sesses a chemical laboratory and a museum of natural history and geology of extraordinary value; its gifts, endowments, and appropria- tions are greater than at any former period; and it has just been pro- vided with an endowed observatory, and a refracting telescope equal to any in this country and excelled by few in Europe. That its students are not as numerous as formerly, is due, in my opinion, to two causes — the one, perfectly just in itself and not to be regretted but in its effect^ that other Southern States are building up their own institutions, and are educating for themselves the students whom Virginia formerly edu- cated for them ; in this they are wise, and are to be congratulated, and no lover of education would wish to see them take one step backward j the other cause is, I fear, not so creditable to our people as a whole,, and here I include Virginia, as well as other Southern States ; it is,, that there is not as great a desire for higher education as there once was ; our people have been occupied with their material interests, and have starved their minds ; young men are growing up all around u& with a mere smattering of education, but as it is sufficient to enable them to enter upon an agricultural, manufacturing, mercantile, or com- mercial life, they are satisfied ; education costs money and postpones the time for making money, and we are content to do without it. But "the three E's" will not suffice; the education given in our public schools is very desirable as far as it goes, and these schools should, by all means, be extended ; but, if we are content to stop there, it will not answer; we can never rear a cultured community on thfe rudiments of learning ; we can never take the position we once occupied in the states- manship of this great country, nor even hold our own, if our higher institutions of learning are neglected. . The so-called "New South" has. developed in many ways, has ex- panded prodigiously, from a material point of view, and has extended the blessings of elementary education to a much larger number than ever before. But I question seriously whether, in proportion to the population, there are as many young men now seeking a higher educa- tion as there were in 1860.^ Some who write about the condition of education in the South previous to 1860 do not know what was the real condition of affairs. They do not reflect that the higher institutions of learning in each State, and the private schools preparatory to them^ were generally well attended, and that the character of the liberal education supplied by them was in no whit inferior, if it was not supe- 'This view is expressed also in two thoughtfal and well-written articles on "Edu- cation in the South," which appeared in the Nashville Christian Advocate of Jan- uary 24 and 31, 1885, but the anonymous writer is rather pessimistic in regard to education not only in the South, but in the whole country. 202 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. rior, to what it is now. While we have broadened, we have not deep- ened. Lack of private means, doubtless, has had much to do with this, but. as material interests have progressed, this lack is being gradually supplied. The caution which, it seems to me, is now most needed by the people of the South is not to let regard for material interests over- ride consideration of intellectual growth. Mind must rule, and mind must have the opportunity of being developed to its highest capacity if we would keep pace with the intellectual progress of the world. Our higher institutions of learning must be cherished, not only sup- ported from the public funds, but aided by private benefactions, and especially sustained by receiving for education the sons of all who can afford to send their sons to be educated. With much increased facili- ties for instruction, the colleges and universities should not lack stu- dents, for whom these facilities are provided. Higher education should be at least as highly appreciated now as it was by our fathers, or the result will inevitably be seen in the career of our sons. We can not afibrd to neglect the higher education, for, if we do, it will undoubtedly react upon the lower, and we shall stand before the world a half-edu- ■cated people, regardless of our most important interests. Moreover, we -can never contribute our share to the literature of the world unless we lay the foundation broad and deep. Writing novels and works in the .negro dialect is not contributing to the highest forms of literature. Does any of this ephemeral literature, or all of it together, deserve Jo be placed beside the papers which emanated from the statesmen of the past, or the speeches with which the halls of legislation once resounded? Let us not deceive ourselves. Let us realize that the higher education must be maintained, and that we must take advantage of it if we would be an educated people; that there is a higher life than the mere material, and that making money is not the chief end of man. This sketch of the way in which the University of Virginia is en- deavoring to do its part towards securing that thoroughness in the higher -edqcation which is so essential to success, is offered as a contribution to the general educational work in this country, and especially as a plain description of one modest phase of that work. CHAPTER XIV. A BIBLIOGRAPHY' OF THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. By the Editor. ORIGINAL SOURCES. Memoir, Correspondence, etc., from the papers of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Thomas Jefferson Randolph. 4 volumes, 8vo. Charlottesville, 1829. The "Writings of Thomas Jefferson, being his Autobiography, Cor- respondence, etc. Published by order of the Joint Committee of Con- gress on the Library. From the original manuscripts in the Department- of State, edited by H. A. Washington. 9 volumes, 8vo. Washington, 1853-54. The above are tlie best sources of information concerning the origin of Jeffer- son's educational ideas and his early plans for the development of a uni- versity in his native State. Here will be found his correspondence with M. Piotet upon the project of transferring the Geneva faculty to Virginia ; also his letters to M. Dnpont de Nemours, Dr. Priestley, Dv. Cooper, and many other gentlemen, whose advice Jefferson sought upon educational questions. In Jefferson's complete worlis will be found his Notes on Virginia, which contain valuable historical references to his first plans for transforming William and Mary College into a university, and to his original bills for the establishment of a system of public education. The Writings of George Washington, edited by Jared Sparks. These contain the interesting correspondence between Washington and Jeffer- son respecting the project for a French-Swiss university in Virginia, a proj- ect which undoubtedly had great influence upon both of these Virginians in shaping their schemes for national and State education. 'The writer had substantially completed this bibliography when that excellent bibliographical work appeared, the BibKotheoa Jeffersoniana : A List of Boolis Written by or Relating to Thomas Jefferson, by Hamilton Bullock Tompkins (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons). 350 copies printed. The writer's purpose in the pres- ent Bibliography is educational, and specifically concerns the University of Virginia, but he gladly expresses his gratitude to Mr. Tompkins for so comprehensive and com- plete a Biblioiheca Jefferaoniana. Such collections of historical material with regard to other American statesmen would prove of great service to students and specialists. 203 204 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIEGINIA. '^ , The Writings of James Madison. The third and fourth yolumes of these writings are very important for an under- standing of the historical and political significance of the University of Virginia. Madison was one of the original hoard of visitors and one of Jefferson's most valued advisers in the direction of the institution, espe- cially in the matter of political education. He and Jefferson agreed upon and prescribed text-books upon the science of government. Both men wished to keep the University out of the hands of the Federalists. Sundry Documents on the Subject of Public Education for the State of Virginia. Published by the President and Directors of the Literary Fund. Eichmond, 1817. With this invaluable publication the documentary history of the University of Virginia begins. It was the discovery and acquisition of this pamphlet of 78 pages in an antiquarian book-store at Baltimore which first led the writer to an interest in the educational history of Virginia. The collection of " Sundry Documents" was issued through the political influence of Ca- bell as a means of propaganda for the university idea, which, in the year 1817, first began to influence the Virginia Legislature. The collection con- tains Jefferson's bill for the more general diffusion of knowledge, proposed by the committee of revisers of the laws of Virginia, appointed by the General Assembly in the year 1776. This is the historical corner-stone of Jefferson's university. The writer has called particular attention to this bill in the precefling monograph. Note also Jefferson's original bill for amend- ing the constitution of William and Mary College, which was to be the roof and crown of a system of popular education. The next great land-mark in the history of the University of Virginia is Jefferson's letter to Peter Carr, September 7, 1814. It represents a complete break from the idea of trans- ■ forming William and Mary College into a State university, and takes a fresh departure in the proposed development of Albemarle Academy into a college or university. This letter, which contains Jefferson's educational platform, was published by Cabell in the Eichmond Enquirer, and marks the first introduction of the new idea into the public mind. Then follow all the legislative documents, such as the report of the president and direc- tors of the literary fund to the General Assembly in December, 1816, a re- port which marks the entrance of Jefferson's educational ideas into poli- tics. The correspondence between Governor Nicholas and the leading educators of the country upon a system of public education for Virginia, and also Mercer's bill^ " for the establishment of primary schools, academies, colleges, and an university," are of considerable historical interest. All of these Sundry Documents have been digested in the preceding mono- graph. Although the pamphlet was printed by the managers of the literary fund and "distributed among the citizens of this Commonwealth" of Vir- ginia, yet it is not likely to have survived in any considerable number of copies. Friends of education in Virginia who happen to own these "Sun- dry Documents,'' one of the primary sources of the higher educational his- tory of that State, would do well to present the pamphlet to public libra- . ries and institutions of learning for preservation. Proceedings and Eeport of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia, presented December 8, 1818. Eichmond, 1818. This document is quite as important as the one just mentioned, for it is the re- port of the Eockfish Gap Commission, which decided that the University of Virginia should be established upon the site of Jefferson's "Central College." The commission was a brilliant idea, first suggested to the Leg- BIBLIOGRAPHY. 205 islature by Mr. Cabell. It was appointed by the Governor, -who favored Jefferson's project, from the senatorial districts of the State. Some of the best men in Virginia assembled at Eockfish Gap, a pass through the Blue Eldge to the Valley of Virginia, in August, 1818, and there came under the persuasive influence of Mr. Jefferson. He convinced the commission, by maps and ingenious diagrams, that, of all competitors for the University, the region of Charlottesville was nearest the geographical centre and near- est the centre of white population. The idea of centrality and the educa- tional foundations already laid by Jefferson carried the day in opposition to Lexington and Staunton. Jefferson prepared a most elaborate report, containing his entire philosophy of education, from the primary school to the university. The original printed document has never come to the eye of the present writer, but he has found a printed copy in the Analectic •Magazine, Vol. XIII, pp. 103-116, Philadelphia, 1819. To this magazine Jef- ferson's friend Dr. Cooper, the first professor in the University of Virginia, was a contributor. For example, see his review of Count Destutt Tracy's Political Economy, in the March number, 1819, pp. 177- 191. The book was a translation from the French, which Jefferson had caused to be made and published. This Analectic Magazine was evidently one of the means of contemporary propaganda for Jefferson's ideas. The report of the Eockfish Gap Commission is also reprinted in the Early History of-the University of Virginia, a valuable documentary collection described below. Early History of the University of Virginia, as contained in the Let- ters of Thomas Jeiferson and Joseph 0. Cabeil, hitherto unpublished, etc. Eichmond : J. W. Eandolph. 1856. This is a documentary history of the University, and by far the most important work which has ever appeared upon the subject. The work contains Jef- ferson's extensive correspondence with Cabell, some of which " unpub- lished " material may also be found in Jefferson's Writings, with Cabell's name unfortunately omitted. The above volume contains also the published records of the trustees of Albemarle Academy, of the visitors of Central College, and to a limited extent of the visitors of the University of Vir- ginia. Jefferson's most important educational reports and the early acts of legislation for the University are also to be found in this invaluable col- lection, for the use of which the writer is indebted to the courtesy of Pro- fessor B. L. Gildersleeve, formerly of the University of Virginia, Session Acts of the Assembly of the State of Virginia. These contain, in the most authentic form, the fundamental law and subsequent legislation of Virginia with respect to her University. The legal regula- tions of the institution and the various appropriations made from time to time for its benefit, are all recorded here, and are indexed under the head of " University." Codes of the State of Virginia. The various codified editions of the statutes of Virginia afford the Student a convenient r6sum6 of the permanent law affecting the University and the interests of higher education. The Annual Eeports of the Board of Visitors, published by the State of Virginia. Sets may be found in Eichmond and in the library of the University. Catalogues of the University of Virginia. A bound set, from the first session in 1825 down to the present, is preserved In the University library. 206 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. Manuscript Eecords of the Board of Visitors. From May 5, 1817, to April 7, 1826, these reoorda are written in Jefferson's own hand. From October 3, 1826, to July, 1828, they are in the hand of Nicholas P. Trist. Manuscript Catalogue of the University Library, by Jefferson. This is the only manuscript in Jefferson's own hand that could be found in the University library. The catalogue gives additional evidence of Jeffer- son's attention to details in the organization of his University. There are catalogued 2,436 volumes, described by Jefferson as 1 grand folio, 168 folio, 388 4to, 1,609 8vo, 2,270 12mo. Jefferson classified the library as follows: (1) Ancient history; (2) Modern history (foreign); (3) Brit- ish; (4) American; (5) Ecclesiastical; (6) Physics; (7) Agriculture; (8> Chemistry; (9) Anatomy; (10) Surgery; (11) Medicine; (12) Zoology; (13) Botany; (14) Mineralogy; (15) Technology; (16) Astronfimy; (17) Geography, etc. He observes, characteristically, at the beginning of his catalogue: " Books are addressed to the three faculties : memory, reason, imagination." The University Memorial. By Eev. John Lipscomb Johnson. Balti- more : Turnbull Brothers. 1871. This work consists of a series of biographical sketches of alumni of the Univer- sity of Virginia who fell in the late Civil War, and contains many glowing tributes to the character and talents of the sons of this institution. The Gilmer Manuscripts. Inquiring of Col. Charles S. Venable, chairman of the faculty of the Univerbity of Virginia, for original manuscript materials relating to that institution, the writer first learned of the existence of original and unpublished letters written by Thomas Jefferson to Francis W. Gilmer. Upon application to the present owner of the letters in question, John Gilmer, Esq., of Chat- ham, Pittsylvania County, Va., the writer was courteously intrusted with the entire bound collection, which includes not only letters from Jeffer- son, but also some from Madison and from the gentlemen in England to whom Gilmer had letters of introduction. There are letters of advice or suggestion from Major John Cartwrjght, Dugald Stewart, Benjamin Eush, Lord Brougham, Lord Teignmouth, Lord Forbes, Dr. Samuel Parr, Henry Drury of Harrow, Prof. John Leslie of Edinburgh, Peter Barlow of the Eoyal Military Academy, and many others. It is very interesting to trace in this correspondence the lines of personal influence, inquiry, and recommen- dation which led gradually to the selection and eugagement of a faculty for the University of Virginia. Here are the letters written by Thomas Hewett Key, George Long, Dr. Dunglison, George Blaetterman, and va- rious other gentlemen with whom negotiations were opened. Much inter- esting light is thrown by the Gilmer manuscripts upon the beginnings of the University of Virginia. The collection, which is well preserved in a large volume, quarto, came into the writer's hands too late to make any use of its contents in preparing the body of the present monograph, but he has appended in foot-notes to the chapter on the first professors certain selections from the Gilmer correspondence. By the consent of the owner of the manuscripts, the editor has committed the entire collection to one of his students from Virginia, William P. Trent, A. M., for further use. There are some very interesting letters from George Ticknor, written in Boston and at Goettingen; also several communications from the Abb6 Jos^ Correa de Serra, D upont de Nemours, and a great mass of unpublished letters from Will* BIBLIOGRAPHY. 207 iam Wirt. The discovery of the Gilmer collection, which has fortunately survived the ravages of war, is only another illustration of the importance and practical value of American students utilizing academic connections and the historical environment for the prosecution of their original studies. Probably the Gilmer collection is but one of many family collections of im- portant papers which might be made useful to historical science in the hands . of students. The field of American educational history is comparatively unbroken, and it is not unlikely that many other interesting materials and discoveries may yet be made. It is the ploughing of new lands that un- earths interesting relics of a forgotten race, and it will prove no ungrate- ful task to follow in the track of educational pioneers like Thomas Jef- ferson and Francis Gilmer. LIVES OP JEFPEESON. STANDAKD WORKS. Eayner's Life of Thomas Jefferson. Boston, 1834. This early work contains but a few pages, 415-420, upon the origin of the Uni- versity. George Tucker's Life of Ttiomas Jefferson, 1837. George Tucker was professor of moral philosophy in the University of Virginia, and naturally paid some attention to the history of the institution. ' See por- tions of Chapters XIX and XXI. His account of Mr. Jefferson's hospitality to professors and students is striking. Every week Jefferson had a little company of students to dine with him, although he himself, being a little deaf, sat apart in order not to repress student conversation. Howe's Historical Collections of Virginia, 1852. The notice of the University is necessarily meagre. De Bow's Industrial Statistics of the Southern and Western States. Vol. III. " Virginia." New Orleans, 1852-55. De Bow is a valuable source of information upon Southern educational history. Henry S. Eandall's Life of Thomas Jefferson, 1858. Portions of Chapters XI, XII, XIII of VoL HI contain a graphic account of Mr. Jefferson's relations to the University. Here are to be found Dr. Dunglison's interesting memoranda. He says that soon after the first professors arrived in Charlottesville, "the venerable ex-Presidenfc presented himself, and wel- comed us with that dignity and kindness for which he was celebrated. He was then eighty-two years old, with his intellectual powers unshaken by age, and the physical man so active that he rode to and fro from Mon- ticello, and took exercise on foot with all the activity of one twenty or thirty years younger. He sympathized with us on the discomforts of our long voyage, and on the disagreeable journey we must have passed over the Virginia roads ; and depicted to us the great distress he had felt lest we had been lost at sea, for he had almost given us up when my letter ar- rived with the joyful intelligence we were safe." H. W. Pierson's Jefferson at Monticello : The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson. Kew York: Charles Scribner. 1862. Miss Sarah N. Eandolph's Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson. Harper and Brothers, 1871. In Chapter XX of this pleasantly written volume there is some account of Jeffer- son's devotion to his University, the building of which he watched from the northeast corner of the terrace at Monticello. 208 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. James Parton's Life of Thomas Jefferson. Boston, 1874. Chapter LXX, on Jefferson's labors to promote education, is very cleverly writ- ten, and contains valuable information, derived from Prof. Charles S. Venable, on the examination system of the University, the healthful re- ligious life there prevailing, and the moral effect of trusting to student honor. In Mr. Parton's hook are valuable notices of Dr. Priestley and Dr. Cooper. It appears that the latter suffered under the Alien and Sedition Acts for harmless animadversions upon John Adams. Judge Chase imposed upon Cooper a fine of $400 andeentenced him to prieoufor six months. Jeffer- son's relations to Cooper and Priestley are well described. Parton's work contains a heliotype reproduction of a somewhat remarkable portrait of Jefferson, painted by Rembrandt Peale in 1803, and now iu the possession of the New York Historical Society. John T. Morse's Thomas Jefferson, in the American Statesman Series, 1883. In this work, written from a political point of view, one could not reasonably ex- pect to find much with regard to Jefferson's relation to the University. Catalogue of the Library of the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, under the head of " Jefferson". This is a remarkably good bibliography of the books, writings, essays, magazine articles, etc., that have appeared upon the subject of Jefferson. Poole's Index of Periodical Literature. This also contains references to a wide range of magazine literature upon Jef- ferson. PAMPHLETS, KKPORTS, MAGAZINE ARTICLES, ETC. North American Eeview, January, 1820. This contains an article by Edward Everett in review of Jefferson's report for the Rockfish Gap Commission. The article is interesting as an expression of Northern opinion respecting the new educational departure in Virginia. Jefferson himself read the article, and commented upon it in a letter to John Adams, August 15, 1820. American Quarterly Review, June, 1831. Article by Dr. Danglisoii on " College Instruction and Discipline." This article contains an important discussion of the subject of student co-op- eration in the matter of college discipline, by one of the original professors, who held views somewhat opposed to those of Mr. Jefferson, Cf. Randall's Life of Jefferson, III, 517-519, where the story of the disorders that oc- curred even in the time of Mr. Jefferson are plainly told. In spite of the disagreeable experiences through which, in common with most colleges, the University of Virginia has passed in the matter of student riots (of which Dr. Dunglison, Professor Tucker, and Professor Minor tell the un- varnished truth), there has certainly resulted from Mr. Jefferson's original experiment in college government a remarkable harmony between the faculty and the students. The principles of authority and self-government, of law and liberty, have found a happy reconciliation. Jefferson was early convinced of this possibility. He wrote to Governor Giles: " A finer set of youths I never saw assembled for instruction. They committed some irregu- larities at first, until they learned the lawful length of their tether ; since which it has never been transgressed in the smallest degree.'' Dr. H. Tutwiler, in his address before the alumni society of the University of Virginia, June 29, 1882, said : "It is but recently, as we learn from the newspapers, that the distinguished president of Amherst College has sub- BIBLIOGRAPHY. '209 I mitted to the stndenta of that institution a proposition to make them • judges, under certain limitations, ■ in the i;natter of discipline. This -was pre- cisely the plan of Mr. Jefferson, as set forth in the first published edition of the laws." Nfles's Eegister, 15 ; Supplement, 79. Under the heads of " Education," "Jefferson," " Virginia," in Nlles's Eegister, various interesting allusions to the University may be found. The state of the Literary Fund is from time to time noted, e. g., January 10, 1818. Bohn'a Album. This work is remarkable solely for its pictures of professors and for; its views of the University. Two engravings from Bohu have beeu reproduced la ' this report. Southern Literary Messenger, January, 1842, and April, 1856. This interesting repository of Southern literature before the War contains two articles on the University of Virginia, bearing respectively the above dates. Most remarkable side-lights are thrown upon the institution by ob- servers belonging to those times. Friendly, although critical, their testi- mony is highly valuable. ■ The first article contains interesting sketches of three professors whom the University had lost — Bonnycastle, Davis, and the German, Dr. Blaetterman — from which sketches the present writer has already drawn. The second article, published fourteen years later, is devoted to "The Univer- sity : its Character and Wants." This is a very spirited and refreshing cri- tique of the institution by one who evidently had its interests warmly at heart. The author, who is evidently a Southerner and has seen something of the world, possibly at a German university, rushes with a free lance at some of the -weak points of the rural civilization of the Old South, and does not spare the University of Virginia. This critic, whoever he was, uttered some rather striking ante-iellum observations. He said: " In the way of general culture our Southern States generally are not abreast of the major part of those other civilized States whom we consider our peers. Even if slavery is a blessing, even if our social state is superior to that of France or that of Maine, slavery will not therefore snpply or be a sub- stitute for art. Slavery can not play a tune. » * * Where are the fine arts? Where is our music? Where are our pictures ? Where are our sculpt- ures f Where are the treasures of our science ? And, saddest yet, where is our literature ? Will any man say that our civilization has culminated? "The great immediate wants of Virginia are phyaioaland intellectual devel- opment, railroads, and educational appliances. If the physical resources of Virginia were developed, wealth and the growth of towns would result. * * * Railroads are as essential as the schools. There can be no higher development, no outbreaking of the intellect, without a dense population, or without towns. Minds must be brought together." This reformer then advocates with grekt vigor a policy of internal improvements, with liberal provisions for education, " beginning with the University." He states, if not quite fairly, yet with perfect freedom, the condition of that institu- tion as it appeared in 1856. He says : " Kot a solitary additional chair has been established since its original foundation. For years, and years, and years, |15,000 has been its annuity. No sort of effort has been made to ex- tend its pTovisions. No kind of modification has been adopted from regard to the advancement of knowledge. It is just like those old French diligences that have been running ever since the Merovingian dynasty." This aggres- sive -writer then proceeds to urge a longer sojourn of students at the Univer- 17036— No. 2 14 210 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA. sity ; greater attention to their qualifications for admission ; the divisioa of the chair of ancient languages into two professorships, one of Latin, the other of Greek [this was done in 1856] ; the institution of a chair of history and English literature [1857] ; a chair of geology [1857] and prac- tical mining; increase of the University library. Upon this latter point the critic speaks feelingly: "Our earliest recollections are of seeing in Smith's Geography that the library of the University contained 17,000 vol- umes." After a long period, he says the collection has increased to 18,000; but now for many years "no additions whatever have been made to the library." He next urges the establishment of fellowships, yielding a few hundred dollars a year, " for the purpose of fostering and encouraging an elevated scholar- ship.'' He reviews, with evident understanding and appreciation, the fel- lowship system of Oxford and Cambridge, and also describes the prizes and scholarships then offered at Harvard and Yale Colleges. He explains accu: rately and approvingly the German system of recruiting professorships: from privatdocenten, or private lecturers, who establish themselves at a uni- versity and compete with one another and with the regular professors. He contrasts the German system with the English, saying, " the professors at Oxford and Cambridge do no work at all ; they deliver an occasional lan- guid lecture ; bat the business of instruction is committed to private tutors, who are in no way as 8U(jh connected with the uuirersity." The critic then proceeds to urge university provision for the study of Christianity, its philosophy and literature. "Why should the authenticity or genuine- ness of Homer be a matter of livelier interest than who wrote the Penta- teuch?"" Then follows a searching review of the educational results actu- ally accomplished at the University of Virginia by a student who reaches the highest grade, master of arts, and compares them with the results of higher education in Germany. While not yielding superiority of university standards to any American institution, the critic reviews in a frank and suggestive way the courses of instruction, number of instructors, etc., at the University of Virginia, at American colleges, and at various Englieli and German universities. The statistics were well calculated to induce reflection. The University of Virginia had, all, told, 15 instructors ; Har- vard, 42; Yale, 43; Princeton, 20; Amherst, 17; Montreal, 18; Quebec, 22; Oxford, 593; Cambridge, 482; Berlin, 152; Bonn, 70; Leipsic, 97; Munich, 66; Tubingen, 62 ; Gottingen, 8d ; Heidelberg, 62. He notes the relative size of college libraries in this country in 1855-56: Har- vard, 101,000 volumes; Yale, 63,000; Brown, 34,000; Bowdoin, 28,000; Dart- mouth, 3Ji,'00O; Georgetown, 25,000; South Carolina College, 22,000; Frank- lin, in A.thenS, Ga., 10,000; Saint Mary's, Maryland, 20,000. He then con- trasts the annual appropriations for educational purposes in the dif- ferent States, for schools alone: Massachusetts, |1,140,000: New Yorl:, 13,046,430; New Jersey, |388,572; Pennsylvania, $2,OuO,000 and over; Mis- souri, $210,000; Delaware, |50,000; North Carolina, $240,000; Tennessee, $280,000; Louisiana, $250,000. "In Virginia the annual appropriation from the literary fund and the capitation tax amounts to about $170,000, in- cluding the University and the Institute." He then compares relative en- dowments and appropriations for the higher education : Harvard had, in 1855, over a million dollars endowment, and annual receipts from the same, from tuition, etc., of $256,303. The University of Virginia had $15,000 per annum from the Legislature, and this sum, with total receipts from tui- tion, room-rent, etc., would amount perhaps to $65,000 per annum. South Carolina was then appropriating $21,000 a year to her college at Columbia; BIBLIOGEAPHY. 211 Alabama and Louisiana were giving about |30,000 a year to their colleges; and Mississippi appropriated annually to her university $17,000. The significance of these facts and figures could not have escaped the critic's mind, nor that of his readers in 1856. The object of the entire article was clearly to arouse public opinion to the needs of the university situation in Virginia. The author wished to secure a more hearty support of the in- stitution, an increase of the faculty, better pay for the professors, alumni representation upon the board of visitors, and many other excellent reforms. He wished greater attention to be given to the qualifications of students entering the University and a longer sojourn there. Inadequate prepara- tion for university work and insufficient time for a liberal education ap- pear to have been radical student faults at the University of Virginia; but it is well known that the authorities have always maintained high stand- ards of examination and graduation. The small proportion of honors awarded in 1854-55, as compared with the total number of students in the various schools, is very striking ; Sabject. No. stu- dents. No. grad- uatea. , Subject. No. stu- dents. No. grad- pates. AnoiPnt languages 231 '200 241 109 ■ 16 Chemistry 190 118 96 98 24 MoraJ philosophy 31 • ' '14 •24 11 Natural philosophy . - . Law 1 There were 18 graduates in French, 13 in Spanish, 9 in German, and 5 in Italian; but none who were graduated from the entire*schooI of modefn lan>j;ua-ges. 2 The ant.ior now under review says the course in mathematics at the tTnlversity of Virginia "is almost identically the West Point course, where mathematics is the main and engrossing study." In the above attendance upon the various schools some students are counted more than once. There were in all that year, 1854-55, at the University, 514 students; 353 in the academic as distinguished from the professional schools. The proportion of graduates to undergraduates in other American colleges was, and still is, much higher than at the University of Virginia. In 1854, at Harvard, there were in all 329 undergraduates, of whom 88 were Seniors, destined, by far the greater part, to receive their diplomas in course. At Yale, in 1855, there were 473 undergraduates, [ including 97 Seniors, most of whom received their degree of B. A. That same year, at the University of Virginia, while 106 men, out of a total of 358, were graduated from individual academic schools, only 3 succeeded in taking the degree of B. A., and only 7 the master's degree. Prom statistical evi- dence like this, which runs through earlier and later years, from the recog- nized ability and requirements of the professors since the very foundation of the University, and from the high repute in which its degrees have always been held, it is clear that the standards of higher education in Vir- ginia were kept above reproach, whatever the draw backs and difficulties of the situation. Mr. Jefferson's Pet [the University of Virginia]. Harpers' Magazine, May, 1872. This readable and well-illustrated article was written by Prof. Scheie de Vere, of the University of Virginia. It attracted the writer's attention when a college student, and was his first introduction to a knowledge and appreci- ation of that Southern institution. A year later (1873) he met upon an ocean steamer a professor of Latin from that institution, and received from him his first letters of introduction to professors in Berlin. This was the beginning of an academic comity of interest, which the writer of this report is disposed to cherish. Prof. Scheie de Vere's article is reprinted as a pref- ace to the following valuable work, edited by him : 214 JEFFEESON AND THE UNIVEESITY OF VIRGINIA. but were simply upon subjects taught in the public and private high schools of the State, with a view to encouraging higher education by the award of examination certificates. Summary of Virginia. By Maj. Jed. Hotchkiss. Richmond, 1876. This useful and suggestive work contains a valuable summary of the provisions for education in Virginia, and, among other valuable sketches, one of the University of Virginia. This author acknowledges his indebtedness to the educational reports of Dr. W. H. Kuffner, which are of first authority in the educational history of Virginia. Virginia Educational Journal. This is a valuable repository of articles on the educational history of Virginia. Here were published many of Dr. Enffner's articles, notably his controversy with Dr. Dabney, parts of which were published in pamphlet form and cir- culated by the United States Bureau of Education. Steiger's Cyclopedia of Education. This contains valuable contributions to the educational history of Virginia by Dr. Euffner. The Elective System of the University of Virginia. By Prof. James M. Garnett. Andover Review, April, 1886. This article is extremely valuable from an educational point of view. It was prepared for the International Congress of Educators, which met at New Orleans in February, 1885, at the time of the Exposition, and is reprinted in this report from the Andover Review. The Virginia Literary Museum and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, etc. This was a weekly journal, edited by some of the professors, from June 17, 18i9, to June9, 1830. It is preserved in the library of the University of Virginia in a large octavo bound volume of 850 pages, and contains many articles, literary, philological, and scientific, by the professors of that early time, and some interesting Jefifersoniana. ^ The Virginia University Magazine. This periodical is edited by representatives of the two literary societies of the University, and has been in existence for many years. The writer of this report observed a bound set in the library of the Young Men's Chiistian Association at the University of Virginia, which college association is the oldest and one of the most flourishing in the country. It was founded at the University in the yfear 1858. In the same library are bound volumes of the various addresses given before the society of the alumni, founded in 1838. It is the custom to invite distinguished graduates to address the students of the University. In the same library collection are very many printed ser- mons and religious addresses delivered before the students by distinguished clergymen invited for the purpose. These discourses and the earnest char- acter of the Young Men's Christian Association at the University of Vir- ginia, together with the maintenance of a university chaplain by voluntary subscriptions, are a sufficient refutation of the charges of irreligion which have frequently been made against the institution. Thomas Jefferson's Home, by John G. Nicolay, and The Later Tears of Monticello, by Prank R. Stockton. Century Magazine, September, 1887. Prom these recent and suggestive articles various illustrations have been taken for the present moograph. