PROFESSOR NORTON'S 
 
'Vk'-'i^ 
 

 LW-o SPEECH 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 BEFORE THE OVERSEERS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, 
 
 FEBRUARY 3, 182.^, 
 
 IN BEHALF OF 
 
 THE RESIDENT INSTRUCTERS OF THE COLLEGE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BY ANDREWS NORTON. ^ ^ 
 
 BOSTON. 
 PUBLISHED BY CUMMING3, HILLIARD, & CO. 
 
 University Press — Hilliard 4' Metcalf, 
 1825. 
 

 -^ YORK PUBL. UBK, 
 i^i EXCHANeWS„ 
 
INTJ^ODVCTION. 
 
 The principles maintained in the following speech seem to 
 me important, not merely to the prosperity of the college at 
 Cambridge, but to that of all similar literary institutions in our 
 country. The resident instructers of a college are its proper 
 representatives. No other body should intervene between 
 them and the public, to take from them this character. They, 
 and they alone, should stand forward before the community^ 
 as accountable for the state of the institution. All the powers, 
 therefore, which properly accompany such responsibility, 
 should be fully and explicitly given them. They should be 
 intrusted, in the first instance, with the government of the in- 
 stitution, considered as a literary establishment ; under the 
 supervision and ultimate control of the community, for the 
 benefit of which it is intended, and to which, in the nature of 
 things, it belongs. This supervision and control, the commu- 
 nity must of course exercise through its representatives ; and 
 in regard to the college at Cambridge, the Overseers are a body 
 so constituted, as to be properrepresentativesof the community. 
 The resident instructers, as immediate governors of a college, 
 and the public, for which they labor, under whose direction 
 they should be, and to which they should be responsible, are 
 the only two parties properly concerned in the management 
 of such an institution. 
 
The government of the college at Cambridge has, however, 
 been, for some time past, conformed to a verj different prin- 
 ciple. The institution has been almost entirely under the 
 control of the Corporation, a body, which has been composed 
 of the President of the college, and six non-resident members ; 
 and which perpetuates itself, by filling its own vacancies. 
 The Corporation originate all laws, appoint to all offices, 
 confer degrees, and have the disposal of the funds of the col- 
 lege. Their more important measures are subject to the 
 approval or rejection of the Overseers. But the power of the 
 latter body has lain, till ^dthin a short period, almost dor- 
 mant, and its proceedings have been litde more than matters 
 of form. The college, therefore, has, in fact, been in the hands 
 of a small number of gentlemen ; instead of being under the 
 control of the community, to Avhich it belongs, and the immedi- 
 ate government of its resident officers, who are the persons 
 most concerned in its prosperity. 
 
 The Overseers consist of the Governor of the State, the 
 Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House of Represen- 
 tatives, the President of the college, the members of the 
 Council and of the Senate, all ex qfficiis, and of twenty per- 
 manent members, namely, ten laymen and ten clergymen, 
 chosen from the community at large. Beside the Corpora- 
 tion and Overseers, there is a third body, called the Immedi- 
 ate Government, composed of the President of the college, of 
 most of the resident instructers, and of the librarian. Four 
 resident instructers, on account of the character of their offices, 
 or from some other particular considerations, are not mem- 
 bers. The duties of the members of this body, collectively 
 and individually, are simply to carry into effect the laws of 
 the Corporation respecting instruction and discipline. It is 
 of the ' resident instructers,'' v/ho are members of the Immediate 
 Government, that I mean particularly to speak, when I discuss 
 the reasonableness of enlarging their authority, and it may be 
 
proper to observe, that I am not myself of the number. Un- 
 der the same term, I would also include the librarian. 
 
 Great evils having resulted, as was believed, from the ex- 
 isting distribution of powers, the resident instructers were 
 desirous of effecting some change, by which the government 
 of the college might be placed on a better foundation. Upon 
 examining the subject, they conceived that an essential de- 
 parture had gradually taken place from the intention of the 
 charter. They believed the fact to be established, that re- 
 sidence was originally a qualification for fellowship in the col- 
 lege, and that it was intended that the Corporation should be 
 composed, together with the President, and Treasurer, of live 
 fellows, that is, of five other resident members. Having these 
 views, they submitted to the Corporation a paper, containing 
 '^ statements and considerations, relative to the mode^ in which, 
 according to the charter of the institution, the corporation of the 
 same ought to be constituted,^^ The Corporation declined act- 
 ing upon this memorial ; and in May of the last year, the same 
 paper was laid by the memorialists before the Overseers. Dur- 
 ing the last month (February) the Overseers granted a hearing 
 to the memorialists before their body ; upon which occasion 
 Professor Everett and myself were heard in their behalf. 
 
 In respect to the paper in question, it should be observed, 
 that the memorialists did not intend to urge a legal claim for 
 any of their number to be elected members of the Corpora- 
 tion ; nor even to maintain, that residence was, at the present: 
 day, a necessary legal qnalif cation for holding a seat as a 
 member of the Corporation. Many propositions may be 
 sufficiently established by moral evidence, which do not ad- 
 mit of legal proof ; and while the intention of the framers of 
 the charter was, as the memorialists conceived, fully shown 
 by evidence of the former kind, they were not qualified to 
 decide, whether this evidence was of a nature to be received 
 as legal proof. They were not qualified to decide whether, 
 
VI 
 
 if the intention of the framers of the charter were clearly 
 evinced, this intention was expressed in such a form of words 
 as to be legally binding. And, supposing both these ques- 
 tions to be settled in the affirmative, still others might arise ; 
 as whether the departure from the intention of the charter 
 had not been sanctioned and established by prescription ; or 
 whether one of the articles in the constitution of the state, 
 relating to the college, did not so recognise the Corporation, 
 constituted, as it then was, partly of non-resident members, as 
 to give a legal sanction to non-residence. These were ques- 
 tions which they had no intention of discussuig, and with 
 which they had no concern. Yet their memorial has been 
 opposed, principally, as if they had endeavoured to establish 
 some strictly legal claim or principle ; which they did not. 
 The argument, therefore, has been turned out of its proper 
 course, and directed against a point, which, whether defensi- 
 ble or not, it was not the intention of the memorialists to 
 defend. 
 
 The subject has thus been perplexed, and a certain degree 
 of obscurity and doubt thrown over it. The discussion, 
 likewise, has extended to such a variety of details, as to re- 
 quire more attention to understand it fully, than most persons 
 are willing to give. The principal arguments, however, on 
 which the memorialists rely to establish the propositions 
 which they believe true, admit of being briefly stated.* 
 
 The language of the charter is, that ' the college in Cam- 
 bridge shall be a corporation, consisting of seven persons, to 
 wit, a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer or Bursar.' 
 Here a general question arises, what was intended by the term, 
 
 * These arguments may be found stated at length in their memorial ; and 
 in the very able defence of it by Professor Everett, in * A letter to John Low- 
 ell Esq.' Boston, 1824. 
 
Vll 
 
 fellow ; but as far as this word is concerned, the real question 
 at issue is more limited, namely, whether, as thus used, it did 
 or did not include the idea of residence as a qualification of 
 a fellow. The memorialists maintain that it did, for the fol- 
 lowing reasons. 
 
 I. In the preamble of the charter, it is stated, ' that many 
 well devoted persons have been, and daily are, moved and 
 stirred up to give and bestow sundry gifts, legacies, lands, and 
 revenues, for the advancement of all good literature, arts, and 
 sciences in Harvard College in Cambridge in the county of 
 Middlesex, and to the maintenance of the President and Fd- 
 lows thereof." This is the language of the preamble ; but 
 it cannot be supposed nor is it contended, that at this period, 
 any persons were maintained by the revenues of the college, 
 who were not resident members of the college. The fellows 
 therefore were resident. 
 
 II. Both the preamble and the body of the charter imply 
 that the term, fellow, in relation to a college, was one in com- 
 mon use, and well understood. Its meaning, therefore, like 
 that of other words, is to be determined by usage ; and for 
 this usage we must look to what was its sense in the English 
 Universities. The primary idea of the fellow of a college is 
 of a member of a college, considered as a corporation, re- 
 siding where the college is situated, for the purpose of study, 
 and deriving maintenance from its revenues.* From the stat- 
 utes of Trinity College, and Jesus College, the only colleges, 
 copies of whose statutes could be procured,! and from the ex- 
 press mention of some peculiarities in those of New College by 
 
 ♦ Thus it is said in the Quarterly Review : — *' The intention of Fellowships 
 was, to retain the most deserving young men in their several colleges with 
 full leisure and opportunity for study, till they should be of standing for the 
 higher degrees." Vol. xviii. p. 236. Amer. Ed. 
 
 f MS. copies of these are in the library of Harvard College. 
 
Vlll 
 
 Ayliffe,* it appears that the fellows of these colleges are bound 
 by statute to residence, under certain conditions having 
 no bearing upon the general question. After a pretty exten- 
 sive examination of the subject, it appears from a great 
 variety of incidental evidence, that the same is the case in the 
 English colleges generally.! No evidence to the contrary has 
 been discovered. The residence of the fellows of a college is, 
 indeed, impHed in the essential character of a college as an 
 incorporated body ; since we are told, that ' a college, proper- 
 ly speaking, (simplex collegium) is, according to the civilians, 
 the fourth species of corporation, and is so called because 
 many persons of the same body or community do cohabit 
 therein ; and as our books say, in eodein simul colliguntur^ 
 (that is, are collected together in the same place ;) and herein, it 
 is remarked, the word diiFers from ' Body or Corporation used as 
 a generical term/j The statutes of the English colleges requir- 
 ing the residence of fellows have, it is true, like a great pro- 
 portion of their other statutes, become obsolete ; and the non- 
 residence of fellows is, at the present day, common. But this 
 is a comparatively modern departure from the intention of 
 those institutions. Residence was the original condition of 
 holding a fellowship, implied in the very character and pur- 
 pose of the foundation. Non-residence is a matter of permis- 
 sion or dispensation. That it has, since the commencement 
 
 ♦ Ayliffe's Ancient and Present State of the University of Oxford. Vol. ii-. 
 p. 51. 
 
 t The following passage will explain why the statutes themselves cannot 
 be expressly quoted : — ' With respect to the statutes of particular colleges, 
 it is not easy to gain an accurate acquaintance with them. There are sel- 
 dom above two copies of them, and these are kept in close custody, except 
 on two or three days in a year, when they are read, for the most part in a 
 rapid and incorrect manner, in the college chapels.' Knox on Liberal Ed- 
 ucahon, vol. ii. p. 173. Land. 1785. 
 
 \ Ayliffe's Oxford, vol. ii. p. 2. 
 
ix 
 
 of the last century, become frequent as respects the English 
 colleges, has been urged as an analogy in favor of the non- 
 resident members of the Corporation of Harvard College, to 
 prove that, though non-resident, they may still, conformably 
 to the charter, be qualified to be its governors. But the anal- 
 ogy entirely fails, because the non-resident fellov/s of an 
 English college, instead of having the control of the institution, 
 take no part whatever in its government. 
 
 III. But if the general micaning of the word, at the time 
 when it was used in the charter, as implying residence, were 
 doubtful ; its meaning as regards Harvard College, which is 
 the point in question, would be determined by the ancient 
 form of the induction of a fellow, in use before the granting of 
 the charter ; which supposes, that a fellow must be resident ; 
 as appears from its language, which limits his obligations, by 
 the clause, ' so long as you shall here reside ;' from the duty of 
 instruction, or at least the liability to this duty, which it im- 
 poses ; and from the promise which it contains of a stipend 
 from the revenues of the college.* 
 
 IV. What has been stated is further confirmed by the 
 language of various acts of the General Court of the Province, 
 and donations of individuals, for ' the maintenance of the 
 President and Fellows ' of the college, principally within a 
 few years subsequent to the granting of the charter. There 
 can be no question, that the fellows, whose maintenance is 
 thus provided for, were, a part or all of them, resident instruc- 
 ters ; and that no persons not resident were intended. 
 
 V. The five first fellows, members of the Corporation, are 
 named in the charter. They were all of them young men, 
 not particularly distinguished. They were, it is believed, all 
 resident at Cambridge, when selected to be so named. That 
 this was the case with three of their number, is admitted. 
 That the other two, likewise, had been resident during a con- 
 
 * See the form of induction at length in the memorial, p. 4, 
 2 
 
siderable length of time which approached close to the period 
 when the charter was given, and that they had been, actually 
 and in name, fellows of the college, are facts not denied. 
 But in the absence of clear historical data, there has been an 
 attempt to cast a doubt upon their residence at the precise time 
 last mentioned. But the question seems to be decided by the 
 consideration, that no other reason can be assigned for the 
 naming of these five young men as members of the Corporation, 
 except that they possessed that single qualitication, which 
 others more able, more distinguished, and of far more influ- 
 ence in the community, did not possess, the qualification of 
 residence. 
 
