ADDRESSES AND PAPERS
BEARING CHIEFLY ON
EDUCATION.
RICHARD McILWAINE, D. D., LL. D.
RICHMOND, VA.: Wkittet & Shkppkrson, Pkintiri
COPYKIGHTED, I908. BY
Richard McIlwaine.
PREFACE.
The leading motive in issuing this volume is to put its contents in permanent shape, easily obtainable by readers who care to become acquainted with them. Eight of its twelve components are already in print but in such form as to be inaccessible to most persons.
The other four numbers (VII-X), connected closely with Public School work, are believed to be of equal value and in the present state of educational progress throughout Virginia and the South to be distinctly in accord with it.
The papers about Hampden-Sidney College give some account of the oldest institution for higher education in the South, the College of William and Mary alone ex- cepted. It still stands after a century and a quarter of active collegiate work, and deserves the regard of all lovers of sound learning coupled with high ideals of personal character. Several of her younger sisters in Virginia have outstripped her in equipment and number of matriculates but none in fitting men for high and noble usefulness in life. The whole volume, especially the biographical sketches and the two concluding ad- dresses, will be found to contain much adapted to awaken the aspirations of ingenuous youth, along with the desire to lead pure and honorable lives : "to make the most of themselves" as citizens of a free government and im- mortal beings, destined to a never-ending existence.
The Author. Richmondy Va., September /, i<p8.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
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CONTENTS.
Page
Inaugural Address. (Hampden-Sidney, Virginia, June 13.
1883)., 8
The Relation and Services of Hampden-Sidney College to THE Presbyterian Church and to the Cause of Edu- cation and Religion. (Seoond Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Virginia, February 5, 1888) ., 21
Hampden-Sidney College as an Educational Force, From THE War of the Revolution, to the War Between the States. (Memorial Chapel, Hampden-Sidney, April 20, 1903) ., 39
Does College Education Pay? (Issued and circulated about
1896 or 1897)., 66
Lewis Littlepage Holladay. (Hampden-Sidney Magazine,
April, 1892) ., 72
Some Essentials in the Improvement of Our Public Schools. (Opera House, Farmville, Virginia, Sep- tember 16, 1902) ., 81
Local Taxation for Public Schools Under the Present State Constitution. (Cooperative Education Com- mission, University of Virginia, July, 1904) 96
6 CONTENTS. Pagb
The Relation of the Citizen to the Public Schools. (Hampton, Virginia, December 7, 1904, under the auspices of the Co-operative Education Commission)., 109
The Family and the School. (Second Presbyterian Church,
Richmond, January 6, 1905)., 124
Matthew Fontaine Maury. (The Public School Teachers and older Pupils, Manchester, Virginia, April 14, 190S)., 134
President William McKinley. (Memorial Service of the Constitutional Convention of Virginia, September 19, 1901)., 153
Suffrage. (Democratic Conference of the Constitutional
Convention, January 6, 1902) ., i6l
ADDRESSES and PAPERS BEAR- ING CHIEFLY^;/ EDUCATION.
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees:
IN assuming the duties to which you have called me, I do so with diffidence coupled with hopefulness. I am abashed when I think that I am to be the successor of the Smiths, and of Alexander, Hoge, Gushing, Carroll, Maxwell, Sparrow, Green and Atkinson ; but I am com- forted by the thought that their virtues are imitable, and that their strength was in God. I am cheered, too, by the consideration that I am the unanimous' choice of your honorable body for this high position ; that your selection was not based on friendly solicitation or on evidence furnished by others, but upon your own intimate knowl- edge of my character, attainments and mode of life, and that I have the assurance of your cordial cooperation in any efforts I may make to enlarge and extend the use- fulness of the College whose interests are entrusted to your care. Permit me to say that there is no body of gentlemen with whom I would prefer to be associated. It has been my fortune to be acquainted with many of the good and great, but I have met none whose senti- ments and aims seem to me to be more exalted or which more entirely secure my sympathy and approval; and I confidently anticipate both profit and pleasure from the relations we are to sustain to one another in the future.
8 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
I esteem myself happy, too, on being inducted into office, to believe that my colleagues in the Faculty are, without exception, "the right men in the right place," who could not be profitably exchanged for any others, and that they have the entire approval not only of your- selves but of all the friends of the College. I will be pardoned, I am sure, for special allusion to the unalloyed pleasure I feel in the reestablishment of close personal relations with our senior professor, who, as my class- mate at Hampden-Sidney and room-mate at the Univer- sity of Virginia, and the unwavering friend of my whole life, is "grappled to my soul with hooks of steel"; who has now served the College longer than any person in its history, and with an intelligence, fidelity and success surpassed by none, and to whom she owes a debt of gratitude which I trust it may be in your power, as I know it will be your pleasure, to recognize in some sub- stantial form at no distant day. Nor can I forbear to express my personal regret that I shall be deprived of the counsel and intelligent assistance of Professor Kemper, whose kindness and urbanity, together with his zeal for the College, have won for him the respectful and affec- tionate regard of us all, especially of those whose sons at times have needed and received his generous assist- ance. I am sure he will carry with him the warm regards and best wishes of a host of friends, and that we will all be glad to know of his future success and happiness. I should be recreant to my feelings did I not make some worthy mention of our valued friend and associate, our honored ex-President, Dr. Atkinson, of whom I am rejoiced to speak as Professor Emeritus of Mental and Moral Philosophy, and to say that his name and fame
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 9
will continue to be linked with those of the College, and that if returning health shall permit, his services will still be at her command. The silent influence of such a man amongst us is a heritage of inestimable value, and should the good providence of God restore him to association with our young men and to participation in their instruc- tion, we will all regard it as a priceless blessing. It is to me, too, a pleasing reflection that my official life begins here at a time when, by the testimony of all, there is enrolled on our catalogue a list of students whose zeal in study has never been surpassed, and whose amiable bear- ing, and refined demeanor, and gentlemanly conduct do honor to the institution of which they are members, and give promise of the happiest state of things for the future.
I find much, then, in the Board of Trustees, in the Faculty and among the students to encourage me on assuming a position which in some of its aspects, will be one of difficulty, and the responsibilities of which no wise man would willingly seek. And I am persuaded that if the members of our institution continue united in mutual regard, and stand together in the discharge of their sev- eral duties, and all labor in their places for her highest interests, it is no uncertain prophecy to say that the burdens of none will be too heavy, and that a glorious success will crown our efforts.
As we gather here to-day, ladies and gentlemen, we celebrate the centennial of the corporate life of Hamp- den-Sidney. It was in 1783 our College was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia and entered upon its career of usefulness as one of the collegiate institutions of the land, it having previously existed only as a private enter- prise under the care of Hanover Presbytery, It was
10 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
established to be a seat of sound learning, of religion and of good morals, and such, under various vicissitudes, it has continued, until we find it to-day stronger in every real element of streigth (except in its chief officer and the nimiber of students) than it has ever been before. Its Faculty is larger and more able; its endowment, lament- ably small as it is, is more ample; its surroundings are more pleasant ; its friends are more numerous ; its culture is broader and higher; its influence is more salutary and extensive; its prospects are brighter than at any former period. The labors, prayers and sacrifices of her friends in the past have not been in vain. The vigilance of her trustees has borne fruit. The self-denials and labors of her Faculty have achieved a gratifying success. The love of her sons is her strength and hope. Her diploma is regarded as one of the best in the land. Her name is never mentioned except with respect, for there is here no sham and no pretension, but solid work and useful results.
But having said this, shall we not candidly confess that "we have not yet attained, neither are we already perfect." The fathers builded wisely. Their descend- ants have done something in carrying out their designs. Much yet remains to be accomplished. I will not be esteemed wanting in reverence if I say that the College is not quite up to the demands of the present age in some respects, and that while she stands before us as a vener- able matron to be loved, and honored, and revered, she needs to be more beautifully arrayed, and more tenderly cherished, and more bountifully sustained than she has been. The loyal hearts of the people of this portion of the State, and of the Presbyterians throughout our whole Synod, must be rallied to her support.