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 216 Social Life at the University of Virginia, by Jolin B. Minor, Jr. Lip- pincott's Magazine, October, 1887. This is a pleasautly-written sketch by a sou of Professor Minor. MEMORIALS, ADDRESSES, PERIODICALS, ETC. Memorial sketches of the early professors of the University of Vir- ginia, by Prof. Gessner Harrison, may be found in the old edition of jDuycliinck's Encyclopsedia. Discourse on the Life and Character of Prof. John A. G. Davis, by Lucian Minor, 1847. Memorial of Professor Emmet, by Prof. George Tucker, 1846. Address before the society of the alumni, by J. E. Tucker, 1851. Address before the society of the alumni, by James P. Holcombe, 1853. Address before literary societies, by Commodore M. F. Maury, 1855. Address before society of alumni, by John A. Broadus, 1856. Address before society of the alumni, by Charles S. Venable, 1857. Inaugural address of Prof. Stephen O. Southall, 1866. . Inaugural address of Prof. John W. Mallet, 1867. Address before literary societies, by John S. Preston, 1868. This address marks the addition of a chair of industrial and analytical chem- istry. Address before alumni society, by John W. Stevenson', 1870. Memorial of Prof. Gessner Harrison, by John A. Broadus, 1874. Address before society of alumni, by Hon. John H Kennard, of Lou- isiana, 1874. Inaugural address of William M. Fontaine, professor of geology and natural history, 1878. » This address represents the institntion of a chair of natural history and geology. Geology was previously attached to the school of physics. Address before society of alumni, by Bishop Thomas U. Dudley, 1879. Pamphlet and appeal to the alumni and friends of the University for endowment of the Leander McCormick Observatory, 1878. Address on opening of the Louis Brooks Museum, by J. C. Southall, LL. D., 1876. Historical address of Hon. R. M, T. Hunter, at semi-centennial, 1876. i Semi-centennial ode, by Hon. Dnniel B. Lucas, 1875. Address before society of alumni, by H. Tutwiler, A. M., LL. D., June 29, 1882. This address is particularly valuable for its historical reminiscences of Mr. Jef- ferson. It was given fifty-seven years after Mr. Tutwiler came to the Uni- versity of Virginia. He was one of the students in Mr. Jefferson's time, and remembered all the early professors. He says : " I well remember the ferst time I saw Mr. Jefferson. It was in 1825, in the proctor's office, wh'ither I had gone with some students on business. A tall, venerable gentleman, 216 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. in plain but neat attire, entered the room, and, bowing to tlie students, took liis seat quietly in one corner. One of my friends privately gave me to un- derstand that it was Mr. Jefferson. I was struck by his plain appearance and simple, unassuming manners. When Mr. Brockenbrough was done with the students he looked up and recognized Mr. Jefferson, who then came forward to greet him. We used to see him afterwards as he passed our room on the eastern range in his almost daily visits to the Univer-' sity. He was now in his eighty-third year, and this ride of eight or ten miles on horseback over a rough mountain road shows the deep interest with which he watched over this child of his old age, and why he preferred the more endearing title of Father to that of founder. This is also shown in the frequent intercourse which he kept up with the faculty and students. Two or three times a week the former, often with their families, dined with him by invitatiouj and once a week he had the students. He had a list of these, and through one of his grandsons, then a student in the Uni- versity, four or five were invited to dine with him on the Sunday following. This day was selected because it did not interfere with the regular lectures. When he found that some of the students declined the invitation from relig- ious convictions, he ascertained how many there were of this class, and in- vited them ou a week-day. Mr. Jefferson had a wonderful tact in interesting his youthful visitors, and making the most diffident feel at ease in hia com- pany. He knew from what county each student came, and being well ac- quainted with the most prominent men in every part of the State, he would draw out the student by asking questions concerning them, or about some- thing remarkable in his neighborhood, thus making one feel that he was giving instead of receiving information ; or he would a.sk about the stud- ies of the students, and make remarks about them or the professors, for all of whom he had a high admiration. He was thus careful to pay attention to each individual student.'' Address of Hon. W. 0. Kives on Life and Work of W. B. Eodgers, 1883. > Address of Prof. Asapli Hall, V. S. Navy, on opening the Leander McCormick Observatory, 1885. This marks the inauguration of an astronomical observatory, which was one of Mr. Jefferson's favorite projects. Historical address, by Hugh Blair Grigsby, in 1868, on the occasion of unveiling the statue of Jefferson in the library. This address is still in manuscript, and is in the possession of Hon. E. Johnston Barbour, Barboursville, Orange County, Virginia. The Student's Hand-Book of the University of Virginia. 1887-88. This convenient account of the various features of student life at the University, with a map of the buildings, was published by the Young Men's Christian Association. VIEW OF LAWN. 217 VIEW OF LAWN FKOM ROTUNDA- WINDOW, FACING SOUTH. CHAPTER XV. WRITINGS OF THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVEESITT, 1825-1887. By William P. Teent. The following lists are reasonably complete ; in some cases proper ma- terials have been wanting ; in a few absolute completeness did not ap- pear desirable. For reasons of convenience, a chronological order of arrangement has been preferred to an alphabetical. An asterisk (* ) means that the professor was also an alumnus; a dagger (t) that the work was published during the author's connection with the University. As a personal examination of many of these works was impossible, the dates of publication were in some cases not to be obtained. George Long (professor of ancient languages, 1825-28) : Edited for the Society for the DiffusioB of Useful Knowledge — Quarterly Joilrnal of Education (1831-35) ; Biograpliical Dictionary (1842-44); The Penny Cyclopsedia (1833-46) ; Wa8 general editor of the Bibliotheca Classica. Published — An Analysis of Herodotus ; A Classical Atlas ; Editions of Caesar's Gallic War and Sallust; Geographical Treatises on England, Wales, and America; A History of Prance (1H50) ; The Decline of the Roman Eepuhlic (5 vols., 1864-74). Translated — Select Lives from Plutarch ; Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius; Epictetus. Contributed to Dr. Smith's Classical Dictionary. Thomas Uewbtt Key (professor of mathematics, 1825-27): Published — A Latiu Grammar (1843-46) ; Philological Essays (1868) ; Language in its Origin and Development (1874). Besides many contributions to philological journals. A Latin Dictionary (1888); compiled from papers left by him. Charles Bonnycastle (professor of natural philosophy and of mathe- matics, 1825-40) : ^Published a Treatise on Indncijive Geometry. 218 WRITINGS OP THE FACULTY. 219 Geokge Tucker (professor of moral philosophy, 1825-45) : Published — i Letters on the Roanoke Navigation (1811) ; Essays on the subjects of Taste, Moral and National Policy (1822) ; The Valley of the Shenandoah. A novel (2 vols., 1824); A Voyage to the Moon. A satirical romance (1827) ; . tThe Principles of Rent, Wages, and Profits (1837) ; tLife of Thomas Jefferson (2 vols., 1837) ; ^ tThe Theory of Money and Banks Investigated (1839) ; tThe Progress of the United States in Fifty Years, 1790-1840 ( 1843) ; History of the United States to 1841 (4 vols., 1856-58) ; Political Economy for the People (1859) ; Essays, Moral and Philosophical (1860). EoBLEY DUNGLISON (professor of medicine, 1825-33) : Published about twenty volumes, among the most valuable of whiuh are his — tHumiin Physiology (1832) ; tMedical Dictionary (1833) ; Therapeutics and Materia Medica. John Tayloe Lomax (professor of law, 1826-30) : Published — ADigest of the Law of Real Property (3 vols., 1839) ; The Law of Executors and Administrators (2 vols., 1841). * Gessnee Harrison (professor of ancient languages, 1828^9) : Published — tA Latin Grammar (printed for class use in 1839 ; published 1852) ; tGreek Prepositions, etc. (1857). John A. G. Davis (professor of law, 1830-40) : tPnblished a Treatise on Criminal Law (1838). William B. Rogers (professor of natural philosophy, 1835-53) : Was director of geological surveys in Virginia from 1835 to I84I, and wrote much in connection therewith ; he also published — tStrength of Materials (1848) ; tElements of Mechanical Philosophy (1852); Geology of the Virginias (posthumous) and many scientific papers. * James L. Cabell (professor of surgery, 1837-) : Published — tTestimony of Modern Science to the Unity of Mankind (1857); tSyUabus of Lectures on Physiology and Surgery (1859), and the following papers : On the Treatment of Acute Pneumonia, etc. (1867) ; on the Architect- / ure of the Animal Kingdom (1868) ; on Chronic Pneumonia in Relation to Tuberculosis (1868) ; on the Cell Doctrine — a Review of Clfimenceau's Essay on the Genesis of the Anatomical Elements (1868) ; on Thermal Baths of High Temperature (1871) ; on the Ventilation of School-Rooms and the Dis- eases Incidental to the School as such — ^fonr papers (1872) ; on Drainage for Health, with Special Reference to the Medical Topography of Virginia (1875) ; on Water Supply in Relation to Health (1876) ; on the Etiology of Enteric Fever (1877) ; on a Proposed System of International Inspections and Notification of Infectious Diseases — a paper read before the Interna- tional Conference at Washington in 1880 ; on Rise and Progress of Interna- y tional Hygiene (1881) ; on Sanitary Conditions in Snjrgery (1882) ; Annual Reportsof the National Board of Health for 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1883, and several reviews in Bledsoe's Southern Review and in Gaillard's Medical Journal. 220 JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. Hbney Howard (professor of practice of medicine, 1839-67) : Published — Outlines of Medical Jurisprudence. J. J. Sylvester (professor of mathematics, 1840-41): Has published a great number of contributions to mathematical and scientific journals and transactions of societies ; Sylvester's Theorem, in Connection ' with "Newton's Rule" in Regard to the Number of Positive, of Negative, and of Imaginary Roots of an Equation, Philosophical Transactions (1864); Lon- don Mathematical Society Publications, Philosophical Magazine for 1866. From 1877 to 1882 Professor Sylvester contributed 30 articles and notes to the American Journal of Mathematics, of which he was editor ; also 22 arti- cles and notes to the Comptes* Eendus de I'Acadfimie des Sciences del'In- stitut de France ; also to the proceedings of the Royal Society, London, a paper " On the Limits to the Order and Degree of the Fundamental Invari- ants of Binary Quantics" (1878) ; also to the Messenger of Mathematics, , London, 4 papers ; to the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, 4 papers ; and to the Journal fiir reine nnd angewandte Mathe- matik, Berlin, 6 papers. > H. St. G. Ttjcebr (professor of law, 1841-45) : Published — Commentaries on the Laws of Virginia (2 vols., 1836-37) ; t Lectures on Constitutional Law (1843); t Lectures on Natural Law and Government (1844). RoBBET B. EoGERS (professor of chemistry, 1842-52): Edited with his brother (Prof. James B. Rogers) Turner's Chemistry, with Addi- tions (1846). Edited the American reprint of Lehmann'sPhysiological Chemistry (1855), and took part with his brothers in geological publications. Edward H. Cgtjrtenat (professor of mathematics, 1842-53) : Published— A translation of Boucharlat's Mechanics (1836); Treatise on the Differential and Integral Calculus— published posthumously (1855). M. SCHELB DE Verb (professor of modern languages, 1844-): Published — t Outlines of Comparative Philology (1853) ; t Stray Leaves from the Book of Nature (1856) ; t Studies in English (1867) ; t Grammar of the Spanish Language ; I- Grammar of the French Language (1867) ; t The Great Empress, a novel (1869) ; t Americanisms (1871) ; t The English of the New World, (1873) etc., and various philological papers. William H. MoGuffey (professor of moral philosophy, 1845-73) : t Published hia well-known Readers and other school-books. *JoHN B. Minor (professor of common law, 1845-) : t Has published his valuable Institutes (4 volumes) ; t Synopsis of Criminal Law ; t History of the University of Virginia, in the Old Dominion Magazine (1869- 70. Incomplete). WRITINGS OP THE FACULTY. 221 ♦J. Lawrence SivAth (professor of cbemistry, 1852-53) : Pvililished — Mineralogy and Chemistry — Original Researches ; also Report to the United States Government on the Progress and Condition of Sev- eral Departments of Industrial Ohemistry, and over fifty scientific papers. •James P. Holcombe (professor of equity, 1854-61) : Published a work on Equity (1846) ; A collection of letters of distinguished writers (1867-68). Albert T. Bledsoe (professor of mathematics, 1854^63) : Published — A Theodicy, or Vindicktion of the Divine Glory (1853 ) : tEssay on Liberty and Slavery (1857) ; Is Davis a Traitor ? (1866) ; Philosophy of Mathematics, etc. (1868) ; Professor Bledsoe was afterwards editor of the Southern Review. Basil L. Gildersleeve (professor of Greek, 1856-76) : t Latin Grammar, Primer, Reading and Exercise Books (several editions) ; + Edition of Persius (1875); Justin Martyr's Apologies, and Epistle to Diognetus ; Edited with Introduc- tion and Notes (1877) ; Edition of Pindar's Olympian and Pythian Odes (1885) ; t Address on Classical Study (1869) ; + Legend of Venus (Southern Review, April, 1867) ; t Xantippe and Socrates (Southern Review, July, 1867) ; t Limits of Culture (Southern Review, October, 1867) ; t Emperor Julian (Southern Review, January, 1868) ; t Maximilian (Southern Review, April, 1868) ; t Apollonius of Tyana (Southern Review, July, 1868) ; t Lupian (Southern Review, October, 1869) ; t Studies in the Attic Orators (Southern Magazine, April to September, 1873) ; Personal Reminiscences of Friedrich Ritsohl (American Philological Associa- tion Proc, 1877); Address before Literary Societies of the College of New Jersey (1877); Classics and Colleges (Princeton Review, July, 1878) ; University Work in America (Princeton Review, May, 1879) ; Athena Parthenos (Harper's Magazine, April, 1882), etc. ; Editor of the American Journal of Philology, to which he has made many con- tributions. G. F. Holmes (professor of historical science, 1857-) : Published — t Series of Readers ; t English Grammar ; t Pictorial English Grammar (1868) ; t History of the United States (1871) ; t A New History of the United States (1886) ; t A Science of Society, privately printed. Addresses — Inaugural, at William and Mary CoUege, The University of Mississippi, and t The University of Virginia. Lectures — Before the Virginia Historical Society—" The Virginia Colony " ; Before the Peabody Institute, Baltimore— " The Romances of the Round Table " j 222 JEFFKRSON AND THE UNTVEESITY OF VIRGINIA.- J; G. F. Holmes — Continued. Lectures — Continued. Before the societies of Emory and Henry College, 1852— "Demostlienes"; Before the Virginia Teachers' Association—" The Study of English." t Contributed to McClintook & Strong's Cyclopedia Bibl. Theol. and Eecles. Lit- erature-r- Vol. II, 1868, Comte, Auguste ; Descartes ; Vol. Ill, 1870, Elizabeth, Queen; Empiricism; Epicurus; Epicurean Philoso- phy ; Faith and Reason ; Picinus Marsilius ; Fief; Feudal System ; Gas- sendi ; Grosseteste ; Vol. IV, 1872, Hamilton, Sir WiUiam ; Hartley ; Hume ; Vol. V, 1875, Kant; Knighthood; Leibnitz; Locke; Vol. VII, Nostradamus ; Vol. VIII, 1879, Philosophy; Platonic Philosophy ; Pletho, Gemistus: Plotinus; Polignao ; Positive Philosophy ; Pythagoras ; Realism ; Vol. IX, 1880, Empire, Holy Roman ; Scholasticism ; Scotus, Erigena; Seneca; Socrates; Spinoza; Vol. X, 1881, Syncellus, Georgius ; Synesius. Supplement — Vol. I, 1885, Byzantine Historians ; Cause ; Causation ; Vol. II', 1887, Comnena, Anna ; Scepticism, Recent Phases of. Contributed to the Southern Quarterly Review — The North American Indians, January, 1S44 ; Rome and the Romans, October, 1844 ; Rabelais, January, 1845 ; Sue. Wandering Jew, January, 1846 ; Athens and the Athenians, April, 1847 ; California Gold and European Revolution, July, 1850; Cimon and Pericles, April, 1851 ; The Athenian Orators, October, 1851 ; Grote's History of Greece, November, l^i56 ; Motley's Dutch Republic, October, 1857 ; Julius Caesar ; Hume's Philosophy ; English in the XVth Century ; The Berlin Treaty. North British Review — Auguste Comte and Positivism. New York Methodist Quarterly Review — Philosophy and Faith, April, 1851 ; Faith and Science, April, 1852 ; Instauratio Nova, July, 1852; The Bacon of the XlXth Century, July, 1852 ; Revival of the Black Arts, April, 1854 ; The Sibylline Oracles, October, 1854 ; The Positive Religion, July, 1854 ; t Sir William Hamilton, January, April, 1857 ; t Friar Bacon and Lord Bacon, January, April, 1858. Southern Methodist Quarterly Review — The Blunders of Hallara, January, 1853 ; The C»8ars, July, 1853 ; Sir William Hamilton, Octobur. 1853; Greece and its History, January, 1850 ; Chastel ou Charity, January, 1856 ; Remains of Latin Tragedy, January, 1856 ; WRITINGS OF THE FACDLTY. 223 G. F. Holmes — Coutinued. Southern Methodist Quarterly Review — Continued. Spencer's Social Statics, April, 1856 : Greek in the Middle Ages, August, 1856 ; Gibbon's Decline and Fall, July 1856 ; Alchemy and the Alchemists, July, 1856. Southern Literary Messenger — Life and Times of Pericles, February, 18., ; John C. Calhoun, May, 1850 ; The Nineteenth Century, August, 1851 ; General Zachary Taylor, September, 1850 ; Greeley on Reforms, May, 1851 ; Uncle Tom's Cabin, December, 1852 ; Spiritual Manifestations, July, 1853 ; Universities and Colleges, August, October, and November, 1853. De Bow's Review — Ancient Slavery, November and December, 1835 ; Increase of Gold, 1856 ; Gold and Silver Mines— The Golden Age, July, 1856 ; t Who Wrote Shalispeare ? February, 1868 ; and many other contributions. United States Law Magazine — CancellarisB Origines, July, August, and September, 1851 ; The Forum (Law Journal) — tXhe Civil Law, 1873-74; , t Primitive Law, April and July, 1875. *Wm. E. Peters (professor of Latiu, 1865-) : Has published t A Syllabus of Latin Syntax. •Charles S. Venable (professor of mathematics, 1866-) : Has published t a mathematical series in several volumes ; also a report in a volume of Coast Survey reports for 1860 on observations made in July and August, J.860, as d. member of the United States expedition to Labrador to observe eclipse of that year. John W. Mallet (professor of chemistry, 1872-) : Has published Physical and Chemical Conditions of the Culture of Cotton (London : Chapman & Hall. 1863) ; the British Association Earthquake Catalogue (conjointly with his father, R. Mallet) ; also about eighty scien- tific papers in the Philosophical Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society, the Journal of the Chemical Society of London, the Proceedings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, the Annaleu der Chemie und der Pharmacie, the American Journal of Science (Silliman's), the Amer- ican Chemical Journal, the Journal of the American Chemical Society, etc. (done in part while professor at the University). • Noah K. Davis (professor of moral philosophy, 1873-) : Published — t The Theory of Thought ; a treatise on deductive logic (New York : Harper's, 1880). Also the following papers : t The Duality of Mind and Brain, in the Christian Philosophy Quarterly for 1882 ; t Am I Free ? in the Christian Philosophy Quarterly, 1885 ; t Is Prayer Reasonable? in Christian Thought, July and August, 1885 ; + The Moral Aspects of Vivisection, in North American Review, March, 1885 ; i The Negro in the South, in the Forum for April, 1886 ; t Religious Exercises in State Schools, in the Forum for February, 1887. 224 JEFFERSON AND THE UNiyERSITY OP VIRGINIA. * Thomas E. Peioe (professor of Greek, 1876-82) : Publislied— ^ A New Heresy ; review of Mr. Froude's views on education, in the Southern Magazine, 1870 ; The Place of the Mother Tongue in Education, 1874 ; + The Method of Philology ; inaugural address, 1876 ; t The Study of English as an Introduction to the Study of Xatin and Greek, 1877; t Methods of Language Teaching as applied to English ; a course of lectures delivered before the Summer Nornial School of Virginia, and published as a pamphlet, 1880 ; The Construction and Types of Shakspeare's Verse-forms (J,n press) ; and con- tributions to the American Journal of Philology and other journals. * Wm. M, Fontaine (professor of natural history and geology, 1879-): Published — Resources of West Virginia, octavo ; prepared in conjunction with M. F. Maury, Jr., and published by the State of West Virginia ; The Upper Carboniferous or Permian Flora of Southwest Pennsylvania and West Virginia, octavo; prepared in conjunction with I. 0. White, and published by the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania ; The Older Mesozoic Flora of Virginia, quarto ; published by United States Geological Survey as Monograph VI ; The Potomac Flora of Virginia, quarto; in press. Also the following articles in the American Journal of Science : Notes on the West Virginia Asphaltum Deposit ; On Some Points in the Geology of the Blue Ridge of Virginia ; On the Primordial Strata of Virginia ; Notes on the Vespertine Strata of Virginia and West Virginia ; The Conglomerate Series of West Virginia ; Notes on thp Mesozoic of Virginia, etc. (done in part while professor at the University). Oemond Stone (professor of astronomy, 1882-) : ^ t Editor of Annals of Mathematics, 1883-87, published at the University of Virginia. Has contributed a number of scientific papers in astronomical journals and reports (part of this work done at the University). John H. Whbblbe (professor of Greek, 1882-87) : De Aloestidis et Hippolyti Euripedearum Interpolationibus (Inaugural Dis- sertation, Bonn, 1879J ; Report of Rheinisches Museum (Philological Journal, 1881-82) ; Review of Klinkenberg's De Euripdeorum Prologorum Arte (Philological Journal, 1882) ; also contributed to the Nation, etc. • Jambs M. Garnett (professor of English, I882-) : HaspublishedtATranslatiou of Beowulf (I882,2dedition, 1885). Has contribu- ted to the Southern Review, the Andover Review, the American Journal of Philology, Proceedings of the National Educational Association, Trans- actions of the Modern Language Association of America, etc. (done in part while professor at the University). • William M. Thornton (professor of engineering, 1883-) : Assistant editor Annals of Mathematics. *Fkanois p. Dunnington (professor of analytical and agricultural chemistry, 1885-) : t Has contributed various papers to the American Journal of Chemistry. WKITINGS OF THE FACULTY. . 225 ♦WILLIA.M B. TowLBS (professor of anatomy and materia medica, 1886-): Published — tSyllabas of Notes on Anatomy '; + Syllabus of Notes on Osteology ; tSyllabus of Notes ou Materia Medioa. •William 0. Dabnby (professor of practice of medicine, etc., 1886-): Published — (1) The Value of Chemistry to the Medical Practitioner — a small book, to which was awarded the Boylston prize of Harvard, in 1873; (2) Over thirty papers on different medical topics in — Tiie American Journal of Medical Sciences, The Medical News, Tlie Virginia Medical Journal, The Maryland Medical Journal, ' The North Carolina Medical Journal, The Transactions of the American Medical Association, The Transactions of the Medical Society of Virginia, The Transactions of the North Carolina Medical Society. ASSISTANT PROFESSORS. * John A. Broadus (assistant in ancient languages, 1851-53) : • Published — Preparation and Delivery of Sermons ; , ;, Lectures on the History of Preaching,' Commentary on Matthew ; Book of Sermons and Addresses. *Edwarb S. Joynes (assistant in ancient languages, 1853-59): Has published several text-books on the modern languages, and papers in philological journals. *Edward B. Smith (assistant in mathematics, 1855-57): Text-book of Plane Trigonometry. *Jambs G. Clark (assistant in mathematics, 1857-58) : Text-book of the DiflFerential and Integral Calculus. *Gaetano Lanza, Jr. (assistant in mathematics, 1869-71) : Has published a work on Applied Mechanics, 1883, and scientific papers. 17036— No. 2 15 226 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. CHAPTER XVI. HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE. By 0. E. MolLWAiNE.i *^ Hampden-Sidney College, in Prince Edward County, Virginia, claims an age of more than one hundred and eleven ^ears. As Prince Ed- jvard Academy, it originally formed one of the series of log colleges which, during the eighteenth century, began to look out from the shade of the forest, and to extend among the people the civilizing influence of letters. Its foundation is to be attributed to the intellectual and religious energies of the descendants of Scotch arid Scotch-Irish blood, many representatives of which had left their native countries and the more settled portions of eastern Pennsylvania and Xew Jersey, to found in portions of Virginia a suitable inheritance for their posterity. ~ The Synod of Philadelphia had already, in 1738, petitioned the Gov- ernor of Virginia to protect those of this race and religion, settling the valley in the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. Having received a favorable response^ the authorized representative of the Synod began . to settle Presbyterian families in Charlotte, Prince Edward, dud Camp- bell. Families of this race were, at this time, scatjtered throughout Virginia ; but, owing to the popular sentiment in favor of the established church, there had hitherto failed to exist between them that bond of civil and religious community which afterwards became so prominent a factor in the Eevolutionary era of the State. , During an early period of the last half of the eighteenth century, after the formation of Hanover Presbytery, the relations between the Presbyterians became more firmly established, and they began now to excite attention as a positive element in State politics. The College of New Jersey, the historic survivor of Nassau Hall, was laying deep the foundation for an accurate culture, and became a re- sort for Presbyterians who desired to extend their religious and mental training. Samuel Stanhope Smith, a native of Lancaster County, Pa., and a graduate of the College of New Jersey in 1769, subsequently united with the Presbytery at Hanover, in Virginia, and represented the cause 'Mr. Clement E. Mcllwaine is a graduate of Hampden-Sidney College and a son of its distinguished president, Dr. Richard Mcllwaine. He studied for some time in the historical department of the Johns Hopkins UniTersity, and was subsequently gradu- ated at the law school of the University of Maryland, in Baltimore. The editor of this report takes this occasion of thanking his former pupil for preparing the present chapter.— Editok. <» • 237 228 HIGHEH EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. of religion and education with such eminence as to make his name his- toric in the early annals of the Commonwealth. The cause of learning among the Presbyterians in Virginia was already advancing apace, when the impetus, happily given to it by the New Jersey pioneer, may be said to have occasioned the foundation of two academies— Priuce Edward and Liberty Hall — each tracing its origin from one parent source. Under the auspices of Hanover Presbytery the Prince Edward Academy was opened to students in January, 1776, under the con trol and direction of Samuel Stanhope Smith, rector, to whose magical influence its early prosperity may be attributed. The Presbytery, coa- sulting the best interests of the academy, endeavored to encourage every necessary branch of literature, and, while reserving a preference in favor of the Presbyterian service, extended the benefits of the foun. dation to all denominations. The name of Prince Edward Academy was changed to that of Hamp- den-Sidney in May, 1777, in honor of those principles of political lib- erty which had been sealed by the blood of martyrs. Among the trus tees of the academy may be mentioned the names of James Madison and Patrick Henry, which indicate that the institution was a product of civil and religious liberty, and was first launched upon its existence during the most important epoch in our history. In October, 177i9, the rector was released from his duties in order to accept the professorship of moral philosophy in the College of New Jersey ; his brother, the Eev. John Blair Smith, by common consent succeeded him. The second rector of the academy, who afterwards became the first president of the College, when chartered by the Legislature of the State in 1783, was also a graduate of the College of New Jersey, and, through the influence of the two brothers, the curricu- lum and government came to resemble the Princeton model. Those who were most closely connected with the early history of Hampden-Sidney, were allied by ties of sympathy and respect with that central school, which had been so essential, not only in directing the educational tend- encies, but also in shaping the political and religious principles, which were adhered to with such fidelity by the Presbyterians* until the bill ^In this conneotion the editor notes the historical importance of the early move- ments in behalf of religious liberty in Virginia by the Hanover Presbytery in 1774. Hon. William Wirt Henry, of Richmond, who has discussed the pioneer influence of Patrick Henry in promoting religious freedom (see papers of the American His- torical Association, Vol. Ill, and Dr. Stillfi's reply, Vol. Ill), has lately made a valu- able documentary discovery, which is described and published in the Central Presby- terian, Richmond, May 16, 1888. Mr. Heury's letter and the document in questioo are here reprinted in full : "Richmond, Va., May 7, 1888. " In looking among the archives of the State a few days ago, I found a paper of great historical value, in its bearing on the part taken by the Presbyterian Church in the struggle for religious liberty in Virginia. I enclose it with the request that it be published, and although it was written in 1774, this will be its first publication. . " The occasion of its preparation was the introduction in the House of Burgesses in 1772 of a bill having for its professed object the better security of the religions HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE. 229 for establishing religious freedom was finally enacted in 1785. Histori- cal justice claims honorable mention of the first president of Hampden Sidney, in his defence of religious liberty before the committee of the whole house in the Virginia Assembly, sustained by an eloquence and astuteness which were said by many to have excelled Patrick Henry. In characterizing that civil and religious conflict, in the midst of which Hanipden-Sidney was called to life, the memorial fi-om Hanover Pres bytery of 1776 most fittingly expresses the sentiments of oYir founders: " That duty which we owe our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can only be directed by reason and conviction, and is nowhere cogniz- liberty of Protestant dissenters in the colony, but really contrived for their oppres- sion in several particulars. The objectionable features are commented upon in the paper now sent you. Foote, in his Sketches of Virginia, p. 320, states the dissatis- faction of Hanover Presbytery with the proposed bill, and the appointment of Eev. John Todd and Capt. John Morton as commissioners to attend the next Assembly in opposition to it. Nothing was done in the next Assembly touching the matter, and at the meeting at the house of Robert Caldwell, on Cub Creek, in Charlotte County, October 14, 1774, there being apprehension that the Assembly would take action during the fall session, the Presbytery adjourned to meet on the second Wednesday of November next, at the house of Col. William Cabell, of Amherst, to remonstrate against the bill. This paper is that remonstrance, and is most interesting and in- structive, not only because of its ability and the light it sheds on the then condition of the Church and the colony, but because it is the first paper of the kind, so far as I have seen,, which was ever presented to the Virgii^ia Assembly claiming equal rights for dissenters. It may therefore be regarded as the advance guard of that arlny of remonstrances which so vigorously attacked the Establishment, and finally overpow- ered it and established perfect religious liberty on its ruins. " Foote evidently never saw this paper. Taking it in connection with the able memorials Of Hanover Presbytery in 1776 and 1777, which Foote gives in full, the reader can have no difficulty in seeing where Mr. Jefferson, who was a member of the Assembly, got his views of religious liberty. His famous bill was not written before 1777, nor reported before 1779, and it shows no more advanced thought on the sub- ject than the able papers of Hanover Presbytery. I will add that it is probable that Eev. Caleb Wallace, who wrote the memorial of 1776, wrote this paper. He was a graduate of Princeton, and became in later life a distinguished judge in Kentucky. ' ' Wm. Wirt Henry." " To the MonoraMe the Speaker and the Gentlemen of the Souse of Burgesses : "The Petition of the Presbytery of Hanover, in behalf of themselves, and all the Presbyterians in "Virginia in particular, and all Protestant dissenters in general, humbly showeth, That upon application made by the Rev. Mr. James Anderson in behalf of the Synod of Philadelphia, the Honorable Governor Goooh, with the advice of the council, did in the year 1738, or about that time, for the encouragement of all Presbyterians who might incline to settle in the colony, grant an instrument of writ- ing under the seal of the colony, containing the most ample assurances that they should enjoy the full and free exercise of their religion, and all the other privileges of good subjects. Relying upon this express stipulation, as well as upon the justice and catholic spirit of the whole legislative body, several thousand families of Presby- terians have removed from the Northern provinces into the frontiers of this colony, exposed themselves to a cruel and savage enemy, arid all the other toils and dangers of settling a new country, and soon became a barrier to the former inhabitants who were settled in the more commodious parts of the colony. Ever since that time we have been considered and treated upon an equal footing with our fellow subjects, nor have our ministers or people been restricted in their religious privileges by any 230 HIGHEK EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. able but at the tribunal of the Universal Judge." " In this enlightened age, and in a land where all are united in the most strenuous efforts to be free, we hope and expect that our representatives will cheerfully con- cur in removing every species of civil as well as religious bondage." By the act of 1783 the academy became a college, thereby dissolving all connection with the parent presbytery. The ties of an earlier con- nection, however, have nob been forgotteji or ignored, and the board of "trustees, which has annually assembled under the protection of the charter since 1783, has been often constrained to refer with pride to the parent of one of the most important literary institutions in the State, law of the colony. Your humble petitioners further show, that with gratitude they acknowledge the catholic design of our late honorable Assembly to secure by law the religious liberties of all Protestant