THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 THE COLLECTION OF 
 NORTH CAROLINIANA 
 
 C3?8 
 
 UK3 
 162^ 
 
UNIVERSITY OF NX. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00036720655 
 
 This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/addresstoseniorcOOcald 
 
TO THE 
 
 SENIOR CLASS 
 
 ASH BEFORE THE 
 
 AUDIENCE ASSEMBLED 
 
 AT THE 
 
 On the QSth of June, 1827. 
 
 BY JOS. CALDWELL, Pres. & Prof. Mor. Ph, 
 
 RALEIGH : 
 
 PRINTED BY J. GALES & SON? 
 1827. 
 
 i 
 
r 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 2 might employ the few minutes usually allowed us at this 
 closing period of our business on this day, and of our connec- 
 tion as instructors and scholars, in presenting general remarks 
 and counsels, with reference to the more practical nature of 
 the life on which you are about to enter. Nothing is more 
 certain however, than that the wisdom deduced from past 
 experience, where experience has to any amount been already 
 gained, is more valuable on account of its evidence and its in- 
 fluence, than any other which w« can hope to communicate or 
 receive. Let me invite you then for a little, to take a retro- 
 spect of the past, to see the course we have pursued, the ad- 
 vantages attained, the losses incurred, and the methods of re- 
 trieving them. While we are thus occupied, not only our- 
 selves but others, whose cheering and benevolent presence we 
 would not forget, will have some opportunity of appreciating 
 the value of such an education as it is the purpose of this and 
 other similar institutions to impart. 
 
 As the great objects of education here are to treasure up 
 knowledge in the mind, to expand and invigorate the faculties, 
 to discipline it to a pertinent, skilful, and efficient use of them, 
 and above all to attach it if possible, inseparably to virtue, 
 the occupations of the young are modelled to the accomplish- 
 ment of these purposes. Our time is distributed into hours of 
 business, and hours of exercise and amusement. In a society 
 whose members arc collected as in this place, into one com- 
 pact body, it were vain to hope for success in the prosecution 
 of its objects, if all did not move in concert. The pastimes of 
 some must not clash with the business of others. It were as 
 hopeful to compose a machinp, and maintain its motions, with 
 unfitted wheels. As a community, we commence the business 
 of the day with the rising of the sun. This is rendered easy 
 by a provision for retiring early to rest, at once promoting 
 I health, virtue, and the proper strength both of the mind and 
 ibody, by the habitual observance of seasonable hours. The 
 first act to which we are called, is a recognition of God and 
 iiis providence, "in whom we live and move, and have our 
 being." It is the last also with which we conclude the busi- 
 ness of the day. Worship is the dictate of the understanding 
 and the heart. Happily, while we are cultivating the rational 
 faculties to their utmost extent, they concur with the religion 
 of our country, and of revelation, tlnw producing a coalition 
 
of the greatest moral perfection, with our obligations as citi- 
 zens, and with the only assurances which heaven has given to 
 men of a happy immortality. 
 
 The first of obligations thus fulfilled, the daily and primary 
 object of enlarging the mind is recommended by an immediate 
 engagement in its exercises. This, as the great end of a col- 
 legiate life, is prosecuted through the day, but is seasonably 
 intermitted by three distinct intervals for relaxation, food, and 
 the varied pleasures of healthful and renovating exercise. 
 