 VI. The language of the charter is, that " the college in 
 Cambridge shall be a corporation, consisting of seven persons." 
 The word, college, is here used in its primary sense, to denote 
 a number of persons associated together for some common 
 purpose. This college, these individuals, are by the charter 
 constituted a Corporation. But the college, in the sense just 
 explained, is recognised by the charter only as being, and as 
 to be, in Cambridge. Conformably to the charter, it is in 
 Cambridge that those seven persons, forming the Corporation, 
 ought to be found. This, so far from being a forced sense of 
 the words, as has been said, is the only sense which the words 
 admit. But if the meaning were doubtful, that which has 
 been stated vould be proved true by the analogy of the Eng- 
 lish colleges ; in regard to which, it was never imagined that 
 the corporation, having the government of the college (in the 
 more extensive sense of that word), could reside in any other 
 place, than where the college buildings are situated, and the 
 work of instruction carried on. Still more, the word, colhge^ 
 was used in the charter not merely in what is its primary 
 sense ; but the nature of the instrument admits no doubt, that 
 it was used in its technical sense, before explained, namely, as 
 denoting a corporation, the members of which are collected 
 
XI 
 
 together in the same place. But if this be so, the intention 
 of the charter respecting the residence of members of the 
 Corporation is determined. 
 
 Vll. It cannot be beheved, that it was the intention of 
 the framers of the charter, that in any case, the ivhole col- 
 lege, constituting the Corporation, or, in more familiar lan- 
 guage, all the governors of the college, might be non-resident. 
 Such a form of government would have been entirely without 
 precedent ; while, on the contrary, according to what is con- 
 ceived to be the only proper mode of understanding the char- 
 ter, its framers designed, as v/e should naturally suppose, to 
 conform to the mode of government established in the 
 English colleges, with which they were well acquainted. 
 In the exercise of common good sense, they could never have 
 intended, that, as regards residence, the only qualification of 
 fellows of the college and members of the Corporation, should 
 be inhabitance in some part of the province, though this has 
 been maintained. If all the members of the Corporation 
 were non-resident, it does not appear possible, that they 
 should exercise their powers in any proper manner. At 
 present, all except one are non-resident ; but the necessity 
 of the residence of one is admitted. But unless all the mem- 
 bers of the Corporation are bound to residence by the char- 
 ter, no one of them is bound to residence. If the fellows are 
 not bound to residence, still less is the Treasurer or President ; 
 and strange as it may appear at the present day, we find 
 among other departures from the intention of the charter, 
 which began to occur at an early period, the case of a non-res- 
 ident President. The office of President was held by the 
 Rev. Increase Mather, while at the same time he was a cler- 
 gyman in Boston, till the abuse was corrected in 1701, by 
 the interposition of the General Court.* It would have been 
 
 * It is thus that this fact is stated by his son, Cotton Mather : " There 
 were some Disaffected Men who for some reasons [God knoivs ^^hat they 
 
XI 1 
 
 ti singular oversight in the incorporation of a college, if the 
 act were so framed, that all the members of this corporation 
 might be non-resident ; and it is an oversight, with which, if 
 there be any force in the preceding arguments, the framers 
 of the charter are not to be charged. 
 
 yilL If the arguments stated left the intention of the charter 
 uncertain, this uncertainty would be removed, as is beheved, 
 by the explanation of the whole government of the then Prov- 
 ince in the year 1722. It is unnecessary to repeat the his- 
 tory of the controversy, by which the subject was brought 
 before the General Court. But in that year, a joint commit- 
 tee of the Council, and of the House of Assembly, made a 
 report, of which the first article was the following : '• That it 
 was the intent of the said college charter, that the tutors of 
 the said college, or such as have the instruction and govern- 
 ment of the students, should be the fellows and members of the 
 Corporation of said college, provided they exceeded not five 
 in number." * This report was accepted by the House of As- 
 sembly, and " it was ordered, that the Corporation for the 
 future practise accordingly." The order was concurred in 
 by the Council, and the Governor gave his assent to it, with 
 the proviso, however, that the three individuals, who were at 
 that time non-resident members of the Corporation, should not 
 be removed by said order. The contest between the Gover- 
 nor and House of Assembly respecting this proviso, finally 
 prevented the order from being enacted ; though the House 
 of Assembly unanimously passed the same resolution again, 
 the next year. The preceding statement shows in what man- 
 
 were] were willing to have the college taken out of Dr Mather's hands. To 
 accomplish it, they obtained a vote, which appeared of a Plausible Aspect; 
 That no man should act as President of the college, who did not reside at Cam- 
 bridge." Remarkahles of Increase Mather, p. 173. 
 
 * For a full account of this transaction, see memorial, p, 16 seqq. and 
 Professor Everett's Letter to John Lowell Esq. p. 75 seqq. 
 
Xlll 
 
 ner the charter was at this time understood. The committee 
 by which the report was made, consisted of ten members, in- 
 cluding men of the first eminence in the Province, and of the 
 highest legal distinction. At the period in question, the early 
 records of the college, which have since been lost, are known 
 to have been in existence ; and the early history of the college 
 was f''e:h in men's knowledge. 
 
 To the preceding arguments respecting the intention of 
 the charter, I am aware of but two objections, which may be 
 regarded as of any weight, beside those already incidentally 
 noticed. The reasoning supposed to bear against the mem.o- 
 rial of the resident instructers, has been principally directed, as 
 I have before observed, against a proposition not maintained by 
 them, namely, ' that residence is at the present day a neces- 
 sary legal qualification for holding a seat in the Corporation.' 
 In regard to the meaning of the charter, it has been said, that 
 the term ' fellow ' in this instrumxCnt may be used merely in 
 the sense of member, that is, member of the body constituted, 
 namely, the Corporation. But most of the arguments, 
 before stated, bear directly against this supposition ; and 
 to these we may add the following. The universal sense of 
 the word, in all other writings, when applied to any one con- 
 cerned in the government of a college, was undoubtedly 
 different. According to the supposition just stated, it is used 
 in two different senses in the body of the charter and its pre- 
 amble. Such a use of the word in relation to the subject in 
 hand, must have created strange ambiguity and confusion. 
 And, further, the term ' President and Fellows of Harvard 
 College' is fo the present day the style of the Corporation j 
 but this was a term in use before the charter, (as appears, 
 among other evidence, from the preamble to this instrument,) 
 and subsequently to it, for a considerable number of years, in a 
 manner which puts it beyond dispute, that by ' fellow,' as thus 
 
XIV 
 
 used, was intended a resident member of the college, deriv- 
 ing maintenance from its revenues. 
 
 The other objection supposes, that Samuel Danforth, one of 
 the fellows named in the charter, ceased, soon after it was 
 given, to be resident, but still continued to be a fellow. That 
 he ceased to be resident, is agreed. Whether or not he con- 
 tinued to be a fellow, is disputed. But admitting that he did 
 so, the fact seems to be of no force to explain or set aside 
 the intent of the charter. The statutes of the English col- 
 leges, which have been examined, impose on fellows the ob- 
 ligation of residence ; yet this obligation is very commonly 
 dispensed with. There is no proof, that if Danforth contin- 
 ued nominally a fellow, he took any part in the government 
 of the college as such, any more than the non-resident fellows 
 of an English college. The fact of his remaining nominally 
 a fellow, if it could be established, might be easily explained 
 by the probable supposition, that w'hen he ceased to be res- 
 ident, there were, at this early period, not more than four 
 resident fellows remaining; but the charter requiring the 
 number of five fellows in the Corporation, and there being no 
 one to fill his seat, if vacated, he still nominally retained it. 
 The case, if it occurred, is to be considered not as an explan- 
 ation of the charter, the meaning of which is proved by 
 other evidence ; butmerely as a dispensation from the establish- 
 ed rule, occasioned by accidental circumstances. In order to 
 bring the case of Danforth to have any bearing upon that of 
 the present non-resident members of the Corporation, positive 
 proof is required not merely that he remained nominally a 
 fellow ; but, still more, positive proof, which no *one has at- 
 tempted to adduce, that he continued to take a share in the 
 government of the college, as a member of the Corporation. 
 
 Relying, therefore, upon arguments such as have been 
 stated, and upon other subsidiary proofs, the memorialists be- 
 lieved that it was the intention of the charter, that the Corpo- 
 
ration should be composed of resident officers of the college. 
 Thej believed at the same time, that the good of the college 
 required a fundamental change in the mode of its govern- 
 ment ; and they thought, that bringing into view the intention 
 of the charter, v^^ould be the least invidious mode of suggest- 
 ing the propriety of such a change. Whether, upon the 
 supposition, that there was no legal obligation to restore the 
 government of the college to the form intended by the char- 
 ter ; this form, in itself considered, were on the whole prefer- 
 able, was a question, which they regarded as left open for 
 discussion. For myself, I am not confident, that it would be 
 the best mode of reducing to practice the principles, which 
 it has been my object to maintain. I have had no call to 
 consider the subject with sufficient attention ; nor have I been 
 assisted in forming a judgment, by any opposing statements or 
 arguments, which seemed to me to have much bearing upon 
 the question, when properly understood ; and I am unwilling 
 to add another to the hasty opinions, which have been 
 made up on partial knowledge and imperfect views. 
 
 In the following speech, the principle is maintained, that 
 so far as the college is to be regarded under the aspect of a 
 literary institution, its resident instructers should, in the first 
 instance, be its governors. The most important conclusion 
 from this general principle is, that they should have the 
 power of originating all laws respecting its instruction and 
 discipline. But another important consequence flowing from 
 it, is, that they should have the power of nominating to all 
 offices of instruction and discipline. The principle stated will 
 be imperfectly applied, unless it be followed out to this result. 
 I will not here repeat the arguments upon this point, which 
 may be found briefly stated in the subsequent pages; but will 
 add a few remarks. If the resident instructers are to be 
 made responsible, as they ought to be, for the literary and 
 moral character of the institution, they should have the privi- 
 
XVI 
 
 lege of naming those whom thej would choose as their asso_ 
 ciates, to carry on with them the work of discipline and 
 Instruction. Holding the relation which they do to the college, 
 the' resident instructers are the proper depositaries of all 
 power, necessary to form the moral and literary character of 
 the institution. No privilege, therefore, which may be exer- 
 cised by them with as much advantage as by any other body 
 of men. should be taken from them, and given to other indi- 
 viduals. To transfer from them to six non-resident gentle- 
 men any power, which the former are capable of exercising 
 with equal benefit to the college, is to degrade their offices, 
 and to lay all those who may hold them under a standing 
 imputation of incapacity. The resident instructers have a 
 personal and peculiar concern in the prosperity of the institu- 
 tion, which, from the nature of the case, cannot be felt by 
 others. They are bound to it, not merely by public duty, 
 but by private interest. The desire of its prosperity and 
 deputation, which in them must be so active a feeling, would 
 always induce them to be very careful in selecting not merely 
 a proper candidate, but the most proper candidate for any 
 office. Their personal interest in making the college as dis- 
 tinguished and useful as possible, would act in constant oppo- 
 sition to any improper motive or bias. Operating generally 
 through the whole body, it would serve effectually to coun- 
 teract any particular influence from individual prejudice, 
 partiality, acquaintance, friendship, connexion, or from any 
 less excusable motive. When the relation between a patron 
 and a candidate for office is such, that the former will be 
 affected neither in his interest nor reputation by the manner 
 in which the latter may perform the duties assigned him ; 
 men are very liable to be influenced by other considerations 
 than a mere regard to the superior fitness of the candidate. 
 The door is left open, through which all the evils of patron- 
 age enter, those evils which in older countries have been felt 
 
XVll 
 
 so severely, in the misapplication of public ^vealth and of 
 public charities, and in the perversion and degradation of 
 their institutions. But on the other hand, when those who 
 have the power of nominating to an ottice, have themselves 
 a stronger personal interest than any other individuals, that 
 its duties should be properly discharged, there is then every 
 security that the power will be properly exercised. 
 
 There is another principle in the government of an institu- 
 tion like the college, intimately connected with that already 
 stated. The resident instructers should be not merely the 
 primary depositaries of the power necessary to its good 
 management ; they should receive of the honor w^iich 
 may properly belong to the institution. Its reputation 
 cannot be unappropriated, nor attach itself to the abstract 
 idea of a college ; it belongs, in the nature of things, to indi- 
 viduals ; and the more clearly and definitely it attaches to 
 certain individuals, the better. But the resident instructers 
 are marked out by every circumstance as the proper repre- 
 sentatives of the college ; with whose offices all the honor due 
 to the institution ought to be associated. No other body 
 should intervene, as at present, to obscure them from public 
 view ; and to take from their offices, the rank and respecta- 
 bility which should be connected with them. But the 
 present representatives of the college are six non-resident 
 gentlemen and one resident officer. They constitute its Cor- 
 poration. They are its governors. The resident instructers 
 have been called their servants ; and the name, perhaps, 
 may express the relation ivhich actually exists between these 
 two bodies ; but certainly does not correspond to the state of 
 things which ought to exist. The station of master is one 
 of more honor and dignity than that of servant ; but in a 
 literary institution there should be no offices of more honor 
 or dignity, than those given to the literary men who are its 
 instructers. They, indeed, should be the servants of the pub- 
 3 
 
XVlll 
 
 lie, but not of any ' other body of men. An opposite state of 
 things, however, now exists ; for the members of the Corpo- 
 ration, as that body is constituted, cannot be considered as 
 representatives of the public. 
 