dissenters in the colony; accordingly they did in the year 1772 prepare and print a Toleration Bill, but as the subject was deeply in- teresting it was generously left open for amendment. But notwithstanding we are fully persuaded of the catholic and generous design of our late representatives, yet we are deeply sensible that some things in the above named bill will be very grievous and burdensome to us if passed into a law. Therefore we humbly andearnestly pray that the said bill may not be established without such alterations and amendments as will render it more agreeable to the principles of impartial liberty and sound policy, which we presume were the valuable ends for which it was first intended. ' Therefore we humbly beg leave; while we are making the prayer of our petition in a more par- ticular way, to lay before this honorable House, in the most respectful manner, a few remarks upon the bill. " The preamble is agreeable to what we desire, only we pray that the preamble and every other part of the bill may be so'expressed as will be most likely to obtain the royal assent. " We are also willing that all our clergymen should be required to take the oaths of allegiance, etc., usually taken by civil officers, and to declare their belief of the Holy Scriptures. "Likewise, as is required in the said bill, we shall willingly have all our churches and stated places for public worship registered, if this honorable House shall think proper to grant it. But every minister of the gospel is under indispensable obliga- tions to follow the example of our blessed Savior^ ' who went about doing good,' and the example of his Apostles, who not only ' taught in the Temple, but in every house where they came they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.' From which, and thejr constant practice of travelling into every quarter of the world, we humbly trust that it will appear to this Assembly that we cannot, consistent with the du- ties of our office, wholly confine our ministrations to anyplace or number of places; and to be limited by law would be the more grievous, because in many parts of this colony, even where the majority of the inhabitants are Presbyterians, it is not, and perhaps it may not in any short time be, easy to determine where it would be the most expedient to fix upon a stated place for public worship, and, indeed, where we have houses for worship already built, generally the bounds of our congregation are so very extensive that many of our people, especially women, children, and servants, are 'not able to attend by reason of the distance, which makes it our duty, as faithful ministers of Christ, to double our diligence, and frequently to lecture and catechise in the remote corners of onr congregations. This restriction would also be verj grievous to us in many other respects. We only beg leave to add : That the number of Presbyterians in this province is now very great and the number of clergymen but small, therefore we are obliged frequently to itinerate and preach through various parts of the colony, that our people may have an opportunity to worship God and re- ceive the sacraments in the way agreeable to their own consciences. As to our hav- HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE. 231 The historic Influence to which HampdenSidney owes its origin has been briefly, stated, and as the second college founded in the history of the State, its life began under different auspices from those of the more venerable William and Mary, which sprang into existence at a period when a college was the dream of individuals, but had made no im- press upon the people of the colony. Nor is there any historic connec- tion between Hampden-Sidney and the University of Virginia, which was matured many years after the organic life of Hampden-Sidney be- gan. The educational ideas of Jefferson found embodiment in an in- stitution which has proved a fountain of intellectual culture, not only ing meetings for public worship in the night, it is not in frequent practice among onr churches ; yet sometimes we find it expedient to attend night meetings, that a neighborhood may hear a sermon or a lecture, or be catechised, -without being much interrupted in their daily labor. And so long as our fellow-subjects are permitted to meet together by day or by night for the purposes of business or diversion, we hope we shall not be restrained from meeting together, as opportunity serves us, upon business of all others the most important ; especially if it be- considered that the Apostles held frequent societies by night, and once St. Paul continued his speech till midnight ; accordingly it is well known that in city and collegiate churches even- ing prayers and lectures have long been esteemed lawful and profitable exercises. As to any bad influence this practice may have upon servants or any others, it is suffi- cient to say that there is nothing in our principles or way of worship that tends to promote a spirit of disobedience or disorder, but much to the contrary ; and if any person shall be detected in doing or teaching anything criminal in this respect, we presume he is liable to punishment by a la w already in being ; therefore we pray that no dissenting minister, according to law, may be subjected to any penalty for preach, ing or teaching at any time, or in any place in this colony. "We confess it is easy for us to keep open doors in time of divine service, except in case of a storm or other inclemencies of the weather ; yet we would humbly represent that such a requirement implies a suspicion of our loyalty, and will fix a stigma upon Qs to after ages, such as we presume our honorable representatives will not judge that we have anyhow incurred; therefore we pray that this clause may also be re- moved from the bill. "And as to baptizing or receiving servants into oux communion, we have always anxiously desired to do it with the permission of their masters ; but when a servant appears to be a true penitent and makes profession of his faith in Christ, upon his desire it is our indispensable duty to admit him into our Church, and if he has never been baptized, we are to baptize him according to the command of Christ : ' Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name o'f the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.' And we are so confidently persuaded of the liberal sentiments of this House, that in obeying the laws of Christ, we shall never be reduced to the necessity of diso- beying the laws of our country. " And we also, having abundant reasons to hope that we shall be indulged in every other thing that may appear reasona^jle, your petitioners further pray: "For liberty and protection in the discharge of all the functions and duties of our office as ministers of the gospel, and that the penalties to be inflicted on those who may disturb any of our congregations in the time of divine service, or misuse the preacher, be the same as on those who disturb the congregation or misuse the preach- ers of the Church of England, and that the dissenting clergy> as well as the clergy of the Established Church, be excused from all burdensome offices. All which we obpoeive is granted in the English Toleration Act. " And we pray for that freedom in speaking and writing upon religious subjects 232 HIGHER EDUCATION IN* VIRGINIA. for Virginia, but for the entire South. Hampden-Sidney has remained true to its original vocation as a college, and cannot offer to-day more extensive advantages than might be reasonably expected from the terms of the original charter. This instrument, however, is so liberal in its character that no recourse to the Legislature for revisal or amendment has ever been deemed necessary. According to charter provisions the corporation was established with a view to diffusing useful knowledge among the citizens of the Common- wealth. Under the legal title of " President and Trustees of Hampden- Sidney College," every right is accorded by law which is necessary to perpetuate a useful existence, and no legislative stricture is imposed to mar the symmetry of its development. By Article IV " the president which is allowed by law to every member of the British Empire in civil affairs, and which has long been so friendly to the cause of liberty. " And also we pray for a right by law to hold estates, and enjoy donations and lega- cies for the support of our churches and schools for the instruction of our youth. Though this is not expressed in the English Act of Toleration, yet the greatest law- yers in England have plead, and the best judges have determined, that it is manifestly implied. "Finally, we pray that nothing in the Act of Toleration may be so expressed as to render us suspicious or odious to our countrymen, with whom we desire to live in peace and friendship ; but that all misdemeanors committed by dissenters may be punished by laws equally binding upon all our fellow subjects, without any regard to their re- ligious tenets. Or if any non-compliance with the conditions of the Act of Toleration shall be judged to deserve punishment, we pray that the crime may be accurately defined and the penalty ascertained by the Legislature ; and that neither be left to the discretion of any magistrate or court whatsoever. ' ' May it please this honorable Assembly, there are some other things which we omit, because they are less essential to the rights of conscience and the interest of our Church ; we trust that we petition for nothing but what justice says ought to be ourS; for as ample privileges as any of our fellow-subjects enjoy : ' To have and enjoy the fuU and free exercise of our religion, without molestation or danger of incurring any penalty whatsoever.' We are petitioning in favor of a Church that is neither con- temptible nor obscure. It prevails in every province to the northward of Maryland, and its advocates in all the more southern provinces are numerous and respectable; the greatest monarch in the north of Europe adorns it ; it is the established religion of the populous and wealthy states of Holland ; it prevails in the wise and happy cantons of Switzerland ; and it is the possession of Geneva, a state among the fore- most of those who, at the Eeformation, emancipated themselves from the slavery of Borne ; and some of. the first geniuses and writers in every branch of literature were sons of our Church. "The subject is of such solemn importance to us that, comparatively speaking, our lif es and our liberties are but of little value ; and the population of the country and the honor of the Legislature, as well as the interest of American liberty, are certainly most deeply concerned in the matter. Therefore we would willingly lay before this honorable House a more extensive view of our reasons in favor of an unlimited, im- partial Toleration; but fearing we should transgress upon the patience of the House, we conclude with praying that the allwise, just, and merciful God would direct you in this and all your other important determinations. " Signed by order of Presbytery. " David Eicb, Moderator. " Caleb Wauacb, Clerk. " At a session of the Preabi/tery in Amherst County, November llth, 1774." HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE. 233 and trustees are authorized to grant degrees in as ample a manner as any college in America can do, and to elect and commission, under their common seal, professors and masters." " The greatest care and caution shall be used in" electing such professors and masters, to the end that no person shall be so elected unless the uniform tenor of his conduct mani- fests to the world his sincere affection for the liberty and independence of the United Stateii of America." Having enjoyed for more than a century an organic existence, a brief survey of its internal development during this period will be useful in explaining the present status of Hampden-Siduey. The first laws framed for the government of the corporation were drafted by John Blair Smith, in 1784, at the instance of the board of trustees, and, while stamped by the masculine vigor of their originator, they are characterized by a simplicity almost primitive in comparison with the more refined regulations in force to-day. • The studeints were classified as members of the grammar school. Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors, who were all subject to the control aud direction of the president and masters, assistants or tutors. The title of professor did not come into use until 1816, when a " First Pro- fessor" was appointed. The Freshman first makes his appearance in the collegiate annals in 1812. For moral suasion, not so much respect was entertained at Hamp- den-Sidney as to exclude occasional recourse to corporal punishment. While this mode of correction was reserved mainly for the mepibers of the grammar school, the liberties of Sophomores and Juniors were not so well defined as to be entirely secure from invasion. The collegiate classes, however, had their moral status well hedged in by law at an early period, while the members of the grammar schocJl remained sub- ject to the more paternal treatment until the school was discontinued as a department in 1865. A peculiar respect for gravity and decorum was characteristic of the old regime at Hampden-Sidney. The president, masters, and stu- dents were enjoined to appear at church in " distinguishing habits of black;" a requirement which, it is needless to say, was soon dispensed with. The tutors resided in the college building in order to keep the students in proper obedience. The latter were strictly enjoined to re- main in their rooms after the hour of nine at night. Attention to moral and religious duties was enforced by fines, provisions for which did not disappear from the code until 1809. Thejast of the original laws, which exists to-day in its primitive vigor, is the article forbidding proselytism. While condemning any tendency in the authorities to in- fluence the students in favor of any particular sect, it enjoins the duty of respecting that freedom of conviction which belongs to true religion— a law which has never been violated, and which has received but one interpretation within the entire history of the ^ollege. 234 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. The development of a good curriculum has been gradual, but de- cided. In the period of the academy, particular attention was devoted to the classics, mathematics, and natural and moral philosophy — studies which have always commanded an important place in the curriculum of the College. To the presidents born before the era of the Eevolution, the Smith Brothers, Drury Lacy, Archibald Alexander, and Moses Hoge, may be ascribed the honor of having kept alive the institution of which they were the guardians. Such leariling as was taught from 1776 to 1820 was sound and good ; but it was not classified according to the approved models of to-day. To a finical modern student, who has not examined the methods existing in our collegiate schools of a half century ago, the system might appear rude. Assistants and tutors were generally appointed during this period at the instance of the president, and, as they were always men of the soundest moral and intellectual vigor, they were quite as efficient in the discipline of youth, and quite as well adapted to impart what was then considered sound learning, as m^ny of their historical successors, the professors of our day and gene- ration. A tendency to improvement began under the presidency of Moses Hoge, and resulted in a well-regulated and durable system under the enlightened administration of his successor, Jonathan P. Gushing. With the death of Dr. Hoge, the era of masters and assistants ends, aTnd that of the professors properly begins. The administration of Presi- dent Gushing is the most unique, and, in many respects, the most mas- terly, in the history of the college. Jonathan Peter Gushing was born in 1793, at Eochester, N. H., and at an early period of life was appren- ticed as a mechanic. Imbued with a desire to pursue learning, and to cultivate the tendencies of a naturally refined and energetic mind, he withdrew from his not less honorable but more humble sphere in order to become a scholar. Having studied at Phillips Exeter Academy, he graduated at Dartmouth GoUege in 1817, and subsequently removed to Virginia, where he became identified in early manhood with Hampden- Sidney College. As tutor and professor of natural philosophy his ability and rare executive talents were discovered. Upon the death of Dr. Hoge, Mr. Gushing was elevated to the presidency of the College in 1821. About this time professorships in natural philosophy and mathematics were established, followed in quiclj; succession by professorships in liter- ature and beM-lettres, Latin and Greek. From the conclusion of President Oushing's administration to the be- ginning of the present regime, 1835 to 1883, the names of the successive presidents are Carroll, Maxwell, Sparrow, Wilson, Green, and Atkinson. During this period the development was in some respects painfully slow, although the curriculum as established under Gushing was maintained in its entirety. The classical influence had for many years attained a supremacy to which it was not legitimately entitled. The curriculum at one time seems to have solidified to such an extent as not to permit healthful development. The Civil War of 1861-65 tried the institution HAMPDEN-SIDNET COLLEGE. 235 severely, but it survived and incorporated into its course such studies as were calculated to impart new life, and vigor to the College, and to keep it apace with the demands of the age. A professorship of English and a systematic course of Bible studies were established. The facilities for studying German and French were enlarged, and their importance was duly emphasized. Under strict but reasonable limitations elective studies were allowed. With these important changes the administra- tion of President Atkinson terminated in 1883. The department of the English professorship embraces English, rheto- ric, history,political economy,and logic, a blending of courses which, from the view of a specialist, may be subject to many objections ; but, as different combinations of these branches are pursued during each aca- demic" year, the elements of each may be taught with some degree of precision within the period prior to graduation. This is the germ from which a more extended course of history and political science may be developed in the future. A recent introduction, indicating the practical tendencies of the curriculum, withont marring its classical and seientific features, was the establishment, in 1886, of a department of commercial arithmetic and book-keeping. \. At this point it may be interesting to cfiention some of the financial meas- ures to which Hampden-Sidney has had recourse in the past in order to continue its existence as a literary institution. The Original fund for erecting the academy was collected by subscription from friends in Prince Edward, Charlotte, and Cumberland, and those without the limits of these counties who sympathized with the liberal project of old Hanover Presbytery. The Presbytery, having been determined in its choice of a location for the College by the liberality of Peter Johnston,' of Prince Edward, who donated 100 acres of land in this county for the pur- pose 6f its erection, the foundation of Hampden-Sidney was laid in I a tobacco-growing section, where currency had but a very limited cir- rculation, and where, through the peculiar system of land tenure exist- i ing before the War, no tendency to manufactures was encouraged, and Ithe profits to the farmer class continued unreasonably small. Cor- dially supported, from the beginning, by the sympathy and respect of the people living in the vicinity, the trustees of the College soon recog- nized the necessity of having recourse to more certain sources of reve- nue than were promised from the paucity of the currency in the country, in order to secure the permahancy of a literary establishment. While the trustees were ever maturing plans for increasing the funds by means of 'private donatfiins, they were not insensible of the privileges offered by lotteries, to which, in an emergency, so many institutions resorted for aid at that time. In May, 1777, in virtue of a petition from the board |. 'Peter Johnston, of LongwoOd, was a Scotchman, the friend and correspondent of Sir Walter Scott's father. He was a member of the Scottish Episcopal Chnroh, and was the adjutant of General Lighfchorse Harry Lee's famous legion during the Eey- olffijiionary War. His son Peter was a member of the first claps, and was the father of General Joseph E. Johnston, of Virglnja. 236 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. of trustees of Hampden-Sidney, the Legislature permitted a lottery to be erected for the benefiib of the academy. At a later epoch in the his- tory of the College, its guardians approved most highly of the utility of lotteries, and not only invested money in the purchase of tickets, but passed resolutions, couched in the most complimentary language, in consideration of their regard for a donor who gave several lottery tickets for the use of the institution. Even so late as 1797, at a meet- ing of the board, during which Archibald Alexander, afterwards the founder of the theological school at Princeton, was installed as presi- dent, a petition to the General Assembly for a lottery to be erected in favor of Hampden-Sidney was most gravely approved and recorded. The wants of the institution, it is scarcely necessary to remark^ were not relieved by having recourse to a source which, in time of need, had enriched many more fortunate adventurer^. From 1776 to 1820 the College was enabled to exist through the union of the pastoral ofllce with that of president, each successive president, after his qualification, being installed pastor of Cumberland and Prince Edward churches. In 1803 a ray of hope appeared to pos- sess the hearts of the trustees by their petition for aid to the Cincinnati Society. In so low a condition was the state of finances at that time that an offer was made to change the name of the College ; but the so- ciety, not satisfied with so complete a resignation, bestowed its endow- ment upon a more fortunate rival. The financial success which was finally reaped by the College under the presidency of Cushing, is to be attributed, partly, to his rare administrative ability, but more reason- ably, perhaps, to the greater ability of the friends of Hampden-Sidney, at that time to supply her wants. During this administration the ex- chequer seemed to have been full to overflowing, in comparison with its exhausted state during past years. The present college edifice was erected under the happy auspices of this era, and, while somewhat defaced by an age of more than fifty years, it is still substantially complete, and bears the symmetry and beauty of the original design. The first systematic attempt to raise a permanent endowment was matured under President Cushing, and, while the project has been slow of realization, the permanent funds of the College have continued slowly to increase. In 1846 the finances were somewhat relieved from embarrassment by the establishment of a sys- tem of scholarships. Under Doctor Atkinson's administration the Col- lege was safely brought through the period of civil strife ; and while for a time enervated by that paralytic shock which no human power could avert, she has finally emerged from an apparent state of torpor, and bears to-day the same relation to present Virginia which she once sustained to the Virginia of the past. The scheme for raising $100,000, as a permanent endowment, planned in 1859, has already been more than realized ; and, while the present resources of the College are incapable of supporting her corps of instructors without recourse to the income HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE. 237 arising from tuition, her financial condition is more prosperous than at any epoch in her past history. The financial project set afloat by the board of trustees during the present administration, to raise a permanent fund of $250,000, is being pursued withthe same persistency which has characterized a continuous effort of more than a hundred years. If this plan can be realized, the sphere of usefulness which Hamp- den-Sidney has never failed to fill in the past, can be widened and ex- tended in the future ; although the territory which will most naturally patronize her in the future must, in virtue of the educational develop- ment in the Southern States, be necessarily more contracted. There are two institutions closely connected with Hampden-Sidney which, even in this cursory review, claim particular mention. Hano- ver Presbytery, in 1808, conveyed to Hampden Sidney funds for found- ing a theological department, the latter simply acting as trustee to exe- cute the behest of her venerable mother. Under the administration of Moses Hoge, tjie president performed the duties of professor of theol- ogy, although in an entirely separate and distinct capacity. In 1824 the department was discontinued, and from the germ sprang Union Theological Seminary, an institution full of interest to the Presbyte- rians of the South. In 1837 a medical department was established iu Eichmond under the control and direction of Hampden-Sidney College. From this year until 1850 the degree of M. D. was conferred under the seal of the College, at which time the department was discontinued, and the former ward, under the name of the Medical College of Virginia,,has, during a corporate existence of nearly four decades, elevated the science of medicine in the State. In her relajtion to the State, Hampden-Sidney has never failed to per- form those duties imposed by the terms of her charter, and, while a ma- jority in the board of trustees have always been closely associated with those pervading influences which have never ceased to flow from the parent spring, she is only responsible for the duties imposed by a char- ter which renders hgr absolutely free from the undue influence of any denomination of Christians. The more distinguished of her alumni have occupied prominent po- sitions in church and state, and have been associated with the most eminent institutions of learning in Virginia and the South. Those less distinguished, but not less honorable, have shown a power of endurance ingrained in their natures by a principle transmitted from the academy to the College, — that liberty is only valuable when submissive to reason and law. BIBLIO&BAPHY OP HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE. Eampdeu-Sidiiey Records, 1777-1887, contain a complete survey of the internal devel- opment of the institution, and consist of about 1,000 pages of unprinted materials. Minutes of Hanover Presbytery, 1776-85. . Eening's Statutes at Large, Vols. IX and XI. Acts of Assembly, 1853-54. 238 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. Life of Aichibald Alexander. By James W. Alexander, 1854. Sketch of the Life and Character of Jonathan P. Cushing, M. A., late president of Hampden-Sidney College. Prepared for the American Quarterly Register, by G. W. Dame, M. D., Lynchburg, Va. Life of L. W. Green, D. D. L. J. Halsey, 1871. Sketches of Virginia, Historical and Biographical. By the Rev. William Henry Foote, D. D., 1850. History of Virginia. Campbell, 1859. Centennial Address. By Hugh Blair Grigsby. In manuseript, 1876. Virginia, a History of the People. By John Eaten Cooke, 1884. General Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Union Theological Seminary, 1833-84. CatalogueH of Hampden-Sidney College. Hampden-Sidney College : Its relation and services to the Presbyterian Church and to the cause of education and religion. A discourse preached at the Second Pres- byterian Church, Richmond, Va., February 5, 1888, by Richard Mcllwaine, D. D. From this historical address, by the father of the author of the above sketch, the following additional notes are appended by the editor: " One of the most interesting pages of American history is to be found in the annals of old Hanover Presbytery, and one of Its most important features is the concern felt and the measures adopted to provide for the scholastic, moral, and religions educa- tion of the youth of the State. At a meeting of this venerable body, held in the county of Charlotte, in the year 1774', the subject of Christian education was prayer- fully considered, and it was determined to establish an academy for the education of youth on the east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. , In February, 1775, this institution was located in Prince Edward County, was opened for students in January, 1776, and the spirit of American independence being abroad in the land, was named Sampdea- Sidney, after the two English patriots who sealed their love of constitntional freedom with their blood. The school was at once filled to overflowing with students, and among the first acts of the Legislature of Virginia after independence had been ac- knowledged, was the incorporation, in 1783, of Hampden-Sidney CoUege, under a charter broad in its provisions and ample in the privileges it conferred. In that in- strument these memorable words occur : 'And that, in order to preserve in the minds of the students that sacred love and attachment they should ever bear to the princi- ples of the present glorious Revolution, the greatest care and caution shall be used in electing such professors and masters, to the end that no person shall be so elected unless the uniform tenor of his conduct manifests to the world his sincere affection for the liberty and independence of the United States of America.' " It is worthy of remark that the Jjistory of Hampden-Sidney has ever been in accord with this patriotic declaration. Even during the pendency of the Revolution, its students were formed into a company under the command of the president. Rev. John Blair Smith, and marched to "Williamsburg and placed at the service of the Governor of the Commonwealth. So, too, in the war of 1812, the young men, under the com- mand of John Kirkpatriok, a late graduate, who was then pursuing his theological studies under Rev. Dr. Moses Hoge, the president of the college, took part in the de- fence of Norfolk, and were for some time in service. And again, in our late War, Captain J. M. P. Atkinson, better known to you as my predecessor, led the ffampden- Sidney Boys out to the field of conflict in defence of what they believed to be the rights of constitutional government. • * » ' ' We have at Hampden-Sidney a faculty of six professors, and also a fello w, annually elected to give instruction in sub-freshman studies. Our professors are gentlemen of marked ability, cultivated scholars, exemplary Christians, and most laborious and earnest in the discharge of all their duties. We have over one hundred students, the sons of otir ministers, elders, and christian people, whose general bearing, behavior, and studiousness can not be excelled by any similar number of young men on the con- tinent. We have a college building 160 feet long by 40 wide, an excellent structure HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE. 239 oi solid masonry, which, with some improvements, can be made all that is wanted in such a building. Besides, we have a commodious steward's hall and five professorial residences in a fair state of preservation, and in addition we have about two hundred and fifty acres of land, on and in the midst of which these^ buildings stand. " Our endowmen't amounts to $110,000, and we have a building fund of something more than $8,000, which we are now endeavoring to increase in order to erect buildings absolutely necessary to the well-being of the college. " It will be seen from this statement that we already have a good foundation. ' Our board of trustees has authorized an effort to raise $250,000 in addition, $200,000 for permanent endowment and $50,000 for buildings and improvements. "As to the location of the college, I may say that I regard it one of the most desirable , in Virginia. It is in a portion of the State where it is greatly needed; is the only institution of high grade in southside Virginia between the mountains and the sea, and is in a region proverbially healthful, and distinguished for its moral and relig- ious influence. Union Theological Seminary is immediately adjacent, and the inter- course maintained between the faculties and students of the two institutions ie mutually salutary. Our community is composed entirely of the families and students of the college and seminary, and can not be excelled for the genial and kindly influ- ence exerted on our young men. » * * " It was from Hampden-Sidney that the venerable Samuel Doak, one of its first corps of teachers, and the founder of Presljy terianism in 'I^ennessee, went forth to establish a college across the mountains. He carried on the backs of mules the first library which was ever on the west of the AUeghanies, before a wagon road had been cut across the mountains. From that day to this Hampden-Sidney has been among the foremost institutions in the land in furnishing Christian educators for our colleges and schools. The largest institution in the South is to-day presided over by a Hampden- Sidney graduate, the venerable Landon C. Garland, chancellor of Vanderbilt Univer- sity. The present presiding officer at our own State University and another member of its faculty are Hampden-Sidney men, and another, the lamented and gifted South- all, lately fell at his post as professor of law. Two of our graduates have been presi- dents of Davidson College; one a professor of Washington College; one of Washing- ton and Lee University ; one is now in Eichmond College ; one in the University of Texas ; another is the noble chancellor of Central University, Kentucky ; another is the founder of the Southwestern Presbyterian University, and now professor of bib- lical literature at that institution ; another is professor in your own theological semi- nary ; five are professors in our own college ; and there are many others in colleges and at the head of classical and high schools, male and female, throughout the country." CHAPTER XVII. EANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE, By Authokity. Eev. John E. Edwards, D. D., a well-kuown trustee of the college, thus describes the origin of the institution in "A Fragmentary Sketch" communicated to the centennial edition of the Eandolph-Macon Monthly, April, 1882, a magazine which may be regarded as a good source of collegiate history : "Eandolph-Macon College is the oldest Methodist college in the United States. Its charter was granted by the Legislature of Virginia at the session of 1829-30, The inception or birth-idea of the college originated as early as 1828, perhaps earlier, and is traceable to Gabriel P. Dissosway^ a layman, then living in Petersburg, Va., in consultation with Eev. Hezekiah G. Leigh, Eev. John Early, and other leading Methodists, ministers and laymen, of that day. At the Virginia An- nual Conference, held in February, 1829, before the charter was obtained or the name agreed upon, the Eev. H. G. Leigh was appointed college agent? to canvass the subject and raise funds for the establishment of the institution. It was a new movement, and it encountered prejudice or cold indifference on the part of the preachers and people ; but the eloquent and earnest appeals of the agent in the field disarmed the one and stirred the sluggishness of the other; prejudice and indiffer- ence gradually gave way, and in a comparatively short time a general interest was awakened in behalf of the new movement that foretokened success. The site was selected and the name of the college was agreed upon, and measures were put on foot for the erection of the college 'buildings and the inauguration of the institution. Asa large portion of North Carolina was then embraced in the bounds of the Virginia Conference, it was deemed proper and advisable that the college should occupy a local position equally accessible both to Virginia and North Carolina. Hence the location near Boydton, Mecklenburg County, Va. Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, and John Eandolph, of Virginia, were Representatives in the United States Congress from coterminous districts — Mecklenburg County being in Eandolph's district ; Macon's district was just across the State line. Whether it was to avoid a de- nominational name for the college, or the hope of securing large dona- tions from these distinguished gentlemen in building up an institution 240 IM-' LhM BANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE. 241 that was to perpetuate their names, that governed the board of trus- tees in fixing on Randolph- Macdn as the title of the college, I shall net attempt to determine. If the former, it was a blunder ; if the lat- ter, the hope was disappointed. Neither of these gentlemen, so far as I am advised, ever gave a dollar to the college." The organization and development of the institution are described in an authorized article, printed in the Eichmond Dispatch, and sent to the editor of this report by President W. W. Smith : " In October, 1831, the board of trustees elected the first board of in- struction, viz. Rev. John Emory, D. D., of New York, president and professor of moral science ; Eev. Martin T. Parks, professor of mathe- matics; Landon 0. Garland, professor of natural science; and Eobert Emory, of New York, professor of languages. The first and last de- clined the positions to which they were elected ; the other two accepted. One of these, Eev. M. T. Parks, was a graduate of West Point Acad- emy. Professor Garland was a graduate of Hampden-Sidney College, and at the time of his election a professor in Washington College, Vir- ginia. Eev. Stephen Olin, at that time a professor in Franklin College, Georgia, was then elected president, and Edward Dromgoole Sims, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, was elected professor of languages. "Dr. Garland survives, now past eighty years, full of honors, filling the office of chancellor of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. He has literally and wonderfully gratified a laudable ambition referred to in his letter of acceptance. He wrote : 'The only ambition of my lite has been to devote all my time and talents to the promotion of the welfare and happiness of our common country ; and that situation which would en- able me to do this most efficiently I have ever esteemed most eligible.' "In October, 1832, the buildings for college purposes having been partially completed, the doors were opened for the reception of students, and regular work commenced. At this time a large proportion of the students came from Georgia and South and North Carolina. This con- tinued for a number of years, the young meu coming by slow stages for hundreds of miles, until the Methodist conferences in these States es- tablished colleges of their own. " Very soon after the inauguration of the college it was determined by the board of trustees to make the study of English more prominent than it had been in this or in the colleges generally. To accomplish this end Prof. Edward Dromgoole Sims was authorized to spend several years in the universities of Europe, making a specialty of the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic languages and perfecting his acquirements in other languages, classical and modern. On his return, in 1839, he com- menced a course of English instruction, but having found no suita- ble textbooks in Anglo-Saxon for his classes, he taught them by les- sons on the blackboard, at the same time using the classics of the Eng- lisli language for texts. He was engaged in preparing a regular course 17036— No. 2 16 242 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. of English instruction wlien his valuable life was cut short by death. During Professor Sims's absence in Europe Eev. W. M. Wightman, of South Carolina, filled the chair of ancient languages. He was after- wards president of the Southern University, Greensborough, Ala., and then was made bishop of the Southern Methodist Church. " The first degree was conferred on a graduate in June, 1835. The recipient was John C. Blackwell, of Lunenburg County, Va. He was a type of a large number of alumni who succeeded him. For over forty years, till time and age checked his ardent zeal, he presided over male and female schools. " In order to give permanency to the college, efforts were made from the first to raise an endowment for it. This was mainly done through agents. One of the first agents was the Rev. John Early, who was for many years president of the board of trustees, and afterwards bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He raised a goodly sum for en- dowment in 1839, the centennial year of Wesleyan Methodism. This work was further continued by the Eev. W. B. Rowzie, now the oldest trustee of the college, and its life-long friend. In 1855-56 this endow- ment was vigorously pressed to success by the late Rev. Dr. W. A. Smith, then president of the college, and Eev. H. B. Cowles, the regular agent. They canvassed the State, and succeeded in raising the amount to $100,000 in money and solvent bonds. "At this period, one marked by great material prosperity in Virginia, the college was largely attended. In a^short time the War of the States, came, which first drew all the older students away, and then put a stop to its exercises for about two years. At its close the endowment fund was sadly broken up, its libraries and apparatus mutilated by soldiers and camp followers, and its halls filled with dust and cobwebs. " So great was the desolation and impoverishment of the people, that much hesitation was felt by the board in making a new departure, es- pecially as during the War the railroad to Clarksville had been destroyed, thus throwing the college over twenty-five miles from any railway. However, in 1867 the institution was re-opened with a new president, Col. Thomas 0. Johnson ; Dr. Smith having resigned and taken the presi- dency of Central College, Missouri. This effort was not successful for many reasons, and the alternative seemed to be forced on the board to let the college go down or take steps to change its location, and place it where it would be accessible and central to those who were dis- posed to patronize it. This was more important from the fact that the Baltimore Conference had divided, and that part adhering to the Meth- odist Episcopal Church South had become a patronizing conference of the college. At a meeting of the board of trustees, held June, 1868, the removal was ordered. Ashland, Hanover County, was fixed upon as the new location. At this village buildings and a campus were bought, which were put in order for professors and students, and in September, 1868, the institution made its new departure under the new board of ItANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE. 243 instruction, with the late Eev. James A.. Duncan, D. D., president. With such an able and popular president, and a faculty composed mainly of young and rising scholars, a short period only was required to regain its former numbers, which increased till the patronage ex- ceeded anything known in its history. " In 1877 the eminent president was taken away by death, and sev- eral of those associated with him were soon afterward elected to various universities. Dr. W. W. Bennett was elected, to fill the vacancy occa- sioned by the death of Dr. Duncan, in November, 1877. During his presidency all the old wooden buildings first used were removed. In their places, besides the literary halls previously built during Dr. Dun- can's life, new and well-arranged halls, lecture-rooms, and a chapel have been built, and also new dormitories for students. A more beautiful campus can hardly be found anywhere than this. Improvements are still going on, and will go on, till all will satisfy the most fastidious . taste. " It would be invidious, perhaps, to name Individuals when/space would forbid mention of all the prominent men who have been educated in this institution. In the Church they have become bishops, pastors in city and country, missionaries to the heathen on this continent and others. They may be found in all the Southern States and all the new Western States doing faithful work. Many of the highest universities and colleges have them. " fiandolph-Macon College, though denominational, in that it is sup- ported and patronized mainly by one Church, is nevertheless not sec- tarian in its course of study. Many young men of other Churches have matriculated there who could testify that it is conducted liberally, and no proselyting influences are used on students belonging to families con- *nected with other churches. It does, however, seek to combine relig- ious influences with scholastic advantages, believing that learning divorced from religion is a dangerous accomplishment to any one who receives it, and that such divorcement made general will be injurious to the State." Eandolph-Macon College has educated hundreds of ministers free of tuition fees. There is a regular organization for the aid of deserving young men. It is thus doing a work which is of interest" and value to the State. "When the coUesge was removed to Ashland and reorganized, the ' eclectic ' system was adopted. This was thought to be preferable, because the preparation of young men generally was found to be defect- . ive. Besides, it is claimed that more thorough work can be done un- der this system than under the old curriculum system. But students are not allowed to choose for themselves without consultation with the faculty. Practically, every student has a curriculum chosen for him according to the course he wishes to pursue, thus insuring the advau- 244 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. tages of the curriculum with the mobility of the elective system. It is fouud in practice that fully as many take a course leading to A. M. or A. B. as under the old system. These two degrees are the most popu- lar. The A. B. degree has two courses leading to it, one including Greek, the other substituting the modern languages for Greek. With proper pi;eparation to begin with this degree can be taken in four years. The A. M. course requires longer time. "There is also a course of study laid out especially for business men requiring three years for its completion. A proud boast of this college is that it was the first in the South to establish a course of English which should be in every way equal to the classical course." ENGLISH AT RANDOLPH-MACON. Prof. Eichard Irby communicated to The State (Eichmond, Va.) the following interesting historical statement regarding the origin and. development of the English department at Eandolph-Macon : " The recent discussion of the establishment of a full English course in Eandolph-Macon College and Eichmond College is a matter of too great interest to pass by without getting at the full history in the case. I therefore give the record as I find it in minutes of the board of trustees of Eandolph-Macon College. The first item is found in the proceedings of the board, June 3, 1836 : " ' On motion of Mr. Waller [Eev. W. J. Waller] it was unanimously Resolved, That we estaolish a professorship of English literature in Ean- dolph-Macon College.' " On the next day Eev. Mr. Tomlinson, president of Augusta College, Kentucky, was elected to fill the new chair. This gentleman having declined to accept the chair, Eev. William M. Wightman, of South Car- olina (an A. M. of Charleston College, and afterwards bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South), was elected in 1837 to the chair, and entered on his duties in March, 1838. On the 27th of September Professor Wightman resigned the place, and Prof. Edward Dromgoole Sims (A. M. of North Carolina University) was transferred from the chair of Oriental literature to that of English literature. Professor Sims had spent several years in Europe, making a special study of Anglo-Saxon and other languages, and returned to the college in 1839. " June 19, 1839, on motion of J. Early, " ' Resolved, That as soon as practicable the trustees of Eandolph- Macon College will establish a normal school as a department in the college, in which a good and liberal English education can be obtained, and which in its organization shall be especially fitted to educate com- mon-school teachers, and that the professor of English literature be rec- tor thereof.' " On the same day Professor Sims was permanently appointed pro- fessor of English literature. RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE. 245 "At the annual meeting of the board the report of the faculty to the board read : " ' We have had under review the whole course of study and are pre- pared to recommend several changes, which have for their object the introduction of Anglo-Saxon as a basis for the proper study of English literature and language.' "Professor Sims held the chair of English literature for three years. During this period he introduced the study of Anglo-Saxon. No text- books being accessible, he taught it by exercises on the blackboard, and delivered a series of lectures on Anglo Saxon as a basis of the English language. In connection with this language he also had as a part of the course the analysis of Milton and other English authors, English composition, structure of words, etc. " Professor Sims was elected to a chair in the Alabama University in 1842, where he continued his labors in the same line, and was en- gaged in the preparation of a series of text-books in Anglo-Saxon when he was untimely cut off by death in the midst of his usefulness. His successor in the chair of English literature was Bev. D. S. Doggett. He not being acquainted with the Anglo-Saxon, this part of the course was discontinued, but the other parts were kept up as before. " Referring to the journal, it appears that Anglo-Saxon was again introduced into the course by Prof. Thomas E. Price ^ in 1869-70. Of this step Professor Price wrote : "'The president and the trustees of Randolph-Macon College in 1868-70 deserve, I think, the credit of having made the boldest and wisest move in education that has taken place in my time. Dr. Dun- can, above all, so great and wise in many directions, was, in myjudgment, the most deeply devoted and the most far-sighted Mend of collegiate education that I have known. When made a member of the faculty, in 1868, as professor of Greek and Latin, I had, with my large classes, to struggle against great difficulties and grave discouragements. Amid all I had his tender sympathy and wise and loving help. The funda- mental difficulty of all soon revealed itself to me. I was seeking to give a knowledge of the ancient languages to boys and young men that knew not enough of their own language to receive or to apply it. It was irrational, absurd, almost criminal, for example, to expect a young man whose knowledge of English words and construction was scant and inexact to put into English a difficult thought of Plato or an involved period of Cicero. Dr. Duncan, to whom I imparted my conviction of the sense of the grave evil, braver and more hopeful than I, bade me not to despair, but t» cut at the root of the trouble by introducing the study of English. His eloquence and good sense won the majority of the trustees, and the English school was founded. I had the honor, ' Professor Price was the successor of Professor Gildersleeve in the school of Greek at the University of Virginia, and is now professor of English literature in Columbia College, New York.— Editor. 246 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. which I prize highly, of being made professor of English, giving up the La.tin to Dr. James A. Harrison. I had the duty laid on me by the trustees of drawing up the programme of the new course and of select- ing text-books and supplementing text-books by lectures. My plan was through the course of four years to make the literary and historical study of our great language gO' forward evenly balanced. I began with the study of grammar, and of easy texts in the preparatory section, and then year after year thus formed in succession the four college classes up to the Senior and graduation. ToiDr. Duncan and to the good and wise men of the board of trustees I am profoundly grateful for having used me to carry out the bold and noble design. It was their own work, not suggested from the outside, imitating nothing that existed, springing from their clear conception of what education meant and from their sense of duty to their Church and people.' " The school of English, planned by Professor Price, will be found in the catalogue of 1869-70, the second year of the removal of the col- lege to Ashland. Omitting a part of the preamble, the following will give the design and the scope of the school as laid down in the cata- logue : , " ' It has, therefore, been resolTed to put the study of English at Eandolph-Macon College on an equal footing with the study of the Latin and the Greek. The same thoroughness of instruction will be aimed at, the same strictness of method will be enforced. The course of study in the introductory and Junior classes will be largely made up of English composition. The intermediate and Junior courses will be given to English literary history, the historical grammar of the English language, and to the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic languages as the sources of the English. Distinctions in the school of English as far as the end of the Junior course will be required of all graduates of the college. Graduation in the full school of English will be required of masters of arts and of bachelors of arts.' COTJESES OP STUDY AND TEXT-BOOKS. " Introductory c/ass.— Green's Analysis of the English Language, An- gus's Hand-book of the English Language, readings from classical authors, English composition. '■'■Junior class. — Angus's Hand-book of the English Language, Fan- chont's Five Centuries of the English Language, rhetoric, writing of essays, and orations. '■^Intermediate eiass.— March's Anglo-Saxon Grammar, Klepstein's Anglo-Saxon Analecta, lectures on the history of English literature. " Senior etoss.— Lectures on Gothic Grammar, Ulfllas's Gothic Testa- ment edited by Stamm, lectures on the historical and comparative gram- mar of the English language. ' " Thus I have given as briefly as possible the facts in the history of the English professorship so far as Eandolph-Macon College is con- cerned. If other institutions have preceded it in this direction it seems EA.NDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE. 247 that it was not known to Professor Price, but he, with his liberal culture and sense of justice, would be the last one to withhold the meed of praise to any one justly entitled to it. I know he would say with me— ^ Ferat palmam, qui meruiV "Yours, truly, Eichard Irbt." PHYSICAL CULTURE AT RANDOLPH-MACON. The editor of this report observes that flandolph-Macon College is do- ing pioneer work in introducing the new system of physical culture at the So.uth, a system based not upon calisthenics or acrobatic perform- ances, but upon properly regulated exercises, which are prescribed by a competent director to each student after special examination of his individual case. Eandolph-Macon has appointed Professor Crenshaw as director of its new and well-equipped gymnasium. He is a well-edu- cated man, one of its own masters of arts, >vho took a graduate course at the Johns Hopkins University, and there obtained his first insight into the new system of physical culture. Besides working under Dr. E. M. Hartwell, Mr. Crenshaw had also the advantage of Dr. Sargent's per- sonal instruction in the normal course at Harvard University, where the new system of physical education was first developed in this country. The department of physical culture at Eandolph-Macon has been given professorial dignity and a position of equality by the side of the other departments of the college curriculum. This is as it should be. Physi- cal culture has been too long kept upon the level of the prize ring. College authorities should appoint educated men instead of boxers and acrobats to direct the important work of physical education, which is the basis of good intellectual work. LIST OP PRESIDENTS. For presidents the college has had the services of the following dis- tinguished men : Eev. Stephen Olin, D. D., from 1832 to 1838 ; Landon C. Garland, A. M., from 1838 to 1846 (in this period Mr. Garland re- signed the presidency, and Dr. William Capers, of South Carolina, was elected, but he declined, and Mr. Garland was re-elected) ; Eev. William A. Smith, D. D., from 1846 to 1866, a faithful service of twenty years ; Thomas C. Johnson, A. M., from 1866, upon the reorganization of the school after the War, to 1868, when the institution was removed to Ash- land; Eev. James A. Duncan, A. M., D. D., from 1868 to 1877 (this emi- nent and beloved man was the onlj- president of the college that died while filling the ofiace) ; Dr. W. W, Bennett ; and Prof. W. W. Smith, A, M. LIST OF PROFESSORS. The following gentlemen have filled the different chairs in the order named: Mathematics. — Eev. Martin T. Parks; Landon 0. Garland, A. M., LL. D. ; Bzekiel A. Blanch, A.M.; Eev. John C. Wills, A. M. ; Eobert T. 248 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. Massie; J. E. Blaukenship; Richard W. Jones, M. A. ; Harry Estill, A. M; K. Bascom Smithey, A. M. (present incumbent). Ancient languages Edward D. Sims, A. M.; David Duncan, A. M.; Oliver H. P. Corprew, A. M. ; William B. Oarr, A. M. ; Thomas E. Price, M. A. ; Charles Morris, M. A. Present incumbent of Latin, W. W. Smith, A. M; Greek, Eichard M. Smith, M. A., Ph. D. Modern languages. —Bev. W. M. Wightman, A. M.; G. Staubly; W. W. Valentine; James A. Harrison. Present incumbent of French, E. E. Blackwell, A. M. ; German, Eichard M. Smith. Natural sciences.— Robevt Tolefree, M. D. ; James W. Hardy, A. M. ; Eev. Charles P. Deems, D. D. ; Charles B. Stuart, A. M.; Nathaniel T. Lupton,A. M.; Bennett Puryear, A. M. ; Eev. John C. Blackwell, A.M.; Eichard M. Smith; William A. Shepard, A. M., Ph. B. (present incum- bent) ; Benjamin P. Sharpe, adjunct professor. English literature. — Edward D. Sims, A. M.; Eev. D. S. Doggett,D. D.; Thomas E. Price, M. A.; E. E. Blackwell, A. M. (present incumbent). Philosophy and Biblical literature. — Eev. John A. Kern. DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI.' "Among teachers the college has representatives of whom she may be justly proud. Eev. John C. Blackwell, A. M., of Virginia, the first 1 Among the graduates of Randolph-Macoa who are unknown to fame but yet de- serving of honor, is John Lynch Clemmons, Esq., of Louisville, Ky., step-father of the Hon. Albert S. Willis, M. C, from that State. His claim to honorable mention rests upon his early anticipation of the idea of the electric telegraph, in 1833, when he was yet a student at Randolph-Macon, from which institution he was graduated in 1837. The following statement by Mr. Clemmons to a Washington coixespondent was pub- lished in the Charlotte (N. C.) Observer, March 19, 1886: "In the spring of the year 1833, when about the age of twenty years, I commenced attending lectures on chemistry, and was forcibly struck with the powers of the gal- vanic battery, and its connection with electrical currents. In thinking over the matter I felt convinced that electricity could be practically used in conveying intelli- gence between distant points on insulated wires. I announood this belief to my classmates, and to illustrate my idea, drew a diagram * • * exhibiting a wire supported by glass brackets on upright poles, such as are now in use, with a bat- tery at each end and an independent clock-work on which to receive messages. "I attempted frequently to explain this to my comrades, but was only laughed at for my pains. I was regarded as a visionary, and my project as a dream. I con- tended that it would work, and prophesied that in the near future a man would be sitting in his chamber in~New York conversing with his brother in New Orleans as familiarly as if they were seated at his own fireside. » • » "In after years a number o^ my schoolmates came out with voluntary communica- tions to different newspapers testifying to what I have above stated. Prominent among them was J. W. Cameron, at one time editor of a paper published at Wades- boro, N. C. ' "Being young and somewhat difildent, I did not press my suggestions upon the public attention; but hearing that a gentleman by the name of Page, in Washington City, had become quite eminent as an electrician, I resolved to communicate to him my ideas on the subject of telegraphy by the electric current, and to obtain his views on the subject. I therefore wrote to him, explaining in detail my views, aooompany- ing the same with diagrams, etc., and asking him for his opinion. To this request I EANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE. 249 graduate, yet lives to reflect honor upon his alma mater. He has spent a long life in the work of instructing both sexes, and has hadfe w equals and no superiors as a careful, capable, and conscienijious teacher. The following gentlemen are enrolled as graduates on. the records of the college: Bishop Holland K McTyeire, D. D. ; Eev. John O. Granbery, D. D., of "Vanderbilt TJniversity; Eev. A. W. Mangum, D. D., of the University of IS'orth Carolina ; Eichard W. Jones, M. A., of the Uni- received no answer. This failure to answer was rather a damper upon my enthusiasm and I thought that, after all, probably my theory was not practicable, or its merits would hare been appreciated by a man eminent in electrical science. "I therefore dropped the matter, and devoted myself to my studies, saying but lit- tle more about the telegraph. I was preparing myself by a collegiate literary course for entering upon my profession as a lawyer, and devoted myself e?;clusively to that purpose. " Years rolled by, and I had almost forgotten the telegraph mat ter, when in the year 1844 I opened the Washington Globe one morning, and the first paragraph that attracted my attention was an account of the formation of a part nership between Page, Morse, Amos Kendall, and Smith, to erect an experimental telegraph wire be- tween Baltimore and Washington City,and an application to Congressforpeouniary aid. " The moment I saw the combination the conviction flashed upon my mind that Page had used my suggestions to him, made eleven years before, in the furtherance of the Morse project; and when I learned that at the time I wrote to P age in 1833 and for some years afterwards he was an examiner in the Paten t Office and forbidden by law to take out a patent in his own name, my convictions were confirmed. Indeed, I was so positive of the fact that I wrote a communication to the Washington Globe, publicly charging Page with having availed himself of my suggestions. "Being thus publicly charged with appropriating my suggestions, he was com- pelled to reply to my communication, and did so by admitting that he had eleven years before received my letter and diagrams, but excused him self for not answering it on the ground that he then thought there was nothing in it. "In the ijieantime Morse, Page & Co., having received Congressional aid, proceeded to erect their line between Baltimore and Washington, which proved a success, and so linked Mr. Morse's name with the project as to give him the boom over everybody else. "Not wishing [continued Mr. Clemmons] to place my reputation for veracity in the crucible of public criticism, and caring very little about the matter anyway, I remained silent ever afterwards. "I should say that the alphabet which I suggested to Mr. Page was precisely the same as that which was used by Mr. Morse, and I believe is still used. I have long since ceased to give any attention to telegraphy, but take it for granted t hat it is now a very different thing from what it was in the beginning, on account of the numerous improvements resulting from experience. "It is, in fact, hardly proper to say that the electric telegraph was an invention, or that it originated with any one man. It was a growth, not an invention. It com- menced with Volta and Galvani, a hundred years ago, and has gradually grown up to its present stature. In the years of 1835, 1836, 1837, much attention was given to the subject, both in Europe and America. Scientists in England, France, Germany, and the United States were working upon the problem in those years. Dr. Jackson in Boston, Joseph Henry at Princeton, and others, were studying the subject, and, in fact, making experiments in a small way. Doubtless the idea of telegraphing by the electric current was original with- several different persons, as well as myself. Its practical introduction, however, was due to Morse, and he is entitled to the credit of having first proved its utility. I think he is entitled to the greater honor, for while with others it was mere theory, he put it into practice, and conferred thereby its blessings upon the world. I would not pluck a single leaf from the laurel that circled his brow, or drop a word that would reflect upon his memory." 250 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. versity of Mississippi; Bennett Puryear, A. M., of Richmond College; O. H. P. Corprew, A. M., of Central College, Missouri ; Eev. Turner M. Jones, A. M., president of Greensborough Female College ; Eev. John S. Moore, A. M., of the Southern University, Greensborough, Ala. ; Edward E. Parham, A. M., president of Murfreesborough Female Col- lege; Eev. Samuel Lander, D. D., president of female college, Wil- liamstown, S. C. ; Eev. Charles B. Stuart, A. M., president of Marshall College, Texas; James H. Peay, A. M., superintendent of public schools, Eichmond City ; B. W. Arnold, A. M., president of Corval- lis Institute, Oregon ; Eev. James B. Thomas, A. M., president of a college in California ; Prof. F. C. Woodward, A. M., Woflfbrd College, South Carolina ; Professor Baskerville, Vanderbilt University ; Eobert Sharp, A. M., University of Louisiana; Howard Edwards, A.M., Bing- ham's Military School, North Carolina ; Clarence Edwards, A. M., presi- dent of Beaufort Academy, South Carolina; Professors Shepard, Smith, Blackwell, and Smithey, now filling chairs in the college; and as one of the late honored sons of the college, Eev. W. W. Eoyall, missionary to China, who is now in charge of a branch of Dr. Allen's college at Shanghai. Besides these there are scores of others teaching in colleges and high schools whose locations are not known to us. "Among those who have attained distinction in civil life may be named Hon. David Clopton, of Alabama; Hon. James F. Dowdell, of Georgia; Col. Eichard H, Powell, of Alabama ; Hon. W. McK. Eobbins, of North Carolina ; Hon. David B. Duncan, of South Carolina ; Hon. Thomas J. Jarvis, Governor of North Carolina, and hosts of others in law, medi- cine, and in the less prominent, but not less honorable pursuits of life, who look back to their college days with pleasure and with earnest wishes for the permanence and prosperity of their ' dear old mother.'" SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. President W. W. Smith, of Eandolph-Macon, at the opening of the year 1887-88 supplieid the editor with the following supplementary in- formation : " To bring the sketch down to the present date, I would add that the college is free from debt, and has accumulated $100,000 toward an en- dowment, in addition to the equivalent of $60,000 in the annual pay- ment of $3,600 to its funds by the Church. It is expected soon to in- crease the "fund to $250,000.' The attendance is larger than for twelve years, there being 144 present today, and we shall probably catalogue about 160, as agaiust 109 last year. Improvement is being made in every direction." Concerning the Greek course at Eandolph-Macon College, the fol- lowing iateresting note has been furnished by Professor Eichard M. Smith, a brother of President W. W. Smith. " The professor assigns to each class, in addition to the strictly Greek work, a course in translations of the best Greek writers. From this the RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE. 251 student gains what he can gain in no college course by exclusive reading of Greek— a, moderately good acquaintance with Greek literature. This is a new feature, and to it sympathetic and critical attention is invited. "In addition to this, standard primers on Greek history, literature, education, and social and religious life, are studied, and there are given on these subjects supplementary talks, taken directly, so far as is pos- sible and advisable, from the classic writers themselves. Thus, for in- stance, Plutarch is made to lecture upon Demosthenes or Alexander, while Demosthenes and .^sehines may contend before the class with their own speeches. In like manner, every important author mentioned in the literature studied is illustrated by a selected reading from his own writings. "Based on this work there is required in every class an essay, such as ' Homeric Theology and Morality,' ' Contrasts between Greek and American Education,' ' Socrates,' and ' Greek and American Social Life.' " The inspiration of this plan is the belief that God and Christ are in history, and that the Greek nation had a great mission for the world. The aim of the present course is that the student may be not merely trained by the Greek language, but also brought into extensive and stimulating contact with Greek life, Greek thought, and Greek achieve- ments, and warned by Greek sins and disasters. "Another feature of the course is that the student is made acquainted with the original form of the documents of what all must admit to be the greatest and purest religion, and not only studies them in class, but also hears lectures that strive to give him, not a good sermon, but' , all the light that the study of the Greek language and literature casts upon the New Testament. This light is great. It is easy to find. To have it is the desire, not of theological students only, but of every true Christian and of every wise man. To give it is the duty of one that professes to know and teach Greek. As few young men attend theologi- cal seminaries, it is the duty of every complete curriculum to meet this need. " The course here suggested has been tested by the experience of three years. He who has followed it believes it to be good, and hopes it will be approved and improved by others." BIBLIOGEAPHY. Besides the authorities mentioned in the course of the preceding sketch, a good notice of Eandolph-Macon College may be found in the Appendix to Part I of th€ Third Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (Dr. W. H. Euffner) of Virginia, 1873, pp. 145- 147. Perhaps the most complete aiud authentic history of the institu- tion is contained in the document written by John Howard, Esq., coun- sel for the trustees on the occasion^of a lawsuit brought against them and testing the right of removal from Boydton to Ashland. This docu- ment, or demurrer, contains a full record of all legislation affecting the college, and is of great importance. 252 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. CHAPTER XVIII. EMOEr AND HE2!fEY COLLEGE.^ By Authority. ; About the year 1833-34 the practicability of establishing an institu- tion of learning somewhere in Southwestern Virginia or East Tennessee that would afford educational advantages of a higher order than any then existing that were accessible, began to be discussed. The want of a,first-class college was felt, especially by the ministry and those in professional life. Up to this time the few who wished to obtain more than a common-school education were forced to seek it abroad. Ran- dolph-Macon, at Boydton, Va; Hampden-Sidney, in Prince Edward County, Va. ; and the college at Knoxville, Tenn., were the most avail- able. As a class, the preachers in the Holston Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church were doubtless most impressed with the need of a first-class college. Eev. Creed Pulton, then in the prime of his life, a member of the conference, warmly and zealously advocated the enterprise before the conference and in private circles. Under his leadership that enterprise soon took definite shape. The Holston Conference, at its annual session in the fall of 1835, held in Knoxville, Tenn., resolved to establish somewhere in Southwestern Virginia what w:as then called a manual-labor college, an institution of learning in which the pupils were to be trained to labor as well as think. This manual-labor feature was a very prominent one in the en- terprise as it was first brought before the public; a. feature that was subsequently modified and finally abandoned, for reasons which will be noticed hereafter. It is not to be regretted, however, that this feature was made prominent in these incipient movements, for the institution was to be built up by a people engaged almost wholly in agriculture and the mechanic arts ; a people among many of whom a prejudice existed against what was considered a learned and lazy race. The conference at this session took further steps by appointing Eev. Creed Fulton as general agent to solicit subscriptions, and, with the aid of a committee appointed for the purpose, select a location and enter upon the work of building. Mr. Fulton hastened to Virginia. The knowledge he had of the country, acquired as a travelling preacher, enabled him to select wisely and well. The first convention of citizens was called to meet at the old Glade Spring Presbyterian Church, in Washington County. '^Thia college owes its name to Bishop Emory and Patrick Henry, as repre8entd,tives of Church and State in Virginia. 