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 1 1
Hampden-Sidney is the only College in Southside Virginia, from Piedmont to the sea. It was established to meet the wants and contribute to the welfare of this entire section, and while Presbyterian in origin, it was designed by expressed enactment to be, as it has always been, undenominational in its instructions. Our fathers said, "though the strictest regard should be paid to the morals of the youth, and worship carried on evening and morning in the Presbyterian way, yet, on the other hand, all possible care should be taken that no undue influence shall be used * * * to bias the judgment of any; but that all of every denomination shall fully enjoy their own religious sentiments, and be at liberty to attend that mode of worship that either custom or conscience makes most agreeable to them, when and where they may have an opportunity of enjoying it."
Hampden-Sidney is the only College in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland which, being founded by Presbyterians, maintains a prevailing Christian and Presbyterian influence. Her usefulness, then, should ex- tend to all classes and denominations throughout South- side Virginia, and to Presbyterians in the whole Synod and to the descendants of Virginia Presbyterians every- where. She has claims upon these such as no other literary institution can assert, and she must be kept true to the mark of securing a high literary and scientific education, and at the same time of furnishing that social, moral and religious culture, without which our institu- tions of higher grade will necessarily degenerate into skepticism and immorality. The character of the gentle- men who compose the Board of Trustees and Faculty gives ample assurance that these high ends will be kept continually in view, and our fellow-citizens and brother
12 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
Presbyterians may rest assured, in committing their sons to our guidance, that we will do our best to send them home, at the end of their college course, not only ripe scholars, but refined Christian gentlemen, whose aspira- tion in life shall be to do their work well, and to work for the cause of truth, and of God, and of their country. The question has been widely and seriously raised, whether in the present state of American society there is any reason for the continued existence of such insti- tutions as Hampden-Sidney ? Whether it is not best to let our colleges die and to unite our efforts in the up- building of our great universities, where scores of pro- fessors and thousands of students may be gathered? Not to dwell on many arguments adapted to 'weaken the force of this suggestion, it is sufficient to say that the tendency of some of our great literary institutions seems to be largely skeptical, and their spirit far from what serious Christians deem safe for immature youth to come in contact with. It is also true that university instruc- tion, if it be what it professes, is poorly adapted to meet the wants of the class of young men whom the colleges aspire to teach and help. It is to be feared, indeed, that many so-called universities are badly named, and that a much larger proportion of their students are unbenefitted than those of our faithful and less ambitious colleges. It is also clearly a mistake to say that the gathering to- gether of very large numbers of professors and students is, of itself, conducive to higher effort on the part of either, while it is certain that there is involved in it a total loss of social communion between the teachers and the taught, and of the personal example and stimulus which are such important elements in the proper training of the young.
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 13
It may also be said that most of the students who attend the universities take only such partial courses of study as bear directly on their life-work, and that the effect of this is hurtfully to narrow the culture of many of our professional men. The colleges in their prescribed curricula of study now stand before the country as advo- cates of broad and generous learning, and are the chief opponents of that contracted system of merely technical education, which must prove damaging to true scholar- ship. Institutions which offer facilities and temptations to young men to neglect important branches of liberal culture are not to be praised, but blamed, and whatever other good qualities they may possess cannot be esteemed the peculiar friends of the higher education. If the stu- dents prepared for them by the faithful discipline and drill of the colleges be stricken from their catalogues they will lose a large part of the material from which first-rate scholars are to be made. So true is this that the most thoroughly pronounced, though the youngest, of American universities not only offers inducements of a very high order to the graduates of other colleges, but has found it necessary to institute a regular collegiate department to prepare students for its own university classes, the sine qua non of admission to which is a diploma from a college of good grade. When our other universities shall imitate this' honorable example they will occupy their true positions.
But the crowning objection to the abandonment of our colleges is the restriction which would at once be put on education, for a very small proportion of the young men who frequent them would ever be able to attend the more distant and expensive universities. Society would thus lose the salutary influence of a larg«
14 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
class of educated men, and the depreciation thus occa- sioned would be fatally manifest in all the departments of business and professional life. It is impossible to esti-^. mate what our colleges have done and are doing for the promotion of intelligence, the inculcation of virtue, the establishment of freedom and the extension of religion among our people; and it behooves every true patriot, no less than every sincere Christian, to cherish these institutions as the bulwarks of liberty and the conserva- tors of society.
Another question of even nearer and more practical concern to us has been mooted by some of the best friends of our college, to wit: whether it would not be wise to change its location to some more accessible point, and perhaps to the suburbs of one of our larger cities? It is alleged that remoteness from the great centres of life and activity, and from the main lines of travel, want of contiguity to a populous community from which many students might be drawn, and difficulty of access, to- gether with the fact that our situation is in a region not naturally rich and fertile, and consequently not likely to secure rapid growth and improvement, stand in the way of its greatly enlarged usefulness. It is vain to say that there is no force in these suggestions. They are impor- tant and deserve consideration, and have been thoroughly weighed by those who have the interest of the College at heart. But these things are not all that can be said and deserve to be considered on the subject, and in a matter of such importance it behooves us to "act with much deliberation and on the best advice.
It is obvious, on the other side of the question, that our present location has the prestige of the past in its favor. The memories of more than a hundred years
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 15
cluster about this spot. In days of yore such men as Patrick Henry, William Cabell, Sr., Paul Carrington, James Madison, John Nash, Nathaniel Venable, Everard Meade, Joel Watkins, John Morton, Thomas Reade, Peter Johnston and others of Virginia's worthies met here to consult for the welfare of the infant institution. The affections of many generations of students now alive find their focus at this point, and the descendants of honored sires who have long since fallen asleep, from all parts of our common country, look this way with rever- ential, ancestral pride. Union Theological Seminary, too, the fair and vigorous and beautiful daughter of Hampden-Sidney, in the fullness of her strength and usefulness, and destined to scatter yet richer and larger blessings over the land through her learned and conse- crated sons, sits here by her side, and would be left disconsolate at the departure of her mother. Then we have a hundred acres of land, the gift a hundred years ago of Peter Johnston, the ancestor of many distin- guished Virginians, among whom General Joseph E. Johnston will ever stand prominent, and many more broad acres acquired by gift and purchase from others, with a commodious college building and five professional residences, with spacious grounds, besides the steward's hall, and other appurtenances, which can not have cost less than from $60,000 to $75,000, most of which would have to be sacrificed by a removal. Then our endow- ment, amounting at present to over $100,000, has been secured for the institution, located where it is ; and it is doubtful whether the wishes of many of the donors would be consulted by a change of place. Then, again, it is by no means certain that our comparatively secluded situation is not a factor of great value in the educational
i6 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
advantage we offer. There is here as entire freedom from temptation to idleness and vice as can be found anywhere. Our community, though small, is homoge- neous, social, refined, literary and elevated. It is doubt- ful whether you can find on earth a higher moral tone than exists in old Prince Edward ; the people are among the most upright, conscientious and truth-loving in the world. Our soil, too, while not rich, is generous, yield- ing abundant returns to good treatment, and is destined some of these days to be occupied by a large and thrifty population. Then we must remember that our location is about midway between the mountains and the sea, in a section proverbially healthful and free from the dis- eases incident to the higher and lower regions of the State, so that during more than a hundred years only two students of the College are known to have died of disease on this hill ; that our situation is in the midst of a population of some 230,000 iwhite people, who have no other college in their section; while on the north of James river there are two colleges and a university ; in the Valley a college and a university, and in Southwest- ern Virginia two colleges, and just on its borders an- other. When we consider the Presbyterian population of this and other States' from which we may expect to draw patronage, our present location has, perhaps, the advantage of any other. It is not improbable, too, that at no distant day a railroad will come to our very doors, and that our community will on its advent be enlarged by the accession of a desirable population, and even now we arc only about an hour from direct railroad communica- tion with all parts of the country. So that, summing up the argument on both sides, it seems that the advantage is in favor of remaining where we are, and that the ques-
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 17
tion being thus settled, had best be definitely set at rest, and the friends of the College throughout our own State and elsewhere be summoned to its support in order to make it what it ought to be.