 The plan of business, or the whole system of mental cul- 
 ture, and the mode of initiation in literature and the sciences 
 here practised, arc determined it is believed, to be the most 
 eligible that can be framed, by the aid of all the accessible 
 light and experience of past and present times, adapted to the 
 instrumentality and present circumstances of this institution, 
 to the state of our country, and to its other literary institu- 
 tions. The ancient languages and classics of Greece and 
 Home, which the world has to the present day, continued to 
 sanction as constituting the best basis of refined taste and cor- 
 rect knowledge in our own language, and in all the modern 
 languages of Europe, are assiduously cultivated by the in- 
 structors provided for them. By this, opportunity is afforded 
 to the student, to store in his mind the elements of the whole 
 nomenclature of modern science, in all its precision, expres- 
 siveness, and beauty. It is impressively remarked by the ce- 
 lebrated Lavoisier, " While 1 proposed to myself nothing more 
 than to improve the language of Chemistry, my work trans- 
 formed itself by degrees, without my being able to prevent it, 
 into a treatise upon the Elements of Chemistry." It is one of 
 the maxims on Condillac, as quoted by the same writer, that 
 "Algebra, which is adapted to its purpose in every species of 
 expression, in the most simple, exact, and the best manner 
 possible, is at the same time a language, and an analytical 
 method. The art of reasoning is nothing more than a lan- 
 guage well arranged." These observations respecting the no- 
 menclature of Chemistry and Algebra, are no less pertinent to 
 all the other sciences and to the liberal professions, in their 
 present perfection and magnificence. How their correctness 
 is to be appreciated, could time be taken, it would be supernu- 
 merary to explain, to such as have advanced into the sciences, 
 furnished with the brilliant torch of the ancient languages to 
 illuminate their path. To others, I fear any attempt would he 
 vain to convey a competent idea of their efficiency and neces- 
 sity. It is an argument which must be estimated by experi* 
 enc«f, that its force may be felt and its import understood. 
 
In these models of language, the laws of universal grammar, 
 and the methods of construction are distinctly marked, and pro- 
 minently exhibited- As by a skilful architect, the various pie- 
 ces of an edifice are mutually fitted and charactered, that when 
 they are to be combined, their places may be respectively 
 known, so in these ancient languages, perfected by the most 
 improved nations of antiquity, we see the various parts of 
 speech distinguished with a happy ingenuity; and diversified 
 by terminations aptly shaped,, as though mortised and dove- 1 
 tailed to one another. In the cultivation of these languages, 
 the faculties are all habitually invigorated by a due degree of 
 action. To the memory and judgment are imparted both 
 quickness and force, by the prompt and considerate applica- 
 tion of the rules of construction; The beauties and arts of 
 graceful, and forcible composition are by daily exercise insen- 
 sibly formed ; the knowledge of words, and the command of 
 flowing or emphatick enunciation by the organs thus continu- 
 ally rendered apt and flexible by exercise, are habitually im- 
 proved, and at length denote a peculiar result of advantages 
 not enjoyed by the generality of men, 
 
 But in the attainment of these distinguished languages of 
 antiquity, it is the great and eminent object of our instruction, 
 to use them as the key for unlocking and setting in lull view- 
 before the young the treasures of knowledge, taste and genius, 
 in the enlargement they had attained in these most interesting 
 nations. If the student here acquire not these riches of Greek 
 and Roman literature, it is assuredly not that the lecture of 
 the instructor, must be deemed accountable for a consequence 
 much to be regretted. 
 
 By a recent measure of the Board of Trustees, advantages 
 of a character both literary and practical, have been secured 
 to the education of the college. 1 allude to the provision for a 
 competent attainment of such modern languages as are of the 
 highest interest and value. The French must be important, 
 as furnishing the most diffusive communication with the whole 
 of Christendom. It is the language also of one of the most 
 scientific, polished, and enlightened nations of, the world. The 
 Spanish is of peculiar interest to us on account of the vici- 
 nage, and even the intimate relation, in some instances actu- 
 ally subsisting between us and* those who speak it ; and be- 
 cause with little abatement, the whole of this new continent, 
 now independent of the old, is divided between them and our 
 own people. This acquisition to our literature is further to 
 be prized, as a greater augmentation to the learning of the stu- 
 dent than could have been compassed by any other mode of 
 
appropriating the time and study necessary to their attain- 
 ment. A knowledge of the ancient languages once acquired, 
 becomes an instrument for gaining a prompt and easy access 
 to most of (he modern languages of Europe. Not to apply it 
 to such a purpose, is to incur a forfeiture of privileges most 
 cheaply secured. It is to disregard the laws of the wisest and 
 most efficient economy in literature. 
 