 If the college were without permanent funds ; if its instruct- 
 ers had associated themselves together, and depended for their 
 remuneration upon the fees received from their pupils ; it would 
 enter no one's imagination, that they would be enabled to man- 
 age the institution more prosperously by putting themselves un- 
 der the government of certain gentlemen, taken from the com- 
 munity at large, to whom they should transfer the whole con- 
 trol of the college ; leaving to the judgment of those gentlemen 
 the direction of its studies, the regulation of its modes of in- 
 struction and discipline, and the appointment of their future 
 associates. The proposal would be regarded as unworthy 
 of serious discussion. Let us, however, apply the prin- 
 ciple to a particular case. If the instructers of the ad- 
 mirable seminary, lately established at Northampton, should, 
 for the purpose of rendering the institution more flourish- 
 ing, procure the incorporation of a number of gentlemen 
 from the neighbouring towns, to take the control of its studies 
 and discipline off their hands, there would be no difference 
 of opinion respecting the wisdom of such a project. In what 
 respects, then, does the case of the college diff*er from that of 
 such an institution ? It differs in one very important particu- 
 lar alone. Its instructers are supported, in part, by perma- 
 nent funds provided by the community, or by individuals for 
 the benefit of the community. It belongs to the community, 
 therefore, to see that these funds are not misused. At the 
 same time, a certain amount of salary being secured to a res- 
 ident instructer, a part of that stimulus to exertion is removed, 
 which w^ould arise merely from a regard to pecuniary emol- 
 ument, if this depended solely upon the reputation of the 
 
XIX 
 
 institution, or of the teacher.* It is proper, therefore, that 
 the college should be subject to a special and peculiar super- 
 vision and control on the part of the community. If its officers, 
 like those of the school at Northampton, depended for their 
 remuneration, solely upon the success of their own exertions 
 in rendering the institution such, as that pupils might be led to 
 resort to it, there would be as little necessity for the special 
 supervision of the community in the one case, as in the other. 
 As the state of things now is, the government of the college 
 should be under the oversight and control of the public ; but 
 the question still recurs, who under such control should be its 
 governors ; and upon this question, the difference between the 
 
 * It may be observed, however, that all the stimulus to exertion, from a 
 .regard to pecuniary emolument, which it is desirable should exist, might be 
 easily obtained, by fixing at a much lower sum, than at present, the perma- 
 nent salary of an instructer ; and making its increase within certain limits, or 
 indefinitely, depend upon the amount of tuition money, received from the 
 students of the college; the tuition monc^/, either wholly or in part, being 
 shared among the instructers in proper proportions, conformed to the difF«r- 
 ence of their permanent salaries. With the plan, however, of allowing to 
 the students a greater choice among various studies, has been connected 
 another proposal, having the same object with that which I have just sug- 
 gested, namely, that the emolument of each instructer, wholly, or in part, 
 should depend on fees, received from his ov%mi particular pupils. To this there 
 are various objections ; but a decisive one in my mind is, that it would tend 
 directly t® produce competition, jealousy, and ill will among the instructers ; 
 and thus, beside other evils^ be of essential iojury to the college, by prevent- 
 ing all common action among them to promote its good. On the other 
 hand, the plan suggested would give all the instructers a common interest 
 in raising the character of the institution, so as to increase the number of its 
 students. Every instructer would be concerned, that every other should 
 hold a high rank, and perform his duties with faithfulness and ability. I may 
 here add, that if such a plan were adopted, I suppose no one would doubt, 
 that the instructers should have the power of nominating their associates. It 
 would then be a matter of justice to them, that they should have this power. 
 But as regards simply the prosperity of the college, there are now the same 
 reasons, why they should exercise it, as there would be in the case supposed 
 
XX 
 
 two institutions, in the particular just mentioned, has no bear- 
 ing. It would not be thought a wise measure, to take the gov- 
 ernment of the seminary at Northampton from its resident 
 instructers ; why then, I would ask, is the government of the 
 college, in regard to its modes of discipline and instruction, tak- 
 en from its resident instructers ? What hope is there that a 
 procedure, which every one would apprehend might be ruinous 
 in the former instance, will, in the latter, conduce to the rep- 
 utation and usefulness of the institution ? 
 
 But when we speak of oversight or control, we must recol- 
 lect, that it should be exercised on a broad and liberal plan ; 
 with a prevaihng sentiment of generous and proper confidence 
 in the resident instructers ; such confidence as ought to be 
 felt in them, if they are qualified for their offices. When we 
 speak of responsibility, we must recollect that their responsi- 
 bihty, in the nature of things, Hke that of all other men in 
 public office, is to the pubhc alone ; and not to a small number 
 of individuals. Nothing could be devised more injurious to 
 the college, than to subject them to the minute, vexatious over- 
 sight of one, or of some half-dozen persons, exercising a 
 visitatorial power. What man of honorable feelings would 
 submit to place himself in a situation, in which a few individ- 
 uals, not his superiors in age, in talents, in morals, nor in any 
 claim upon the respect of society, were to see that he did his 
 duty ? No such oversight has been exercised, and none 
 such, I trust, ever will be attempted. The supervision required 
 is that of a numerous, popular body, so constituted as to 
 represent the community ; composed, in great part at least, of 
 members elected by the community, and elected from differ- 
 ent portions of the state. The Overseers of the college are 
 such a body. But the difficult}^, at present, is, that they, the 
 proper representatives of the public, are hardly brought into 
 any connexion with the resident instructers, the proper re- 
 presentatives of the college. They are, and they will be, 
 
XXI 
 
 separated from each other, by the intervention of the Corpo- 
 ration, so long as this body, constituted as at present, ex- 
 ercises its present authority. The Corporation has gradual- 
 ly come to be considered as having at once the government 
 and the oversight of the college ; and any proper exercise on 
 the part of the Overseers, of the power which their name implies, 
 would almost assume the character of an interference. This 
 must be the case, so long as the resident instructers are con- 
 sidered as ministerial officers, under the direction of the Cor- 
 poration ; for it follows from this, that it is to the latter body, 
 that these officers are accountable. The administration of the 
 college being divided, as at present, between two bodies, the 
 one constituted of its real governors, who legislate for the 
 other body, which is composed of those whose business is 
 merely to execute their laws, there is such a divided repon- 
 sibility for the state of the college, that no clear and definite 
 object of supervision presents itself to the Overseers in the 
 regular course of business. Every thing eludes their grasp. 
 But unite in the resident instructers the powers which 
 have been thus disjoined, and a body of men would exist, 
 to whom the public now naturally look as responsible for the 
 state of the college ; and who would then be fully and 
 solely responsible for it. The Overseers would know, at once, 
 where to direct their attention, when any evil or any complaint 
 existed. Having a well defined and practicable duty to per- 
 form, there can be no doubt that they would perform it ; and 
 that their relation to the college would be very different from 
 what it has been. The general state of the institution might, 
 for instance, once a year, or oftener if occasion should require, 
 be made a subject of discussion. The opinions of gentlemen 
 from different parts of the state, with different views and feel- 
 ings, might be collected. Complaints might be publicly 
 brought forward. Committees might be appointed to examine 
 whether they were well or ill founded. If without foundation, 
 
XXli 
 
 the college would be exculpated and vindicated by the repre- 
 sentatives of the public. If well founded, the evil would be 
 remedied bj their interference. Instead likewise of the pres- 
 ent nugatory show of literary examinations into the proficiency 
 of the students, real, effective examinations, like those of the 
 military academy at West Point, might be instituted by the 
 Overseers ; and the literary state of the college thus constant- 
 ly laid open to public inspection. 
 
 But it is n-ot merely through this constant inspection for 
 the purpose of correcting evils, that the college might derive 
 advantage from its peculiar connexion with the state. This 
 connexion is a great honor, and might in other respects than 
 those mentioned, be of great benefit. It is most desirable 
 that the community should regard the college as its care. It 
 is most desirable that its instructers should always feel that 
 they are acting in the view of the public, responsible to their 
 fellow citizens and to them alone ; and that they are to re- 
 ceive a great part of their reward in public approbation. It 
 is through the Overseers, as representatives of the public, that 
 the instructers may properly be encouraged, animated, 
 and applauded. It would be v,dth very different feelings 
 from what he has at present, that a literary man would per- 
 form the duties of his office at Cambridge, if he knew that the 
 college was a constant object of public interest, and a prop- 
 er object of public regard ; that on him and his associaties, 
 the public attention was steadily directed ; and that his exer- 
 tions and services would be known and fairly estimated. 
 
 In order to render the college, such an institution as it 
 may become, prosperous and useful, as it is capable of being, 
 measures must, in the first place, be taken to secure as its in- 
 structers, men of the first talents, the soundest learning, the 
 purest morals, and the deepest sense of religion. To this end, 
 the offices of the resident instructers must be such, that men 
 ef the character described will be willing to accept and will- 
 
XXUl 
 
 ing to retain them. They must be offices of dignity and trust ; 
 affording to those who hold them, full opportunity of making 
 the best use of their abilities for the good of the institution. 
 In the next place, the instructers thus secured must not be 
 subjected, as mere ministerial officers, to the direction of other 
 individuals, who are in comparison, but remotely connected 
 with the college, and imperfectly acquainted with its interests. 
 The institution will flourish then, and then only, when such 
 men as have been described are made responsible to the 
 public for its prosperity, and have all the power and honor, 
 which should accompany this responsibility. 
 
 It may be proper to observe, that I have as little private 
 interest in the topics discussed in what precedes and follows, 
 ds any individual in the community. This is known to those 
 who are acquainted with the nature of my connexion with the 
 college. My interest arises from a strong concern for the 
 welfare of an institution, which all must regard as having a 
 most important influence upon the intellectual and moral state 
 of our community ; from a conviction, that its present system 
 of government has been essentially injurious ; and that by 
 changing this system, its growth in reputation and usefulness 
 might, in the course of a few years, advance with a rapidity, 
 which one would be thought sanguine and extravagant, if he 
 should now predict. With the good sense and habits of free 
 discussion, which prevail among us ; if the principles which 
 have been stated be correct, however circumstances may 
 prevent their being acknowledged at present, they will in 
 time be adopted and acted upon. The great point to be 
 gained is to awaken public attention ; and to make the com- 
 munity feel the interest which they have in the subject in 
 discussion. 
 
SPEECH. 
 
 May it please your Honor. 
 My object in appearing before this Reverend and Honor- 
 able Board, is to explain the motives and purposes of the 
 memorialists in presenting the paper under consideration ; and 
 the circumstances which led them to take the course which 
 Ihej have done. They believe that the fact has been estab- 
 lished, that in the first institution of the college, and for a 
 Considerable number of years subsequent, certain powers 
 were vested in the resident instructers, as members of the 
 Corporation, which they do not now possess. The exercise of 
 some of these powers by the resident instructers, they regard 
 as essential to the prosperity of the college. But the partic- 
 ular change in the mode of constituting the government of 
 the college, to which the paper in question would seem to lead, 
 is merely one form of introducing that change in the state of 
 the institution which the memorialists deem important. I shall, 
 therefore, endeavour to explain what are the essential features 
 of the change which the present state of things requires, and the 
 grounds upon which this change is considered necessary to the 
 prosperity of the institution. I am confident that the great ma- 
 jority of the gentlemen whom I have the honor to address, have 
 butone feeling in regard to thecollege— adesireof its prosperity. 
 This must be the desire of every man, who regards the honor 
 and interests of our native state, the memory of our ancestors, 
 and the happiness and virtue of our children. In this feeling, 
 therefore, which alone would have induced me, contrary to 
 all my usual habits of life, to appear in this place, I am secure 
 of your sympathy. I am, I trust, secure of your attention ; 
 and that any considerations, which 1 may present, will be al- 
 lo^'ed their fall weight, even though, from the noveltv of the 
 1 
 
2 
 
 situation in which I find myself placed, and the short time 
 which has been allowed for preparation, they may be imper- 
 fectly stated. 
 
 Concerning the whole subject which has been before this 
 Board, relating to the condition and interests of the college, 
 the great body of the community have but a very imperfect 
 and partial degree of information. The course of policy 
 which has been pursued, as is generally known, has been to 
 keep the concerns of the institution as much as possible out 
 of view, and to prevent them from being brought into public 
 discussion. The real state of things is, in many respects, 
 essentially different from what appearances might lead one 
 to suppose or expect. I will venture to say, therefore, that if 
 any gentleman know no more respecting the concerns and in- 
 terests of the college, than what has appeared and been stated 
 in the course of the discussions respecting this subject, his 
 •view must of necessity be exterior, partial, and erroneous. 
 I, therefore, do not despair of being able to open some new 
 views to the gentlemen whom I have the honor to address, 
 which they may agree with me in thinking to deserve atten- 
 tion. From long connexion with the college, and from being 
 personally acquainted with all the late measures, both in 
 and out of the government, which have led to the present 
 discussions, I have had some peculiar opportunities for inform- 
 ation. I shall be very open and explicit ; for the present 
 occasion requires great openness and explicitness. The 
 memorialists have been brought to a point, where they can 
 defend their own characters, and maintain the best interests of 
 the college, only by a more full and naked exhibition of facts and 
 truths, than has yet been made. At the same time, as I ap- 
 pear in this place merely from public motives, and am not 
 influenced by the slightest feeling of personal ill will toward 
 any individual ; so I shall be very careful not to give any 
 individual reasonable cause of offence. I shall be equally 
 solicitous not to give unnecessary pain to any one ; and to 
 the latter consideration shall be willing to sacrifice, in some 
 degree, the strength of my statements. Enough, I believe, 
 may still be said to produce every desirable effect. If, how- 
 ever, with all the care which I may use, I should yet be so 
 unfortunate as to give personal offence, I must regard it as a 
 misfortune, which the circumstances of the case have necessa- 
 rily brought upon me. 
 