254 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VISGINIA. The fact should be recorded that this first meeting was held in a Pres- byterian community, and a subscription was at once made amounting to about $5,000. The liberal and generous aid thus given at a critical time by the members of one religious denomination to an enterprise of this kind inaugurated by another, and .intended to be denominational, should ever be held in pleasant recollection.' Encouraged by this suc- cess Mr, Fulton immediately called the committee to meet in Abingdon, where a further subscription of about $5,000 was obtained. Among the men of influence who warmly espoused the cause which Mr. Fulton ad- vocated, the names of Alexander Findlay, of Abingdon, and Col. Wil- liam Byars and Tobias Smyth, citizens of Washington County, should never be forgotten. After careful deliberation it was diecided to locate the institution in a beautiful valley nine miles east of Abingdon. This valley, watered by a tributary of the Holston, lies just south of the ex- treme west end of Walker's Mountain, and is noted for its beauty and fertility. It is 2,000 feet above sea-level. Whitetop Mountain, seen twenty miles south, rises 6,000 feet above the sea. The hand of ProvL dence seems to have been in the location of the institution, for through this valley, then so secluded, now passes a great railway thoroughfare, connecting the East with the West, thus bringing the college, with all its beautiful surroundings, into public notice. A farm containing about six hundred acres of highly productive land was purchased and paid for out of the funds first raised. It was at first intended that this farm should be cultivated by student labor, for which a compensation was to be allowed which would assis* in paying the stu- dents' expenses. This farm, though not long cultivated according to the original plan, became subsequently a most valuable appendage, not only furnishing in its productions the means of boarding students at a low rate, but by enabling the authorities to keep at a distance any popu- lation that would be hurtful. This fine body of land was purchased from Eev. Edward Crawford, a Presbyterian minister, who we trust, true to his calling, had given more attention to the spiritual wants of his people than to the cultivation of his farm. The heavy forests were unbroken and the fields were overgrown with briars and thickets, while the inclosures and buildings were in a state of general dilapidation. These conditions all favored an easy purchase of the land, but they subsequently sorely tried the temper and patience of the young laborers. Plans were drawn for a commodious boarding-house and for the main college building. The first was well planned and admirably built, meeting well the main purpose for which it was designed; it contained, in addition to the large dining hall, kitchen, store-rooms, and steward's , apartments, a large public studying hall, and some dormitories. The school was opened April 13, 1838, and one hundred students were enrolled the first year under the presidency of Eev. Charles Collins. No better man could have been found to take charge of the institution in its infancy and start it on its career of usefulness. A man of re- EMOEY AND HENKY COLLEGE 255 markably clear head, in early manhood, fixed in his purpose and reso- lute, with a laudable ambition to succeed, he combined within himself rare elements of success, both natural and acquired. The students were divided into small companies of eight or ten each, and each company placed under the supervision of one of the older stu- dents. These companies were taken at two o'clock each afternoon out upon the farm to work for two or three hours. They were allowed from three to five cents per hour, according to their skill and industry as estimated by their leaders. The impracticability of the manual-labor system soon became apparent. The farm work could not be done sue cessfuUy in this way. A hundred hands were to be employed by the superintendent for two or three hours ; the most of these had never been taught to work, and they often did more harm than good. Imple- ments and work stock in corresponding numbers had to be provided, these to lie idle three-fourths of every day, and often the fields would scarcely be reached before the bell would summon them to return, and that too often at a time when the care of the crop required immediate and prolonged attention. It was soon discovered that a full corps of regular hands had to be employed in addition to the students. But the students had to be paid for their labor, for the subscribers and patrons had been led to expect that in this way a student could meet the greater part of his expenses. Board and tuition had to be put at scarcely more than a nominal rate. Board was $1.25 per week and tui- tion $10 per session of five months. The consequence was that debt's — an incubus that presses the life out of so many colleges — began to accumulate. The fact became apparent that manual-labor institutions must be well endowed to insure their success". The system, however, was not speedily abandoned, but was persisted in for eight or ten years, changing gradually into a voluntary instead of a compulsory system. Then, as might have been anticipated, it soon ceased alto- gether. Viewed in another light, the system was by no means devoid of advantage. It broke the monotony of ordinary student life ; it pro- moted health and buoyancy of spirits ; in the hours of field and forest labor there was found not only relief from study, but such a variety of incident, that the students of those days found more means of solid en- joyment than others have since. The debt alluded to as originating partly at least in the attempt to carry out the manual-labor system, continued to exist with gradual lu- crease until 1843, when it was cancelled by obtaining a loan of $18,000 from the literary fund of the State of Virginia. It should be stated in this connection as a very remarkable fact that, after paying the floating debt referred to above, the management of the college , was such that without a single dollar of endowment or of donations it kept clear of debt for the lapse of about thirty years, and that the income from board and tuition, both of which were placed at figures unusually low for a first- class institution, was sufficient not only to meet current expenses, 256 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. but to make substantial improvements from time to time, such as the building of' new and elegant houses and enlarging the library and apparatus. The patronage of the college has been drawn almost exclusively from the Southern States, and prior to the Civil War from the cotton States. The number of students attending the school,, begin- ning with one hundred the first year, rose gradually, with slight fluctua- tions, to 280 in the year preceding the War, Since the War the number has varied from SO to 150. The financial success of the college, in antebellum years at least, was due largely to the system of boarding. All the students, except day students, boarded in a common hall, where by practising economy, and with the help of the farm, a variable surplus was realized each year, which was applied to making improvements. Since the War, however, the club or mess system has been adopted largely. Now the boarding department yields the college no revenue. The more important build- ings, added from time to time, have been erected in the following order: In 1848 a professor's house was built at the west end of the campus and occupied by Professor Wiley ; this building was subsequently enlarged and became the president's house. In 1852 a house was erected directly east of the one last named, and facing the campus, to be occupied by Professor Longley. In the year 1856 the number of students had so in- creased that one boarding hall was insufScient, and the building of a second became necessary. What is now known as the " Fulton House " was then erected on a small elevation northeast of the spring. These are all elegant brick buildings. Two additional dormitory buildings were erected — one a wooden one story range on the east border of the campus, the other a two'-story brick building. The destruction of the old boarding-house, already alluded to, was immediately followed by the erection of a more sightly and imposing building on ground a lit- tle south of that occupied by the old one. This college misfortune was promptly met by the friends of the institution in the county, mainly by a subscription of about $16,000, to erect the new building, which in ar- chitectural skill and plan far excels any other on the premises. Several objects were happily combined in this structure. Besides all the apart- ments necessary for the boarding department, it was arranged so as to contain two commodious literary halls, with adjoining libraries, a large college library room, a museum and cabinet room, and an observatory on a stately tower, which furnishes independent stairways to the literary halls. This building is known as the " Byars House." As regards other changes and improvements, the campus, once limited to about four acres, has been enlarged to twenty-five, and amply supplied with shade trees. Among these trees the returning alumnus, after many years' absence, may find the one which his own hands, aided by bhose of his dearest friend, may have planted. On the farm there have been changes. Some fields, once worn and bare, have by careful management been restored to fertility, and are now clothed with a continuous coating EMOEY AND HENEY COLLEGE. 257 of grass. The college cemetery, now a marked feature in the landscape, with its monuments, crowns the northern hill. Here sleep, undisturbed by din of battle, more than two hundred soldiers of the Confederacy. The building of the railroad through this valley marked an era of im- provement in everything connected with it. It sweeps in a gentle curve around north of all the buildings, except the depot, giving the observer a pleasing panoramic view of them. On the margin of the college farm and half of a mile west of the college, where once grew the chincapin and the vine, a quiet, shady vale, well suited for evening walks, now quite a village has sprung up, containing some business houses, shops, and a number of handsome dwellings. On a small elevation near by stands , the residence of Professor Davis. Other beautiful residences have been erected in sight on the neighboring farm. The main college building has been marked, from time to time, by varying conqlitions. The orig- inal wooden roof, having been many times on fire, was replaced by one of metal. After the War the building was thoroughly renovated inter- nally ; all the old lathing and plastering were removed and replaced, the rooms repaired and repainted. More recently the entire building has been painted and pencilled externally, so that its appearance is now fresh and attractive. The old college bell, whose tongue was now and then stolen, but which continued to call students and faculty to duty for nearly forty years, at length succumbed to a crack in its side. In view of its associations it was remelted and made part of a new and larger one, which now sends its heavy, but melodious tones far over the sur- rounding hills. The heavy forests surrounding the college have, to some extent, been cleared away, and in their places are cultivated fields. These old woods, in days of yore, were ever and anon made vocal by youthful orators. This custom still prevails, although the forest area is somewhat contracted, and often an approaching anniversary or ex- hibition is heralded in this way. Well-graded roads have taken the place of the original trail-like pass- ways that radiated in all directions. Besides these physical changes to which allusion has been made, others of a different kind have been continually occurring, generally, as we trust, marking progress in harmony with the spirit of the times, though it can scarcely be claimed that these changes have always been for the better. Comparing the routine of daily duty as prescribed and followed in the early years of the college with that practised now, many changes are found. Change sometimes is needed simply for the sake of change ; it breaks the monotonies of life. The first generations of students re- member this programme : The morning bell aroused them from slumber at 5 a. m. In the winter season all as yet was night. The more diligent rose at once, kindled thfeir fires, dressed, and set their rooms in order. At half past 5 the bell summoned to morning prayers in the chapel. This signal roused the laggards from their beds, who hastened, half clad, to join their comrades in the dimly-lighted chapel — one tallow candle 17036— No. 2 17 258 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. usually furnishing the light. After roll call, reading the Scriptures, and prayer, during which good order was scarcely expected, some es- caped in the dim light to their rooms. From the chapel a large number passed directly to the lecture rooms, well warmed and lighted, the re- mainder to their rooms ; the diligent to their books, and the laggards possibly to their beds. Two series of recitations, of thirty minutes each, passed before the bell for breakfast rang at 7. At 8 A. M. half-hour reci- tations were resumed, which continued until 1, the hour for dinner. At 2 p. M., in the days of manual labor, the companies went to work until 4. When the labor feature was dispensed with, the time from 2 to 4 was given to study in private rooms. Then duty began on the huge trunks of trees which teamsters and oxen had dragged in, and which the students cut and carried to their rooms. From the supper table, at 5, they passed again to the chapel for evening prayer, at which singing was substituted for reading the Scriptures. Then followed the evening walks and recreations until 7 P. M., then studying until 9, when the bell rang for retiring — a signal which many took for ceasing to study and not retiring. Thus ended the day. This old system, though ridi- culed now as something obsolete and impracticable, had much of merit in it, which one might commend without the charge of "fogyism." It encouraged early retiring and early rising, industry, and economy in the care of rooms. In the present routine, which is more sybaritic, the morn- ing slumber is not broken until 6 o'clock ; breakfast at 7, with no reci- tation or study hours preceding it. Eecitations begin at 8, to which forty minutes each are allowed. At 10 A. M. there is a convention of all the students, with all the faculty, in the chapel for worship, which consists in reading the Scriptures, singing, and prayeE. This is a great improvement on the old system. It is the usual time for making com- munications and announcements to the students and for hearing Senior speeches. There is much more of the spirit of devotion, and excellent order invariably prevails. The students are not called together for af- ternoon prayers. There is no cutting and carrying of wood now as for- merly. Coal is used for fuel, and is delivered to the students in their rooms, which is far better in point of economy and risk of damage by flre. The ringing of the 9 o'clock bell has been dispensed with, the entire night being regarded as sacred either to study or repose. The literary soci- eties formerly met in their halls on Friday nights, now they meet on Saturday nights. This last change is found to work well. Part of Sat- urday was formerly employed in hearing the classes in elocution, now the time is allowed for making preparations for debate. On Sunday, in addition to the customary service of preaching, etc., much attention is given to Sabbath-school work. Bible reading is encouraged, a large and interesting Bible class being conducted every Sabbath by the pres- ident of the college. The changes that have taken place from time to time in the board of curators and in the board of instruction will be seen by reference to EMOEY AND HENRY COLnEGE. 259 records where these boards are named. The methods of instruc- tion have been modified, but radical changes have been avoided, while many of those introduced have been adopted, not so much from a settled conviction that they were great improvements over older methods, as from a desire to conform to the custom of the times. No substitute for mental labor on the part of the student has yet been found to yield satisfactory results. The old treadmill methods of drilling, although often now subjects of ridicule, secured a degree of mental discipline which no short method, involving merely a passive reception of what is taught, can equal. In the curriculum of Emory and Henry it is still 'maintained that Latin, Greek, and mathematics should be held as standard studies for mental discipline. Much time must be devoted to a patient study of the natural, mental, and moral sciences, and the curriculum made yet more symmetrical by due attention to the modern languages, specially the German and the French; holding the idea as preposterous that any one-sided development that may be secured by a few weeks' special study of a few branches, intended as special preparation for some par- ticular pursuit, can be properly regarded as education. To aid instruc- tion in the natural sciences a " Science Hall " has just been erected, with lecture-rooms and a laboratory below, and a cabinet of minerals and museum above. The facilities for boarding students prior to the time of the War were limited, at least in variety, being confined almost entirely to the two college boarding halls. The usual evils attending such a system were manifested — such as coarseness of manners, arising from an absence of refined family influences, and dissatisfaction with the fare. After the Civil War a number of family residences were erected in the immediate neighborhood, where boarding can now be had, and the students are permitted to select any approved place or to board themselves in messes. This last method is now quite popular and economical. Companies containing fifteen or twenty each take some building, provided by the college at a small charge, and elect one of their number to superintend their operations and employ a cook. In this arrangement one of the evils alluded to above is eliminated. .They are never known to com- plain of their board. In the government of the college and in the administration of disci- pline there has been much change. The system now practised would have been ineflicient in ante-bellum days, nor would the former methods be applicable now. These changes have not only been in harmony with) but they have been necessitated by, a change in the general charac- ter of the students. The old dispensation was emphatically one of law, and a rigid enforcement of law seemed to be necessary. The patron- age of the school was drawn almost exclusively from slave-holding -territory. Among the evils arising from the system, a very serious one was that it tended to weaken inducements to study, by favoring an idea 260 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. in the minds of the young men of the dominant race that they were independent, not only of the necessity of manual, but in a measure of mental labor. Their relations to the servile race at home did not tend to make them specially submissive to wholesome restraints at school; the spoiled favorites of fortune, they were frequently sent abroad be- cause they were unmanageable at home. With such boys college rebel- lion was a favorite pastime, to prevent which the severest penalties be- longing to college discipline were inflicted; such as reproof, pri- vate, then public dismission, and expulsion, following these last with a publication of the same in the annual catalogue. In former years the dominant party was often composed of the worst characters, who held the better class in a state of abject fear. The idea was fostered that the faculty was one party and the students another, having no interests in common; that their stay at college, far from being a privilege, was a sort of durance, to which they were subjected con- trary to their wishes, and from which they longed to be delivered. To these was added a spirit of vandalism that took delight in muti- lating and destroying whatever had been prepared for the comfort and welfare of the college community. In all these things there has been a most gratifying change brought about, gradually, by many difterent causes. The overthrow of the "peculiar institution" pre- pared the way, by bringing our young men to feel that they were de- pendent upon themselves for success, and that education was a necessity. Much is to be attributed to the changes that have taken place in the whole social fabric; to the march of mind and of manners; to educational advantages that have been extended to all classes, and doubtless a great deal to such influences as have come from the pulpit and the Sabbath school. In the school itself much has been done, in- dependent of faculty action or influence, to bring about this important transformation, inducing a higher and healthier tone of public senti- ment among the young men, and giving to the better class a controlling power, both by numbers and influence. Among these we notice the es- tablishment of the Young Men's Christian Association, which is becom- ing everywhere a power for good. To this may be added the presence of a large number of sterling young men in our college community who are preparing for the ministry ; and, lastly, the influence of the periodi- cals published by the literary societies. Whether these in colleges gen- erally are productive of good or evil depends entirely on the manner in which they are conducted. In Emory and Henry such publications, in late years at least, have been managed with surprising skill and pru- dence, reflecting great credit on those in charge of them, and by their timely suggestions and admonitions giving shape and tone to the senti- ments and conduct of the students. In the midst of a body of students of this character, students who feel that their interests are identified with those of the faculty, there is but little use for so-called " college law." College law, as well as other law, " was not made for the right- EMORY AND HENRY COLLEGE. 261 ecus," and might perhaps be laid aside almost wholly, leaving the young men to be a law unto themselves, were it not that still with each returning session there are present some few of the baser sort. Rules, both general and specific, however, are always necessary for the effi- cient working of every institution of learning, which must be sacredly observed. A very important feature in the history of Emory and Henry College yet remains to be noticed, and that is the origin and work- ing of the literary societies, known respectively as the Oalliopean and the Hermesian. It has been claimed for these that they stand unrivalled in their history and operations. They were established prior to the year 1840. It would not be doing them justice to say that they had encountered no perils and surmounted no difficulties. The boys of either crew have sometimes proved their ship among the breakers, when the skill of all on duty was put to the test. Working side by side, it would have been a marvel indeed if they had never been antagonistic ; the great wonder is that their relations have generally been so emi- nently pleasant and their intercourse marked by so much of reciprocal courtesy. Olub-like in their character when first organized, without libraries or equipments, they held their meetings in the lecture-rooms. In the course of two or three years, however, they fitted up the attics in the wings of the main college building as halls. These were small, with ceilings low and means of ventilation imperfect, but they were rendered very attractive. Indeed, the ornamentation seemed to be in an inverse ratio to the fitness of the apartments otherwise. Limited in space for their operations as these societies were at that period, and subjected to inconveniences of various kinds, it is, nevertheless, ques- tionable whether the god of eloquence and the queen of the muses were ever more lavish in bestowing success on their votaries. Indeed, the reputation which Emory and Henry has borne as a school eminently successful in elocutionary training was well established at this time. In the building of the Byars House, in 1858, by special contract with the literary societies, the third story was built and devoted solely to their use, affording two halls, each about 40 by 50 feet, with lofty ceilings, and sufficient space for libraries contiguous to each hall, and separated therefrom by arched doorways and glass partitions. A large collection of books had been made by each society, by purchases and otherwise, before they entered their new halls, but with new library apartments and ample space a spirit of rivalry sprang up which has resulted in large collections. The equipments of these halls are such as to make them highly beautiful and seemingly verging on extravagance, but as each generation of students has contributed only a part, the expense has been easily met. In the main they have been wonderfully free from internal feuds and schisms or party strife. The happy exception they enjoy from such evils is due largely to the fact that secret organiza- tions are not allowed to exist as Such in the college. A generous rivalry between these literary societies, with other good results, has 262 HIGHEE EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. modified the bearing of the older students towards new recruits. The unkind treatment of new students, technically known as " hazing," in some colleges, is here considered ungentlemanly and is practically un- known. The manly and business-like way in which the affairs of these societies are conducted would surprise any one not familiar with them. By inspecting the faculty record it may be seen that four members thereof were officially connected with and worked together as colleagues, for twenty-four consecutive years, while three of these were thus united for thirty-four years, and two of them are still thus associated. After a lapse of more than forty years we know of no other institution that can exhibit such a record. It indicates great steadiness in the work- ing of the machinery and great harmony among those placed in charge of it, both of which are essential to success in operations of this kind. In later years, when similar institutions became more abundant, when competition became active and a struggle for existence began through lack of patronage, some changes were made which restored the confi- dence of the people in the college, and stirred them up to retaining the great school in their midst. In the half century now closing on the history of the institution it has run a career of prosperity and usefulness surpassing the most sanguine expectations of its founders. If the career of Emory and Henry should end even now, our whole country should rejoice in the good it has already accomplished. It has proved a blessing to the country and to the church, such as has abundantly repaid all it has cost of labor and treas- ure. It has already aided in educating 5,200 young men ; it has gradu- ated more than 500. Of these graduates over 200 have belonged to the State of Virginia, more than 100 to Tennessee, and 31 to North Carolina, while all the other Southern States have been well represented. It has provided first-class teachers for high schools and colleges, while five universities are partly manned by its graduates. Our records show, in part at least, to what extent the pulpit and the bar, the editorial chair and the healing art, legislative bodies and our Congress halls, have been supplied with efficient men from these academic shades. At a special meeting of the Joint Board of Trustees and Visitors of Emory and Henry College held on July 18, 1888, Major E. W. Jones, of Mississippi, was elected president of the college and professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of President Jordan. Mr. E. B. Craighead, of Missouri, was elected professor of Latin and French. The Faculty now stands as follows : E. W. Jones, M. A., LL. D., president ; Eev. E. E. Wiley, D. D., treasurer and financial agent ; Eev. Edmund Longley, M. A., professor of moral philosophy and English ; Eev. James A. Davis, M. A., professor of natural philosophy, astronomy, and botany; George W. Miles, Jr., M. A., professor of Greek and German; Samuel M. Barton, Ph. D., professor of pure and applied mathematics; E. W. Jones, M. A., LL. D., professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology; E. B. ■Craighead, M. A., professor of Latin and French. CHAPTER XIX. KOANOKE COLLEGE. By xhe Editor. There is a short historical account of this institatioa in Dr. William H. Ruffner's Third Annual Eeport of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1873, pp. 148, 149, in which attention is called to the orig- inal design of the college in the valley of the Eoanoke. It was "for the especial benefit of the Anglo-German population of Virginia, who, to a great extent, then [1853] constituted the industrious, rural people of the valley counties and other parts, mostly of West Virginia, who from different causes, to a very limited extent, patronized the old estab- lished institutions of the State." Eoanoke College was the historical outgrowth of a private Lutheran foundation called the Virginia Institute, established within the limits of the Mt. Tabor congregation, in Augusta County, by the Eev. David F. Bittle andthe Eev. C. C. Baughman, in the year 1842. The institution was adopted by the Virginia Synod of the Lutheran Church in 1843, and in 1847 it was removed to its present site, Salem, in the Eoanoke Valley. The Virginia Collegiate Institute was chartered as Eoanoke College in 1853. The college is characterized in the original charter as " A seminary of learning for the instruction of youth in the various branches of science and literature, the useful arts, and the learned and foreign languages." It was distinctly asserted that nothing in the charter should be " so con- strued as at any time to authorize the establishment of a theological pro- fessorship." Although remaining under the auspices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the institution has always been conducted in a most catholic spirit, and has largely drawn both its students and its support from non-Lutheran sources. About two thirds of its present constitu- ency come from other denominations. As indicative of the liberal tend- encies of the college, it is stated that Eoanoke College had representa- tives at seven theological seminaries in 1886-87 — Lutheran (Gettysburg and Philadelphia), Presbyterian (Union, N. Y., and Princeton), Episco- palian (Alexandria), Congregational (Yale), and Baptist (Louisville, Ky.). The sources of information concerning the historical development of Roanoke College are few and scattered. Probably the most authentic are the historical articles of the late President Bittle, the first president 263 264 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. and virtual founder of the college, contributed to the Eoanoke Col- legian, of which a bound set is preserved in the Eoanoke College li. brary. A memorial address delivered by S. C. Wells, Ph. D., at the opening of the Bittle Memorial Hall, Eoanoke College, Salem, Va., Oc. tober 17, 1879, and printed in the Lutheran Quarterly for October, 1880 (Gettysburg), contains an excellent sketch of Dr. BittleV life work as .the builder of a good institution of learning on an educational frontier. The following scattered notices of the college have been gathered from various sources, but all have the sanction of President Julius D. Dreher, the energetic head of a hopeful college. The first notice is taken from the Journal of Education, Boston, June 30, 1887, which appears to be one of the most recent authoritative statements : "In the Virginia mountains there is no spot more healthful than the Eoanoke Valley, which lies between the Blue Eidge and the AUegha- nies, at an average elevation of 1,100 feet above the sea-level. That it is a valley of wonderful beauty also may be seen from the accompany- ing cut, which was made for the Century Magazine when Edward King was writing ' The Great South ' papers for that popular monthly. It is a region much like the Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, the valley being small enough to be seen at one view from an elevation, together with the out- line of the mountains that completely encircle it. It bears a striking resemblance to the lovely valley in which Williams College is situated. When Eev. George Miiller, of Bristol, England, visited Eoanoke in 1878 to address the students, he remarked that the scenery around Salem strikingly reminded him of Switzerland. Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, Eev. Washington Gladden, D. D., LL. D., Dr. A. D. Mayo, and many others, have also written descriptions of the picturesque beauty of the valley of the Eoanoke. # ♦ * " The Virginia Collegiate Institute, which was established in Salem in 1847, was erected into Eoanoke College by act of the Legislature of Virginia in 1853, the charter vesting the government of the college in a self perpetuating board of trustees. There was little except the char, ter to entitle the institution to the new dignity assigned. A brief his- torical sketch of those early days of the college informs us that — " 'Croesus did not stand sponsor at its baptism, nor the Eoanoke, as another Pactolus, stand ready to convert its ventures into gold. * » » The library at this time consisted of 140 volumes ; the grounds and buildings were worth about $10,000, with liabilities of about $8,000 resting upon them ; and willing hands and hopeful hearts kept watch and ward over the financial and academic interests of the rising insti- tution in the prayerful hope that the blessing of Heaven would continue to attend the new enterprise.' 'Cf. "Doctor Bittle and Roanoke College," an address delivered in the English Lutheran Church, of Richmond, Octobers, 1876, by W. H.Ruffner, Superintendent of Public Instruction in Virginia, and printed in the Educational Journal of Virginia, November, 1876. ROANOKE COLLEGE. 265 KOANOKK COLLEGE AT SALEM, VA. 266 HIGHEK EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. "Earnest work, done at great personal sacrifice, by an overworked and underpaid faculty, has marked every step in the onward movement of Eoanoke College. Only fairly started when the Civil War was begun, its doors were nevertheless kept open throughout that dark period; and the college bell rang its daily call to peaceful tasks while the music of the bugle and the drum was heard on many a tented field. A true pict- ure of the shifts resorted to and the sacrifices made to carry on the college during that trying time. would reveal various lights and shad- ows — much that was amusing — to offset an otherwise too sombre back- ground. Scarcely had the War ended before an agent was in the field to collect money to erect an additional building ; the enlarged main edi- fice and the west hall proving altogether inadequate to meet pressing demands. "The small library was increased from year to year until a building for its accommodation became a necessity. Through the generous gifts of friends Iforth and South the trustees were enabled to erect such a building in 1879. It is substantially built of brick — as are all the college buildings — and is called the ' Bittle Memorial,' in honor of the first president of the college. The library now contains about 16,000 volumes, many of the books being rare and valuable, and a number of them from 200 to 400 years old. " Following the example of the University of Virginia, many colleges in the South have arranged their studies into schools instead of courses. Eoanoke College adheres to the historic classification of Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes, but allows a choice among sev- eral courses for degrees. " Eoanoke College has always manifested a warm interest in the ad- vancement of popular education and in preparing well-qualified teach- ers for various grades of schools. Up to tl^e year 1865 the college grad- uated only 41 men. The results the institution has achieved have been accomplished almost entirely within the brief period of a little more than two decades. The whole number of graduates now aggregates nearly 300, the majority of whom are engaged as professors, teachers, and clergymen. Graduates of the college may be found in almost every profession and in connection with leading business interests in twenty- seven States and Territories. " Owing to the want of means and to irregular preparatory training a great many students in the South pursue only a partial course at col- lege. Of this class Eoanoke has received fully one thousand. As many of these are pretty well educated, and as no inconsiderable num- ber of them occupy prominent positions in professional and business life, the college may justly claim large consideration for them in mak- ing up any estimate of its usefulness to the country. "The college draws its students from every Southern State and from some parts of the North and West. At different times young men have come from Mexico. For sixteen years Eoanoke has been educating In- ROANOKE COLLEGE. 267 jJIWiP'l 268 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. dians. The Choctaws support a small number of students at the col- lege at the expense of their government. Three Choctaw superintend- ents of schools have visited the college in the discharge of their official duties. In 1883 William H. McKinney graduated at Eoanokewith the degree of A. B., being the first Indian to take a diploma at a Virginia college, and also the first one to win that honor at Yale University, where he was made a bachelor of divinity in 1886. " The history of Eoanoke College corresponds in general to that of Yale up to the year 1831, when the first endowment fund of $l60,000 was raised for that University, but more nearly with the story of the earlier years Of Amherst, as told by Prof. W. S. Tyler in his history of that Institution. It must be borne in mind that Eoauoke College is only thirty-four years old, including the War period ; that the years since the War have not been favorable to the building up of a struggling institu- tion; that the college has never received even the. smallest appropria- tion from the State; and that, although five bequests have been made to it, the college has as yet very little endowment — four of these bequests, left by friends in Virginia, not being yet available.' It is surprising that the college has lived; it is still more surprising that it has made so good a record for sound scholarship and for wide usefulness. How this work has been accomplished need not be told here in detail. Any one at all familiar with the difficulties of establishing good colleges, even in wealthy communities and under favoring conditions and influ- ences, can fill up this outline with years of burdensome work on meagre salaries, with earnest devotion on the part of faculty, students, and friends, and, above all, with love to humanity and faith in God. "The college owes much to the unflagging energy and self sacrificing spirit of its first president, Dr. D. F. Bittle, who gave to it twenty three years of constant and laborious service [from 1853 to 1876]." Speaking of this man. Dr. A. D. Mayo, associate editor of the Jour- nal of Education, Boston, in an editorial on " Eoanoke College," says : " The true existence of the institution began with its first president, Dr. Bittle, who for more than twenty years toiled like a Hercules against every obstacle to establish a centre of good learning for the people of his religious connection. Around him grew up a corps of teachers worthy of such a leader, two of whom are still among the present fac- ulty. The school slowly grew, kept itself alive during the War, and now, at the end of its first generation, is able to make an honorable show of past service. In this time it has received more than 1,000 and gradu- ated nearly 300 students, the majority of young men of that substan- tial and vigorous sort on whom the future of every Southern State so largely depends. It has received students from some twenty States of the Union, and its name is cherished in every part of the South. ' Since this was written a bequest of real estate (valued at |10,000) has become available by the death (October 11, 1887) of the widow of the donor. Col. G. B. Board, president of the board of trustees, died recently, leaving the college $10,000 for en- dowment, already well invested. ROANOKE COLLEGE. 