 Having made these few remarks on language, as the proper 
 foundation of a scientific superstructure, it is important to take 
 notice of an erroneous opinion, received even as a maxim by 
 many who are not conversant with the sciences, that they are 
 systems merely theoretical, and thus contradistinguished from 
 all that will hold good in practical life. -This is a prejudice 
 fallacious in itself, and pernicious in its consequences. Of this 
 yourselves are well aware, from the manner in which the sci- 
 ences have heen prosecuted, and advanced to their present per- 
 fection, since the laws of investigation established by Bacon, 
 illustrated by the successes of Newton, and practised by their 
 successors to the present day. Once it was true, that the know- 
 ledge of the schools consisted of little else than futile conceits 
 and inflated speculations, conceived and matured in the brains 
 of its professors. Happily at present, every science is strictly 
 nothing more nor less, than a systematic!*, arrangement of 
 .such practical truths, as are derived from experience only, 
 and incontestable' established by it. For this reason the phi- 
 losophy now received, the elementary principles of which are 
 taught in a collegiate education, is eminently and with essen- 
 tial propriety styled the experimental philosophy, to distin- 
 guish it from the hypothetical and visionary theories of former 
 times. The difference at present between theory and practice 
 is totally misunderstood, IT it be supposed to imply a possible 
 fallibility in scientifick rules. The laws of nature do not change, 
 and every law has been determined, not by conjecture, but by 
 innumerable trials actually repeated, carefully examined, with 
 e,\ery opportunity for fixing the truth with precision, and by 
 the most, shrewd and powerful minds, through many succes- 
 sive generations. Any one may mistake in the application of 
 these rules of action or calculation, for want of presence of mind, 
 or of advertency to all that they prescribe, and this may es- 
 pecially happen, when he first. ^commences them in practice, 
 lint it is a fatal error, and the occasion of incalculable loss, 
 to reject or hold them in contempt, because they are thus un- 
 faithfully or unfortunately exhibited by those who have had 
 some opportunity of knowing them, but through defect of skill 
 m their application, have omitted or violated some of the con- 
 
ditions which themselves require as indispensable to success. 
 How many thousands would have hecn saved from vain and 
 abortive plans, had those who have taxed themselves, and been 
 as often disappointed in quest of the perpetual motion, and 
 other illusive schemes in the arts, consented in the first in- 
 stance, to consult the well known laws of feature, as deter- 
 mined by long experience, and treasured in the sciences. If 
 any man professing to act by their direction, fail in the attain- 
 ment of his object, it may be for want of recollection, or of 
 manual skill, which science pretends not to communicate, or 
 because he is still ignorant of that which he professes to know ; 
 but to impute the disappointment to science itself, is to impute 
 it to the laws of nature, which it is the very object of science 
 to display. 
 
 These remarks are all applicable to the whole and to every 
 part of those sciences which are traversed in a course of col- 
 legiate education. Not a conclusion is there, at which they ar- 
 rive, nor a process for its attainment, but has been thus placed 
 beyond the power of scepticism by the test of experience, 
 in a thousand instances. 
 
 The basis then of a liberal education is correctly laid in a 
 knowledge of language as the essential instrument of thought 
 and reasoning, without which the researches and communica- 
 tions of science could be prosecuted within but very contracted 
 limits.* This is done upon the best models which tine world 
 has furnished for such a purpose. To us these models are emi- 
 nently valuable, and peculiarly fitted, because our own language, 
 not only in its scientific parts, but in all its comprehension, is 
 most largely indebted for its copiousness and transparency, to 
 the same Greek and Roman springs. The completion of an 
 education consists of Mathematics, first pure in their various 
 branches; then mixed, in Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and 
 Astronomy, succeeded or accompanied by Rhetoric, a rational 
 Logic founded in the true Philosophy of the mind, Political 
 Economy, and Ethics. With these are intermingled, through 
 every part of the course the practice of composition, elocution, 
 and the habit of explanation on every .subject in the ordinary 
 recitation to which the student is habitually called. 
 