In order to place the purposes and conduct of the memorial- 
 ists in a just point of view, it is necessary, in the first place, 
 to give some account of the course of events, which has imme- 
 diately led to the present discussions before this Reverend and 
 Honorable Body. It is well known to many, that for a con- 
 siderable number of years past, great dissatisfaction with the 
 condition of the college has existed in the minds of the resi- 
 dent officers, and others who have had an opportunity for a 
 near view of its real state. In the summer of 1821, that is, 
 about four years and a half since, a paper was drawn up by a 
 highly respectable officer of the institution in the form of a let- 
 ter to a member of the Corporation, containing a statement of 
 some of the evils which existed, accompanied with proposals of 
 remedy and reform. This communication, taken in connex- 
 ion with the prevailing dissatisfaction with the state of the 
 college, led the Corporation to direct their attention to the sub- 
 ject. A circular letter addressed to the resident instructers, 
 and to one instructer not resident, (I am uncertain whether to 
 any others,) was accordingly issued by them, dated in Septem- 
 ber 1821. It filled seven closely written folio pages, and 
 contained a great variety of questions, respecting the discipline, 
 instruction, and morals of the students, to which answers were 
 requested. Rephes were given by most of the gendemen 
 addressed, as soon as practicable, some of them entering into the 
 subject much at length. These replies were referred to a com- 
 mittee of the Corporation ; and, that body having apparently by 
 its proceedings pledged itself to undertake a reform, it was 
 confidently expected by some, that important changes would 
 be introduced. Nothing, however, was done except promul- 
 gating some regulations respecting the expenses and dress of 
 the students. With this exception, the whole business was 
 suffered to sleep. In the summer of 1823, two years after 
 the subject had been first agitated ; when it had become 
 apparent that no effectual measures were to be expected from 
 the Corporation, the only body, which, according to the 
 usages of the college, exercised the power of originating any 
 measure, the feeling of discontent with the existing state of 
 things, which had been in some degree suspended by the hope 
 of improvement, again recovered strength. It was determined 
 by some gentlemen, with the full consent and approbation of 
 those resident officers, who were acquainted with the design. 
 
4 
 
 to endeavour to bring the subject before your Honorable 
 Body. They looked to you as to the last hope of the institution. 
 In July 1823, several gentlemen were accordingly requested 
 to meet in Boston at the house of a distinguished officer of the 
 college. The gentlemen, thus called together, met, to the num- 
 ber of nine ; but unfortunately there was no resident officer of 
 the college among the number invited. The gentlemen how- 
 ever, who composed this meeting, discussed the nature of the 
 improvements and changes, which the institution was thought 
 by them to require, and determined to use proper measures to 
 procure the appointment of a committee of your Honorable 
 Body, for the purpose of recommending to the Overseers the 
 plan which had been agreed upon. Such a committee v/as 
 appointed, of which the Hon. Judge Story was the chairman. 
 Immediately after the appointment of this committee, 1 took 
 the liberty of addressing a letter to the chairman, in which I 
 strongly urged the importance of consulting the resident in- 
 structers respecting those changes which would most conduce 
 to the good of the college ; of cooperating with them ; and of 
 taking advantage of their knowledge and judgment respecting 
 the institution, and their deep concern in its prosperity. His 
 answer was satisfactory. But there was, notwithstanding, no 
 communication whatever between your committee and the 
 resident instructers, on the subject of their report. It was 
 not seen, nor were its features known by any one of them, 
 before it appeared in print. I have, during the present session 
 of the General Court, received a message from the chairman 
 of that committee, stating, that before offering the report in 
 question, he had believed that it had been seen by the resident 
 instructers and had met their approbation ; and that particu- 
 larly he had expected my support. My opinion of the report 
 has already been publicly expressed ;* and the character of 
 the proposals it contains is of such a nature, that I feel confi- 
 dent, that every one, having any practical acquaintance with 
 the concerns of the college— any one who is, or who has been, 
 a resident officer of the institution, will concur with me gene- 
 rally in that opinion. I must regret that the Hon. Chairman 
 
 * In ' Remarks on a Report of a Committee of the Overseers of Harvard 
 College : By one lately a Member of the Immediate Government of the 
 College.' 
 
of your committee, after finding that he had been misinformed 
 upon so very material a point, as the approbation or acquies- 
 cence of the resident instructers, did not mistrust his informa- 
 tion upon other subjects, concerning which it was not so easy 
 to ascertain the truth. 
 
 Before, however, this report was presented, sometime in the 
 summer of 1823, the gentleman who has just addressed you, 
 Professor Everett, was led to some inquiries respecting the 
 early history of the college. In pursuing these inquiries, he 
 was brought to the conclusion, which, I must profess, that to 
 my mind he has fully established, that residence was origin- 
 ally a qualification for fellowship ; and that conformably to the 
 charter, and to a rule, which however sometimes disregarded 
 from the necessity of the times or other circumstances, 
 was recognised by the whole government of the state, in 
 the year 1722, as in full authority, the Corporation ought 
 to consist of fellows, that is, of resident officers of the college. 
 He drew up a paper, containing a statement of historical facts, 
 relating to the subject, which, in the first instance, he commu- 
 nicated to the President of the College. It was in his hands 
 for several months. When returned by him, sometime about 
 the beginning of the last year, Professor Everett sent it to me 
 for perusal. I thought the facts it contained important and 
 curious, and the arguments forcible, and advised its publica- 
 tion ; for I had then begun to despair of any essential change 
 for the better in the condition of the college, except by direct- 
 ing the public attention strongly upon the subject, and making 
 its concerns a topic of public discussion. It was thought, 
 however, on the whole, advisable to pursue a different course. 
 Though the paper had been so long in the hands of the Pres- 
 ident of the Corporation ; yet, as it regarded the constitution 
 of that body, it was deemed most respectful to its members 
 to lay it formally before them. Accordingly, after it had 
 been communicated to most of the resident instructers, in- 
 dividually, they held several meetings, and when the paper 
 had been in some respects modified, determined to present it 
 with their signatures to the Corporation. Their motives and 
 purposes in doing this, I shall, in a few minutes, endeavour to 
 explain, and as I hope, so as to satisfy this Honorable Body, 
 that they have been greatly misunderstood. I will here only 
 observe, that it had, for a long time, been the earnest wish of 
 
6 
 
 many of the resident instructers, that they should be so repre- 
 sented in the Corporation, as to possess some influence in the 
 management of the concerns of the college ; some power of 
 applying remedies to those evils, and of supplying those de- 
 fects, which no men in the community were so well acquaint- 
 ed with, or felt so strongly. The propriety, the advantage, the 
 necessity for the good of the college, of admitting two other 
 members of the Immediate Government, beside the President, 
 into the Corporation, had been pressed upon the attention of 
 different individuals of the latter body, for years before the 
 memorial was presented. Such a proposal had been urged, 
 long before his lamented death, by my friend Professor Fris- 
 bie. The same, or a similar proposal, had been brought for- 
 ward, and argued at length, in the answers of two of the resi- 
 dent instructers to the questions of the Corporation, issued in 
 1821, though these questions afforded no opportunity for in- 
 troducing it. I need not particularize other instances in which 
 it was brought before the notice of that body, or of individual 
 members of that body. But it had been understood, that a 
 door of perpetual exclusion was closed against every resident 
 officer ; and that, consequently, no effectual means would ever 
 be afforded them of raising the character of the institution, 
 with which they were the persons most intimately connected, 
 by procuring the adoption of those measures which its condi- 
 tion demanded. 
 
 This being the state of things, they thought that the pre- 
 senting of the paper in question, would at least lead to a 
 discussion of the whole subject with the Corporation ; which 
 might terminate in some result satisfactory to both parties. 
 The Corporation, however, decUned acting in any manner 
 whatever. But it was understood, that the election of any 
 resident officer, as one of their body, had been rendered, if 
 possible, more hopeless than before, because such election 
 might now, it was thought, seem to imply the recognition of a 
 legal right, on the part of resident instructers, to seats in 
 the Corporation. This supposed claim of a strictly legal 
 right by the resident instructers was likewise assigned by the 
 Corporation, as a reason for taking no order whatever upon 
 the su])ject of the memorial. When this cause was assigned 
 by them to the resident instructers, all intention of urging their 
 claim as a matter of legal right, was promptly and explicitly 
 
disavowed in an answer* to the paper, in which the suggestion 
 was made. It is unfortunate, perhaps, that the word, right, 
 was used in their memorial 5 but either in the strict or the pop- 
 ular sense of that term, every one knows that there are other 
 rights beside those which may be vindicated in a court of 
 law. I will make a further concession. Upon looking over 
 the different papers upon this subject, I am ready to allow, 
 that there seems to me, in some expressions, a want of per- 
 fect consistency of language ; though, perhaps, all the lan- 
 guage used admits of being reconciled by some liberaUty of 
 construction. The subject was a new and difficult one, having 
 many bearings ; and it is not strange, if it was not at first 
 clearly and fully comprehended in all its parts and relations. 
 But if the supposition of a proper legal claim had been the 
 only obstacle, which prevented the Corporation from attend- 
 ding to the representations and wishes of the resident instruc- 
 ters, it was an obstacle, I am certain, which might very easily 
 have been removed. 
 
 At the same time when their memorial was signed by the 
 resident instructers, another paper was drawn up, originally 
 intended to be connected with it; containing the reasons 
 from expediency for the change proposed ; or, what is the 
 same thing in other words, an exposition of the motives which 
 had induced the resident instructers to desire such a change. 
 I have always regretted that this paper was not actually pre- 
 sented, as I think it would have contributed essentially to 
 prevent any misconception of the purposes of the resi- 
 dent instructers. It was withheld solely from motives of 
 delicacy to the Corporation ; for though the evils resulting 
 from the existing constitution of the government of the col- 
 lege were imputed, as they ought to be, to the very nature of 
 this constitution ; yet it was feared that their exhibition might 
 give pain to those gentlemen who were in fact the governors. 
 
 The real object of the resident instructers, in all their pro- 
 ceedings, was to obtain such control over the discipline and 
 instruction of the college, as might enable them to introduce 
 those reforms and improvements which its condition required. 
 From the circumstances of their intimate connexion with the 
 college, their constant presence with it, and their consequent 
 full acquaintance with its concerns, they v/ere, and they are, 
 the only body capable of introducing such reforms and im- 
 provements. The resident instructers are, at the same time, 
 
8 
 
 more deeply and personally interested in the institution, thaa 
 any other individuals can be. But they have been wholly 
 destitute of the ability to effect any of those changes which 
 they might deem expedient or necessary to its prosperity. 
 Their real object was to obtain the power of originating the* 
 requisite laws and regulations. This power had hitherto re- 
 sided solely in the Corporation; and therefore they were 
 desirous that this body should be constituted of some of their 
 number, in part, or in whole. 
 
 But it will be said, that they might have asked for this 
 power to be given to them, as to a distinct body, without 
 urging any claim of right or expediency to admission as 
 members of the Corporation. It is true they might ; but the 
 power which they desired had for a long period resided in 
 the latter body. The most obvious course, therefore, was to 
 bring forward the grounds, on which they might expect ad- 
 mission for some of their number into that body. But there 
 are two further answers to be made. The one is, that the 
 proposal of transferring the power of originating laws respect- 
 ing the discipline and instruction of the college from the Cor- 
 poration to the resident instructers, did not occur to any one, 
 as I believe, till some time after the memorial was presented. 
 The other is, that if this proposal had actually been in the 
 mind of every gentleman who signed that memorial, and they 
 had been disposed to give it the preference, I believe that their 
 asking for this power, at that period, in the state of feeling, 
 and under the circumstances, which then existed, would have 
 been considered as a measure more unwarrantable, extraor- 
 dinary, and presumptuous, than the presenting of the memo- 
 rial has ever been represented to be by any of its op- 
 ponents. There has, without doubt, since that time, been 
 a great change of feeling and opinion in relation to this sub- 
 ject ; and it is one very important advantage, which has re- 
 sulted from its discussion. 
 
 The proposal that has been mentioned, however, connected 
 with some others, which, for myself, I think important, was 
 made at a subsequent period, at once with the hope of accom- 
 modating the differences between the Corporation and the 
 resident instructers ; and of obtaining for the latter those 
 powers, and that influence and consideration, which it is 
 essential to the interests of the college, that they should pos- 
 sess. In the beginning of last September, I had the honor 
 
9 
 
 of addressing a letter on this subject to a gentleman of the 
 highest eminence for his virtues and talents, a member of the 
 Corporation. As it will tend as much as any thing I can say, 
 to illustrate the purposes and views of the resident instructers, 
 I will take the liberty of reading a copy of some parts of it. 
 