The day has long since passed, if it ever was, when it is possible to develop a first-rate literary institution without an adequate endowment; and no college in the land has higher claim on account of past service, as w^ell as because of its possibilities of future usefulness, than Hampden-Sidney. Our great want at present is money. We have an admirable corps of instructors, but they are poorly provided for. One of our professors, a gentle- man of high culture, is about to leave us to assume a position more attractive in some of its features and with an ampler salary. Two others, but for their love of their alma mater, would long ago have been drawn off by tempting offers from other institutions. It is doubtful whether we can retain our younger men permanently unless we offer them more substantial inducements than at present. A professor ought to receive a salary large enough to enable him to support and educate his family in comfort, to exercise the rites of cheerful and refined hospitality, to secure an abundance of books, periodicals and apparatus adapted to his department, and to lay by something for his declining years and for his family after his decease. This is necessary to his full efficiency as well as to the highest welfare of his students, and for the reputation of the institution with which he is con- nected. But we need funds for other purposes besides professors' salaries. There are certain incentives and stimuli to proficiency in special departments of study through prizes given to their most meritorious students, which other higher institutions feel it important to em-
iS ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
ploy, and which might well be introduced here, were the means at hand. Honorable competition would quicken eflfort after excellence, and would tend to elevate the general standard of our scholarship and to enhance our reputation, by sending forth annually a body of men peculiarly distinguished in their special branches of work. When we look at the external appearance of things about us, a catalogue of wants too long for enumeration easily suggests itself. Our college building stands out in the open campus, naked and unadorned as it was when the finishing touches were given to it some fifty years ago. It is a very fine structure, solidly built and well adapted to our purposes ; and the addition of a cupola, of porticos in front and rear, of blinds to the windows and of some comparatively inexpensive repairs, would make it attractive to the eye and delightful as a residence for students. Our college grounds, too, capable of beautiful arrangement and display, mutely invite us to enrich and improve them. The health of our young men also de- mands that a well-appointed gymnasium for their physi- cal culture shall be secured, so that their bodily strength may keep pace with their mental growth, and not be sapped and destroyed by it. We need additional appara- tus for our chemical, and philosophical, and geological, and astronomical, and mathematical departments. We must have a library fund, the income of which will pro- vide books of reference for our professors and students ; and a library building, in which, perhaps, more spacious halls may be provided for the young gentlemen of the literary societies. Will I be thought too sanguine when I say that at the earliest practicable moment the old kerosene lamp ought to be supplanted on this hill by gas or electric light? and that the day may come when an
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 19
adequate supply of water may be secured not only for all the comfortable uses of life, but even to sustain a little fountain on the campus, with a little lake fed by its refreshing streams, on the margin of which shall grow beautiful flowers, begirt on every side by pleasant walks hidden among trees and shrubs, upon which the boys and girls of that time may promenade on commence- ment day, and educate one another in the art of love, as their predecessors were accustomed to do amid ruder scenes. This may be all a dream, a fancy, an illusion of the imagination, but it is pleasant to think of, and will be realized if the money can be secured ; for the good Book says, "money answereth all things," which in this con- nection means it will do a great deal for Hampden- Sidney — if we can only get it.
Institutions, like men, are in danger of embracing and cherishing an idea with such strength and persistency as to exclude other vital truths necessary to a normal and healthful development. Such lack symmetry, and while they may do valuable work in an important direction, they miss their full measure of usefulness by failing to produce the full-orbed impression which is essential to perfectness. In this day no system of education will stand the test of examination which overlooks the esthetic. "The true, the beautiful and the good" are closely related. In the development of our institution, with the view of its attaining its highest and largest use- fulness, we must put it abreast of our sister colleges in all those elements of refined culture which are exerting so beneficent an influence in educating the better classes of our American society. Hampden-Sidney, looking to the mountains on the one hand and to the sea on the other, and inviting to her halls aspiring youth from all
20 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
sections of our common country, must be prepared not only to give them a hearty welcome and to conduct them into the arcana of sound learning and up to the broad plains of high moral and religious life, as she has always done, but must also greet them with such surroundings and furnish them with such instructions as shall educate all the better elements of their natures, and stimulate them to seek the highest improvement of which they are capable and at once to do honor to themselves and credit to their College, and be a blessing to their race in their future lives.
Such, gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, is the object to which we should address ourselves in the con- duct of this venerable institution! Such is the aim I propose for myself, and in which, I am sure, my brethren of the Faculty will concur ! Such, we invite our under- graduates and alumni and the friends of the College here and everywhere to help us to make old Hampden- Sidney, so that as she goes forward in the second century of her existence she may continually grow more vigorous and beneficent, and dispence her blessings to Church and State in ever-enlarging measure, and everywhere be known, and honored and loved, because of the merits of her sons.
THE RELATION AND SERVICES OF
HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE TO THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AND TO
THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION
AND RELIGION.
"Because of," or, as the Revised Version puts it, "For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good." — Ps. cxxii. 9.
THE Psalm from which the text is taken is a pane- gyric on Jerusalem. The point of view from which the Holy City is regarded is as the seat of the theocracy, whence proceed the law and government under which the temple is maintained and the house of God is protected and blessed. "For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David." Its stability and strength are the defence of Zion; its wel- fare is the welfare of the house of God. Therefore, the sacred writer continues, "Pray for the peace of Jeru- salem ; they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls and proseprity within thy palaces. For my brethren and my companions' sakes I will now say. Peace be within thee. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good."
The thought I wish you to seize and appropriate is this : that whatever institution is promotive of the inter- ests of the church of God appeals to the believer in God for his affectionate sympathy and support. Of course, this instruction assumes the existence of the fact that
22 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
the church, as the divine instrument in sanctifying and saving men, commands the profound regard of every be- Hever, whether Jew or Christian. To it are committed the oracles of God, the ministry of the word, the admin- istration of the sacraments. It is the school of Christ. In it are found the means of grace. Out of it, there is ordinarily no hope of salvation.
It must not be forgotten, however, that while the church is a divine institute, it is found in the world, is surrounded by antagonistic influences, is engaged in con- flict with the powers of evil ; and as it has a human side, is weak and fallible, and must be maintained through the sanctified effort and sacrifices of God's people. Its ex- istence on earth in every age has been conditioned on strenuous endeavor, and all its advances have been the result of suffering and labor and devotion.
There are three institutions in modern society, closely allied to one another, on the conservation of which the welfare of mankind depends. These are the family, the church, and the state. In the original constitution of things they were blended in one, the patriarch of the household being at once its priest and its king, as well as its father and teacher and guide; but as the race in- creased and society became complicated and interests were multiplied and diversified, it was necessary for defence and protection, no less than for the culture and development of the community, that these three great functions should be allotted to three separate and dis- tinct, and yet mutually inter-dependent, agencies. From the family, as the fountain and nucleus of society, there have emerged, on the one hand, the state, and, on the other, the church : the state, which is entrusted with the secular, material and temporal interests of the commu-
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 23
nity; and the church, to which belong the nurture and care of things spiritual and divine, and which ever points to God and a better life. Each of these is divine as it obtains the sanction, approval and blessing of God, and leads up to God. Each is human as it grows out of the needs of mankind, exists among men and for men, and is administered by men for their own interests and for the glory of God and the good of the race. Home, church, country ! There is magic in these words. They awaken the warmest affections of the heart, and solicit the most earnest efforts of which the soul is capable. Taken separately, each exercises its own peculiar spell. Taken together, they constitute the grand motive of life — the sum of human duty.
We, my brethren, can never adequately appreciate our indebtedness to Christianity for the blessings which we now deem inalienable, nor can we ever sufficiently estimate the struggles by which they have been won and handed down to us as a birthright. It is fortunate for us indeed that we are descended from a race which, even before its conversion to Christianity, possessed many domestic virtues, which, when sanctified by the gospel, have led up to the sacred conception of the family which now exists with us and wherever the Protestant faith is accepted and lived in its purity. It is also no less a cause for thankfulness that our ancestors, wandering away from their remote homes in the far east, and settling by successive occupations in northern Europe, have, throughout historic times, maintained their love of personal independence, and hating tyranny, whether in church or state, have ever been ready to defend the right and to proclaim the liberty of the subject. It ought, too, to be the occasion of never-failing gratitude to us, as it
24 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
is the source of never-ending blessedness and hope to the world, that when it appeared there was no longer room in Europe for those who wished to worship God accord- ing to the teaching of his word, an asylum was opened for them in America, where, after long, persistent and successful struggles, it has been assented to and agreed, that God alone is Lord of the conscience; that every man is a freeman, and that every man's house is his castle.