 This, it may be said, is a fair fab rick, comely to the eye, and 
 carrying to the mind a conviction of its solid advantages, 
 could its promises be realized. But is it not true that a small 
 number only of those who engage in it, actually show in result, 
 the rich and exuberant fruits which it foretokens. To this it 
 
 * See Stewart on the Philosophy of the mind. 
 
is replied, that those who would model a plan for the liberal 
 education of youth, are not at liberty, even were they inclined 
 to select its subjects with an unlimited discretion. If to grati- 
 fy popular opinions and wishes, in the peculiar shape they 
 might assume, we were to attempt an exclusion of the mathe- 
 matical sciences, or even any large portion of them from a col- 
 legiate education, to some it might appear a consummation de- 
 voutly to be wished. But while we were rejecting such sub- 
 jects as Algebra, Geometry, and therefore of necessity the men- 
 Miration of heights and distances, surveying, navigation, natu- 
 ral philosophy and astronomy, as abstract subjects, and little 
 connected with practical life, can we easily conceive the estima- 
 tion that would be fixed upon our pretensions to the name and 
 rank we assume of institutions on which other men bestow the 
 name of Colleges and Universities for imbuing the early mind 
 with knowledge and an eflicient discipline! Should we not 
 soon find it necessary cither wholly to relinquish our claims to 
 a liberal education, or else to throw away the plumes and titles 
 with which we had thus vainly and presumptuously decorated 
 ourselves. To the same degrading issue must we arrive, were 
 we, in compliance with others, to pronounce the ancient lan- 
 guages and classics, no longer indispensable to a course of lite- 
 rature and science. It is perhaps little known to some, while 
 to others it may appear strange, that such an experiment actu- 
 ally made, is already upon the records of our University, and 
 that it was continued with no small perseverence, to accommo- 
 date that portion of public opinion which decried the utility of 
 these languages. And what was the result of this ? No soon 
 erdid candidates begin to offer themselves for the highest hon- 
 ours of the institution, as having substituted the requisite por- 
 tion of modern language for the ancient, than intelligent and 
 enlightened members of the Board, making no pretensions to 
 collegiate learning, and having no undue prepossessions in be- 
 half of the prescriptive learning of the schools, after witness- 
 ing the collateral examinations of such as were versed in the 
 ancient languages, and of others who had not enjoyed these op- 
 portunities, exclaimed under the severe disparagement of the 
 comparison, against the continuance of a practice, of whose ef- 
 fects no previous exposition could have convinced them, 
 
 What has been now said of the indispensable necessity of all 
 those parts of learning which constitute a system of collegiate 
 study, is no less applicable, to the quantity of every part, and 
 therefore of the whole. We know that it is a complaint some- 
 times heard ; nay by some much stress has been laid upon it. 
 that a larger compass of literary and scientific attainment is 
 
required at the University titan is reasonable or necessary; 
 and that it acts oppressively upon those who would have their 
 .sons educated here, or upon the student himself, or it may he 
 on both. But that the expense of an education to a youth while 
 in College is increased, by eulanging the quantity of study, is 
 evidently impossible, so long as the time of his continuance 
 which is four years, is unchanged, except that a few more books 
 may become necessary, which upon a more limited plan might 
 not be required. Yet even this consequence needs by no means 
 to follow, since if systems of the best character are selected, as 
 they ought to be, the number of volumes must be the same, while 
 the whole course is reduced by a diminution of the quantity 
 only studied in each. Should it be urged that the whole period 
 of an education is extended by calling for larger preparations 
 in the academies, we ask only for an attentive comparison of 
 the qualifications demanded of the candidate for admission into 
 any class in this institution, and into a corresponding class ira 
 any respectable college, of our country. If by any means it 
 should be ascertained that at some one or two institutions, stu 
 dents are admitted to membership upon terms far less in reali- 
 ty than such as make an ostentatious appearance in their pub 
 Jfeations, could it be the dispassionate wish of any one, that 
 education in our University, should be frittered away and re- 
 duced by such unfaithful practice and hollow pretensions, to the 
 lowest standard elsewhere discoverable in the United States, 
 North-Carolina makes no great pretensions to figure and exhi- 
 bition among her sisters of the Union, but God forbid that for 
 the sake of display, she should forfeit some solid realities of 
 character, which yet remain to her, and to which she may safe- 
 ly institute a true claim in comparison with many, by whom 
 they are denied, through lack of information, or it may be of 
 an ingenuous sentiment which it is still less creditable not to 
 j possess. But must it not above all be conceded, nay should it 
 ; not be steadfastly asserted and maintained, that wherever edu- 
 cation is professedly communicated, it should be done not in 
 pretension and appearance only, but as far as possible to every 
 youth in its proper solidity and worth. When we purchase 
 an article in the market, it is our first wish not that it be for a 
 moment admirable, by mere outside tinsel and display, but that 
 it truly possess the substantial properties long to endure in 
 I producing in perfection its proper effects. Is it in the attain- 
 i ment of a liberal education only that we shall renounce this 
 I principle, on all other subjects so universally appreciated and 
 received. When we are told of a place of education, where a 
 student is required to learn more than either himself or his pa- 
 i rents wish him to be taught, and where his moral habits, an£ 
 