 After some remarks upon the existing state of the college, 
 I proceeded to observe : 
 
 " Such as I have described, has appeared to me and to 
 other gentlemen resident here, to be the state of the college. 
 The unsatisfactory character of the whole institution, and 
 the daily evils resulting from the general state of things de- 
 scribed, have been for years pressing upon the attention of 
 the resident instructers. They have been most desirous of 
 applying some remedy, and of eftecting some beneficial change ; 
 but they have not the official power of originating any meas- 
 ure. They have seen the work of improvement undertaken 
 by gentlemen from without ; and plans proposed, which, it 
 seemed to them, were wholly inadequate to effect the purposes 
 intended. They could not but feel the strangeness of the 
 procedure, that such a work should be undertaken without 
 calling upon them for their cooperation ; and that even minute 
 regulations should be devised for them, touching the organ- 
 ization of the Immediate Government, by gentlemen without 
 any practical acquaintance with the subject ; — regulations 
 which, if at all competent to their offices, they surely were 
 competent to make for themselves ; and which, in truth, they 
 alone were competent to make. They have perceived the 
 business of reform passed from one hand to another, with a 
 continual accumulation of those misapprehensions and mis- 
 takes, to which persons of the best judgment must be ex- 
 posed, who come unprepared to so complicated and difficult a 
 subject, and have no leisure to make it a study. They have 
 believed, that nothing, or nothing useful, was likely to be thus 
 effected. But they were deeply interested in the college; 
 the existing state of things was to them a cause of constant 
 mortification and regret ; their reputations were at stake ; 
 they were called upon to act by a sense of duty ; they were 
 of necessity well acquainted with the subject ; and they might, 
 with no offence to modesty, think that their qualifications in 
 other respects, placed them on a level with those who were 
 devising plans for the improvement of the institution. They 
 2 
 
10 
 
 were desirous, therefore, of having themselves the official power 
 of originating and adopting such plans. It was under the in- 
 fluence of such views and motives, that they formerly wished, 
 that a portion of their number, who might serve, in some de- 
 gree, as representatives of the whole, should become members 
 of the Corporation, the only body which, according to usage, 
 has the power of originating any measure. That a part of 
 the Corporation should consist of other members of the Im- 
 mediate Government, besides the President, has been desired, 
 I know, for many years, and desired for reasons such as I 
 have explained. 
 
 " The state of things described has led to the presenting of 
 that paper which has been laid before the Corporation and 
 Overseers. As to the claim contained in it, there never was 
 any intention of urging it to a legal decision. As soon as 
 the possibility of such an intention was suggested, it was for- 
 mally and explicitly disavowed. But whatever might be the 
 legal view of the case, the resident instructers could not think, 
 that the original intention of the charter, that ancient and 
 long-continued usage, or that their almost unanimous and de- 
 cided expression of the necessity of some change in relation 
 to their own povv^ers, would be regarded as undeserving con- 
 sideration. How much consideration these things deserved,- 
 was left, in the first instance, to the judgment of the Corporation. 
 
 " It was with the desire of obtaining that power over the dis- 
 cipline and instruction of the college, which they believed, and 
 still believe, necessary to its prosperity, that they presented the 
 paper in question. Their motives, I believe, were as disinter- 
 ested and honorable as those by which any body of men was 
 ever influence(l ; though they were such as can hardly be 
 estimated by one, who has not felt for years the evil of the 
 present state of things. No one, upon a moment's considera- 
 tion, can suppose, that they were actuMed by a miserable 
 love of office ; and were willing to take such means, each for 
 his individual chance of obtaining it. They felt all the un- 
 pleasantness of the measure they were adopting ; and nothing 
 but a sense of existing evils, and the hope that this might afford 
 the means of providing a remedy, would have induced them 
 to adopt it.* 
 
 * I may here be permitted to add in a note, what, for obvious reasons, was 
 omitted in addressing the Overseers. 
 " The first signature to the paper is that of Dr Ware. I know no onC;- 
 
11 
 
 ■'' The resident officers did not desire that the Corporation 
 should be constituted in a certain manner, merely because 
 it was originally intended that it should be so constituted. 
 They would not have revived a dormant right, however clear 
 its existence, merely because such a right existed. The pa- 
 per, as regards its true character, is to be understood as a 
 very general and decided expression of the sense, entertained 
 hj the resident officers of the college, of the necessity of in- 
 creasing the power and influence of the members of the Im- 
 mediate Government, in order to the well-being of the institu- 
 tion. 
 
 " What increase of power, then, did the immediate officers 
 desire ? I answer, that their object was not to acquire the 
 control of the college funds ; nor the power of apportioning 
 their own salaries and duties; nor did they, as has been 
 erroneously stated, aim at establishing a ^ right to the exclu- 
 sive government of that seminary.' If the principles and 
 facts advanced in the memorial should be admitted in their 
 fullest extent and application, those resident officers who might 
 hecome members of the Corporation^ neither would nor could 
 acquire any such powers, as the gentlemen who signed that me- 
 morial have been charged with endeavouring to obtain. In con- 
 sequence of new modelling the Corporation, the body of 
 Overseers would not be annihilated. Every thing relating to 
 the college would still be subject to their approval, their su- 
 pervision, their control. They would retain all their present 
 powers ; and by the change proposed, these powers would 
 necessarily be brought into vigorous and useful action. Re* 
 garding the Corporation as, by this change, essentially iden- 
 
 more distinguished for his modesty, for his integrity, for his fairness of mind, 
 for his freedom from vulgar ambition, and for his scrupulous and almost ex- 
 cessive delicacy in acting, when he might suspect himself of an improper 
 motive. With his retired habits, he is one, not to seek after, but to avoid, 
 that notoriety, and those distinctions, which gratify most men's vanity. He 
 was of course the prominent candidate for any vacancy in the Corporation. 
 Such being the case, there is no doubt that he has put a force upon himself 
 in the part which he has taken ; and that he has acted, as he has done, only 
 because he felt it to be an imperative duty, to endeavour to effect some 
 change, for the better. The same may be said in different degrees, accord- 
 ing to the difference of circumstances, of the other gentlemen, by whom 
 that paper was presented, forming the great body of the resident in!JtruC' 
 ters of the college." 
 
12 
 
 tilled with the Immediate Government, there would exist? 
 were the change to take place, two bodies, the Overseers, the 
 representatives of the public, and the immediate governors 
 of the institution, acting wholl}^ under their control, and res- 
 ponsible, through them, to the pubUc. 1 do not perceive the 
 necessity of any other body, though there may be advantages 
 attending its existence. It is clear that the body of the 
 Overseers remaining, the resident instructers, though the 
 Corporation might be composed solely out of their number, 
 could not have the ' exclusive government ' of the college. 
 To take a particular instance, what would be the power which 
 those officers of the Immediate Government, who might be- 
 come members of the Corporation, would acquire in regard 
 to the apportionment of their own salaries ? It would be just 
 the same which a day laborer possesses, who has the power 
 of naming the sum, which he thinks his services worth. It 
 would be nothing more than this ; and the Overseers would 
 have the full power of his employer, the power of refusing 
 to grant that sum. Similar remarks might be made respect- 
 ing those other powers, with which it has been thought so 
 hazardous to trust resident officers. 
 
 " But I am persuaded that the resident instructers will be 
 fully satisfied, without even the semblance of those powers, 
 about which so much jealousy is felt. I believe they 
 would be satisfied, if, in the first place, the power should be 
 formally and fully conceded to them of originating and adopt- 
 ing such measures as they may deem proper for the reform 
 and improvement of the discipline and instruction of the col- 
 lege ; — if, in this respect, the Corporation should consider itself 
 merely as a board of control, having a negative upon their 
 proceedings. This is the power which the resident instruc- 
 ters have desired most earnestly ; and in wishing for it, they 
 have only wished to take upon themselves a burden. They 
 have only been desirous of going thoroughly about the per- 
 formance of a very difficult task, which it has become perfect- 
 ly evident, that no other men either will or can perform. It 
 has been attempted without even asking for their cooperation, 
 which, on the contrary, has been treated as something to be 
 carefully shunned. I should call this a strange anomaly, if 
 it were not for its consistency with the whole course of things 
 for some time past. 
 
IS 
 
 " Unreasonable and ambitious as the resident officers have 
 been represented, their main object has been to obtain this 
 privilege of laboring, this concession of a task, this burden of 
 responsibility, this permission of doing that for the college, 
 which their situation enables them, and enables them alone, 
 to effect. With this, however, I do not think, that they ought 
 to be content. The interests of literature, and the prosperity 
 of the college, require, that other powers should be granted 
 to its resident instructers. It seems to me in the highest 
 degree reasonable, that the further privilege should be con- 
 ceded to them of nominating to all vacancies in offices of 
 instruction or discipline. The reasons for granting them this 
 power of nomination are the following ; — because as a body 
 of literary men, they are the best judges of the qualifications 
 of literary men ; because, from various circumstances, they 
 are less likely than any other body of men to be affected by 
 other considerations than the real merit of the candidate ; 
 because as a matter of courtesy and due respect, they should 
 have the power of naming those whom they would choose as 
 their associates ; because the real effect of the present mode 
 of election is to give to the President of the College, a weight 
 of patronage, unfavourable to literature, because unfavoura- 
 ble to fair competition ; and for the further reason, that the 
 change proposed would add to their respectability, and render 
 their situations more desirable; and every thing which may 
 do this will tend to render the college more respectable, and 
 to promote the literature of the country, by rendering literary 
 distinctions more an object of ambition. 
 
 "With these changes, I think, still another should be made.^ 
 and that is the admission of two other members of the Imme- 
 diate Government into the Corporation, beside the President. 
 The power of laying the measures of the Immediate Govern- 
 ment before the Corporation, their reasons for those measures, 
 their views of the state of the college, and their proposals for 
 its improvement, should not rest merely with an individual, 
 who may differ in opinion from the majority of his colleagues. 
 To make him the only connecting link between these two 
 bodies, while, at the same time, he is President of both, the 
 only direct and official source, from which the Corporation 
 derive their knowledge and opinions respecting the concerns 
 and interests of the institution, is to give him a very unneces- 
 
14 
 
 sary and undue share of power. It is rendering the state of 
 the college much too dependent on the personal character of 
 an individual. The change proposed, like that last mention- 
 ed, would render the stations of the resident instructers more 
 respectable and desirable ^ while, on the other hand, the new 
 system of rigidly excluding them from the Corporation, sub- 
 jects them to a peculiar disability, by which they are distin- 
 guished from all other members of the community. 
 
 '' These changes, if adopted, would, I think, supersede the 
 necessity of any other fundamental change ; would satisfy, I 
 believe, the officers of the Immediate Government ; and, by 
 aitording the means of introducing other changes and improve- 
 ments, would render the college, in a few years, a very differ- 
 ent institution from what it is at present." 
 ^ This letter was written, as I observed, about five months 
 since. In the report, submitted to your Honorable Board, 
 Jan. 6th, 1825, and signed by John Lowell, Esq. as chairman, 
 I find the two foliov/ing paragraphs. 
 
 " B}^ this code, [a nev>^ code of laws proposed by the Im- 
 mediate Government, at the desire of the Corporation, and 
 making part of the report,] the Immediate Government is 
 required to take the general state of the college into frequent 
 consideration, and to propose to the Corporation any laws 
 and measures, by which, in their judgment, the system of in- 
 struction and discipline may be improved. It seems to the 
 committee peculiarly proper that the duty of suggesting a 
 remedy for any evils or abuses, which may arise, should be 
 assigned to those, who from their situation must be the first 
 to perceive them ; with the understanding, however, that this 
 provision does not confer on them any exclusive authority to 
 originate laws, or restrain the Corporation or this Board from 
 proposing and establishing any regulation, wdiich they may 
 <leem expedient. 
 
 " Authority is also given to the Immediate Government to 
 regulate the arrangement of the prescribed duties of the in- 
 structers, the times and modes of recitation, the classification 
 of the students, and, in general, the methods of instruction, 
 subject in like manner to the direction and control of the 
 Corporation and Overseers; a provision, the adoption of 
 which would evince only a just and proper confidence, on the 
 part of this Board, in the officers of the college." 
 
15 
 
 If this report had been adopted ; and especially if the prin- 
 ciple contained in these paragraphs had been formally and 
 explicitly recognised by this Reverend and Honorable Board, 
 I should myself have rested content ; and the same, I doubt 
 not, would have been the case with the resident officers in 
 general. I am far from thinking, as may appear from what I 
 have just read, that all would have been gained which is desir- 
 able for the good of the college. But it is not wise to push 
 on reforms hastily ; or to introduce important changes, till 
 the way for them has been prepared. What would have 
 been gained, I should have thought a very important gain, 
 and well worth all the labor and all the discussions, which 
 it would have cost. That principle which is fundamen- 
 tal as it respects the good government of such an institution 
 as the college, would have been recognised and adopted ; 
 namely, the principle that the resident officers shall have the 
 power of originating all laws respecting its discipline and 
 instruction. 
 
 This is the main principle involved in their memorial ; and 
 for the adoption of which they are chiefly solicitous. There 
 is beginning to be, as is apparent, a general disposition to 
 acknowledge its soundness ; and the more the subject is 
 examined, and the better it is understood, the more their cause 
 will gain strength and favour. The proposals in the two 
 paragraphs which I have just read from the report of your 
 committee, show that the grounds of difference between those 
 whose opinions seemed most opposed to each other, are dis- 
 appearing, and that there is a gradual approximation to the 
 same conclusions, on the part of those gentlemen, who are 
 best informed respecting the true interests of the college. 
 The resident officers never desired any control of the funds 
 of the college, any power to apportion their own salaries, or to 
 fix the amount of their own duties. They would have felt it 
 a great inconvenience and evil, an exposure, if not to tempta- 
 tion, jet certainly to great obloquy and suspicion, to have 
 had these powers devolved upon them. For my own part, I 
 never felt a doubt, that should the statements and reasonings 
 in the memorial be admitted in their fullest extent, it would 
 be necessary to connect this admission with some new provis- 
 ions and regulations, by which all the powers last mentioned 
 should reside in this Honorable Board alone. I mean all 
 
16 
 
 those powers which would not of necessity have been vested 
 in the Overseers, as the controlling authority in the govern- 
 ment of the college. 
 