269 " Our four days' acquaintauce with these young men, their professors, and the large number of visitors from the adjacent country, convinced us that President Dreher has not overrated the importance of this fortress of the new education in new Virginia. With one exception Eoanoke College is the only institution of the sort in a region as large as the State of Maryland, which is rapidly coming into notice as the 'i mining, metallic, manufacturing, and cattle-grazing portion of the State. The new iron town of Eoanoke is only seven miles away, and the whole country is alive with the omens of bright promise for a near future. It will be a great advantage if this young institution can offer, at its pres- ent moderate rates, a thorough college education to large numbers of the .active young men of such a district." Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, in his editorial "Notes on Virginia," in the Hartford Courant, July, 1883, says : " Eoanoke College is animated by the modern spirit, has put the past behind it, and is keenly alive to the importance of the right sort of educational training for the new Virginia. There is nothing more important, just now, for the South, than the thor- ough educational training of the so-called middle class. Only by this means can it keep step with the great industrial movement of our time. In tone and standard the college is good, its students are there to learn, and the results, according to its means, are satisfactory. But it is an institution peculiarly happily situated to tell upon the new awakening life of the South, and no amount of money would be thrown away on it. I thought while we were there, in the midst of so much agricultural richness, with the mineral wealth opening up, and such signs near at hand of a vast industrial development, that here is just the place for a grand industrial scientific school, which would proba- bly tell more than any other one agency on the development of the resources of Virginia." Eev. Washington Gladden, D. D., LL. D., in a communication to the Springfield (Mass.) Eepublican, June 27, 1882, said: " A large share of the students are from the middle class, and the spirit of the work and of self-reliance manifested by them is truly in- spiring. In the baker's dozen of speeches by these young men in the contest for the prize medal in oratory, and on the commencement stage, there was a revelation of the temper of the new South that bodes noth- ing but good to that section and to the whole nation. Without excep- tion, the speeches were brave, manly, forward-looking. The fact that a new day had come to the South was the undertone of all this young thinking ; and it was evident enough that these hopeful fellows were ready to spring to the front of the new movement, and make the most of its opportunities. ISTational matters were referred to by most of them, and not one word of bitterness was spoken, nothing that could have given pain to the most stalwart Northerner. In a literary way, the speeches were much more rhetorical than would be heard at Yale or Amherst, and some of them needed not a little chastening ; but what 270 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. they lacked in finish they made up in manliness. On the whole, 1 was greatly pleased with the indications given by the young men of this college, representing several different States, of the public sentiment at the South." PROFESSIONS AND DISTRIBUTION OP ALUMNI. The triennial catalogue of the alumni of Eoanoke College gives the names, occupations, and residences of the graduates of Eoanoke Col- lege. It shows that at the close of its thirty-fourth year the college had graduated 278 men, of whom 261 are living. We give the distri- bution of the whole number (278) by professions and States. By professions: Presidents, principals, professors, and teachers, 67 (of these 20 are clergymen) ; clergymen, 61 ; attorneys-at-law, 48 ; mer- chants and in general business, 23; agriculturists, 22 ; physicians, 20; editors, 4 (six clergymen and teachers are also engaged in editorial work) ; bankers, 4 ; .civil offtcers, 3 (not counting lawyers who hold offices or graduates who are members of State Legislatures) ; United States Civil Service, 3 ; ofllcers in United States Army, 1 ; missionary in Mexico, 1 ; studying in Germany, 1 ; unclassified, 20 (including a num- ber of recent graduates). In this classification graduates preparing for a profession are counted as being already in it. By States : Virginia, 135 ; North Carolina, 19 ; Texas, 18 ; Pennsyl- vania, 13 ; Maryland, 12 ; West Virginia, 9 ; South Carolina, 9 ; Ten- nessee, 8; Kentucky, 7; Mississippi, 6 ; NewTorJi, 5; Louisiana, Cali- fornia, and District of Columbia, 4 each; Alabama and Indian Terri- tory, 3 each ; New Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, Colorado, and Nebraska, 2 each; Georgia, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Utah Ter- ritory, Mexico, and Germany, 1 each. This shows that the graduates of Eoanoke are laboring in twenty-eight States and Territories and two other countries. In so brief an analysis it is not possible to enumerate the prominent positions filled by Eoanoke graduates. In estimating the work done by the college, we must keep in mind the fact that, besides the grad- uates, nearly 1,500 students have taken a partial course at Eoanoke, and that many of these fill prominent positions in professional and busi- ness life. When it is borne in mind that Eoanoke College has done its work with almost no endowment and under many disadvantages, its faculty and friends certainly have good reason to be gratified at what has been accomplished. (Eoanoke Collegian, July, 1887.) An indication of professorial activity at Eoanoke College is a History of Education, by F. V. N. Painter, A. M., professor of modern languages and literature. (International Education Series. NewYork: D. Apple- ton & Co. 1888.) CHAPTER XX. RICHMOND COLLEGE, By Professor H. H. Harris, Chairman of the Faculty. Enduring institutions are commonly the result of slow growth, and that often from small beginnings. So it has been with Eichmond Col- lege. In common with nearly all other seats of Christian learning, it owes its foundation to the desire for a better educated ministry. ITS ORIGIN. On the 8th of June, 1830, a few devoted men, who had gathered in Eichmond for their General Association, met in the Second Baptist Church at 5 o'clock, A. M., "to devise and propose some plan for the improvement of young men who, in the judgment of the churches, are called to the work of the ministry." The slender means at their com- mand were but as the faint light of the sun just rising upon them in comparison with the strength and beauty that were to follow. They organized the "Virginia Baptist Education Society," and for two years aided approved young men by placing them in private schools, nine with Elder Edward Baptist in Powhatan County, four with Elder Eli Ball in Henrico. In 1832 the society bought Spring Farm, a small tract some four miles northwest of the city, and there, on the 4th of July, opened a manual- labor school called the "Virginia Baptist Seminary," with Eev. Eobert Eyland teacher, and 14 students. Daring the second session, which be- gan in February, 1833, the number of studen|:s ran up to 26, about two- thirds of them preparing for the ministry, the rest for other vocations. The course began with arithmetic, geography, and grammar, and, run- ning through four years, embraced algebra and geometry, Latin and Greek, natural and moral science, with theology as an optional study. All the classes yet formed were taught by Dr. Eyland and Eev. Eli Ball. In December, 1833, the seminary was removed to the site now held by the college, just within the present limits of the city, though then in the western suburbs, half a mile beyond the corporation lines. To this purchase of nine acres six more were added in 1836, making a location which was well described as "combining healthfulness, beauty, and con- venience." The design in adding more land was to give larger scope 271 272 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. to the mauual-labor feature of the school. This was strenuously Insisted on by the authorities, as giving to the needy opportunities for self-help and to all healthful exercise, but it proved unpopular with the students. The hours of daily labor were reduced from threfi to two, and finally, as we read in the report for 1841, " this feature of the seminary has been gradually fading from view, until (like all similar institutions in our own and other countries) it has been virtually abandoned." The records of the seminary during the ten years of its existence under this name are unfortunately incomplete. The attendance grad- ually increased to more than seventy pupils. The corps of instructors consisted of Dr. Eyland and two tutors. Dr. Eyland had leave of absence for one year to accept the chaplaincy of the University of Virginia, Among the assistants were William F. Nelson, F. W. Berryman, Caleb Burnley, R. A. Olaybrook, Elias Dodson, I. G. Barker, J. C. Clopton, S. 0. Clopton, G-eorge Struve, and Charles L. Cocke — the first and last named served a num ber of years, the others for shorter periods. The first class to finish the course went out in 1836, four in number — William I. Chiles, Blias Dodson, A. P. Repiton, and John O. Turpin — three of whom have recently died, after eminent and useful lives as ministers of the gos- pel. Three others, who should have been with them, had left school togo as foreign missionaries — William Mylne to Africa, B. D. Davenport to Siam, J. L. Shuck to China. The classes which followed year after year were not unworthy of this first one, though they were constantly thinned by the withdrawal of young men eager to enter active life or to secure elsewhere the advantages of a fully-equipped college. CHANGE OP NAME. By Act of Assembly, passed March 4, 1840, thirty- seven gentlemen, therein named, were incorporated as trustees, to establish, " at or near the city of Richmond, a seminary of learning for the instruction of youth in the various branches of science and literature, the useful arts, and the learned and foreign languages, which shall be called and known by the name of Kichmond College." The charter conferred ample powers, and allowed the purchase of the property of the Education Society, but provided "that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize the establishment of a theological professorship in the said college." This proviso, according to authentic tradition, was inserted at the request of an eminent brother and influential member of the Leg- islature who was selected to offer the bill— Col. Edmund Broadus, of Culpeper ; without it there would have been difficulty in getting a charter at that time. It was omitted from the amended charter of 1858, under which the college is now working. The trustees spent two years in perfecting their plans and trying to raise means to carry them into effect. The work fell mainly to the lot of their president, Dr. Eyland, and his rare candor and supreme scorn for all shams made him unwilling to call the school a college until it RICHMOND COLLEGE. 273 could do real collegiate work. The terms of transfer agreed upon in 184X were, (1) that the college should admit free of charge, except for board, all ministers and candidates for the ministry who may be recom- mended by the Education Society or its board of managers [by common consent this has been extended to all such persons whether recom- mended by the society or not] ; (2) that in case of failure to continue the institution, or to comply with the foregoing stipulation, the property, or its estimated value, $20,000, should revert to the Education Society ; (3) that any vacancy in the trustees shall be filled from a list of not less than ten persons, named by the society, if it shall in due time furnish such list; and (4) that the transfer be made only after a permanent en- dowment of $50,000 had been secured. This last condition was with- drawn the next year, because, said the society, " we think that it will facilitate the collection of funds to change the institution at once intoa college, and to conduct its operations in strict accordance with its re- sources." And so, on the 1st of January, 1843, grounds and buildings worth $20,000, a library of 700 volumes, 3 teachers, at salaries of $900, $600, and $500, and 68 students, 21 of them beneficiaries, were turned over from the care of a voluntary denominational society to the control ' of the legally incorporated trustees of Eichmond College. The Educa- tion Society l^as continued its work of aiding young men recommended by the churches, in co-operation with it, in preparing for the ministry, by making arrangements for their board, leaving the care and the cost of their tuition to the college. SECOND DECADE. In 1842 we had a principal and two tutors, working ten months, at fixed salaries, with 68 pupils, divided into four classes, two-thirds of them engaged in preparatory stuiiies ; in 1851 we had a president and three full professors, paid partly from endowment, partly by tuition fees, a nine months' session, and 76 students, no longer classified as Fresh- men, Sophomores, etc., but "admitted to any classes they are pre- pared to enter, and allowed to pursue the studies they may desire to prosecute." The steps by which these changes were introduced are too full of interest to be entirely omitted even in a brief sketch. The principles which the youthful institution adopted for its guid- ance are shown in these memorable words, printed in the catalogue of 1842-43, and republished for several successive years : " As the trustees are determined to avoid pecuniary embarrassment, they propose to conduct the college classes only so far as their resources may justify, taking care to have the students thoroughly taught as far as they shall go. It is not their purpose to confer degrees till they shall have afforded facilities for education equal to those of other chartered institutions. As the patronage of the community, and the proceeds of an endowment now being raised, shall increase their means, they will 17036— No. 2 18 274 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. continue to add to their corps of instructors, until they shall have pro- cured a faculty sufftcient to conduct the classes through the ordinary collegiate course. * * * It is far better to proceed cautiously— to live within our means— and to rise gradually, but surely, than by affect- ing a premature prosperity, to plunge the enterprise into the vortex of ruin." In accordance with these principles additional professors were chosen only as the progress of the endowment would allow. Dr. Eyland, who had been professor of ancient languages, took, in 1845, the chair of moral science, which he continued to fill till 1861. George Frederick Holmes, now of the University of Virginia, filled the chair of ancient languages, 1845-47, and was succeeded by Heath Jones Christian. Charles L. Cocke, now of HoUius Institute, appears first as tutor, then as instructor in mathematics, and upon his resignation, in 1846, he was succeeded for three years by Thomas Boiling Robertson, then by John Lawson, and in 1850 by Lewis Turner, as professor of mathematics. S. C. Olopton, second tutor, went out as a missionary to China, and his duties as teacher in the academic department were devolved on John M. Murray for two years, S. E. Brownell one year, N. H. Massie two years, T. L. ISnead one year, and B. Puryear one year. The academic department ceased for a time at least to have any sepai;ate existence upon the election of Mr. Puryear, in 1850, to the professorship of natural sciences. This chair had its beginning three years before in the ap- pointment of 'N. B. Webster as lecturer on natural science. Mr. Turner was elected to the chair in 1849, but soon fotirid that an exchange with Mr. Puryear would be better for all parties. For instruction in French provision had been made year by year with Messieurs Ansman, Guillet, Odenhall, and Michard, and in 1849 by the election of Prof. Arthur Frise, who, however, held the chair only one session. The division of tuition fees among the faculty was first made in 1849 " in proportion to the relative salaries they at present receive." Up to 1842 the students were divided into four classes, as in the be- ginning of the seminary. From that time the third and fourth were designated as Freshman and Sophomore. In 1845 a Junior class was added, and in 1848 a Senior. During all these years, however, the proportion of irregulars, or students pursuing a select course, was con- stantly increasing, and every facility for such selection was provided. So that the year 1849, which witnessed the first award of the degree of bachelor of arts, saw also the abolition of the curriculum, and the sub- stitution of a system of classification and advancement in each study a'ccording to the students' abilities and attainments. The attendance increased very little, because of the constant cutting off of the lower or subcoUegiate classes, which had been fullest, and the substitution of higher, and therefore smaller classes. Of the 68 catalogued in 1843, only 25 were in collegiate classes; the number, therefore, had really trebled by 1851. EICHMOND COLLEGE. 275 Another notable change in the period under review was the discon- binuance of theological instruction as a part of the course. This did DOt in any wise impair, it rather increased, the religious influence of the college, but it changed the main design, or as one might say, it shifted the centre of gravity. The seminary was designed especially for minis- - terial students and admitted others on payment of fees ; the college aimed at a liberal education for any and all vocations, and granted cer- tain privileges and exemptions to students preparing for the ministry. The seminary, moreover, was distinctively, in fact as in name. Baptist ; the college, though unquestionably denominational, had from the first other denominations represented in its trustees and faculty, as well as in its students. THIRD DECADE. From 1851 to 1861 the college made large strides on the road to pros- perity. By the agencies hitherto employed— among which the work of Eev. L. W. Allen in 1847-49 deserves particular mention — means had been gathered for current expenses, alterations and repairs of buildings, and an interest-bearing fund of $16,680. At the annual meeting in 1851 it was decided to raise $85,000 in bonds of $100 or over, payable in three annual instalments, the first to become due as soon as $60,000 had been secured. Eev. A. M. Poindexter was appointed agent, and all un- paid bonds and pledges hitherto given were turned over to him for ad- justment. His success was so complete that on the 10th of June following he reported in bonds and cash $60,732.40 ; in unbonded subscriptions and pledges of less amount than $100, $3,696. This was counted as making the endowment $75,000, and the agent was requested to con- tinue his labors and raise $25,000 more for endowment and $50,000 for buildings. At this he worked two years longer, and secured means to erect, in 1854, according to plans drawn by Thomas A. Tefft, architect, and at a cost of $25,500, the north wing of the present college building, devoted mainly to dormitories. The collection of bonds for endow- ment progressed fairly ; the funds invested in public securities was, in 1854, $72,642 ; in 1859, $77,042. Increase of funds enabled the college to give its professors better salaries and to increase their number. In 1851 the chair of ancient languages was divided, Mr. Christian retaining the Greek, and George E. Dabney being chosen professor of Latin and French. This faculty — Messrs. Ryland, Christian, Dabney, Turner, and Puryear— remained without alteration for six years. The chair of Greek was filled 1857-59 by Sidney H. Owens, then for one year by E. Adkins, and then by Will- iam P. Louthan and C. H. Toy. In place of Mr. Puryear, who resigned . in 1858, William G. Strange was made professor of natural science ; and in 1859 William S. Chase was made professor of modern languages. The academic department, revived in 1855, was conducted by Robert Hall, John C. Long, H. W. Eeinhart, and A. B. Slocomb. 276 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. The number of students fluctuated considerably. The fervid elo- quence of Poindexter stirred the people all over the State and the at- tendance increased rapidly, reaching its highest point (161) in 1855-56, coincident with the occupation of the new building and the re-opening ' of an academic department. From this it declined again till 1859-60 and 1860-61, in both of which sessions the number was 114. Upon the establishment of a chair of modern languages, in 1859, the whole subject of degrees and awards was reconsidered, and it was de- cided that a " certificate of proficiency be given to a student who has satisfactorily completed the studies of any department;" the degree of A. B, for '' proficiency in the departments of Latin, Greek, mathemat- ics, natural science, and moral science," with the privilege of substi- tuting one modern language or Hebrew for the calculus ; and the de- gree of A. M. for proficiency in the whole course except Hebrew. SUSPENSION AND LOSSES. Inter arma silent leges. Silent also were the voices of art and litera- ture. With the outbreak of war in 1861 the youth of the land flocked to the front, and the college record began to receive opposite many a promising name the sad entry " Died in Confederate service," or "Killed in battle." The buildings were occupied as barracks and as a hospital by the Confederates, and again as barracks by the Federal troops in 1865 ; the apparatus was broken up and the library was carted away by a United States surgeon " to save it from destruction" (he after- wards kindly returned the Patent OfiSce Eeports and such like vol- umes) ; the endowment, or rather so much of it as had been invested in bank stocks and city and railroad bonds, was sold in 1862 and con- verted into Confederate 8's. Thus the trustees found themselves in 1865 with desolated grounds, defaced buildings, $20,500 of State stock, and seven town lots in the suburbs of Chicago. Everything else had been swept away. They authorized Professors Eyland and Dabney to take charge of the premises for one year and open a private school. I BEOEGANIZATION IN 1866. Antaeus renewed his strength by falling back upon the bosom of his mother. The college was more fortunate in having both mother and sons to support and revive it in its time of prostration. The General Association, into which the Education Society had now been merged, met in Eichmond June 7-11, 1866. In the body were fourteen grad- uates and about twenty-five other sons of the college. A few of these, with also two or three alumni resident in the city, held a consul- tation as to what could be done for alma mater, and appointed Messrs. John C. Long, George B. Taylor, and H. H. Harris to lay their views before the association. Mr. Long had already secured the appoint- ment of a committee (T. G. Jones, A. Broadas, W. E. Hatcher, J. 0. EICHMOND COLLEGE. 277 Turpin, and W. E. McDonald, all former students) to consider and re- port on the interests of the college. The general feeling, however, was despondent, almost despairing. On Monday morning, J une 11, the education board presented a re- port, showing that they had during the year "collected no funds, as- sisted no young men, transacted no business," because of the suspen- sion of the college and the depressed condition of the country. On this Drs. Burrows and Poindexter made burning appeals for the imme- diate resumption of ministerial education. Then Mr. McDonald pre- sented the report of his committee, in two resolutions, recommending the immediate opening of the college, and on a scale worthy of its sup- porters. "The report was advocated by G. W. Samson, J.O.Long, G. B. Taylor, W. S. Penick, J. Thomas, Jr., A. M. P6indexter, H. H. Harris, T. W. Sy'duor, J. E. Massey, M. L. James, 0. C. Bitting, and J. B. Watkins." It will not be invidious discrimination to refer more par- ticularly to three of the speakers. Mr. Long, in behalf of the alumni, with true filial devotion, made a pathetic plea for their dismantled college, pointed proudly to her past, and pictured with prophetic power a yet brighter future. He urged the propriety of using the remnant ot endowment, if necessary, to re-open the college with full equipment. Mr. Taylor began more cautiously, advocating careful preservation of the existing fund as the nucleus of another endowment, but, warming up as he spoke, nobly seconded the appeal for early and complete re- sumption. The climax was reached when James Thomas, Jr., from his place near the centre of the church, briefly told how, as one of the trustees, he had protested against the change of investment, and when it was made in spite of all protest, had given up in despair, but added that " the enthusiasm of those young men" had touched him, and that he was ready to subscribe $5,000 for another endowment, and pending its collection to pay the salary of one professor. This thrilled the au- dience with hope and settled the question. Dr. Poindexter at once got permission to take other subscriptions, amounting in all to some $8,000. The association thereupon added a third resolution, tendering to the trustees the subscription just made, and requesting them to take steps to increase it to not less than $100,000. The trustees held a meeting the very next day, appointed J. L. Burrows, James Thomas, Jr., and J. B. Jeter a committee on new organization, and elected A. M. Poindexter agent to raise the proposed endowment. In a subsequent meeting the trustees adopted a plan of organization, which provided for a president and four professors. Of those first chosen, July 5, 1866, two only accepted — H. H. Harris and B. Puryear. E. B. Smith and Edmund Harrison were elected August 4, and Dr. T. G. Jones was chosen president August 24. To meet the expenses of refitting the buildings and providing apparatus they authorized the sale of the Chicago lots, and so, on the 1st of October, the college was 278 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIEGINIA. reopened with an attendance, which, during the session, ran up to ninety — sixty-flve non-resident and twenty -five resident students. NE'W FEATUEES. The committee on organization sought the aid of Drs. John A. Broadus, William D. Thomas, and O. G. Bitting, all of whom then re- sided in Greenville, S. C, and the plan drawn up by those gentlemen, with some modifications of detail, was approved by the trustees and by the faculty when elected. Some of its improvements on the former policy are worthy of special attention : 1. It proposed a system of independent schools. This increases the responsibility, and therefore the efflcieucy, of the professor, and enables the student, under proper advice, to select the course of study best suited to his wants, his ability, and his previous progress. The certificate, under the seal of the college, formerly awarded for "proficiency in any department" is now given for certain subsidiary subjects, and a mas- tery of the leading subjects taught in a school secures a diploma of graduation iij that school. This feature had been long in operation in the University of Virginia, and the college, as we have seen, had here- tofore approached it, but now, ifor the first time, adopted it fully. 2. The English language was put on its proper plane as of equal dig- nity with Latin or Greek, French or German. As early as 1856 the Albemarle Female Institute had established a school of English, and a year later the State University inaugurated its school of history and literature, but Eichmond College claims tb have led all the colleges of the land (except possibly one, of which we are in doubt) in doing appropriate honor to our peerless mother tongue. Many others have already followed the example. 3. In reference to diseipMme, the plan provided that itshould be main- tained, "not so much by minute regulations, as by cultivating among the students the sentiment of personal honor and responsibility." This allows the utmost freedom of social intercourse between pupils and teachers. It works more or less satisfactorily according to the age and character of the students, but, on the whole, yields far better results than any other system of college government. 4. Attendance upon religious exercises was made purely voluntary. This may diminish somewhat the apparent amount of external, formal religion, but greatly to the advantage of real vital piety. 5. Circumstances, rather than any deliberate purpose, introduced the messing system, which has since become popular, and has been taken up by other institutions. Among the resident students who came in 1866 were some inured to camp life, while through the country pro- visions were abundant and money scarce. Thus clubs were formed, to live mainly on supplies sent them from home, with small contributions for necessary purchases and for the cost ot serving meals. Out of this the present system has been developed through successive changes dic- tated by experience. RICHMOND COLLEGE. 279 ENDOWMENTS AND BUILDINGS. The agency of Dr. Poindexter secured in two years bonds and subscriptioiis to the amoant of $75,000, But to suit the condition of the country, just recovering from four years of war and still under mil- itary rule, the bonds were made payable in five annual instalments, and the donors were allowed to retain the principal so long as they paid the interest. A little more than one-third of the amount was paid in and added to the interest-bearing fund. The rest was swallowed in the whirlpool of general bankruptcy which soon followed, or merged into the memorial endowment mentioned below. To accommodate the in- creasing number of resident students, cottage A, with eight dormito- ries, was built in 1869, at a cost of $2,500, and the year following cottage B was erected by the liberality of Judge D. B. De Land, of Pairport, N. Y., who had already contributed handsomely to the endowment fund. His beneficence was the beginning of a rich stream of Northern gifts. In 1872 the General Association of Virginia Baptists, on motion of 0, H. Eyland, resolved to celebrate next year its semi-centennial, and, among other things, to raise " a fund towards the permanent endowment and buildings of Richmond College." The sum first proposed was $100,000, which, in the enthusiasm of the moment, was increased to $300,000. Dr. J. L. Burrows, who was selected to take charge of this "memorial movement," employed scores of volunteer agents, who traversed the State, and collected very nearly the amount named in cash, bonds, promises,, and promiscuous donations of nominal value. •Sevferal thousands were collected in Northern cities, chiefly through Eev. Dr. George B. Taylor, Of the "memorial fund" about one-half has been paid in ; its collection was cut short by the panic of 1873 ; the rest is of doubtful value. In 1873 the central portion of the present main building, containing chapel, lecture-rooms, and society halls, was erected according to plans drawn by A, Y,' Lee, architect. This, with the alterations of the north wing to conform to the new style of archi- tecture, cost about $50,000, In 1877 the trustees expended $24,000 for an addition to the grounds, giving a good front eastward. This makes the campus a rectangle, 686 feet from Broad to Prianklin, and 800 feet from Eyland to Lombardy Streets. Upon the death of Dr. J. B. Jeter (February 18, 1880), a life-long friend of the college and the president of its trustees, a self-constituted committee undertook to erect to his memory a library hall. When the scheme seemed likely to fail James Thomas, Jr., again came to the rescue with a subscription of $5,000, on condition that the hall be so planned as to complete the unfinished college building. By the agency of Dr. A. B. Dickinson some $35,000 more was raised, mostly in the Norths and the committee, in June, 1884, handed the trustees the keys of a nearly completed building. The erection of this, according to the plans of Oapt. A. Lybrock, architect, and some further modifications of previous 280 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIEGINIA. Structures, have produced an edifice second in size and beauty to none in Virginia. The improvements to the old buildings, the introduc- tion of water and of a complete system of drainage, and the grading of the grounds entailed an expenditure of $15,000, to which nearly as much more must be added before all will be complete. The main floor of the new wing— a splendid room 103 by 43 feet clear and 22 feet pitch- is fitted up with tasteful walnut cases for the Jeter Library-Hall. The upper floor of the same size and pitch will be similarly fitted up as the Thomas Museum, in memory of our most liberal benefactor, who died October 8, 1882. Besides the two instances already mentioned, when he came to the rescue in times of crisis, he was constantly giving to the college. His last gift, made in 1881, was an endowment of $25,000 for one of the chairs; the school of philosophy was subsequently designated. BEQUESTS. The college in its earlier years received some small legacies, but they were not kept separate from other funds, and can not now be satisfac- torily traced. Samuel Tunstall, a merchant of King and Queen County, Va., who died in 1876, devised property amoijnting to $8,200, now invested and held as the " Tunstall foundation." James Phillips, of Eichmond City, died in 1878, leaving to the college $5,000, which has been invested, and a residuary legacy, which is expected to yield several thousand more on the final settlement of his estate. Several other bequests of considerable value are known to have been made and will in due time be realized. The trustees look to this as one important source of supply for the ever-increasing needs of a growing institution. THE TETTSTBES. Want of space prevents us from giving a full list of all who have been trustees with the dates of their appointment, and death or resigna- tion. They meet twice a year, in December and in June, and frequently at other times. The committees on finance, on grounds and buildings, and on library and museum, as well as not a few others of the body, give to the affairs of the college much valuable time and earnest thought. All act without fee or reward, even paying their own expenses in attend- ing meetings of the board. Their secretary and treasurer, Eev. C. H. Eyland, D. D., was elected in December, 1873, to attend to the " collection, preservation, and in- crease of the funds of the college." He is also librarian and superin- tendent of grounds and buildings. CHANGES IN THE FACULTY. In 1869 the trustees abolished the office of president, and devolved its executive duties upon a chairman, to be~nominatcd annually by the faculty. At the same time Dr. Jones resigned his connection with the college, since which Professor Puryear has been annually elected chair- EICHMOND COLLEGE. 