10 
 
 his regularity of deportment in fulfilling the various rules of 
 the institution, are so sustained that license is not sufficiently 
 allowed to its members, it is time to consider whether every 
 inducement of pergonal ease, and immediate popularity is not 
 soliciting the instructors of youth to practise in their profession 
 with a relaxation proceeding from one step to another, till it 
 shall become indefinite, and subversive both of knowledge and 
 virtue. It is time also to inquire, whether this reproach of 
 which I speak, of asking excessive qualifications, if reproach 
 it may be called, may not originate in causes, which when de- 
 veloped by time and more fully understood, shall become the 
 glory of the community and the State, in whose institutions 
 they have prevailed. Is it not worthy of uh all, both the old 
 and the young, parents and their sons, legislators, curators and 
 citizens, to aspire to the reality of a seminary, not where it may 
 be feared the doors are thrown open to the free ingress and 
 continuance of loose habits and dissipation of time, but where 
 as far as is rationally and discreetly practicable, the habits of 
 ■virtue, sobriety, and diligence are sedulously cultivated as the 
 immediate means of improvement, and the proper pledge of 
 usefulness and distinction in future life. Were this to be made 
 our object, and could a success in some degree proportion alio 
 its value be permanently secured, the energy and substance of 
 character connected with this institution, which the wisdom 
 and patriotism of our State are solicitous to foster and elevate 
 to no ordinary perfection, would be an ample compensation for 
 the loss of such from the catalogue of its numbers, as for great- 
 er opportunities of an indolent and dissolute life, might rupture 
 the ties properly attracting and binding them to their own state, 
 to seek after those privileges which seem so enviable in other 
 institutions. 
 
 Of one thing we may be assured, that whatever experiments 
 may be attempted in other parts of onr country or of the world, 
 of conducting the education of youth by a system of little less 
 than universal release from all restrictions to industry and 
 virtue, it is not in North-Carolina, that such an experiment 
 can be sustained. And while most persons who are acquainted 
 with the sentiments and habits of our population will concede 
 this, it contains an evidence unequivocal of correct principles 
 in the public mind, and of a deep and honorable solicitude for 
 the best interests of the rising generation, and for the future 
 prospects of our country. 
 
 The review which has been taken, sets before us the me- 
 thods and opportunities of such a public education, as is now 
 deemed the wisest and best for our country and its peculiar 
 circumstances. It exhibits a system upon which our ihstitu- 
 
11 
 
 tions most illustrious for wisdom and success in forming the 
 character to intelligence, vigour, and essentia! virtue, both 
 individual and public, have been modelled. To imagine im- 
 provements upon it were easy, but to amend it in practice, 
 lias exhausted the genius, the zeal, and the resources of all 
 siich in the past and present generations of our enterprising 
 country, as have exerted their faculties upon the subject. Let 
 me. not he, understood to say; that either the methods or the 
 quantity of attainable advantages of education, in the most ex- 
 perienced and best furnished colleges of our country, are at 
 the utmost perfection for which we may hope. But if we 
 would seri< ■• sly and wisely engage in their practical advance- 
 ments, we must, as wc may well suppose, bring to the subject 
 much sober reflection, enlightened by practical opportunity, 
 to combine our conceptions and wishes with that which will 
 agree, with human nature, and with experience already ascer- 
 tained. There is perhaps no science or ait, which at the pre- 
 sent period of the world, contains not upon its records, were 
 they faithfully and thoroughly explored, expedients and me- 
 thods, promising efficient advantages, which upon experiment 
 already made, ha\e not proved that it would be fruitless to 
 try them anew. Without the requisite means of illumination, 
 they would prove hut enterprizes in the moral world, of as 
 little promise, as those which have had for their ohject the 
 perpetual motion, or the philosopher's stone, or the quadra- 
 ture of the circle, all alike at variance with the possibilities 
 of nature. Every system of education, perfect as it may be 
 in itself, and in the fidelity and ability of its execution, must 
 after all, depend for its efficacy upon the individual himself 
 who would reap its benefits. On his part there must he a 
 concurrence of disposition, taste, avidity, and effort, as essen- 
 tial parts of the whole cause, without which it were futile to 
 hope for the effect. 
 