Now I assert it as a fact, and did time permit, it could easily be proved from a large induction of histori- cal data, that all this has come to us, directly and in- directly, through the influence of the gospel of Christ, and that it is to the church of God we are indebted as the chief instrumentality in securing this great boon. Without stopping to prove this, I remark that, as a fact, we find ourselves in the possession of these noble benefits, at once the gift of God and a priceless heritage, won by honored sires through centuries of strife. We enjoy a pure and spotless domestic life; we are members of a Christian commonwealth, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and call no man master on earth ; we are citizens of a free government, administered by the people and for the people, under which every man is equal before the law and entitled to "Hfe, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This grand heritage is ours, and we are responsible to ourselves, to our fellowmen and to God for its maintenance. And as we look over the world to-day and see so large a portion of it sitting in the abomina- tions of heathendom, and then to nominal Christendom, and behold an imperfect Christianity producing imperfect fruit for the welfare and happiness of the people, we may well rejoice in the beneficent gifts of a gracious
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 25
Providence, and determine afresh that, by the help of Almighty God, we will defend and preserve them, and hand them down, unimpaired and improved, to genera- tions yet unborn. They are the purchase of the virtue, intelligence and piety of those who have gone before, and these are the conditions, and these alone, on which they can be conserved and perpetuated. If America is to continue the land of the free, and to stand as an inspira- tion to the nations of the earth; if the church is to remain pure from foreign domination and the dispenser of the truth and blessing of God; if our hearthstones are to be preserved from contamination and the fires on our domestic altars to burn on with a sacred and celestial flame, it must be by the conservation and dissemination of the principles of morality and religion, intelligently embraced as convictions from God's word.
It was such thoughts as these that filled the hearts, and nerved the arms and encouraged the efforts of the fathers of the American Revolution, and inspired the Christian patriots of that day to build up a government based on virtue, enlightenment, and religion. It was this impulse which took hold of the founders of the Presby- terian Church in Virginia more strongly, perhaps, than on any other portion of the people, and led them, even in the very throes of the Revolution, to establish institu- tions which have ever since proved blessings to the com- monwealth and the church of God. These consecrated and far-seeing men knew that the struggle in which they were engaged was for home, for church, and for country ; that every earthly interest was involved in it, and with almost inspired prescience foresaw that if freedom were won it could be maintained only by intelligent consecra- tion to God and the good of society. One of the most
26 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
interesting pages of American history is to be found in the annals of old Hanover Presbytery in these times, and one of its most important features is the concern felt and the measures adopted to provide for the scholastic, moral, and religious education of the youth of the State.
At a meeting of this venerable body, held in the county of Charlotte, in the year 1774, the subject of Christian education was prayerfully considered, and it was determined to establish an academy for the educa- tion of youth on the east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In February, 1775, this institution was located in Prince Edward county, was opened for students in January, 1776, and the spirit of American independence being abroad in the land, was named Hampden-Sidney , after the two English patriots who sealed their love of con- stitutional freedom with their blood. The school was at once filled to overflowing with students, and among the first acts of the Legislature of Virginia after independ- ence had been acknowledged, was the incorporation, in 1783, of Hampden-Sidney College, under a charter broad in its provisions and ample in the privileges it conferred. In that instrument these memorable words occur : "And that, in order to preserve in the minds of the students that sacred love and attachment they should ever bear to the principles of the present glorious Revolution, the greatest care and caution shall be used in electing such professors and masters, to the end that no person shall be so elected unless the uniform tenor of his conduct manifests to the world his sincere affection for the liberty and independence of the United States of America."
It is worthy of remark that the history of Hampden- Sidney has ever been in accord with this patriotic declar- ation. Even during the pendency of the Revolution, its
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students were formed into a company under the com- mand of the president, Rev. John Blair Smith, and marched to Williamsburg and placed at the service of the Governor of the Commonwealth. So, too, in the war of 1812, the young men, under the command of John Kirkpatrick, a late graduate, who was then pursuing his theological studies under Rev. Dr. Moses Hoge, the president of the college, took part in the defence of Norfolk, and were for some time in service. And again, in our late war. Captain J. M. P. Atkinson, better known to you as my predecessor, led the Hampden-Sidney Boys out to the field of conflict in defence of what they be- lieved to be the rights of constitutional government.
I mention these things in order that you may see that our college has ever been true to the calls of duty, and that it has a title to the gratitude of the State and country which ought not to be overlooked.
But my special object at this time is to show the claims which Hampden-Sidney has on the Presbyterian Church at large, and on the Synod of Virginia and on this church in particular.
My reason for bringing this subject to your attention at this juncture is that the time has arrived when it is necessary that a large addition shall be made to the funds of the college, unless its usefulness is to be greatly im- paired. Until recently our appliances and facilities for education were fully abreast of those offered by our sister colleges. But such advances have been and are being made by other institutions, that we are falling relatively behind, and must be distanced in the race unless efficient and speedy means are used to put our college in a foremost position again. Not only have the incomes of the University of Virginia and of Washington and
28 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
Lee been enormously increased of late years, but Ran- dolph-Macon, and Richmond, and other colleges, are going forward with surprising and gratifying rapidity. May God bless them all, for they are excellent institu- tions, doing excellent work for the church and country ! Virginia has nothing in which she has more reason to rejoice than her literary institutions.
But while the Methodists and Baptists are thoroughly equipping their colleges and fitting them for enlarged and permanent usefulness, shall the Presbyterians of Virginia hold back and allow their college to fall behind, and fail of the work it ought to achieve?
We have at Hampden-Sidney a faculty of six profes- sors and also a fellow, annually elected to give instruction in sub-freshman studies. Our professors are gentlemen of marked ability, cultivated scholars, exemplary Chris- tians, and most laborious and earnest in the discharge of all their duties. We have over one hundred students, the sons of our ministers, elders, and Christian people, whose general bearing, behavior, and studiousness can- not be excelled by any similar number of young men on the continent. We have a college building one hundred and sixty feet long by forty wide, an excellent structure of solid masonry, which, with some improvements, can be made all that is wanted in such a building. Besides, we have a commodious steward's hall and five profes- sorial residences in a fair state of preservation, and in addition, we have about two hundred and fifty acres of land, on and in the midst of which these buildings stand.
Our endowment amounts to $110,000, and we have a building fund of something more than $8,000, which we are now endeavoring to increase in order to erect buildings absolutely necessary to the well-being of the college.
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It will be seen from this statement that we already have a good foundation. Our Board of Trustees has authorized an effort to raise $250,000 in addition, $200,000 for permanent endowment, and $50,000 for buildings and improvements.
As to the location of the college, I may say that I regard it one of the most desirable in Virginia. It is in a portion of the State where it is greatly needed ; is the only institution of high grade in Southside Virginia be- tween the mountains and the sea, and is in a region proverbially healthful, and distinguished for its moral and religious influence. Union Theological Seminary is immediately adjacent, and the intercourse maintained between the faculties and students of the two institu- tions is mutually salutary. Our community is composed entirely of the families and students of the college and seminary, and cannot be excelled for the genial and kindly influence exerted on our young men. The historic associations of the place, too, while not computable in figures nor measurable by square and compass, are of inestimable value in forming the character and moulding the life of those committed to us. It is something for our young men to feel that they are at a place venerable on account of the mighty men who have labored there, and full of memories of those who have there been trained for life, and have illustrated in their work the highest excellencies of which human nature, refined and elevated by grace, is capable.
The needs of Hampden-Sidney are many. It is im- possible to administer a college efficiently in these days without large funds. This is a progressive age, and any institution which is not advancing must retrograde. To stand still is to go back.