281 man of the faculty. J. L. M. Carry, LL.D., was elected in 1868 pro- fessor of English, and filled the chair till 1881, when he became general agent of the Peabody Fund. During most of the time he taught also the school of philosophy. Eodes Massie, now of the University of Ten- nessee, was elected professor of modern languages in 1873, and resigned in 1882. Prof. W. W. Valentine, in Mr. Massie's absence, had filled the chair for the session of 1880-81. Since 1882 its duties have been di- vided between Professors Smith and Harris. In 1873 the school of natural science was divided. Professor Puryear retaining chemistry and geology, and Charles H. Winston being chosen professor of phys- ics. In 1877-78 George S. Thomas filled the chair of Greek during the absence of the professor. Drs. William D. Thomas and A. B. Brown were elected to the chairs of philosophy and of English in 1881. A i»reparatory department was established in 1867, and was taught for one year by Messrs. L. T. Gwathmey and E. C. Cabell, undergradu- ates, then by H. A. Strode, E. K. Murray, William T. Thom, and L. T. Gwathmey, ranking as assistant professors. It was discontinued upon the increase of the faculty in 1873, and the work of some preparatory classes was assumed by the several professors. A commercial department was begun in 1867, under the charge of the professor of mathematics, and from 1868 was conducted for five years by Prof. G. Morris I^icol. A class in physiology and hygiene was formed in 1871 by Dr. Z, B. Hfirndon, and was continued for four years. A law school was established in 1870, and was conducted for two years by Profs. J. D. Halyburton and William Greene ; for two years more by Profs. William A. Maury and James Neeson; and from 1877-82 by Prof. Samuel D. Davies. ATTENDANCE OP STUDENTS. The total number enrolled in 1866-67, as we have seen, was ninety. Comparatively few of them were really prepared to enter college, be- cause the high schools and academies which once dotted the State, had been nearly all closed for five years. A preparatory department was for a while absolutely necessary. The situation of the college marked it also as a suitable place for a commercial course and for a law school. The addition of these adjuncts to the regular course and the revival of agricultural prosperity brought a rapid increase in numbers, followed by subsequent reductions in consequence of circumstances which af- fected all similar institutions. Latterly there has been a steady ad- vance to the present number, 164, which is the largest attendance of collegiate students in our whole history. For years the college has had a larger Virginia patronage than any other institution could boast, if we exclude professional schools. In the catalogue of this year are found students from New York, Penn- sylvania, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Florida (1 each), 2 each from 282 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. Maryland, West Virginia, and Mississippi, 3 from Georgia, 4 from Tennessee, 4 from North Carolina, 7 from South Carolina, and 135 from Virginia, 43 of these being from Eichmond City. In age the students range from fifteen to thirty-five, the average be- ing about twenty. Those who will take a degree must attend from two to six sessions, according to preparation and ability ; seldom less than three, rarely over five. LIBEAEY. The library, which had been gradually accumulating up to 1860, was robbed, as we have seen, in 1865 of all its valuable volumes. The ac- cumulation of another, while the college was struggling for existence, has been slow. Every year, however, has seen some additions by pur- chase or by gift. Edwkrd Jorworth Owen, LL.D., a native of Wales, resident in Saint Louis, in 1867 (two or three years before his death), presented his very valuable library of 2,597 volumes. Charles K. Fran- cis, of New York, gave, in 1874^75, 162 "rare and valuable books." Mrs. L. H. L. Herndon, of Washington, D. C, gave in 1875-76 " nearly 200 volumes." A. P. Eepiton, D. D. (one of the first graduates of the semi- nary) bequeathed in 1876 " over 100 volumes." Dr. J, B. Jeter, in 1881, left to the college over 500 volumes and his manuscripts. During the same year Mrs. Frazer, of Orange County, Va., sent about 100 volumes from the library of her late husband, Eev. Herndon Frazer. Hon. Isaac Davis, LL.D., of Worcester, Mass., gave, in 1882, $1,000, to be used in the purchase of historical works. The names of Drs. O. C. Bitting, of Philadelphia, and Edward Bright, of New York, appear in several suc- cessive years as donors of valuable books. Many others, too numerous to mention in detail, have lent their assistance. Upon the completion of the new hall, in 1884, the two literary societies turned over to the college their libraries, amounting to nearly 2,000 volumes. Among the books thus gotten together, there were, of course, many duplicates, and some of little value. The librarian, with the assistance of Messrs. E. B. Pollard, W. A. Harris, and A. Bagby, spent a vaca- tion in arranging and cataloguing them. There appeared as worthy of a place in the list over 9,000 volumes. The system of library manage- ment, adopted after consultation with many experts, is believed to be the simplest and best. In prosecuting his agency for the Jeter memorial, Dr. A. E. Dickinson undertook to raise also a library fund of $50,000 — one-half to be ex- pended at once, the other to be invested, and the interest used from year to year. He has not yet collected the full amount, but has enough secured to warrant the committee in making large purchases, and to insure valuable additions every year. In connection with the library, two reading-rooms have been opened — one in a public hallway, supplied with daily newspapers; another, more quiet, for the monthlies and quarterlies, as well as for examining books of reference. RICHMOND COLLEGE. 283 MUSEUM. In 1874 the two literary societies, working independently, began the collection of mnseums. Within a year they had the nucleus of a good collection, and while continuing to work for its increase, handed it over to the care of the faculty. No satisfactory catalogue has yet been com- pleted, and until it is made, proper credit to donors can not be given. The number of contributors up to 1877 was about seventy-five, among them Eev, Dr. Bitting, Hon. B. O. DunCan, United States consul at Naples; Rev. Dr. Taylor, of Eome, and Dr. J. L. M. Curry, are mentioned. The last named has been unremitting in his interest, and has added much more than any other one person to the value of the collection. Among many contributors, since 1877, may be mentioned Lieut. J. 0. Gresham, United States Army (Indian curiosities), Mrs. T. P. Crawford, and Mrs. S. J. Holmes, of Tung Chow, China ; Eev. W. J. David, of Lagos, Africa; Eev. E. H. Graves, D. D., of Canton (a large historical collection of Chinese coins and other articles) ; Col. William Townes, of Mecklenburg, Virginia (valuable collection of coins), and Eev. W. C. Bitting (numerous specimens from the Luray Cavern). In the fall of 1876 the trustees made a small appropriation, and sent Prof. C.H. Win- ston to f*hiladelphia, where he obtained, partly by gift and partly by purchase, many articles which had been exhibited in the Centennial Exposition. As soon as everything is mounted in the new hall, a com- plete catalogue, with full acknowledgments, will be prepared. LITERARY SOOIBTIES, Very important adjuncts of the college are thtf two societies which meet weekly tor debate and other literary exercises. The Mu Sigma Eho dates from 1846, its name and motto having been suggested by Dr. G. F. Holmes, then professor of ancient languages. The Philologian was organized in 1855. Each stimulates the other by a generous rivalry,, andboth work together, as in starting the museum, for the common gopd MEDALS. The Woods m'edal for excellence in declamation, awarded by a select committee after public contest, was founded in 1868 by a gift of $100,. yielding $6 a year, from Hiram Woods, Esq., of Baltimore, Md. It i? made in the shape, of a crescent inscribed with the names of Chatham and Henry. The Frances Gwin medal, awarded by the professor of philosophy to his best graduate, was established in 1872 by Eev. D. W. Gwin, D. D., then of Atlanta, Ga., in honor of his mother. On it is engraved the figure of a student kneeling, with ^he motto, credo ut intelligam. The Steel medal, for excellence in reading, awarded by the faculty after competitive trial, was founded in 1875 by Dr. George B. Steel, of Richmond, who gave $200 so invested as to yield $10 a year. 284 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. The Tanner medal, awarded by the professor of Greek to his best graduate, was established in 1883 by the gift of $250, so invested as to yield $15 a year, from Col. William E. Tanner, of Eichmond, in memory of his parents, John F. and Harriet L. Tanner. It is in the shape of a Grecian helmet inscribed with the figure of Athena present- ing a crown and the legend, ouSh aveu nSvou. SCHOLARSHIPS. The First Baptist Church, of Eichmond, Va., gave in-1876, $1,055 to found a scholarship. It pays the tuition of one student nominated by the church. About the same time other sums amounting to $1,645 were contributed to found scholarships for the benefit of sons of Vir- ginia Baptist ministers. Still another, to be named in memory of Dr. A. M. Poindexter, has been undertaken by the Dan Eiver Association, in which he long lived and labored. On it $300 have been paid. In 1883 Hon. George A. Woolverton, of Albany, lif. Y., proposed the raising of a scholarship fund of $10,000. He has paid $1,000 for his part and the rest has been subscribed and partly paid. As soon as it is completed due publication will be made of the names of other donors and of the conditions on which the benefits may be obtained. Hon. J. B. Hoyt, of Stamford, Conn.i has recently paid over for a kindred pur- pose the sum of $5,000. ALUMNI. The plan of the college in requiring thorough mastery and rigid ex- aminations in every school, and in allowing selection of studies with reference to the stuflent's needs rather than to his graduation, limits the honor of its degrees to comparatively few persons. Many others are qui^e as much benefited by the instruction received and refiect quite as much honor on the institution. The list of over 2,000 students who have not taken a degree includes three college presidents, half a dozen professors, as many judges, six or eight editors, and scores of lawyers, doctors, teachers, preachers, and other influential men. SOME GENERAL REMARKS. The foregoing sketch shows that Eichmond College is emphatically a growing institution. Its plan allows indefinite expansion and admits contraction without jar whenever required by stress of circumstances. It is therefore able, while holding firmly to whatever is good in the ideas and systems of the past, to adapt itself readily to the demands of the future. Firmly rooted in the affections of a great Christian denomi- nation, and commanding the respect, the confidence, and, to no incon- siderable extent, the patronage of all denominations, including Israelites, it has grown by the combined labors and liberality of many. Its eight schools, equipped with all needful maps, charts, and appa- ratus and manned by seven professors, its buildings sufficient for the RICHMOND COLLEGE. 285 accommodation of two hundred and fifty students, its library and museum, its aids and incentives, its general and special endowments, and its alumni, scattered from New York to California, and from the lakes to Texas, are no mean result from these years of toil. But it has not attained its goal, has not reached its purposed stature, it is but en- tering as if upon young manhood with bright visions of many victories yet to be won, great advances still to be made. All its traditions and all its hopes require that it shall offer the best facilities for getting a sound, liberal education at the lowest possible cost. The trustees have always carefully avoided debt, and cared more for solid worth than for mere show ; the faculty have constantly insisted on honest industry, rigid examinations, and a high standard of graduation; the students have generously responded to the genius of the place, have aimed at real learning, and worked faithfully for its attainment ; most of all, and best of all, the blessings of God have rested richly upon this outgrowth of the prayers and the self-sacrifices of His faithful servants. The fbllowing additional information has been received £rom the chair- man of the faculty of Eichmond College : " Of the present faculty, Professors Thomas and Harris were students at Eichmond College, ob- taining their B. A. in 1851 and 1856, respectively. Professors Thomas, Smith, Winston, and Harris (in the order named), obtained the master's degree at the University of Virginia. Puryear and Harrison were stu- dents there but did not complete a degree-course. Pollard was edu- cated at Columbian College, District of Columbia, and Hasseleft" in Eu- rope. Since the sketch was written we have considerably increased our endowment. It is about as follows : Grounds, buildings, apparatus, etc $350,000 Invested funds 250,000 Valued below market rates 600,000 " The increase of invested funds within the past twelve months has been $85,000." 286 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. in o % ■< as 14 CHAPTER XXI. VlEaiNIA MILITAliT INSTITUTE.i The Virginia Military Institute was (established and is supported by the State of Virginia. It was organized in 1839 as a State military and scientific school, upon the basis of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and has been in successful operation for forty- seven years. The cadets admitted consist of two classes, State and pay cadets. The Institute supplies to the State cadet his board and tuition ; and, in consideration thereof, he is required to teach two years after graduation. The pay cadet is at his own expense, which averages $360 per academic year, for every charge, including clothing. The State cadets are selected from those who are unable to pay their own expenses. The State makes an annual appropriation for the support of the Vir- ginia Military Institute of $30,000. This sum supplies tuition and board to the State cadets without charge, and supports — by the aid of the ' Reprinted from " The South " June, 1887. A brief bat excellent sketch of the Vir'r ginia Military Institute may be found in the report of the superintendent of public ' instruction (Dr. W. H. Euffner) of Virgiiiia for 1872. A good sketch may also be found in the official register of the institute for 1886-87. The reyi'sed regulations for the Virginia Military Institute describe in minute detail its martial discipline and interior administration. The introductory address to the corps of cadets on the re- sumption of the academic exercises September 10, 1866, on "The Inner Life of the Virginia Military Institute Cadet," by General Francis H. Smith, LL. D., superintend- ent of the institute, gives a striking picture of cadet life in ante-iellum days. The following interesting letter is printed in the official register for 1886-87 : "Hdqks. Fiest Brigade, Sbcond ,Cokps, Aemy of the Potomtac, " Cmtreville, OcMer 22, 1861. " Gbntlembk : Tour circular of the 9th instant has been received, and I beg leave to say, in reply, that I only took the field from a sense of duty ; and that the obliga- tion that brought me into service still retains me in it, and jyill probably continue to do so as long as the War shall last. At the close of hostilities I desire to assume the duties of my chair, and accordingly respectfully request that, if consistent with the interest of the Institute, the action of the board of visitors may be such as to admit of my return upon the restoration of peace. " Eespeetfully, your obedient servant, "T. J. Jackson, "Prof. Nat. and Ex. PMloaophij, V. M. I. "To I " General Wm. H. Richardson, "General T. H. Haymond, "Committee." 287 288 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. tuition fees, aud the income from vested funds — the faculty. In 1860 a donation of $20,000 was made by General Philip St. George Cocke, for the endowment of the chair of agriculture, and in the same year a dona- tion was made of $ 11,000 by Dr. William Kewton Mercer, of Louisiana, to endow the chair of animal and vegetable physiology, applied to agri- . culture. A donation was made at the same time by Mrs. E. L. Claytor, of Virginia, of $5,000, to erect a hall of natural history. The Virginia Military Institute had just placed itself before the pub- lic as a general school of applied science, for the development of the agricultural, mineral, commercial, manufacturing, and internal improve- ment interests of the State and sountry, when the army of General Hun- ter destroyed its stately buildings and consigned to the flames its library of 10,000 volumes, the philosophical apparatus used for ten years by " Stonewall " Jackson, and all its chemicals. The cadets were then transferred to Eichmond and the institution was continued in vigorous operation until the evacuation of Eichmond on the 3d of April, 1865. On the ^st of September, 1864, the board of visitors met in Eichmond to reorganize the institution. The War had made sad traces on the school, besides the destruction of its building, library, and apparatus. Three of its professors, Lieut. Gen. " Stonewall" Jackson, Maj. Gen. E. E. Eodes, and Gol. S. Crutchfleld, two of its assistant professors, Capt. W. H. Morgan, and Lieut. L. Crittenden, and 200 of its alumni had been slain in battle, and 350 others maimed. Considering, however, the great demand flowing from the general suspension of education in the South, aud the special field of usefulness distinctly marked out for this school of applied science, the board of visitors proceeded with energy and resolutibn in their work, and having elected Gen. G. W. Oustis Lee and Col. Wm. B. Blair, distinguished graduates of the U". S. Military Academy, to fill two of the chairs made vacant by the death of Gene- ral Jackson and General Eodes, and at subsequent meetings appointed Commodore M. P. Maury, LL. D., late of the Observatory, professor of physics and superintendentof the physical survey of Virginia, and Capt. John M. Brooke, late of the Navy, to the new chair of practical astron- omy, geodesy, physical geography, and meteorology, the Virginia Mili- tary Institute resumed its accustomed work amid its ruins at Lexing- ton on the 17th of October, 1865, with some 50 cadets, organized in four classes, and prosecuted its work with earnestness and effect, and on the Pourth of July following, 10 cadets, constituting the first class, who had borne the hardships and perils of the institution during the whole of the War, were graduated, having completed a course of scientific and general study which will commend them to the confidence of the scien- tific scholar. The Legislature of Virginia promptly responded to these evidences of vitality on the part of the school by providing for the payment of its annuity and the interest on its vested funds. This provision enabled the board of visitors to appoint the State cadets required by law to be VIKGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE. 289 17036— No. 2 290 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. admitted, and arrangements were at the same time in progress to re- store the buildings ; and on the 1st of July, 1870, they had the pleasure to report to the Governor the complete execution of this work, including a full equipment of the laboratories, engineering, and drawing depart- ments of the institution.' The Virginia Milittiry Institute now numbers 1,334 graduates, 430 of whom were State cadets. There have been al- together 4,975 matriculates, and of these 813 were State cadets. By the Act approved March 15, 1884, relief was given to the Virginia Military Institute, by providing substantially for the payment of the floating debt and the gradual retirement of the whole of i^s bonded debt ; these debts resulting from the work of restoring the ruin of war. SYSTEM OP INSTRUCTION AND GOVERNMENT. The system of instruction and government in the Virginia Military Institute is distinctive, and is founded upon that of the United States Military Academy at West Point. As soon as a young man enters this institution it assumes over him an entire control, and not only directs his moral and intellectual education, but provides everything required for his personal wants or comfort. A cadet may, if his parents desire it, remain in the charge of the institution for the entire ^term of four years, as the system of government keeps it always in operation. The months of July and August in each year are devoted exclusively to military ex- ercises. Furloughs are granted to those who may desire it, in turn, dur- ing this period. The cadets are lodged and boarded in the institution, their clothing, books, and other supplies being provided by the quar- termaster of the Institute at cost. The sick are under the special care of the surgeon, with hospital and other facilities for nursing. The energy, system, subordination, and self-reliance which the mili- tary government of the Institute cultivates give a practical character to the education which it supplies. The high reputation which its alumni have established for. the school is the evidence of its value. At- tendance at church and Bible instruction ar§ prescribed for each Sab- bath. The government of the Virginia Military Institute, although military in its organization, is carefully arranged for the protection and development of the moral character of the cadets. Attendance on the public services of the sanctuary and regular Bible instruction on the Sabbath are positively enjoined by the regulations. Appended to the report of the examining board, July, 1875, is the folio wihg remark : "In conclusion, your committee can not too highly commend what has seemed to them the marked and distinguishing fea- tures of this institution, the happy combination of the military system of instruction with the department of science and of literary culture, and the more ennobling culture of the heart and soul. Nowhere else have we seen this combination so complete and perfect. We can not speak of it too highly. It is such a system as fits a pupil for life and for death. Under its guidance he is sure to tread always the path of duty, virtue, and honor." VIRGINIA. MILITARY INSTITUTE. 291 292 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. MEDALS AND SOHOLARSHIPS. The Hon. A. J. B. Beresford Hope, M. P. for the University of Cam- bridge, England, acting as representative of the association which pre- sented to Virginia the statue of " Stonewall " Jackson, by Foley, trans- mitted, in 1876, the sum of £243 16«. Id., being a surplus of the statue fund, to be invested as the foundation of a further memorial of the great Confederate soldier. By authority of the honored donors, and in ex- ecution of their wishes, this fund was dedicated to be invested and perpetuated as an inalienable and inviolable capital, the annual income froih which shall be expended in procuring two prizes of gold, to be engraved and designated as "The First Jackson- Hppe Medal," and " The Second Jackson-Hope Medal," respectively, and to be bestowed annually, as rewards of merit, upon the two most distinguished grad- uates of the Virginia Military Institute in the order of their distinc- tion. It was deemed most becoming that this fund should be dedicated to the institution of learning which Jackson, as instructor and disciplin- arian, so long and conspicuously adorned, his of&cial connection with which was severed only by his illustrious death ; and it is equally ap- propriate that its designation shall forever associate the munificence of his English admirers with" his imperishable name. As long as the Virginia Military Institute stands it will prize, as one of its prerogative distinctions, the peculiar relatioil which it bears to the history of General T. J. Jackson. Here foi; a long time he labored as a professor: From her parade ground, in command of the corps of carets, he made his first march in his career of glory, and when his career was closed by a soldier's death, to the corps of cadets was as- signed the solemn charge of conducting his remains to the resting place selected by himself with his dying breath. By the generosity of those English gentlemen, whose munificence presented to the Commonwealth of Virginia a majestic statue of her illustrious son, this distinction for the Institute has been signalized and rehdered conspicuous and perpetual. The two costly medals provided for in the benefaction, to be bestowed hereafter, annually, upon the first and second distinguished graduates of the Institute, will connect their names with that of Jackson, and will be cherished heirlooms for their descendants. Two scholarships have been established by the board of visitors on the endowment of General Philip St. George Cocke, for some time pres- ident of the board of visitors, and two on the endowment of Messrs. J. K. Gilliat & Co., of London, England. These scholarships entitle the holders to free board, tuition, and room-rent, and are valued each at the sum of $275. CHAPTER XXII. WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVEESITY. By Propessoks White and Harris. The history of Washington and Lee University is connected with the early settlement of the beautiful " Valley of Virginia." The lands ly- ing contiguous to the headwaters of the James and Shenandoah Elvers were occupied, about a century after the settlement at Jamestown, by an energetic, adventurous, and brave race of people, distinguished for their devotion to civil and religious liberty. These hardy " Scotch-Irish''^ 1 Among these Scotch- Irish settlers of the Valley ofVirginia was Robert Alexander, a maeiter of arts of Trinity, -who settled in Angnsta County, 1743. In the Historical Sketch of the Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Washington and Lee University (1749-1888), it is said that the germ of this institution was "a mathematical and classical school, called the Augusta Academy, established in 1749 by Robert Alexan- der, and first located two miles south-west of the site of Greenville, in Augusta, and near the interlacings of the headsprings of the Shenandoah on the eastward and of the James River on the westward. It was the first classical school in the Valley of Virginia, and was continued by an uninterrupted succession of principals and assist- ant instructors, on successive sites, increasing in usefulness and influence, until it gradually developed into Washington College [now Washington and Lee Univer- sityj." Robert Alexander is said to have been the predecessor of Dr. Brown and Mr. Graham, as principal of Augusta Academy. The early history of Augusta Academy is very obscure, and the editor of this report has been much perplexed by the varying accounts of recognized authorities, some of which he has endeavored to disentangle In the next chapter, on the " Bibliography of Washington and Lee University." The following account of Scotch-Irish educational beginnings in Virginia and at the South has been taken, at the suggestion of the Commissioner of Education, from The Early History of the Scotch and Irish Churches, and their Relations to the Pres- byterian Church of America, by Rev. J. G. Craighead, D. D. : "The Presbyterian colonists of Virginia also made as ample provision for the edu- cation of their youth as their circumstances permitted. In most of their congregations pastors established classical and scientific schools. West of the Blue Ridge such a school was carried on at New Providence [in Augusta County] by the Rev. John Brown ; while east of the Ridge [in Louisa County] a similar institution was con- ducted by the Rev. John Todd. » » * "The first of these, after removals to Mount Pleasant, where it was known as Augusta Academy, and then to Timber Ridge as Liberty Hall, finally became Wash- ington College. The widespread desire for literary institutions of a high order led the Presbytery of Hanover, as early as 1771, to take measures to establish an academy in Prince Edward County, which subsequently was chartered as Hampden-Sidney College. These institutions, so humble in their origin, awakened such a thirst for knowledge in the minds of large numbers of the youth of that State, that not a few 293 294 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. occupants of the Blue Mountains of Virginia were among the bravest of Revolutionary soldiers. In the darkest days of our struggle for in- dependence General Washington expressed his confidence in theirpatri- otism and courage ; saying that, if all other resources should fail, he might retire with a single standard to Augusta, and rajly a band of pat- riots who would meet the enemy on the line of the Blue Eidge, and there establish the boundary of a free empire in the West. Augusta em- braced the fine country, in the heart of the valley, now bearing that name, and the neighboring counties of Eockbridge and Botetourt, lying southwest and immediately on the headwaters of the James- Two com- pani^^ of soldiers from Augusta were with General Washington at Brad- dock's defeat and at the battle of the Great Meadows. These valley people, distinguished as they were for patriotism, were not less devoted to the cause of religion and education, and had hardly established places of abode when they erected the temple of worship and the school-house, the men quarrying the stone and hewing the tim- ber while their wives and dailghters carried the sand, packed in sacks on horses, sometimes to the distance of six or eight miles. William and Mary was the only college in Virginia at this early period, and as it was located in the lower portion of the State, the Scotch-Irish settlers of the valley determined to establish a high school in their sec- tion. of tliem afterward became eminent for their literary attainments, and were distin- guished in the pulpit and at the bar. " Classical schools of great excellence were organized by Dr. David Caldwell at Buffalo, and afterward at Guilford, N. C, in which many of the most eminent men of the South — lawyers, statesmen, and clergymen — were educated ; by Dr.' Samuel E. McCorkle, a thorough scholar and earnest student, whose school at Thyatira, N. C, bore the significant name of Ziou Parnassus, and in which there was a department for the education of school teachers, and provision was made to have poor and pious young men taught free of expense, of whom 45 entered the pulpit ; by the Rev. Will- iam Bingham, at Wilmington, and subsequently at Chatham and Orange; by Dr. Joseph Alexander, at Sugar Creek; by Dr. Alexander McWhorter, principal of ' Queen's Museum,' in whose hall the debates preceding the Mecklenburg Declara- tion were held, and which the Legislature of North Carolina afterward chartered under the name of Liberty Hall Academy. Other classical and scientific schools were tauglit by Rev. Dr. Robinson, at Poplar Tent ; by Dr. Wilson, at Rooky River ; by Dr. Hall, at Bethany ; by the Rev. Henry Patillo, at Orange and Granville ; and by Dr. Waddell, at Wilmington, under whose instruction some of the ablest civilians of the State were educated. ' 'A large number of Presbyterian families moved at au early day from Virginia^ and the Carolinas into Tennessee, who carried with them their love of education. The Rev. Samuel Doak, a graduate of Princeton College, opened a classical school in Wash- ington County [Tenn.], which was afterwards incorporated under the name of Martin Academy, and finally became known as Washington College. This was the first lit- erary institution established in the Mississippi Valley. The books that formed the nucleus of the college library were transported from Philadelphia over the mountains in sacks on pack-horses. After acting as president of the college for several years, Mr. Doak resigned and removed to Bethel, where he founded Tnsoulum Academy, and coniinited to be the active advocate and patron of learning, as he had ever been the decided friend of civil and religious liberty." WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. 295 One of the earliest, if not the very earliest school established, was known first as Augusta Academy,' then as Mount Pleasant, and during the Eevolutionary War as Liberty Hall. This school, after occupying other neighboring localities, was finally established in the vicinity of Lexington, Va., May, 1776, under the name of Liberty .Hall Academy with William Graham, its virtual founder, as its rector. Mr. Graham was the son of a Pennsylvania farmer, who lived in Paxton Township, near the site of the city of Harrisburg, and was educated at Princeton, where he was a class-mate of General Henry Lee, familiarly known as '' Light- Horse Harry," the confidential friend of Washington, and ancestor of Gen. Eobert E. Lee, the late president of Washington and Lee University. There was thus, in some sort, an association between General Washing- ton and the founder of Liberty Hall Academy. Liberal subscriptions, considering their scanty means, were made for themaintenance of their school by these good and true men. who gave sums ranging from 1 to 10 pounds sterling, and Mr. Graham made a northern tour as far as Boston, collecting 776 pounds and 18 shillings. Among the pupils of Liberty Hall were Priestly, the distinguished teacher of Tennessee, and Alexander, of Princeton, whpse descendants to the third generation are so widely known for their worth, talents, and learning. Liberty Hall was seriously embarrassed in-its operations, and almost disbanded during the struggle for independence then convalsing the country. When the General Assembly was driven from the low coun- try towards the mountains by the British dragoons under Tarleton, the rector of the academy^ with his boys and such of his neighbors as he could rally, marched to Eockflsh Gap to dispute the passage of the Blue Eidge. What with the interruptions incident to the War, and the em- barrassed condition of its finances in consequence of a depreciated cur- rency, the academy was very much crippled, its entire property at this time being estimated at £2,000. ' ' ' The Presbytery of Hanover, about the year 1773, determined to establ ish 'Augusta Academy,' and it was at first proposed to locate the institution at Staunton. At a meeting of Presbytery in April, 1775, persons were appointed to solicit subscriptions in behalf of the academy, among whom were William McPheeters and John Trimble at North Mountain ; Thomas Stuart and Walter Davis at Tinkling Spring ; Samp- son Mathews at Staunton, and George Mathews, George Moffett, and James Allen iu Augusta Congregation. In May, 1776, the Presbytery determined to locate the school on Timber Eidge ' as there was no one iu Staunton to take the management and it was uncertain whether there ever would be.' At the same time the Rev. William Graham was elected rector, and a young man named John Montgomery his assistant. Mr. Graham was born in Pennsylvania in 1746, and was educated at Princeton Col- lege. Mr. Montgomery was born in Augusta, and graduated at Princeton in 1775. He spent the last years of his life as pastor of Rocky Spring Church in Augusta. Trustees were also appointed : Rev. John Brown, Rev. James Waddell, Thomas and Andrew Lewis, William Preston, Sampson Mathews, Samuel McDowell, George Mof- fett and others. In 1779 the school was removed to Lexington and called ' Liberty Hall.' An act of incorporation by the Legislature was obtained in 1782, and the in- stitution has now become ' Washington and Lee University.'" (Waddell's Annals of Angusta County, Va., pp. 184, 185.) 296 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. Liberty Hall Academy was chartered in 1782 by the Legislature of Virginia, and was the first literary institution incorporated by the State after the English colony became a Commonwealth. In January, 1796, the rector called a meeting of the trustees, " to take into consideration some information that he had received, that the Leg- islature of Virginia had resolved that there should be a seminary in the upper part of the State, and that the President of the United States was about to bestow his 100 shares in the J ames Eiver Company to aid in endowing the same." Early in 1784 the Virginia Legislature chartered the first company to improve the navigation of James Eiver. Soon afterwards they passed an act instructing the State treasurer to subscribe 100 additional shares in the company, ." the said shares to be vested in George Washington, his heirs and assigns forever." This was not designed as a trust fund, but was a gift, as they expressed it in the preamble to the act, " out of the desire of the representatives of this Commonwealth to embrace every suitable occasion of testifying their sense of the unexampled merits of George Washington, Esquire, towards his country, and it is their wish in particular that these great works for its improvement, which, both as springing from the liberty which he has been so instrumental in estab- lishing, and as encouraged by his patronage, will be durable monu- ments of his glory, may be made monuments also of the gratitude of his country." On receiving a copy of this act, Washington wrote to the Governor declining to accept the donation designed for his private emolument, expressing, however, his " profound and grateful acknowl- edgments inspired by so signal a mark of their beneficent intentions towards himself." His reason for declining the gift is expressed in the following letter : " When I was called to the station with which I was honored, during the late conflict of our liberties, to the diffidence which I had so many reasons to feel in accepting it, I thought it my duty to join a firm resolution to shut my hand against every pecuniary recom- pense ; to this resolution I have invariably adhered ; from this resolu- tion (if I had the inclination) I do not feel at liberty to depart. But if it should please the General Assembly to permit me to turn the destina- tion pf the fund, vested in me, from my private emolument to objects of a public nature, it will be my study, in selecting these, to prove the sin- cerity of my gratitude for the honor conferred on me, by preferring such as may appear most subservient to the enlightened and patriotic views of the Legislature." The General Assembly, at the ensuing meeting in October, 1785, in compliance with this request, repealed the former act, and in its stead enacted, '' that the said shares with the tolls and profits thereafter ac- cruing from them, should stand appropriated to such objects of a pub- lic nature, in such manner and under such distributions as the said George Washington, Esquire, by deed during his life, or by his last will and testament, should direct and appoint." WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. 