 These advantages yen, my young friends, have actually en- 
 joyed, so far as has depended upon the faithful assiduity and 
 talent, selected and appointed for their communication. To 
 say this, I would hope may appear to all allowable, especially 
 when it is to you, who were it wanting in verity, would be abfc 
 to attest the deficiency of claim with which it might he charge- 
 able. To one abatement however it is subject, that he who 
 addresses you must and ought to be excluded, that he ma}" 
 give this expression of his opinions and feelings respecting 
 tiiose with whom he sincerely esteems it his privilege and hap- 
 piness to be associated. 
 
 Should it be your sentiment that no earthly treasures are to 
 be compared with those of scientific and virtuous attainment, 
 
1£ 
 
 prosecuted by the general course of studies which you have 
 now completed, with such improvements as the present state 
 of the world furnishes, you would but concur with all that 
 countless throng throughout the christian world, by whom for 
 many successive generations, the sciences and arts have been 
 advanced to a perfection, which no single mind could practj 
 caliy estimate, though its opportunities were prolonged through 
 many of the periods ordinarily Jallotted to human life. But 
 let me remind you once more, of that which you have already . 
 often heard, that every collegiate attainment in these sciences oi* 
 which you have been employed, can be correctly considered, 
 as only qualifying you forbad vanci tig into the science to which 
 it belongs. It is only an insatiable thirst after knowledge, 
 the truths it reveals, the various interests and powers it con- 
 fers, and the refined and elevated enjoyments it multiplies, be. 
 fore which its difficulties will successively disappear, till the 
 volume of nature and providence shall universally exhibit a 
 rich profusion botii for utility and delight. 
 
 Before closing my observations, I would willingly impress 
 upon your minds, as infinitely the most important of all that 
 I can say, that it is the characteristic of the Gospel, ever to 
 consider the righteousness which it teaches, amongst all the 
 interests and occupations and events of our existence that 
 which is indispensable and never to be relinquished. The ob- 
 jects of this world may be. surrendered, its plans may be va- 
 ried, and in our choice of them we may be much at our discre^ 
 tion. But with the principles and practice of virtue as it has 
 been taught us from Heaven, we can never be at liberty to 
 dispense. The whole life of Christ, and his sufferings at its 
 close, have this inscribed upon every act and every circum 
 stance. Philosophy and the maxims'of the world, may think 
 it trivial to swerve in some degree from the unchanging laws 
 of a perfect virtue, to accommodate emergencies, escape dan- 
 gers, or compass some great interest, which but for them 
 might be attained. But it is the injunction of christian rec- 
 titude, if thy hand offend thee cut it off, if thine eye offend thee 
 pluck it out ; such is the peculiarity of the religion of the gos- 
 pel. It has been exemplified to us in tiie lives of christians, 
 and in the martyrdom of a cloud of w itnesscss. Let us all 
 aspire, though our natures are weak and sinful, conclusively 
 to adopt this great maxim into the whole system of our con- 
 duct, and grasp it with a tenaciousness not to be broken. — 
 With this law written upon our hearts by the spirit of the Al- 
 mighty, as with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond, \vt 
 shall be useful, and honorable, and prosperous in this life, and 
 death shall be but the portal of our transition into glory, and 
 honor, and a happy immortality.