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Wc need a large endowment fund, which will yield a regular and permanent annual income, for the pur- pose of increasing the support of our hard worked and cultured professors. It is with professors as it is with preachers and doctors and lawyers and other profes- sional men. Adequate support means increased efficiency, more thorough consecration, better work. We also need more professors. Our faculty ought to consist of ten instead of six professors. We need to make large addi- tions to our library, and especially to secure such works of permanent value connected with our different depart- ments of instruction as are being continually issued from the press. If we are to have a progressive, live institu- tion, our professors and older students must have access to the best and latest researches and discoveries which are being made by learned men in different parts of the world. We need to found scholarships and fellowships as encouragements to meritorious students, and to give aid to deserving young men struggling in poverty to secure the boon of education. Then we need immediately a large building- for lecture rooms, society halls, library room and chapel. This is a want which must be supplied ere we can obtain much increase in the number of our students or in the enlargement of our influence. We also need very much a department of physical culture and a gymnasium, with the latest modern appliances for the development and training of the physical system. The day has long since passed when it is considered safe to educate the mind without corresponding attention to the body. It is now a recognized fact that there is a most intimate connection between the spiritual and physi- cal natures. Hygiene has, therefore, come forward as an important study, not only for the physician, but for
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the intelligent layman, and no college can long maintain itself which neglects its' theory and practice. I should regard the man who will furnish us with a well appointed gymnasium as a public benefactor, whose name would deservedly be handed down to posterity as an enlightened patron of learning. And so I might tell you of other things needed in order to make Hampden-Sidney what we, as Virginians and Presbyterians, would like to see it. I desire that our college shall be the equal of any other in the land, so that our people may feel, when they send their sons to us, that not only in educational, moral and religious advantages they have secured what they want, but that in every other respect they will obtain all that they can get elsewhere.
And now some of my hearers who have been kind enough to listen to me thus far may be ready to say: "Yes, we assent to all you urge. The principles you an- nounce are true, and the contemplated improvements are desirable, but what is that to us? Why bring your institution before us in God's house, and on the Sabbath day ? What have we to do with it ? What claims has it on us ?"
In attempting to reply to these inquiries, which are legitimate and proper, and deserve a candid answer, I remark that Hampden-Sidney is your college, and de- serves your support. The Methodists regard Randolph Macon, and the Baptists Richmond College as their col- lege, and in the same sense Hampden-Sidney belongs to the Presbyterians of the Synod of Virginia. It was established by Presbyterians, is administered by Presby- terians, and is employed by Presbyterians as their edu- cational institution. I suppose that five-sixths of the candidates for the ministry and of the sons of ministers
32 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
within the bounds of our Synod, who are in a course of collegiate training, are at Hampden-Sidney, and five- sixths of all our students are sons of Presbyterians. More than one-third of all the students who are at present, or who for some years have been at Union Theological Seminary, are alumni of Hampden-Sidney. From the foundation of the college it has been the nur- sery of gospel ministers, and I suppose that nearly one-third of all its graduates, besides a large number of its undergraduates, have become preachers of the gospel. Scores of our men are now living who are doing yeoman service in the cause of God and truth. If the names of the sons of Hampden-Sidney were stricken from the rolls of the Synod of Virginia and the Southern Presbyterian Church, an irreparable loss would be felt. What would the history of Presbyterianism in Virginia during the past and present generation be without such names as John Kirkpatrick, John L. Kirkpatrick, William S. White, Theodorick Pryor, Benjamin M. Smith, Robert L. Dabney, Moses D. Hoge, William U. Murkland, and scores of others, who have drunk from the fountains of learning and religion at our old college? What she has been to Virginia and the South may be illustrated by what she is to Richmond. Not only your own pastor, but the senior editor of our religious paper, the three successive pastors of the Fourth church, and the min- ister just called to the church in Manchester, are all Hampden-Sidney men. So in Baltimore, in Washington, in Raleigh and Wilmington, N. C, in Atlanta, in Selma, and at many other prominent points in every Southern Synod from Maryland to Texas, and from Missouri to Florida, and also in Greece, in Brazil, in China, in Japan, v/herever the work of our church extends, there Hamp-
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den-Sidney men are preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by their pure and consecrated Hves are pointing and leading men to God. Has she not been in the past, is she not now a power in sustaining the church of Christ? May I not ask you to join me in the solemn asservation of the psalmist, "For my brethren and my companions' sakes, I will now say. Peace be within thee. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good."
But it is not only for its direct services in training preachers that Hampden-Sidney deserves well of you. It has also done a noble work in educating pious lawyers, physicians, merchants, who are leading officers and lay- men in some of the churches. They are found not only in Virginia and the South, but in the far-off West and Northwest, and on the Pacific slope, and wherever they go they carry with them the principles, habits, and truths in which they have been educated.
But perhaps next in appreciable value to the work which our college has done for the gospel ministry is the service rendered in the cause of Christian education. It was from Hampden-Sidney that the venerable Samuel Doak, one of its first corps of teachers, and the founder of Presbyterianism in Tennessee, went forth to establish a college across the mountains. He carried on the backs of mules the first library which was ever on the west of the Alleghanies, before a wagon road had been cut across the mountains. From that day to this Hampden-Sidney has been among the foremost institutions in the land in fur- nishing Christian educators for our colleges and schools. The largest institution in the South is to-day presided over by a Hampden-Sidney graduate, the venerable Landon C. Garland, chancellor of Vanderbilt University.
34 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
The present presiding officer at our own State University and another member of its faculty are Hampden-Sidney men, and another, the lamented and gifted Southall, lately fell at his post as professor of law. Two of our graduates have been presidents of Davidson College; one a professor of Washington College ; one of Washing- ton and Lee University; one is now in Richmond Col- lege; one in the University of Texas; another is the noble chancellor of Central University, Kentucky; an- other is the founder of the Southwestern Presbyterian University, and now Professor of Biblical Literature at that institution ; another is professor in your own Theo- logical Seminary ; five are professors in our own college, and there are many others in colleges and at the head of classical and high schools, male and female, throughout the country. These all, without exception, so far as is known to me, are serious and earnest Christian men, who, besides the service they render to sound learning, are exerting an influence and doing a work of unspeak- able value among the young for Christ, and in behalf of virtue and religion. I therefore recall your minds to the words of the psalmist, and urge you, "for the sake of the house of the Lord our God" to "seek the good" of this venerable and useful college.
Another point of interest in Hampden-Sidney for this congregation is, that it is the first, and, so far as is known to me, the only institution in Virginia which makes the history and literature of the Bible a part of its cur- riculum, and proficiency in this course a requisite for graduation. Our students are thus made acquainted with the facts of Scripture history, and somewhat with the Bible from Genesis through apostolic times; and in the senior class a thorough course on the Evidences of
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Christianity is given, in which the students are instructed in the grounds on which our holy rehgion rests, and fortified against skeptical objections brought against it. Our young men are thus not left to be carried away with the wild vamperings of an Ingersoll, or the learned soph- istries of a Renan, a Strauss, or a Baur, or the scientific vagaries of a Darwin, a Spencer, or a Huxley, but are guarded and instructed as to the real foundations on which our religion is based.
Had I not detained you so long already, I would now ask you to attend to some reminiscences of the men who have presided over this venerable institution. I can do little more than mention their names. And, of course, the founder of Hampden-Sidney Academy, Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, who became president of Princeton College, must be mentioned; then John Blair Smith, the first president of the college, and one of its first Board of Trustees; then Drury Lacy, the maternal grandfather of your pastor, who, as vice-president, filled the office for several years with distinguished success; then Archibald Alexander, who afterwards founded Princeton Theo- logical Seminary, who gave the prime of his life to Virginia, and who, with his colleagues, John Holt Rice and Conrad Speece, made Hampden-Sidney a blessing to his native State ; then Moses Hoge, the elder, who came to the college in the maturity of his powers and filled the presidency with great ability, acting at the same time as Synod's Theological Professor, and who died in this position — a man of extraordinary scholarship, of vast powers as a preacher, of wonderful influence over all classes and conditions of people, under whom the college received the form of an institution of the highest grade then known in the State ; then Jonathan P. Cushing, and
36 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
Sparrow and Carroll and William Maxwell, the accom- plished literateur, the eminent lawyer, the elegant gentle- man, and the devoted Christian ; then, coming to our own times, Lewis W. Green, the eloquent orator and inspiring teacher, whom all his old students, and I among the num- ber, remember with gratitude and admiration; and last, but not least, J. M. P. Atkinson, the devout man of God, heroic and whole-souled, who for twenty-five years, by valued instruction and holy example, educated the youth committed to his charge. The mention of the names of these men is an inspiration, and I summon them before you and ask. Will you let an institution for which they labored suffer, now that the age is threatening to leave it behind? "These all died in the faith, not having re- ceived the promise, but having seen it afar off," and in their names I call on you to come forward and aid in realizing the wish that was uppermost in their minds, that this old college should be thoroughly furnished to do the work assigned it by its historic position and the demands of the age.