 The ground of controversy, then, whatever now remains, is 
 much less than it may originally have appeared. The essen- 
 tial principle for which the resident officers have contended, 
 the essential principle involved in their memorial, may be 
 considered as almost conceded. If this principle had been 
 fully and explicitly recognised by the body whom I have the 
 honour to address, I certainly should not have appeared in 
 this place. But it has not been. On the contrary, a report 
 has been adopted, offered the last year by the committee, of 
 which the Hon. Judge Story was chairman, which is incon- 
 sistent with the principle maintained, namely, that the internal 
 management of the college should be committed, in the first 
 instance, to the resident officers. 
 
 The question, then, now is, what body should be entrusted 
 with the internal government of the college, considered mere- 
 ly as a literary institution ; what body should have the pow- 
 er of originating laws respecting its discipline and instruction ; 
 what body should be authorized to bring forward measures 
 of reform and improvement, and should be made responsible 
 for bringing forward all such measures necessary or expedi- 
 ent. The supervision and ultimate control of the institution 
 rest 'with the Overseers. But they have not hitherto exer- 
 cised the power of originating particular laws, excepting so 
 far as the adoption of the report to which I have just referred, 
 is a departure from their common practice ; and the constitu- 
 tion and proper character of this Honorable Board are such, 
 that no one, I suppose, will deem it possible, that this power 
 should ordinarily be exercised by it. The power is now 
 vested in the Corporation, composed of the President of the 
 college and of six non-resident members. The question is, 
 whether it should not be transferred, in whatever form or 
 mode may be thought most advisable, by your Honorable 
 Body, to the resident instructers. The question is simply 
 this, whether non-resident gentlemen, or resident officers, 
 will be likely to have the most intimate acquaintance with 
 the institution, the best practical judgment in respect to its 
 concerns, the deepest sense of responsibility, and the most con- 
 stant and active personal interest in promoting its usefulness 
 
11 
 
 and reputation. There is nothing, so far as I can perceive, to 
 be objected to this statement of the question ; and I doubt 
 whether the whole case might not be safely left as thus stated. 
 But there is much more that may be said upon the subject ; 
 and an argument commonly strikes us with greater force when 
 explained in its details. Unwilling, therefore, as I am, to 
 trespass upon the time of this Honorable Body, I respectfully 
 beg your attention to some considerations relating to this sub- 
 ject. 
 
 In bringing forward these considerations, I shall, for the 
 sake of brevity, use the term, governors of the college, to 
 denote persons having the power of originating laws for its 
 discipline and instruction, those to whom, considered merely 
 under the aspect of a literary institution, it is, in the first in- 
 stance, entrusted. I beg that the term may be understood in 
 this limited sense. By whom, then ought the power which I 
 have thus detined to be exercised ? Who, in the sense in 
 which the term has been explained, should be the governors of 
 the college ? Let us consider what particular qualihcations 
 are required. 
 
 In order to the proper performance of their most important 
 duties, the governors of the college should, in the first place, 
 be men practicaly acquainted with its concerns ; in the 
 next place, they should be literary men by profession, famil- 
 iar with the science of education, and able to judge of the 
 relative importance of different branches of study; in the 
 third place, they should be so circumstanced as to be able 
 fully to attend to its concerns ; and, lastly, their personal in- 
 terest and reputation should be evidently and strongly impli- 
 cated in its prosperity and decline. These important partic- 
 ulars comprehend every pecuHar qualification required in the 
 governors of the college. 
 
 Now, then, keeping these qualifications in view, there can, 
 in the first place, be no question, that the resident instructers 
 must have, and that no other gentlemen can have, a practical 
 acquaintance with the concerns of the college. Of the im- 
 portance of such practical acquaintance with a subject, in the 
 management of any other business or institution, no doubt 
 was ever entertained. It has always been regarded as a first 
 requisite, for the want of which nothing can compensate. It 
 is the necessary foundation of good practical judgment, this 
 3 
 
18 ^ 
 
 being the result ol observation and experience ; and founded 
 upon the knowledge of a great variety of particular facts, the 
 details and bearings of which are frequently suffered to es- 
 cape the mind, while only the general result is retained. If 
 it were possible to recollect distinctly all those particular facts, 
 yet universal experience has shown, that it is impossible so to 
 communicate them to another, that he may make use of the 
 knowledge thus acquired, as if it had been the result of his 
 own observation and experience. 
 
 The question, then, is whether you wall have as governors of 
 the college, gentlemen practically acquainted with its con- 
 cerns, whose daily occupation they constitute ; or gentlemen 
 without practical acquaintance with its concerns, and to whom, 
 from the nature of things, the knowledge which it is desirable 
 they should possess, cannot be communicated. The force of 
 this reasoning may, perhaps, be rendered more striking by 
 considering the im.possibility, that the non-resident members of 
 the Corporation should perform the duties now devolved upon 
 that body, in any manner whatever, unless one resident officer, 
 the President, were at the same time a member of that body ; 
 unless at least one individual were present with them, practi- 
 cally and personally acquainted with the concerns of the in- 
 stitution ; or unless some other regular means were adopted to 
 obtain from the resident officers a constant supply of that in- 
 formation respecting its concerns, which they alone can fur- 
 nish. We are considering whether the governors of the col- 
 lege should consist of non-resident gentlemen, or of resident 
 officers ; and the fact just stated, that if it were not for the 
 association of one resident officer, it would be impracticable 
 for the present non-resident governors to act in any proper 
 manner, at least without constant reference to, and reliance 
 upon, the knowledge and guidance of the resident officers, 
 seems to show decidedly that resident officers have, and that 
 non-resident gentlemen cannot have, the proper qualifications 
 as governors of the college. 
 
 The next requisite before mentioned is, that the governors 
 of the college should be literary men by profession, acquaint- 
 ed with the science of education, and able to judge of the 
 relative importance of different branches of learning — men 
 whose studies and occupations, the business of whose lives, 
 have relation to the great purposes of such an institution. Now 
 
19 
 
 the permanent members of the Immediate Government are 
 literary men by profession. It is their business to be ac- 
 quainted with the science of education ; or, in other words, 
 with the proper metiiod of conductmg the intellectual and 
 moral discipline of the young. This is a science ; and, like 
 other sciences, not to be understood by cursory and partial 
 attention. Among the variety of theories on the subject, the 
 multitude of different plans proposed, the new experiments 
 which are every day making, and the traditionary usages, 
 which are supposed to be recommended by experience, it 
 requires much consideration, and much practical acquaint- 
 ance with the subject, to judge correctly of the method most 
 proper to be pursued under given circumstances. Great im- 
 provements have been made, within a recent period, in the 
 modes of instructing the young, and of forming their charac- 
 ters. With these, the governors of a literary institution 
 should be acquainted ; and it is their duty to bring them into 
 use in such an institution. But, at the same time, it is believ- 
 ed, that no error is likely to be more injurious, than a rash 
 adoption of modes of education, which have been found to 
 succeed elsewhere, without regard to the peculiar circum- 
 stances of the institution in which they are copied. No rea- 
 soning will, probably, be more deceptive and mischievous, 
 than reasoning from imperfect analogies, in which essential 
 circumstances affecting the character of different institutions, 
 or in which the habits, manners, state of society, and Uterary 
 wants, of different countries, are laid out of view ; yet this is, 
 perhaps, the error into which those who have no practical 
 acquaintance with the subject are most likely to fall. 
 
 But in the government of a literary institution, much judg- 
 ment is required, not merely as to the best modes of effecting 
 certain objects, but as to the objects themselves, which it is 
 desirable to effect. The great ultimate purposes in the re- 
 ligious and moral education of the young remain always the 
 same ; but in regard to intellectual cultivation, this is not the 
 •case. The most important objects of study vary with the 
 general progress of learning, which is every day extending 
 its limits, with the circumstances of different countries, and 
 with the destination of different individuals. Ib any particu- 
 lar institution the topics of instruction should be selected and 
 adjusted to each other, with, reference to the general design of 
 
20 
 
 such an institution ; and so that the most eflfective use may be 
 made of the means with which it is furnished. If the means 
 of such an institution are ample, it should be accommodated 
 to the literary wants of the community in which it exists ; 
 and of these, none but literary men can judge. Your memo- 
 rialists believe, that the college of which they are otticers is 
 not such an institution as our country demands and would 
 support; nor such as it has ample means to become. They 
 think it capable of assuming a much higher character, and of 
 being much more extensively useful. 
 
 But whether this opinion be correct or not, it cannot be 
 denied, that it is of the highest importance, that the governors 
 of a literary institution, like the college, should be quahiied, 
 if not individually, yet collectively, to judge of the relative 
 importance of diiferent studies, both generally, and in refer- 
 ence to all the particular circumstances under which such an 
 institution may exist. They should, then, be men of letters 
 by profession. Literature and science should be their busi- 
 ness. But this has been, and, probably, considering the state, 
 of our society, will be rarely the case with laymen elected 
 as members of the Corporation from the community at large. 
 They may be gentlemen to whom literature is a recreation, 
 and even an occasional employment ; but they will not be, 
 strictly speaking, men of letters. They will not be men the 
 business of whose lives has relation to the objects of a litera- 
 ry institution. Nor will the case, generally speaking, be very 
 different with clergymen. Pressed as our clergy are with 
 professional duties, they have often but little leisure to attend 
 to any studies not immediately connected with these duties. 
 
 It may be objected, perhaps, that mere men of letters will 
 have too narrow views of the wants and demands of the com- 
 munity in reference to a literary institution. I have stated 
 the objection as forcibly as is in my power ; but I confess I 
 do not distinctly apprehend it. If it related to any other 
 than a literary institution, I should perceive its force. Men 
 of let'.ers would rertainlj form bad managers of an agricultu- 
 ral societv. They would have too narrow views. They 
 W'ould w ant information, practical experience, and the requisite 
 habits of life. But in regard to a literary institution, who 
 can be imagined to have more extensive views, to understand 
 its proper objects, the means of promcting them, and their 
 
21 
 
 various bearings upon society, better tljan ffien, all wiiose 
 occupations have relation to these objects ? Is it thought that 
 men of letters will be too secluded a class, and not capable 
 of catching the opinions and feelings of society ? The tirst 
 question is, whether there are others more capable than they 
 are of forming just opinions respecting the management of a 
 literary institution, and to whose opinions, therefore, they 
 ought to defer ? What v>'ould be thought of a similar objec- 
 tion as applied to the managers of an agricultural society ; — 
 that practical farmers were not to be taken, because not mix- 
 ing much with the fashionable and literary classes of our 
 metropolis, they could not learn the opinions and feelings pre- 
 vailing among those classes, respecting the newest and best 
 modes of husbandry. But the whole objection proceeds up- 
 on a wrong assumption. There is, and there can be, in this 
 country, no secluded class of literary men. With us, men of 
 letters mix in common society like other men, and have full 
 opportunity of obtaining all the information which can be de- 
 rived from such intercourse. Is it thought, then, that literary 
 men will be disposed to estimate too highly the importance 
 of particular branches of study, to the neglect of others? 
 Undoubtedly there is danger, that this may be the case with 
 individuals. But in the resident instructers of the college, 
 you have a body of men, engaged in the pursuit of very dif- 
 ferent branches of knowledge, who would act upon each other, 
 and correct each others opinions, and liberalize each others 
 minds ; each of whom would take care that his own branch 
 should not be neglected ; and all of whom, collectively, would 
 adjust and balance, in the most proper manner, the different 
 studies to be pursued at the institution. But I would further 
 observe, that it is less common for men of real learning to es- 
 timate extravagantly the importance of any particular branch 
 of study, than for those who have only a superficial knowl- 
 edge of it. There were very few among us who, from their 
 acquaintance with the subject, were better qualified to judge 
 of the true value of the study of the Latin language than Pro- 
 fessor Frisbie ; and there were none, I believe, whose judg- 
 ment respecting its value was more correct and more free 
 from prejudice. There is a gentleman near me, who has 
 done m.uch more than is generally known, to improve the 
 course of mathematical studies in the university, much more 
 
22 
 
 than is probably known to a majority of those whom I have 
 the honor of addressing ; yet it is not from him, that I should 
 expect an over-estimate of the value of these studies. 
 
 There can, then, I conceive be no reasonable doubt, that a 
 literary institution should be committed in the first insiance to 
 literary men ; that they should have power to originate its 
 laws and regulations, under whatever ultimate supervision 
 and control and responsibility to the community, may be 
 thought proper. It is from this class of men, and from this 
 class alone, that a body of individuals can be taken, who 
 may fairly be expected to have the most just and the most 
 comprehensive views of the objects of such an institution, and of 
 the means of promoting them. 
 