297 Daring ten years of unfinished work the James River stock was un- productive, and Washington determined to defer the appropriation of his interest until it should appear whether any profits would accrue. Washington referred the decision of the object to the Legislature, who referred it back to him, with the suggestion that he should bestow the gift upon some seminary of learning in the upper country, as the lower country was adequately provided with academies and colleges. On learning that General Washington was left to determine the object of his bounty, General Andrew Moore, of Eockbridge,and General Francis Preston, of Washington County, both at that time Eepresentatives in Congress from western Virginia, called the attention of the illustrious patriot to Liberty Hall Academy, as an object worthy of his donation. In September, 1796, General Washington offtcially communicated to Governor Brooke his decision in favor of Liberty Hall Academy. In recognition of this generous gift the authorities at Liberty Hall ad- dressed the following- letter to Washington: " Sir : It was not earlier than September, 1797, that we were oflBcially informed of your liberal donation to Liberty Hall Academy. Permit us, as its immediate guardians, to perform the pleasing duty of ex- pressing' those sentiments of gratitude which so generous an act natur- ally inspires. We have long been sensible of the disadvantages to which literary institutions are necessarily subjected, whilst dependent on precarious funds for their support. Eeflecting particularly on the many diflculties through which this seminary has been conducted since the first moments of its existence, we can not but be greatly affected by an event which secures to it a permanent and independent establish- ment. Convinced as we are that public prosperity and security are inti- mately connected with the diffusion of knowledge, we look around with the highest satisfaction on its rapid advances in these United States, unfeignedly rejoicing that the citizen who has been long distinguished as the assertor of the liberties of his country, adds to this illustrious character the no less illustrious one of patron of the arts and literature. And we trust that no effort will be wanting on our part to encourage whatever branches of knowledge may be of general . utility. That you may long enjoy, besides the uninterrupted blessings of health and repose, the superior happiness which none but those who deserve it can enjoy, and which arises from the reflection of having virtuously and eminently promoted the best interests of mankind, is the present prayer of the trustees of Washington Academy, late Liberty Hall. " By order of the board, '<■ Samuel Houston, " Clerk.'" General Washington wrote in reply as follows : " Mount Vernon, June 17, 1798. " Gentlemen : Unaccountable as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that the address with which you were pleased to honor me, dated the 12th of April, never came to my hands until the 14th instant. 298 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. "To promote -literature in this rising empire, and to encourage the arts, have ever been amongst the warmest wishes of my heart. And if the donation which the generosity of the Legislature of the Common- wealth of Virginia has enabled me to bestow on Liberty Hall, now by your politeness called Washington Academy, is likely to prove a mean to accomplish these ends, it will contribute to the gratification of my desires. Sentiments like those which have flowed from your pen excite my gratitude, whilst I offer my best vows for the prosperity of the Academy, and for the honor and happiness of those under whose auspices it is conducted. "Geo. Washington." The Washington donation at this day yields 6 per cent, interest on $50,000. The foregoing details are derived mainly from an unpublished manu- script of the late Eev. Henry Euffner, D. D., who was for many years president of Washington College. The Association of the Cincinnati of Virginia was organized by the surviving ofllcers of the Eevolutionary War, with the view of perpetu- ating fraternal relations and to provide for the widows and orphans of their comrades in arms. When there had ceased to be any objects re- quiring relief from their treasury, the society resolved, influenced by the example of their illustrious chief, as they declared, to appropriate their funds to Washington Academy, and on 13th December, ls02, in the city of Eichmond, adopted the following resolutions : "1st. That a committee be appointed of thirteen to make an appropri- ation of the funds of the society to such objects as may be agreed upon by the present meeting, subject, however, to confirmation by a majority of the whole number composing the society at the next general meeting, in person or by proxy, appointed in writing or by letter to the president, and of which due notice shall be given in the public papers and by let- ter from the president. "2d. That the object of the appropriation of the funds of the society be the seminary of learning in the county of Eockbridge, denominated Washington Academy (to which the shares of the James Eiver Company, heretofore vested in our late illustrious leader and hero, General Wash- ington, have by him been appropriated), subject to such charges of a charitable nature as have been or may be adopted by this society." The fund, so generously conveyed, now yields to the institution that received it the interest on about $23,000. John Eobinson, of Eockbridge County, Va., a native of Ireland and a soldier under Washington, in imitation of the muniflceuce of his com- mander, bequeathed to the school, now under a new charter styled Washington College, of which he was himself a trustee, his estate, which the authorities of the college made available as an endowment for about $40,000. WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. 299 Founded iu the opening of our eventful struggle for independence, generously sustained by its original friends, and at a later period in its history munificently endowed "by Washington and his compatriots, Washington College became and continued to be a valuable seminary of learning, sending out a large number of alumni, who conspicuously adorned the various learned professions, the halls of legislation, both State and national, and the walks of private life. Having on two occasions, in its earlier history, been the victim of fire, and having participated in and survived the struggle for American in- dependence, the College during the late unhappy War suffered very seri- ously in the damage done to its buildings, its library, and philosophical apparatus, and in the temporary failure of any income from its endow- ment fund. Notwithstanding this prostration of its material interests, the board of trustees met in the summer of 1865, and with a liberality highly com- mendable pledged their individual credit in negotiating a loan, by means of which they might repair the desolations and see again in operation the school that had been entrusted to their control. General Eobert Edward Lee, who it was known had declined all pro- posals that seemed to involve a compromise of personal independence, was tendered the presidency of Washington College, in the belief that he might accept a position which would give him honorable employ- ment, the thing that he desired, and would at the same time be a chan- nel through which he might do something for the intellectual and moral training of the young men of the country. The position was accepted by General Lee under the influence of these considerations, and in doing so he gave a new impulse to the old college of Washington, attracting a large number of students, reassuring its friends and enlisting in its behalf many generous benefactors in all parts of the country. Tfhe course of instruction, academic and professional, was greatly enlarged under the energetic and wise administration of General Lee, who brought to the school, not only theweightof his elevated Christian character, which gave him unsurpassed influence over all who came within its sphere, but also a thorough and intelligent knowledge of what should be required in a leading institution of learning. Washington College, up to 1865, had the organization of most Ameri- can colleges — a fixed curriculum of four years, terminating in the de- gree of bachelor of arts. In 1865-66 the course of instruction was broken up into separate schools. This change was made in view of the heterogeneous character of the students and their varying aims and grade of preparation. As the inconveniences of this organization be- came more apparent there has been a gradual reversion to a curriculum, , with a pretty wide election, so that the present organization is substan- tially the same as that of Yale or Princeton. The University at present embraces three courses for the degree of bachelor of arts ; fuller and more thorough courses for the degree of master of arts ; special courses 300 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. for doctor of philosophy, and schools of law and civil engineering. The present prodaptive endowment of Washington and Lee University amounts to a little over $600,000, and its entire property is valued at about $800,000. The course which General Lee proposed to pursue in the disturbed condition of the country at that time is shown by the following senti- ments, expressed in his letter of August 24, 1865, addressed to the board of trustees, in which he indicated his acceptance of the presidency: " I think it the duty of every citizen, in the present condition of the country, to do all in his power to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony, and in no way to oppose the policy of the State or General Government directed to that object. It is particularly incumbent on those charged with the instruction of the young to set them an exam- ple of submission to authority." The work of fully organizing the professional, classical, and scientific departments was completed under the assiduous supervision of Gen- eral Lee, and remains a monument to his faithful labor, and the effort to secure a more adequate endowment fund was progressing favorably, when, in October, 1870, Washington College was called to mourn the death of its honored president.' The board of trustees at once assembled, and elected General George Washington Oustis Lee to fill the office of president, made vacant by the death of his father, the name of the institution being changed by an act of the Legislature from Washington College to Washington and Lee University. He was inaugurated in February, 1871, and has filled the presidency of Washington and Lee University for the period of seventeen years, during which the institution has received many signal testimonials of public favor, has sustained its reputation as a thorough school of learu: ing, and now affords superior educational advantages to the young men of the country. 1 General Lee is buried in the chapel of Washington and Lee University, standing in the foreground of the general view of the institution. This chapel, without the apse-like addition, was the first building erected under the direction of General Lee after he assumed the presidency of the University. The accompanying view of the interior of the apsis shows the monumental chamber, in which is placed Valentine's recumbent figure of General Lee. The lower story of the apsis contains the crypt or vault, in which the remains of General Lee repose. Adjoining the crypt and under- neath the chapel is the room used as an o£&ce by General Lee during his presidency, and kept now precisely as he- left it. The foreground of the picture represents the platform of the University chapel. The portraits upon the wall are of certain dis- tinguished men: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Chief-Justice Marshall, General Zachary Taylor j and certain benefactors of the institution : W. W. Corcoran, War- ren Newcomb, Thomas A. Scott, Dr. W. N. Mercer, and Vincent L. Bradford. The general effect is very striking, and illustrates the educational history of Virginia in a remarkable manner. Harvard University has its memorial hall, frequented daily by Cambridge students. Here is the shrine of Washington and Lee University, facing young Virginians as they meet for chapel service. These memorials are now historic, and they can be viewed with interest and profit by any historical student. CHAPTER XXIII BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY By the Editoe. Manuscript History of Washington College, by Henry Ruffner, D. D. This unpublished account of the early history of the college is by one of its for- mer presidents, the father of Dr. W. H. Euffner, who was for a long tiine superintendent of public instruction in Virginia. The editor of this report finds the Ruffner manuscript quoted in Howe's Historical Collections of Vir- ginia, p. 433, where the origin of the academy of Harapden-Sidney in 1774 (chartered as a college in 1783) is explained as a Presbyterian foundation, " established in Prince Edward, at a point convenient for the Presbyterians of Virginia and North Carolina." Howe quotes at some length from Dr. Henry Ruffner, not only upon the origin of Hampden-Sidney, but upon the origin of the other Presbyterian foundation in the State of Virginia, which Howe says was built upon Timber Ridge, near Fairfield, in Rockbridge County, 1776. (See Howe's Historical Collections, pp. 4*9,454, and 455.) Howe's quotation from' Dr. Ruffner is not very satisfactory, and Students of Virginia educational history would be glad to see the original manu- script in published form. The historian's son. Dr. W. H. Ruffner, informs the writer that the manuscript is in the keeping of the secretary and libra- rian of Washington and Lee University, Mr. Jacob Puller, Foote's Sketches of .Virginia. First Series, Chapters XX, XXI, pp. 438-489; and Second Series, Chapter VII, pp. 96-97. This work is far more satisfactory than Howe's Collections upon the educational beginnings of Virginia. In fact, Poote is invaluable for students of Vir- ginia local history and ecclesiastical biography. Poote finds the germ of Washington College, or Liberty Hall Academy ,'in a private grammar school, kept by the Rev. John Brown,' and adopted, in 1774 by the Presbytery of ' Rev. John Brown was a graduate of Nassau Hall, in the class of 1749, and a licen- tiate of the New Castle Presbytery. He began his ministerial life in 1753, when he became the pastor of New Providence church, Augusta County, Virginia. He married" Margaret Preston, the second daugh- ter of John Preston and Elizabeth Patton, who emigrated from Ireland in 1740, and settled near Staunton, Va. After serving his congregation faithfully for forty-four years, weighed down with the infirmities of age, he resigned his charge of New Provi- dence and followed his children to Kentucky, where he'died, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, 1803. His wife preceded him to the grave, dying, in 1802, in the seventy- third year of her age. They are both buried at i Frankfort, Ky. They reared seven children : First, Elizabeth, who married Rev. Thomas B. Craighead, of Tennessee ; second, John, who married Margaretlia Mason, of New York ; third, William, a phy- sician, who died early, in South Carolina ; fourth, Mary, who married Dr. Alexander Humphreys, of Staunton, Va. ; fifth, James; sixth, Samuel, and seventh, Preston. Several of these sons reached distinction in the service of the country. Their de- scendants are now found throughout the Southern and Western States. (See Foote's SketchesofVirginia, p. 99.) *SU1 302 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIEGINIA. Hanover, then embracing all Virginia. The Presbyterian school was then intrusted to William Graham, nnder the supervision of the Eev. John Brown, and was removed in 1777 to Timber Eidge,from the region of Mr. Brown's home, near Fairfield. Liberty Hall Academy was chartered in 1782, and was endowed by George Washington in 1796. To him it owes the names, Washington Academy and Washington College. History of Washington College, Virginia, in the American Quarterly Eegister, conducted by B. B, Edwards and W. Cogswell, and pub- lished by the American Education Society, Volume X, No. 2, Novem- ber, 1837, pp. 145-150. This invaluable repository of American educational, ecclesiastical, biographi- cal, and local history contains interesting and important extracts from the original records of the Presbytery of Hanover, Virginia. It appears that the discussion of the project of " erecting a seminary of learning somewhere within their bountis" began as early as October 9, 1771. After various postponements, it was decided, October 4, 1773, at Rbokfish Gap (where the site of the University of Virginia was afterward determined), "to fix the public seminary for the liberal education of youth in Staunton, Augusta County." On the 12th of October, 1774,' it was agreed that the proposed in- stitution should ' ' be managed by Mr. William Graham, — a gentleman prop- erly recommended to this Presbytery, — and to be under the inspection of the Eev. John Brown." It was stated that there was no person to take the management of the school " in the place first agreed on," that is, at Staun- ton. Committees were appointed to collect subscriptions : "Mr. Brown, in the Pastures, Providence, and the North Mountain ; Mr. Eice, in Botetourt, on the south side of James Ei ver ; Mr. Cummins, in Fincastle ; Mr. Irvine, at Tinkling Spring, the Stone Meeting-House, and Brown's Settlement; Mr. Wallace, in the fork of James Eiver ; and Mr. Smith, at pleasure." This extract givfes a local coloring to the efforts of those Presbyterian cler- gymen to establish an educational centre in the Valley of Virginia. An - extract from the records of the Presbytery, dated April 15, 1775, shows that the institution was already developing under the direction of the Eev. John Brown. "As the Presbytery have now an opportunity of visiting the school und,er the direction of Mr. Brown, they accordingly repaired to the school- house, and attended a specimen of the proficiency of the students in the Latin and Greek languages and pronouncing orations, with which they were well pleased." On the 27th of October, 1775, it was agreed that Mr. William Graham continue to have the ca,re and tuition of the school, and that John Montgomery, "late from Princeton College," be his assistant. To understand the origin of Presbyterian colleges in the Southern States, one shonld know that Nassau Hall and the ' ' log college " at Princeton, N. J. , were the original points of departure. Those Scotch Presbyterian minis- ters who were so prominent in the educational upbuilding of Virginia and Kentucky were Princeton men. This current of influence is very marked. The log college in American institutional history is a pioneer type well worthy of careful investigation , and the man who undertakes it must study the records of Presbyteries. For example, the Hanover Presbytery, May 6, 1776, iigreed to accept the offers of Capt. Alexander Stewart and Mr. Samuel Houston, iu the congregation of Timber Eidge, who propose to give forty acres of laud apiece for Augusta Academy if it is placed there, and "the neighbors have offered to build a house of hewn logs, 28 by 24 feet, one and a half stories high, besides their subscriptions, and assuring us of the prob- ability that the firewood and timber for buildings will be furnished gratis for at least twenty years." This is all as interesting and graphic as the WASHINUTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. 303 order of the General Court of Massachusetts Bay, November 13, 1644, that the deputies and elders in every town should urge every family to give one peck of corn or twelve pence in money for the college at Cambridge (see Eeoords of the Colony Massachusetts Bay, II, 86). The log college upon Timber Bidge was opened January 1, 1777-, The rector had a framed house. " They both had well-walled cellars and stone chimneys. Both buildings are now ( 1836) standing, are likely to outlast the present generation, and remain as a memorial of the zeal and energy of the Hanover Presbytery." The above facts, which serve to place the original foundation of the Au- gusta or Liberty Hall Academy in a clear light, appear to have been drawn , from the records of the Hanover Presbytery, from the Eichmond Religious Telegraph for December 19, 1834, January 2, January 23, and February 6, 1835, and from the life of President Graham, in the Eichmond Literary and Evangelical Magazine, 1821, p. 75 et seq. Catalogue of the Alumui of Washington College. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. 1869. This valuable catalogue, containing a list of the faculty, trustees, and stu- dents from the very beginning of the Academy, contains also a valuable historical sketch of the institution. The statement is therein made that " on the first meeting after the battle of Lexington, the trustees direct the record for the 6th of May, 1776, to be entitled ' Liberty Hall' — as this acad- emy is hereafter to be called, instead of Augusta Academy." Many of the facts mentioned in the preceding note are recorded here, evidently from the records of the Hanover Presbytery. This catalogue of the alumni of Washington College will prove very helpful to the student who may wish to trace the influence of the institution upon Virginia and the South, for it gives not merely the names of alumni, arranged chronologically, but also their occupations. Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Washington and Lee Univer sity, 1749-1888. Baltimore : John Murphy. 1888. Pp. 245. This revised edition is complete to date and is very satisfactory. Peyton's History of Augusta County; Waddell's Annals of Augusta County ; Proceedings of the Centennial of the Augusta Presbytery ; Junkin's Historical Account of the New Providence Church ; Win- terbotham's Historical Account of the United States (republished in Barnard's Journal of Education, Vol. XXIV, p. 155). These authorities are deservedly commended by Col. John Mason Brown, oi Louisville, Ky., as bearing upon the origin of Liberty Hail Academy and upon the beginning of higher education in the Valley of Virginia and in Kentucky. Hugh Blair Grigsby's Address on the Scotch-Irish Trustees of Liberty Hall Academy, 1887. Col. Bolivar Christian's Address before the Alumni Association, July 1, 1859, on the Scotch-Irish Settlers of the Valley of Virginia. Rev. Archibald Alexander's Address before the Alumni Association ol Washington College, 1843. Eev. George Junkin's Inaugural Address [as president of the college], 1849. 304 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIEGINIA. Dr. W. H. Euffner's Third Annual Eeport of the Superintendent of Publiclnstruction, 1873, pp. 138-141. John Mason Brown's Oration, delivered on the occasion of the Centen- nial Commemoration of the Battle of the Blue Licks, August 19, 1882. Prof. 0. A. Graves' Historical Sketch of Washington and Lee Univer- sity (illustrated), in the Richmond Dispatch, August 14, 1885. Mrs. S. P. McD. Miller on A Virginian University Town, Overland Monthly, May, 1883. This article contains a pleasantly written account of the Scotch-Irish settlers of the Valley and of the beginnings of Augusta Academy. It describes happily the character of its early presidents and professors. Lexington in war time is graphically pictured, and the story of the " boy companies fol- lowing their illustrious leader, ' Stonewall' Jackson," is weU told. The Vir- ginia Military Institute, the West Point of the South, where Jackson was professor, of mathematics, holds no insignificant place in the University- town of Ijexington. The Ann Smith Female Academy, in the same aca- demic community, is one of the oldest establishments in the United States for the education of young women. It has flourished for nearly a century. The coming woman who writes the history of woman's education in this country should inquire about the Ann Smith Academy, in Lexington, Va., as well as about Smith College, in Northampton, Mass. Lexington, Va., an article published in The South, June, 1887. This is one of the most recent sketches of the "Athens of the Old Dominion,'' with its educational jewels and economic setting. General Lee and Washington College, reprinted in the Educational Jour- nal of Virginia, December, 1870, from the Old Dominion Magazine, November 15, 1870, pp. 673-676. The latter ""magazine attempted to give a prominent place to the educational history of the State of Virginia. The fourth volume, now before the writer, contains a series of ' ' Historical Sketches of Virginia. Literary Institutions of the State : University of Virginia." The latter was the only institution systematically treated. The Old Dominion Magazine, long since suspended, has a decided value on account of its educational articles and as a poat- bellwm repository of Southern literature, the evolution of which will some day attract historical attention. Prof. B. S. Joynes, on General Lee as a College President, Old Domin- ion Magazine, April, 1871, Volume V, No. 4, pp. 209-220 (reprinted from the University Monthly, University Publishing Company). Rev. J. Jj. Kirkpatrick, D. D., Professor of Moral Philosophy, Wash- ington and Lee University : Sketch of Gen. E. B. Lee as College President. Printed in Personal Reminiscences of General Eobert B. Lee, by Eev. J. William Jones, D. D., 1874. Newspaper articles and editorials on Washington and Lee University have appeared in Progress (edited by Col. John W. Forney), Phila- delphia, June 1§, 1881 ; Philadelphia Inquirer, June 9, 1881 ; Kansas City Times, October 30, 1870; Missouri Eepublican, October 26, 1870 ; and in the New York Evening Post, 1871 and 1880. WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVEESITY. 305 The Southern Collegian, nineteen volumes. This student periodical, representing Washington and Lee University, was es- tablished in 1868, by S. Z. Ammen and C. E. Breckinridge. It is full of suggestiffe materials, illustrating the character and growth of the institu- tion. With the second volume the name of the magazine was changed from the Collegian to the Southern Collegian, under the editorial direction of Charles A. Graves, now a p/ofessor of law in the above University. Vol- ume IV contains the first literary efforts of Thomas Nelson Page, whose re- cent writings are characteristic of Southern life and thought, as well as of peculiar local dialects. In the commencement number for 1887 there is a remarkable address upon "The Old South,'' delivered by Mr. Page before the alumni association of Washington and Lee University, June 14, 1887. The main thesis of the addreSs is that " the new South is really the old, with its energies directed in new lines." SUPPLEMENTAEY LETTER TO THE OOMMISSIONEU OP EDUCATION. The following interesting letter throws additional light upon the origin of Liberty Hall Academy^ and upon the educational pioneers of Virginia and Kentucky. — Editoe. " Louisville, Ky., October 17, 1887. " Mt Deae Sir : I am obliged by yours of the 13th, and only regret that my information as to the organization and history of Augusta Academy, in Virginia, is quite limite(i. My great-grandfather, Eev. John Brown, came in his youth from County Limerick, Ireland, where hia family, of English extraction, had long been settled. He entered Kassau Hall (Princeton), and graduated in 1749 in the second class turned out from the college. His diploma, which I found in his old pa- pers, has been presented by me to Princeton College as a relic, and is now framed and hangs in the college library. The class consisted of only two, one being my great-grandfather, the other being the Eev. John Todd,^ afterwards of Louisa County, Va., uncle and preceptor of that very extraordinary man Col. John Todd, killed at Blue Licks, in 1782. My great grandfather, John Brown, after his academic graduation, studied theology and became a Presbyterian minister. .In 1753 he took charge of the churches of New Providence and Timber Ei^ge, in Augusta County, Va., and continued in the pastorate of the former for forty- • The Tuins of old Liberty Hall are still standing on a hill about three-quarters of a mile west of Washington University, and in full sight of it. They are in an open field, some two hundred yards from the road, surrounded by a small groveof trees evi- dently younger than the building. The material is grey limestone, and the work- manship is admirable. Only the end-walls are Istanding. They show the building to have been three stories high, with low ceilings, rather small rooms, and the upper- most story apparently one large dormitory. The walls are very thick. The owner values this interesting relic as it deserves, and has protected it from spoliation. The photograph was taken by M. Miley, of Lexington, in the fall of 1885. ' See Collins' History of Kentucky, II, 183-4, and Winterbotham's Historical Ap- count of the United States, republished in Barnard's Journal of Education, XXIV, 125. 17086— No. 2 20 306 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. four years. He then followed his sons, who had long before settled in Kentucky, and died at Frankfort, in 1803. His wife was Margaret Pres- ton, daughter of John Preston. At the commencement of his pastorate he opened an academy, to which he gave greater attention as his own sons came to need educational care. His home, or rather the home of his people, in County Limerick, had borne the name of Liberty Hall (I found the place still so called and still inhabited by Browns in 1877), and I think it is not a very strained conjecture that the early name of ' Liberty Hall," which Washington and Lee College bore, may have had something of suggestion in the old man's memories of his youth. At all events, the germ of the college was his school, and his own home, the stone walls of which yet exist, was 'Liberty Hall.' When he came to Kentucky, he took charge of Pisgah Church, in Woodford, re- siding in the neighborhood. He actively promoted what was known as Kentucky Academy, at that place, and was to some extent an instruc- tor, but chiefly an emeritus and advisor. The active principal was Mr- Moore. This Kentucky Academy, and another institution called ' Tran- sylvania Academy,' were blended in 1798 into Transylvania University by a legislative act. I think with much satisfaction of my reverend ancestor as being a pioneer in educational matters in both Virginia and Kentucky. He has left a number of old papers, chiefly sermons, dull and hard to read. But among them is one preached in 1759, to his Calvinistic congregation, in which is sounded the first note of question of royal authority. It traces the origin of kings, the probable way in which hereditary right came to be claimed and recognized, and the fallacy of the claim, and concludes with the general proposition that governments and governmental institutions have no existence save in the consent of the people, and no right to exist except so far as they represent the will of the people. It was very bold language for that early day. Dr. John Todd^ (class-mate of my great-grandfather) be- ' Rev. Dr. John Todd graduated at Nassau Hall in 1749, In the second class admitted to a degree. He was licensed by the Presbytery of New BruDswick In 1750, and was sent to the colony of Virginia, at the request of the Rev. Mr. Davies. In the year 1751 he was ordained by the New Brunswick Presbytery, and on the 22d of April, 1752, obtained from the general court of Virginia the license required by law for a dissenting minister, and became the assistant of the Rev. Samuel Davies. After Mr. Davies removed to Princeton, Mr. Todd became the leading minister in the Presbytery east of the Bine Ridge Mountains. During the Revolution he was a staunch Whig. For a number of years he superintended a classical school in Louisa County. , His nephews, John and Levi Todd, went from Peiinsylvania to Virginia, and were educated at this school. They both became distinguished citizens of Kentucky. He preached in Virginia for forty- three years, In July, 1793, he attended the Presbytery In Albemarle County, and on Saturday, the 27th, after its adjournment, set out for home. Whether from the infirmities of age or in a fit of apoplexy, is not known, as he was alone, riding on horseback, bat he was foand in the road lifeless. His son, bearing hia name, was licensed by the Hanover Presbytery, September 13, 1800. For some time he supplied the churches left vacant by his father, but in the year 1809 removed to Kentucky with his family, leaving none of his name in Virginia. (See Sketches of Virginia, pp. 45-50.) WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY. 307 came also a Presbyterian minister, and conducted a famous academy in Louisa County, Ya. It was at his instance that Dr. Gordon, of Lon- don, collected books and apparatus, to form, with Dr. Todd's addi- tions, the library for Transylvania Academy in Kentucky .^ This acad- emy was, as I have said, united with Dr. Brown's Kentucky Academy in 1798 to form Transylvania University. Dr. Samuel Brown, son of my great-grandfather, was one of the first professor? of Transylvania University. This Dr. Samuel Brown married Miss Percy, of Alabama. Ton are thuSj by marriage with my cousin, allied to two educational pioneers, Eev. Dr. John Brown and Eev. Dr. John Todd, and their de- scendants may feel glad that their worthy names are to have a chron- icler. "I inclose a memorandum of some sources from which you may glean other bits of interesting information. " Yery truly, yours, "John Mason Beown. "Hon. IS". H. E. Dawson, "Washington, D. C." PINAL note by the EDITOK. Colonel Brown's valuable memoranda are incorporated with the bib- liography of Washington and Lee University, appended to the historic sketch. An interesting notice of the Eev. John Todd may be found in John Mason Brown's oration, delivered on the occasion of the centen- nial commemoration of the battle of Blue Licks, August 19, 1882, and published under the auspices of the Kentucky Historical Society. The worthy Presbyterian divine trained up at his famous classical acad- emy in Louisa County, Ya., a nephew, John Todd, who afterward be- came famous as a leader in border warfare, and as a pioneer of law, government, and edwcation in Kentucky. Col. John Todd was one of the first two burgesses from the county of Kentucky (created out of Newcastle County, December 31, 1776). H« was largely instrumental in persuading the Yirginia Assembly and Patrick Henry, then Gover- nor, to commission George Eogers Clark for the conquest of the North- west Territory. Colonel Todd took part in that eventful campaign, which secured the Northwest to Yirginia and the United States, and he succeeded Clark in command of the frontier, being commissioned " Col- onel Commandant and County Lieutenant." Ho appeared in the Yir- ginia House of Burgesses in 1780, and was there the successful cham- pion of a system of public education for Kentucky, a system based upon land grants. He was one of the earliest advocates of emancipation in Kentucky, and favored the exclusion of slavery from the North- west Ter- ritory. This noble pioneer of liberty, education, law, and order upon a 1 See Collins' History of Kentaoky, IX, 183-4, and Winterbotham's Historical Ao- coant of the United States, republished in Barnard's Journal of Education, XXIV, 125. 308 HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIEGINIA.. dangerous frontier ; this friend of Daniel Boone, who with him and a few trusty companions first organized government under a great elm- tree at Boonesborough, lost his life in the battle of the Blue Licks, with the Indians, on the 19th of August, 1782. "In the blood of that day were cemented the solid foundations of a powerful State." The coming student of the educational beginnings of Kentucky, the daugh- ter of Virginia, will learn more of those remarkable pioneers of Scotch Presbytexian ancestry. The Todds and the Browns were men of good blood and fine character. (See Poote's Sketches of Virginia, second series, M-49, 94-99). Their descendants are numerous, and are now scattered throughout the Southwest from Kentucky to Louisiana. The Eev. John Brown, principal of Augusta Academy, married the daughter of John Preston,! of Staunton, himself the ancestor of a distinguished line. Among the first graduates of the old academy were the sons of the principal: John BrowH, who became a member of Congress from Kentucky; James Brown, who became United States Senator from Lou- isiana and afterwards minister to France; Samuel Brown, who became a professor of medicine in Transylvania University, Kentucky; Pres- ton Brown and William Brown, who both became physicians, the one in Kentucky, the other in South Carolina. Among the first students at the old academy was Archibald Stuart, afterwards a prominent law- yer, legislator, judge, and a member of the Virginia Convention in 1788. He married a sister of the Eev. John Brown, and was the ancestor of the Hon. Alexander H. H. Stuart, the present rector of the University of Virginia. Blood is thicker than water in Virginia and Kentucky. Collins, in his History of Kentucky, Vol. II, p. 183, says that Tran- sylvania CTniversity, the first literary institution of the West, was estab- lished in 1780 by the Legislature of Virginia ; one-sixth of the sur- veyor's fees, formerly contributed to the College of William and Mary, with 8,000 acres of the first laiid in the then county of Kentucky, which land was to be confiscated, were granted for the endowment and sup- port of the seminary. Kentucky and Tennessee are fields of educational history which should be entered and explored. It will be pioneer work, but none the less profitable on that very account. The whole country will be glad to see educational inquiries pushed where they are most needed, into the Korth-west and South-west and beyond the Mississippi. ' John Preston was a native of County Derry, Ireland, and, with his wife Elizabeth Patton, came to America in 1740, and settled in Augnsta County. John Preston died in 1747, leaving five children, all of whom were horn in Ireland : William, who mar- ried Miss Susanna Smith; Letitia, who married Col. Robert Breckenridge; Margaret, who married Rev. John Brown ; Ann, who married Francis Smith ; and Mary, who married John Howard, all of whom, except William, emigrated to Eentacky, where they left a number of descendants, who have multiplied, and are now found in many of the Southern and Western States. (Peyton's History of Augusta County, p. 303.) rt