I once heard an eloquent minister utter the following words before a large audience: "I believe," he said, "that if there is a spot on earth over which a window in heaven always stands open through which blessings con- tinually descend in sanctifying and saving power, that spot is Hampden-Sidney." God has greatly blessed the college, not only as an educational centre, but as a spirit- ual force. The minister who uttered those words was your pastor, my friend. Dr. Hoge, who, from his birth, has been identified with the college. He was" bom there, was educated there, was for a time in his youth con- nected with the instruction of the institution; has for thirty-five years been one of its most valued and honored
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trustees ; was twice elected its president, and would again have been the unanimous choice of the trustees but that it was known that he could not and would not leave his charge in Richmond, and he is regarded to-day by his alma mater as her chosen son, second to none other. I am here now by his invitation, and am sure that every word I have spoken finds response in his breast. I would suggest, with modesty, that Dr. Hoge's relation to the college being altogether unique, and wholly unlike that of any other living man, it would be appropriate that some memorial of him should be erected there in his honor. I know, indeed, that his grand memorial is found in this splendid edifice and in this" noble church of living souls which I now address. These are the results of his life- work, and shall endure throughout generations. But I know, also, that it would be a joy to his heart to have his name indissolubly connected with Hampden-Sidney, which has received so large a share of his affection, and to which he acknowledges himself to be under so great a debt of gratitude. I suggest, therefore, that, by the endowment of a professorial fund, or the erection of a building, or the creation of a library fund, this congrega- tion and Dr. Hoge's friends in Richmond shall signalize his services' and perpetuate his influence at Hampden- Sidney. I am sure there is no man on earth whom you so admire and honor and love, and that, whatever you deem right and wise in the premises, you will do. And may God add his blessing for Christ's sake. Amen.
[Note. — To prevent misapprehension, the following remarks are deemed proper: (i) The foregoing discourse was prepared for a Presbyterian congregation. Had the audience been promis- cuous, more stress would have been laid on what has been done for other churches, especially the Episcopal, to which the services
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of Hampden-Sidney have been somewhat marked. (2) Under other circumstances, too, fuller mention would have been made of what Hampden-Sidney has done in educating men who have filled the highest positions of responsibility in the country, from the presidency of the United States down through all grades of governmental employment, state and federal, in all departments of administration, judicial, legislative, and executive. (3) The names of distinguished ministers and the high educational posi- tions held by graduates of Hampden-Sidney specifically mentioned are those which occurred to the writer in the rapidity of com- position. There are many others who richly deserve notice, who were necessarily omitted. (4) Only three of the distinguished men named and alluded to in the body of the discourse hold a literary degree other than that conferred by Hampden-Sidney, and few ever enjoyed instruction in any other literary institution. Nearly all got their whole literary training at this college, and can adopt the language of one of the most distinguished of their number: "As I look back on life, I attribute whatever of use- fulness I have attained and whatever of influence I have exerted, to the training and inspiration I received at this place, while I was a student of the college."]
HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE AS AN EDUCA- TIONAL FORCE FROM THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION TO THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.
THIS institution is an outgrowth of Hampden-Sid- ney Academy, founded by Hanover Presbytery in 1775 and opened for students January i, 1776. Its patrons designed it to be thoroughly Christian, but non-sectarian in its government, privileges and instruction. Hampden- Sidney College was incorporated by the General Assem- bly of Virginia in 1783 under a broad and generous" charter, which has never been altered or amended, and stands next to William and Mary among institutions, south of Mason and Dixon's line, in the period of its collegiate existence.
Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, afterwards President of Princeton College, was the first Rector of the Acad- emy, and Rev. John Blair Smith, afterwards President of Union College, N. Y., was' the first President of the College. They were brothers and both graduates of the college of New Jersey.
In the list of charter members of the college are found the names of such well known Virginians as Patrick Henry, James Madison, William Cabell, Sr., Paul Carrington, Everard Meade, John Nash, John Morton, Thomas Reade, Joel Watkins, William Booker, Thomas Scott, Sr., James Allen, Nathaniel Venable, Peter John- ston and others of like degree, all of whom were among the founders of the Commonwealth and the defenders
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of its liberties and whose descendants now constitute an important portion of its inhabitants and of the people of many states of the American Union.
The land on which the College is located, a tract of ninety-seven acres, was donated to its trustees by Peter Johnston, Esq., a patriotic Scotchman, a citizen of Prince Edward county and the father of Peter Johnston, Jr. (called little Peter), who entered the Academy in 1776 and while a student, at the age of sixteen, ran away from school and became A. D. C. to Light Horse Harry Lee during the Revolutionary War and afterwards a distin- guished judge in Southwestern Virginia and the father of General Joseph E. Johnston and U. S. Senator J. M. Johnston. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston was also grand- son of Peter Johnston, Sr., who is the progenitor of many scores of the leading citizens of Virginia and other states.
In estimating the educational value of an institution, however distinguished its services may have been in the production of technical educators, it would be a narrow view to confine the scope of inquiry to the area occupied by those who have directed their lives wholly to this end. Every educated man is an educational force, and what- ever may be his specialty, naturally and necessarily, dif- fuses influences of a culturing and elevating character. "What is that," says Coleridge, "which first strikes' us, and strikes us at once in a man of education ? And which among educated men, so instantly distinguishes the man of superior mind, that (as was observed with eminent propriety, of the late Ednmnd Burke) we cannot stand imder the same archway during a shower of rain, with- out finding him out. Not the weight or novelty of his remarks ; not any unusual interest of facts communicated
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by him. It is the unpremeditated and evidently habitual arrangement of his words, grounded on the habit of fore- seeing in each integral part, or (more plainly) in every sentence, the whole that he intends to communicate. However irregular and desultory his talk, there is method in the fragments."*
On the other hand, every intelligent man, whether trustee or professor, or student, who is vitally connected with a literary institution, along with what he consciously seeks and attains, cannot fail to gain higher ideals, to imbibe something of culture and refinement and to obtain a nobler inspiration for life, from the environment in which he is placed.
It would be an epoch-making revelation, if the edu- cative influences exerted on the original trustees of Hampden-Sidney College by their association with one another and their joint and individual efforts in its behalf could be fully depicted. How wide, important and far- reaching in its effects on their personal advancement, and on their families, their neighbors, the State of Virginia and the country at large was the communion with one another in the great work which brought them together, no mortal can reveal or even faintly trace. For example : the name of William Cabell, Sr., of Nelson county, is found among the corporators of the college, as it had been among the curators of the Academy from the first. He was a brother of Nicholas Cabell, Esq., of the same county. Several of the near relatives of these men are found among the early students of Hampden-Sidney; notably William H. Cabell, afterwards Governor of the State and judge of its highest court for forty years, and Joseph C. Cabell, afterwards a graduate of William and
* The Friend. Section 2, Ess. 4.
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Mary College and in later life a distinguished and influ- ential member of the Senate of Virginia and the inde- fatigable and successful co-laborer of Thomas Jefferson in securing the founding of our great university and without whose persistent and intelligent efforts, it is probable that all Mr. Jefferson's endeavors would have been futile and gone for nought, f It cannot, indeed, be categorically asserted, but it may be rationally surmised that the influence of Hampden-Sidney on the elder Cabell and of Hampden-Sidney and William and Mary on the younger generation had something to do in smoothing the path for the establishment of our highest educational institution. Just as a spark of vital religion in the heart and life of a man is intended to be a light to the world and as it is like to leaven which is meant to diffuse itself throughout the whole social fabric, so education in its higher, nobler aspects must make itself felt, and where- soever and in whomsoever found, show itself a potent factor in the upbuilding of institutions and the enlighten- ment of mankind.