 It seems, therefore, a singular anomaly, that the governors of 
 the first literar}^ institution of our country should be men, 
 neither practically acquainted with its concerns, nor so select- 
 ed as probably to secure even a majority of individuals, the 
 business of whose lives is intimately connected with the ob- 
 jects of such an institution. Every one would be struck with 
 the absurdity of entrusting the concerns of a mercantile body, 
 io those who were not merchants, or of an agricultural society, 
 to those who were not agriculturists; and the absurdity would 
 be greatly enhanced, if the gentlemen who received the trust, 
 were, at the same time, so separated from the establishment 
 which it was there business to govern, as to render it impos- 
 sible for them to acquire any practical knowledge of its con- 
 cerns. If a number of gentlemen taken from the officers of 
 ihe college, resident at Cambridge, occupied with all their 
 present duties, were selected to manage the affairs of a bank 
 or insurance company in Boston, and were to proceed with- 
 out any consultation with its present directors, excepting the 
 president of the latter body, your memorialists conceive that 
 the case, however strange, would afford an analogy to the 
 manner in which the government of the college is at present 
 -conducted. 
 
 The third requisite, formerly mentioned, in the gover- 
 nors of the college is, that they should be so circumstanced 
 as to be able fully to attend to its concerns. This, it is be- 
 lieved, is not at present the case. On the contrary a large pro- 
 portion of the members of the Corporation, as that body has 
 been for some time constituted, are gentlemen whose thoughts 
 
23 
 
 and time are occupied and pressed upon by a variety of busi^ 
 ness, and by public and private concerns, which must draw 
 away their attention from those of the college, and leave them 
 but little leisure for the proper management of such an insti- 
 tution. Their regular occupations and private affairs, which 
 must,inmostcases, occupy their chief attention, are quiie foreign 
 from the concerns of the college. Its various and complicated 
 interests can be regarded by them only as an occasional sub- 
 ject of attention. But, on the other hand, the business and 
 concerns of the college are the proper and personal business 
 of the resident officers. Their time and thoughts ore due to 
 the institution, and necessarily given to it. Nor is this all. 
 A gentleman elected into the Corporation, as at present con- 
 stituted, assumes his office, ignorant, perhaps, of its very du- 
 ties, and most probably without such information respecting 
 the college, as may enable him in any degree to form opin- 
 ions and rely upon his own judgment. Hence arises a new 
 demand upon his time. He is called upon to occupy himself 
 in acquiring that preliminary knowledge, without which he 
 cannot act with proprietj^. But this knowledge, which to 
 others must be of slow and difficult attainment, is to the resi- 
 dent instructors a matter of daily and necessary acquisition in 
 the performance of their regular duties. They can hardly be 
 ignorant of what others can hardly learn. In managing the 
 government of the college, therefore, instead of being drawn 
 away from their common concerns,, they would only be occu- 
 pied in their appropriate business ; and, together with this, 
 the actual demand upon their time would be far less, than 
 upon the time of non-resident gentlemen. 
 
 The governors of the college should be a very vigilant and 
 active body, intimately acquainted with, and constantly atten- 
 tive to its concerns. As the Corporation is at present consti- 
 tuted, it is impossible it should be so. 
 
 I have only to speak of the fourth and last qualification 
 mentioned, that the personal interest and reputation of the 
 governors of the college should be evidently and deeply im- 
 plicated in the prosperity and decline of the institution ; that 
 its good or bad state should be continually pressed upon their 
 observation, and be to them a matter of private feelin?-, like 
 their own domestic concerns. But the resident instructors 
 and especiallj^ those of their number who are permanent 
 
24 
 
 officers of the college, are the only individuals whose reputa- 
 tions and interests can be strongly implicated with those of 
 the college. Their character, their standing in society, their 
 comfort, and, in a considerable degree, their very means of 
 support, depend upon its respectability and usefulness. Their 
 offices and situations mark them out, and mark them out alone, 
 for public observation. If the institution decline, they suffer 
 the blame ; they are the persons complained of; it may be, and 
 it has been, I think, most unjustly ; but still it is so. They 
 ought to receive the praise if it should flourish ; and if those 
 measures which the present state of things requires, be adopt- 
 ed, they will receive it. There is every circumstance to de- 
 signate them as the responsible officers of the college except 
 one — except the entire Vv-ant of those powers which ought to 
 accompany such responsibility. But, on the other hand, it is 
 scarcely known out of a small circle, who are the governors 
 of the college, according to the existing distribution of power ; 
 that is to say, who are the members of the Corporation. Be- 
 fore the present discussions, it would probably have required 
 some effort of memory, even for an individual immediately 
 connected with the college, to have stated correctly the names 
 of the six non-resident members, who with the President con- 
 stitute that body. The mode in which it is constituted, its 
 duties, its very extensive powers, its almost absolute control 
 in the government of the college, are very little understood by 
 the community. Its members are not before the pubUc as 
 individuals responsible for the state of the institution. On the 
 contrar}^, whether the college be well or ill governed, in a 
 very good or very bad state, no member of that board, with 
 the single exception of the President, who is a resident officer, 
 will gain or lose either in interest or reputation to any con- 
 siderable degree, most probably not at all. It would seem 
 then to be an arrangement singularly inexpedient and un- 
 wise, by which the government of the college is taken from the 
 resident instructers, from those who have the strongest private 
 interest in its prosperity, and the good management of its con- 
 cerns ; and given to non-resident gentlemen, in whom, from the 
 nature of the case, no interest of the same kind can exist. 
 
 If there be any force in the preceding reasoning, it follows, 
 that the governors of the college, in the sense in which I have 
 explained that term, should be its resident instructers ; in 
 
25 
 
 other Words, that thej should be men practically acquainted 
 with its concerns ; men whose studies and occupations, the 
 business of whose lives, have a constant reference to the great 
 objects of such an institution ; men who are so circumstanced 
 as to be able fullj to attend to its concerns ; and men whose 
 personal interests, are involved in the interests of the college, 
 and dependent on its prosperity. The governors of the col- 
 lege have, on the contrary, for some time, consisted, with the 
 exception of the President, of gentlemen who either are, or 
 have been, during the greater part of their lives, actively en- 
 gaged in occupations or pursuits, foreign from the objects of 
 the institution ; men of high eminence in the profession of the 
 law, whose minds, in consequence, were continually occu- 
 pied with the cares and labors which this profession imposes 
 upon its most distinguished members ; men of business engag- 
 ed in a great variety of private and public concerns ; and 
 clergymen, some of them of the very highest eminence, and al- 
 ready placed in situations, where their health was wasting under 
 the necessary demands upon their time and thoughts and 
 strength. But the complicated concerns of the college, having 
 such a variety of relations to each other, and to the best interests 
 of society ; to be carefully viewed under so many aspects ; 
 and in order to understand which, so many particular facts 
 and circumstances must be distinctly comprehended ; these 
 concerns are not a subject to be understood and decided upr 
 on in the occasional meetings of a body thus constituted. 
 Without, therefore, the slightest imputation upon that body, I 
 conceive that its very constitution, connected with the powers 
 which it has hitherto exercised in the government of the col- 
 lege, is sufficient to account for all the deficiencies and evils 
 which are perceived to exist in the institution. 
 
 My reasoning upon the subject, it will be perceived, has 
 been wholly abstract. It is reasoning, relating to the proper 
 mode of governing a college, such as might be urged a priori, 
 supposing no such institution in existence, no experiment to 
 have been tried. I shall not enter into details respecting the 
 history of the college to illustrate what has been said ; for I 
 am most solicitous to avoid every thing which might lead, 
 however indirectly, to any degree of personal excitement. On 
 this grave and most important subject, we can decide wisely 
 only by divesting ourselves as far as possible of passion and 
 4 
 
26 
 
 prejudice, and keeping our minds steadily and coolly fixed 
 upon the great objects which we all have so much at heart. 
 But there is one case, intimately connected with the present 
 discussions, to w^hich I may advert without giving pain to any 
 individual. 
 
 There has now existed for a considerable period a general 
 and earnest wish for some essential improvement in the condi- 
 tion of the college. Between four and five years since, as I 
 have already stated, the attention of the Corporation was par- 
 ticularly directed to this subject, not in consequence of any 
 information which that board itself possessed, nor of the rep- 
 resentations of any member of that body ; but in consequence 
 of an application from without. The Corporation then took 
 means to be informed of the real state of the institution of 
 which they wxre the governors. They took the most proper 
 means. They addressed the circular, before mentioned, to 
 the resident officers. They applied to the only source from 
 which they could obtain the information required. But it is- 
 an obvious remark, that this was information of which they 
 had been in constant need, as much at one period as at another, 
 to enable them to carry on the government of the institution. 
 In order, however, to obtain the information requisite to quali- 
 fy them to be its governors, they were obliged to resort to a 
 new measure, out of the common course of proceedings, and 
 one before wholly unknown. It is another obvious remark, 
 that when representations were laid before the governors of 
 the college, according to which, essential changes were re- 
 quired in the institution, these representations were either cor- 
 Tect or not. If correct, the governors of the college ought 
 surely to have been the persons first aw^are of the true state 
 of things ; they should have needed no intimation of it from 
 without ; I should rather say, they ought long before to have 
 anticipated the necessity of any essential changes, and to have 
 prevented the deficiences and evils complained of. If the 
 representations laid before them were not correct, the gover- 
 nors of the college ought surely to have been the individuals, 
 best qualified from their personal knowledge to say that they 
 were not correct, and to justify the course of measures which 
 had been pursued. It is clear that the whole state of the 
 case in these respects was different from what it ought to have 
 been. Upon receiving the answers of the resident officers^ 
 
27 
 
 the Corporation gave their earnest and faithful attention to the 
 subject. But nothing has, in consequence, been effected by that 
 body. Its members felt too deep an interest in the institution, 
 and have been too well awareof the difficulty of the subject, to in- 
 troduce any rash or immature changes, or to make any un- 
 certain experiment. At the same time, they have had neither the 
 requisite information, nor leisure, nor practical experience, to 
 decide upon and arrange any new measures ; — to adjust a new 
 system, of the propriety of which they themselves should be 
 satisfied. They, therefore, have accomplished nothing. Yet 
 the pressure and urgency of the case cannot well be greater. 
 The call for improvement from within and from without the 
 college, will hardly be more distinct, for if not now answered, 
 it will be succeeded almost by despair. Nor can you reason- 
 ably expect more honest zeal or more faithful intentions in 
 any non-resident gentlemen who may hereafter become mem- 
 bers of the Corporation. 
 
 What then is to be done ? What is to be done, not merely 
 to effect those changes, which are, at the present moment, 
 necessary to the prosperity of the college, but in order to 
 keep up that constant course of progression and improvement 
 which the community demands. You, surely, will n»t suffer 
 this most important institution, intrusted to your care, to be 
 irregularly acted upon by uncertain or accidental impulses, 
 from without ; you, surely, will not suffer to be forced upon its 
 governors or instructers, any new theoretical system, the work 
 of unauthorized, unapparent, irresponsible individuals, how- 
 ever respectable they may be. In order to restore the col- 
 lege to the state, in which it ought to be, and to preserve it in 
 that state, you will not, I am confident, be ready to trust to 
 the zeal and care of any others, than its proper governors and 
 officers, exerting themselves in the regular discharge of their 
 official duties. I would beg leave most respectfully to ob- 
 serve, that in all the late discussions respecting the college be- 
 fore this Reverend and Honorable Body, the true question 
 that arises, is, not what particular laws and regulations, what 
 specific system of discipline and instruction shall be adopted ; 
 for these are topics obviously of a nature not to be fully ex- 
 amined in so large and popular an assembly, the members of 
 which can give but a few hours' attention to the subject j the 
 true question is, to what permanent and responsjfeje body, 
 
28 
 
 acting under your supervision and control, shall be intrusted 
 power of devising such a system, of adjusting its parts, of 
 watching its operations, of supplying the deficiencies, which 
 experience may discover, and of making those additions and 
 improvements which the progress of the Institution may de- 
 mand. 
 
 The resident officers, I mean the resident officers of the Im- 
 mediate Government, of which I have net the honor to be a 
 member, may be considered as having offered themselves to 
 undertake the labor of improvement. They have not shrunk 
 from the task however difficult, or from the responsibility how- 
 ever arduous, for they have felt it their duty, at least to make a 
 distinct offer of their services. Upon the propriety of com- 
 mitting it to them, there is, as every intelligent friend of the 
 college must rejoice to perceive, a growing unanimity of opin- 
 ion. When the subject is distinctly understood, there will, I 
 am confident, be but one opinion. To obtain the necessary 
 power to effect the changes which the state of the college 
 imperiously requires, was the main object of their memorial ; 
 and if this power can be obtained in another form, they will 
 be well content. 
 
 The propriety of the principle maintained in the observa- 
 tions that have been made, has, in our own country, been 
 illustrated by experience. I believe, it will be found, that 
 every literary institution among us, other things being equal, 
 has flourished in proportion as the government of it, consider- 
 ed merely as a literary institution, has been virtually intrust- 
 ed to the resident instructers. I say, virtually, for the power 
 may be given them in fact, when it is not in form. The 
 Theological Seminary at Andover has grown with unparallel- 
 ed rapidity. I do not refer to the amount of wealth, which 
 has been so liberally poured out upon it. But I refer to the 
 rapid manner in which the standard of education has been 
 raised. The growth of this institution is, I believe, to be re- 
 ferred principally to the fact, that it has been confided to the 
 care of its professors ; that they have not been embarrassed 
 and impeded in any plans of improvement ; that instead of 
 being destitute of any power, like the resident instructers at 
 Cambridge, they have, by courtesy or usage, no matter how, 
 possessed all the power necessary to render it what they have 
 been desirous it should become ; th it they have at once felt that 
 
29 
 
 they were responsible for its character ; and have exercised 
 power commensurate to this responsibility. 
 