If this be true, then what a mighty force must have been exerted by such institutions as Hampden-Sidney College during the period beginning with the Revolution- ary War and ending with the war between the States. What an impression for good must have been produced throughout the State and far beyond by the lives' and example of hundreds of educated lawyers, publicists, physicians, ministers of the gospel and others, who sat at the feet of the venerable men, who taught at this institution during those auspicious days, and who in association with one another in the class-room, in the
t Thos. Jefferson and the University of Va., by Herbert B. Adams, p. 54.
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literary societies and on the campus', found inspiration for effort and for the high and noble career to which many of them attained.
It would be both wearisome and vain to encumber these pages with even a partial list of the names and deeds of the men who studied and got their inspiration, during this period at Hampden-Sidney and afterward honored their alma mater and themselves by serving their generation wisely and well in positions' of high trust and responsibility. Such an effort would require more than a folio volume for its completion instead of a brief article of a few pages, but it may be well in entering on the special topic of this paper and as integral part of it, to tell of a few of the sons of the old College whose illustrious deeds may serve as examples of many men, equally or scarcely less distinguished and all of whom must have exerted an important influence, direct and in- direct, on the educational welfare of our beloved Com- monwealth and scarcely less beloved Southland.
Lawyers and Publicists.
It is an interesting fact that in the list of the first class which graduated from the College (1786) two names, John W. Epps and Kemp Plummer, occur which are treasured as sweet memories by multitudes of rela- tives and admirers ; both native Virginians', but the reputation of the one connected with his native state and the national government, and of the other with the State of North Carolina.
Hon. John W. Epps was a native of Prince George county; lived in Chesterfield county and later in Buck- ingham. He was a planter and a man of large means, a bold, aggressive speaker and had great influence among
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his fellow citizens. He was nephew and son-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, having married his cousin, "Polly." "His manners were frank and engaging, he was highly educated and particularly pleasing in conversation, while his character was in every way worthy of the high opinion that Jefferson frequently expressed concerning him." * He was a member of the National House of Representatives for many years and was chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. Later he was a member of the U. S. Senate and resigned after 1819 on account of ill health. He is said to have been "the only man who beat John Randolph before the people for Congress."
Hon. Kemp Plummer was a native of Gloucester county, and after graduation at Hampden-Sidney, studied law under Chancellor Wythe. About 1790 he removed, with his' widowed mother and family, to North Carolina and opened a law office at Warrenton, where he soon became a successful practitioner. "His manners were uncommonly agreeable, his speeches exceedingly interest- ing, clear and pointed, and his reputation for strict in- tegrity gave him great weight with judge and jury. He was soon at the top of the local bar with a remunerative income, practicing, besides at home, in the counties of Halifax, Nash and Franklin." In 1794, he was elected to the Lower House of the Legislature, and in 1815 and 1816, was a member of the State Senate, and in both positions rendered important service. He was once offered the high office of Governor, but on the advice of his wife (a prudent woman) declined it because of the expense of living at the capital. When he died, the village newspaper, "The Warrenton Republican," said of
* The True Thomas Jefferson, p. 45.
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him: "He was the glory of our Httle world, the pride of the village, the ornament of the county, an honor to the Bar, a friend of the poor, the bold advocate of the country." This is high praise, and well deserved, but the most prized tribute among his descendants is the name which, by a long course of honorable dealing he earned, "The Honest Lawyer."*
The career of these two honorable gentlemen, the first begotten of their alma mater, fitly, though in some re- spects inadequately, represent many scores of her sons who, as lawyers and publicists, have performed eminent services to their country and exerted a masterful and exalting influence over the generations to which they belonged. Consider then, the beneficent effects of the lives of such men (sons of Hampden-Sidney) as the fol- lowing, and scores of others: William B. Giles, of Amelia, lawyer, orator, member of Congress and of the U. S. Senate, Governor of Virginia and member of the Constitutional Convention of Virginia of i829-'3o; Wil- liam Henry Harrison of Charles City county, a student of Hampden-Sidney in 1789 and one of the founders of the Union Literary Society, officer in U. S. Army from ensign to general. Secretary of the North Western Terri- tory, U. S. Minister to Columbia, member of Congress and U. S. Senate, President of the United States, but his usefulness cut short by his untimely death; George M. Bibb, of Prince Edward, a graduate in the class of 1791, studied law, emigrated to Kentucky soon after it was admitted into the Union, filled its highest offices including those of Chief Justice and Governor, served in the United States House of Representatives for several terms and in the U. S. Senate, where he distinguished
* Dr. Kemp Plummer Battle, in The Kaleidoscope of 1900.
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himself greatly by a speech on "States Rights" in reply to Daniel Webster, and occupied the position of Secre- tary of the Treasury under President Tyler's administra- tion ; William S. Archer, of Amelia, member of Congress from 1819-1835 and afterwards of the U. S. Senate; William C. Rives, of Albemarle, member of Congress and of U. S. Senate, twice U. S. Minister to the court of France, a writer and speaker of wonderful beauty and power, "Statesman, Diplomatist, Historian, the most eminent citizen of Virginia!" (Alexander Brown) ; Pow- hatan Ellis, of Amherst county, a distinguished lawyer in Mississippi, member of Congress and U. S. Senate from that state and U. S. Minister to Mexico ; William H. Mc- Farland, of Lunenburg, afterwards the cultured lawyer of the city of Richmond and for many years president of the Farmers' Bank of Virginia; Richard K. Cralle, of Lunenburg, the distinguished biographer of John C. Calhoun; Andrew Hunter, of Jefferson county, one of the ablest lawyers of his day, the prosecutor of John Brown, and member of the Confederate States Congress ; Hugh A. Garland, of Nelson, professor of ancient lan- guages in Hampden-Sidney College, member and clerk of the U. S. House of Representatives, and biographer of John Randolph; David May, of Chesterfield, one of the leading lawyers of Petersburg for more than forty years, whose irreproachable character and cheerful piety were an inspiration to all who knew him; William Bal- lard Preston, of Montgomery, member of the Virginia Senate, of the House of Representatives, Secretary of the Navy, and member of the Virginia Convention of 1861 ; William M. Tredway, of Prince Edward, Circuit Judge and member of U. S. Congress; Alexander Rives, of Albemarle, member of Senate of Virginia and Judge
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of U. S. District Court ; William Daniel, of Cumberland, eminent lawyer and law writer and Judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia ; John B. Floyd, of Montgomery, member of House of Representatives, Secretary of War, Governor of Virginia, General C. S. A. ; Thomas W. Ligon, of Prince Edward, lawyer, member of U. S. House of Representatives and Governor of Maryland; Thomas Stanhope Flournoy, of Prince Edward, lawyer and member of Congress; Charles S. Mosby, of Pow- hatan, the leading lawyer at the Lynchburg bar for many years, "The Addison of the Virginia Bar;" Sterling Price, of Prince Edward, farmer in Charlton county. Mo., member of Missouri Legislature and U. S. House of Representatives, Brigadier General in Mexican War, Governor of Missouri, President of State Convention of 1861, Major-General C. S. A. ; John W. Stevenson, Lou- doun county, member of Legislature of Kentucky, leader in Constitutional Convention of 1849, member of House of Representatives and U. S. Senate and Governor of Kentucky; Thomas S. Bocock, of Buckingham, lawyer and member of Virginia House of Delegates, of United State Congress 1846- '61, Speaker of Confederate States House of Representatives; Stephen O. South- all, of Amelia, member of House of Delegates, learned lawyer and Professor of Law at the University of Virginia from 1866 to 1883 ^^ ^is death; William Cabell Carrington, of Charlotte, lawyer in city of Rich- mond and editor of "The Times," elected to the Legis- lature but died before taking his seat ; A. M. Branch, of Buckingham, lawyer in Texas, member of Senate of that State, member C. S. Congress and elected to U. S. Senate in 1868; John T. Thornton, of Cumberland, eminent lawyer and man of splendid forensic power.