 I had intended to speak of some other evils, resulting from 
 the present distribution of powers among the different bodies 
 which constitute the government of the college ; but I have 
 been compelled to regard the time allowed me for preparation ; 
 for the whole subject is one of such importance, that vq man 
 ought to speak upon it without weighing his words ; and 1 
 must likewise regard the time, during which I may reason- 
 ably ask for the attention of your Reverend and Honorable 
 Body. I will touch upon them, therefore, very briefly. 
 
 One is the want of responsibility in any body of men or in 
 any individual, as the government of the College is at present 
 constituted, and its powers distributed. Supposing the insti- 
 tution to be falling into decline and ruin, to be in a worse 
 state than has been described or imagined ; who is responsi- 
 ble for it ? Who is accountable to the public? Not the resi- 
 dent officers ; for at present they are merely executive officers. 
 They have no power of originating laws. However bad the 
 whole system of discipline and instruction may at any time 
 be, they have no power to correct it. Beside, if the decline 
 of the institution be owing to them, this very fact transfers the 
 responsibility from them to others. Such men ought not to have 
 been appointed; such men ought not to have been continued 
 in office. Are the Corporation, then, regarded as account- 
 able for the state of the college ; are they actually made 
 responsible for it to the public ? The responsibility of 
 this body corresponds in no degree to its extensive pow- 
 ers. On this subject, I would refer to the statements al- 
 ready made. The Corporation is a body too little known. Its 
 members are so circumstanced, that they are not brought 
 prominently before the public as accountable for their meas- 
 ures. Their real powers are very little understood. To 
 those acquainted with the subject, it is clear, that they cannot 
 have the requisite knowledge, or the requisite leisure, to at- 
 tend fully to the concerns of the college. They are wholly 
 disinterested in giving their time to the institution. It is a 
 gift to the public, and it is hard to ask why more is not given ; 
 especially when the obvious answer is, that reserving a due 
 portion for their private concerns, and for other public inter- 
 ests, more cannot be given. 
 
50 
 
 But there is another consideration. When the power of 
 devising and establishing, and the power of executing a sys- 
 tem of instruction and discipline, are divided, the former given 
 to the Corporation, as at present constituted, and the latter to 
 the resident instructers; no proper accountability can be 
 made to rest upon either bodj^ If the institution decline, the 
 one b^dy may charge the fault upon the system, and the 
 other body may retort the charge, that the defect is not in 
 the system but in the execution : and who is to decide the 
 controversy ? What proportion of the public can be expect- 
 ed so to investigate the subject, as to determine on whom 
 censure should justly fall ? This divided and uncertain re- 
 sponsibility will be found in its operation to amount to little bet- 
 ter than none. 
 
 On the contrary, if the whole government of the college, 
 considered as a literary institution, were committed in the 
 first instance to the resident instructers, their power and their 
 responsibility would be commensurate. Those whom the 
 public naturally regard as accountable for the state of the 
 institution, would become fairly and fully accountable for it. 
 Your Reverend and Honorable Body would know where to 
 direct your inquiries, and to whom to look, when any evil or 
 any complaint existed. You would be brought at once into 
 immediate connexion with the resident instructers ; a circum- 
 stance which alone would be of the highest advantage to the 
 college. In pursuing a right course, they would be encour- 
 aged and animated hy your support and approbation. But 
 your connexion with the resident instructers, considered as 
 mere executive officers, appointed and directed by the Cor- 
 poration, must of course be very limited and inoperative. 
 
 I know it has been objected to giving the resident officers 
 those powers for which I have been contending ; that in civil 
 government, it is thought wise to separate the legislative from 
 the executive power, and that the same principle should be 
 adopted in the government of a literary institution. I have 
 before observed, that no reasoning is more deceptive than 
 reasoning from loose and imperfect analogies. In regard to 
 the present case, I would ask why the analogy is not carried 
 a little further. Of the two, it is certainly more important 
 in civil government to separate the judiciary, than the legis- 
 lative power, from the executive. Why then do not those, 
 
31 
 
 who urge the objection which has been stated, propose that 
 the judiciary power should be taken from the executive offi- 
 cers of the college. Their analogical reasoning, if it prove 
 any thing, proves that there should be one body, the Corpora- 
 tion, as at present constituted, to make laws ; and one body, 
 the resident officers, to execute these laws ; and a third body, 
 not yet in existence, who should exercise the judiciary power* 
 But even with this improvement, we should have but a poor, 
 deceptive semblance of a well organized civil government. 
 In civil government, it is with us a fundamental principle, 
 that all power emanates from the governed. In order there- 
 fore to model our college government after the fashion of the 
 former, our three bodies, the Corporation, the resident officers, 
 and the new bench of judges, must all be elected by those 
 who are to be governed, by the undergraduates. We may 
 push the absurdity further in every direction. They should 
 all be chosen by them from their own number. I trust it will 
 be acknowledged, that an analogy is of no force which leads 
 directly to such conclusions. The parental approaches much 
 nearer, than civil government, to being a proper model for 
 the government of young men, collected as students at a lit- 
 erary institution. 
 
 I will now mention one incidental evil, but an evil of very 
 considerable magnitude, which results from the present con- 
 stitution of the government of the college, and the present 
 division of power between the Corporation composed of non- 
 resident members, and the resident instructors of the college. 
 The resident officers are, in the nature of things, the proper 
 representatives of the college ; and would become so in facty 
 if those powers were given to them, which they ought to pos- 
 sess. But at present the Corporation are the representatives 
 of the college. They are its governors in the most extensive 
 sense of the words. They appropriate its funds, appoint its 
 officers, direct its studies, and make its law^s. The whole 
 character of the institution is to be determined by them. 
 By their regulations, especially those regarding the expenses 
 of the students, and the charges upon them, they may lay 
 open its advantages to a greater, or confine them to a smaller 
 number. They may make it an institution m^erely for the 
 rich, and for those who are supported by its charity ; or they 
 may extend its benefits to the whole community. But in 
 
32 
 
 selecting non-resident gentlemen as members of the Corpora- 
 tion, men of distinguished eminence will, of course, be taken. 
 They will be members of one or another of the political par- 
 ties into which the state maj be divided ; often among the lead- 
 ing and most prominent individuals of that party. When there 
 is any warmth of political contention, the members of the 
 Corporation will, in filling a vacancy in their body, select 
 a candidate whose opinions correspond with their own. 
 The Corporation will thus be perpetuated in one political 
 party, and the college will be in the hands of one political 
 party. In these statements no one will imagine that any 
 blame is imputed to the members of the Corporation. What 
 has been described is only the natural and almost necessary 
 course of things. But the effect of it is, to give a foreign, ad- 
 ventitious, political character to the college, w^hich will ren- 
 der it ob.:Oxious to one of the two great parties in the state ; 
 and may, perhaps, even to a majority of its citizens. At the 
 present moment, when there is a mutual spirit of conciliation, 
 when men of opposite parties are ready to respect each other's 
 principles, when political distinctions seem to be melting away, 
 nothing, it is true, is to be apprehended from the circumstance 
 which I have mentioned. But if times of political heat and 
 controversy should return, then the evil would be felt; as it 
 has been felt. The college with that extrinsic, political char- 
 acter which now attaches to it, would then, instead of being 
 considered as the common interest of the community, be re- 
 garded by many of our citizens with coldness, jealousy, and 
 hostility. But transfer a portion of the powers of the Cor- 
 poration to the resident instructers ; make them, as they ought 
 to be, the representatives of the college, and this evil will be 
 removed. The resident instructers are little likely to be dis- 
 tinguished as political partisans. They have kept aloof, and 
 in all ordinary times, may be expected to keep aloof from 
 political contests. As literary men, as instructers of the col- 
 lege, their objects in life must be very different from those of 
 political ambition. As governors of the college, they will 
 €xcite no political jealousy or enmity. Remote from the ex- 
 asperating controversies of party, and laboring for the com- 
 mon good without distinction, they may reasonably hope to be 
 regarded, at all times, at least with forbearance and respect, 
 and, probably, with favor and kindness. The change in the 
 
35 
 
 powers of the resident instructers, by giving the Overseers a 
 tangible and distinct subject of supervision, would necessarily 
 increase the interest of this Reverend and Honorable Body in 
 the institution. But the Overseers are the representatives of 
 the community ; and will always sufficiently bear the char- 
 acter of those sentiments and feelings which prevail in the com- 
 munity. If the change, therefore, which has been proposed, 
 should be adopted, it may be hoped that the college will never, 
 hereafter, be regarded as an institution belonging to one politi- 
 cal party; but become, as it formerly has been, an object of 
 interest and pride to the whole commonwealth. 
 
 In the letter from which I have read some extracts, it may 
 be recollected that two additional proposals were made; the one 
 that the power of nominating to offices of government and in- 
 struction should be given to the resident instructers ; the other, 
 that two of their number should be admitted as members of 
 the Corporation. I shall urge no arguments in support of 
 either, beside the few suggestions already made in that letter. 
 I have not had leisure to prepare myself in such a manner as 
 to be ready to address this Honorable Body on those subjects ; 
 and even if I had had sufficient leisure, I should still be unwilling 
 to make a further demand on your attention, or divert, in any 
 degree, your consideration from that main proposition, which 
 seems to me fundamental, namely, that the resident instructers 
 should have the power of originating all laws respecting the 
 instruction and discipline of the college. 
 
 I will add but a few more words. When great evils exist, 
 there is always a disposition to criminate individuals. It is the 
 fault of narrow-minded men, and perhaps even of some who 
 are not narrow-minded, to be disposed to make some person 
 or some body of men, the object of censure. But if any good 
 is to result from these discussions respecting the state ol the 
 college, all this must be forborne. I do not say that thece 
 have not been faults, and perhaps great fauhs, committed by 
 individuals. It is as little my object to exculpate as to crim- 
 inate any one. But I do say, that the fault essentially is not 
 in individuals, but in the system. You cannot expect to find 
 more distinguished, more able, or more honorable men, to com- 
 pose the Corporation of the college, than a majority of those 
 gentlemen who have for some time been its members. You 
 will find no individuals more faithful, more disinterested, and 
 more conscientious, to fill the places of its present instructers, 
 5 
 
34 
 
 No one will address, as Overseers of the institution, a body of 
 men, more intelligent or more free from all passion or preju- 
 dice, than those before whom I have the honor to appear. 
 Yet all this being so, the condition of the college is such as 
 every one laments. The fault, therefore, I repeat it, is not in 
 individuals, but in the system. 
 
 NOTZS. 
 
 The proceedings of the Overseers, since the hearing of the 
 memorialists, will appear from what follows . — 
 
 From the Boston Daily Advertiser of Saturday, Feb. 5tk. 
 
 Harvard University. — The Board of Overseers yesterday proceeded in the 
 consideration of the report of their Committee on the memorial of the In- 
 structers of the University. The report concludes by proposing the follow- 
 ing resolutions : — 
 
 Resolved : That it does -not appear to this Board, that the resident instruct- 
 ers at Harvard University have any exclusive right to be elected members 
 of the Corporation. 
 
 Resolved : That it does not appear to this Board, that the members oiJisie 
 Corporation forfeit their offices by not residing at the college. 
 
 Resolved: That in the opinion of this B&ard, it is not expedient to express 
 any opinion on the subject of future elections. 
 
 Mr Gray, of tlie Senate, addressed the Board in support of the resolutions, 
 and against the memorial, in a speech which occupied nearly the whole ot 
 the forenoon session. Mr Leland made a few remarks in favour of the reso- 
 lutions. In the afternoon, Chief Justice Parker spoke in favour of the reso- 
 lutions, and was followed on the same side by Mr Charles Jackson. When 
 he had closed, at about 6 o'clock, the question was taken. At tlje call of 
 Mr Leland, the question was divided, and taken on the resolutions separate- 
 ly, and they were unanimously accepted. 
 
 From the Boston Daily Advertiser of Monday, Feb. 21sf. 
 Harvard University. — We understand that, at a meeting of the Overseers in 
 the Council Chamber, on Thursday last, the Hon. Charles Jackson was pre- 
 sented by the Corporation , for confirmation as a member of that board. The 
 Overseers non-concurred in the choice, by a vote of 18 to 20, on the ground, 
 as we understand, that it was expedient that the vacancy should be filled up 
 by choosing one of the Immediate Government. The present members of 
 the Corporation are the Rev. President Kirkland, the Rev. Dr Porter, the 
 Hon. William Prescott, the Hon. H. G. Otis, and the Rev. Dr Channing.* 
 The vacancy, we believe, was occasioned by the death of the late Hon. 
 John Phillips. 
 
 The Hon. Judge Davis should have been added. 
 
35 
 
 The correctness of the reason, assigned in the above extract, 
 for the vote of the Overseers, was subsequently disputed by one 
 correspondent of the Advertiser, and maintained by another. 
 
 At a meeting of the Overseers, held Feb. 22, which was called 
 for a different purpose, the subject of the election of Judge Jack- 
 son was again brought before that Board, and his election was 
 -confirmed by a vote of 30 to 21.