48 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
member of Virginia Convention of 1861, Colonel of Cavalry and killed at the head of his regiment; Roger A. Pryor, of Nottov^^ay, lawyer, editor, member of Con- gress, Minister to Greece, General C. S. A., judge of highest court of the State of New York; P. W. Mc- Kinney, of Buckingham, lawyer, member of House of Delegates of Virginia, Captain C. S. A., Governor of Virginia; B. J. Epps, of Nottoway, lawyer. Judge of Dinwiddle county, member of the Constitutional Conven- tion* of Virginia of i90i-'o2 ; R, M. Venable, of Prince Edward, lawyer, for more than thirty years professor in the law school of the University of Maryland, Trustee in Johns Hopkins University.
.Physicians.
The services of Hampden-Sidney to the medical pro- fession and through it to society at large has been scarcely less distinguished and influential than in behalf of the legal brotherhood and statesmanship. Probably as many physicians as lawyers have been turned out from the college but as' their position in life is not so much before the public eye, they are less known. It happens that in the first graduating class (1786) we find the name of George Cabell, Sr., an older brother of Judge W, H. Cabell, whose professional life was spent in the city of Lynchburg, and received the highest encomiums. In the class of 1789, we find James Jones, of Nottoway, who received a thorough medical training in European schools and whose distinction as a physician and pub- licist is one of the traditions of his county. In the class of 1801, we find the name of William S. Morton, son of Maj, James Morton, of Prince Edward, who, for un- flinching courage during the Revolutionary War, received
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the soubriquet of "Solid Column," which he carried throughout hfe. One who knew Dr. Morton well says, "He was a great man, physically, mentally, and morally." In the class of 1804, occurs the name of Addison Wad- dell, son of Rev. James Waddell, "The Blind Preacher," who for nearly fifty years practiced medicine in Staun- ton, "a learned and wise physician and a deeply read metaphysician and theologian." Next comes J. P. Met- tauer in the class of 1807, born in Prince Edward and spent his whole life in his native county, one of the founders of the Philanthropic Literary Society, surgeon in the U. S. Army during the War of 1812, founder of a medical school at his home from which went out scores of men well prepared for the professional career, the inventor of many valuable surgical instruments and ap- pliances and a distinguished writer and practitioner. Passing over more than a score of men whose beneficent lives and services deserve mention, we come in 1828 to the name of Edward C. Fisher, of Augusta county, who for a long series of years was superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane at Raleigh, N. C, and a specialist of high repute. In 1831 we come to the name of Robert Southgate, of Norfolk, for many years a surgeon in the U. S. Army and held the same position in the C. S. A. Again skipping several scores' of men whose lives were a benediction to the communities in which they lived, we find the name of William D. Booker, of Prince Edward, (i860- '61) who has practiced his profession in the city of Baltimore for thirty years and whose eminence has been recognized by the trustees of Johns Hopkins Uni- versity in his elevation to a professorship in the medical school of that institution.
so ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
Ministers of the Gospel.
Were it not for restriction in space, it would not be difficult to give the names of some hundreds of ministers of the gospel, good and useful men, who received their preparation and inspiration at Hampden-Sidney College and who have done much in promoting education in Virginia and the South. There are few more potent educational forces to be found in any community than the lives and work of preachers of the Gospel. They are of inestimable value, too little prized by the thought- less but duly recognized and appreciated by intelligent people everywhere.
In the first class' sent out from the College, there are found two men who became ministers of the gospel, Theoderick McRoberls and Nash Legrand, and in most of the classes since, one or more of the graduates have devoted their lives to the ministry, and in some cases eight or ten are found in the same class. Furthermore, during the period under consideration, it was not un- common for young men looking forward to the ministry, specially those who entered late in life, not to attempt a graduating course, but to content themselves with such elective studies as are necessary as the foundation of theological training and it is believed that the number of such will approximate the number of those who received their diplomas'. Happily this state of things no longer exists to the same extent at Hampden-Sidney or else- where.
Little can be learned of Theoderick McRoberts be- yond the fact that he became a useful minister, but of Nash Legrand, Rev. Dr. W. H. Foote in his "Sketches of Virginia" gives an interesting account, in which it is
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. 51
stated that two or three years of his earlier ministry were spent in evangeHstic work in Virginia and North CaroHna and that fifteen years of his life were given to fruitful and exhausting labors in Cedar Creek and Opequon Churches in Frederick county. Among the closing sentences of "the Sketch" occurs the following: "Thus lived and thus died one of the best and most suc- cessful ministers of the gospel Virginia has ever pro- duced." "No other preacher in the state held his people more closely to the gospel standard or extended his influ- ence farther or left behind a sweeter remembrance."
Passing over the interval between 1786 to 1825, mentioning only the names of a few men of special prominence and connected, directly or indirectly with education, such as Clement Read, of Charlotte; William Hill, of Cumberland, afterwards of Winchester; Samuel Davies Hoge, professor in Hampden-Sidney College, pastor of churches in Virginia and Ohio, and Professor of Mathematics and Physical Science in the University of Ohio; Jesse Turner, of Bedford; John Kirkpatrick, of Mecklenburg county, N. C, afterwards the eloquent orator and consecrated minister of Cumberland county, Va. ; Drury Lacy, of Prince Edward, afterwards of North Carolina, and President of Davidson College; Wm. S. White, of Hanover, afterwards of Nottoway, Charlottesville, and Lexington and closely identified with the University of Virginia and Washington College and Washington and Lee University ; we come to the name of Thomas Atkinson, a native of Dinwiddie county, after- wards a student of law at Yale College and a practitioner for seven years, later studied for the ministry in the Episcopal Church, subsequently rector in the cities of Lynchburg, Norfolk, and Baltimore and Bishop of the
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Diocese of North Carolina from 1853 to 1881. The writer of this sketch remembers him as a gentleman of chaste and extensive culture, of courtly bearing, of fine common sense, of unaffected piety, whose influence for good was widespread and pervading.
Among the graduates in the next class was Theo- derick Pryor, of Dinwiddie, who afterwards graduated in law at the University of Virginia and practiced a short while, after which he pursued a course at Union Theo- logical Seminary and became the pastor of the Presby- terian Church in Nottoway county, where most of his ministerial life was spent and where he was identified with every important interest of the people, a man of the highest and purest character, a preacher of impres- siveness and force and surpassed by few in effective power of presenting important truth, a diligent and be- loved pastor and friend. Few men ever had more or warmer admirers or did more during about sixty years of active service in the advancement of truth and right.
The class of 1829 was remarkable in that of nine members, six became ministers of the gospel and one (Landon C. Garland) a distinguished educator. Of the ministers, two were Episcopalians and four Presbyte- rians, one of each set, besides a long and fruitful min- istry, did much for the promotion of education. The first of these is Geo. W. Dame, a native of Manchester, N. H., and nephew of Jonathan P. Gushing, at that time President of Hampden-Sidney Gollege. After his grad- uation Dr. Dame was Professor of Physical Science in the College. He then studied privately for the ministry and was rector of the Episcopal Church in Danville for more than a half century, during most of which time he was at the head of an academy for young ladies, from
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS. $3
which many of the best women of Virginia were turned out. The other was Benjamin M. Smith, of Powhatan, afterwards pastor of the churches of Danville, Tinkling Springs and Staunton, and for nearly forty years Pro- fessor of Oriental Languages in Union Theological Seminary, Dr. Smith was author of a commentary on the Psalms and Proverbs and was' a luminous and exten- sive writer on other subjects ; a genial gentleman, an indefatigable worker, for many years trustee in Wash- ington College and Washington and Lee University, and did more to promote the solid prosperity and usefulness of Union Theological Seminary than any man who has yet lived, except Dr. John Holt Rice, its eminent founder and first professor.
In the class of 1832 appears the name of John L. Kirkpatrick, of Mecklenburg county, N. C, pastor in Lynchburg, Va., Gainesville, Ala., and Charleston, S. C, President of Davidson College from i860- '66 and Pro- fessor of Moral Philosophy in Washington and Lee Uni- versity from 1866 till his death.
In the class of 1835, we find the name of J. M. P. Atkinson, of Dinwiddle county, brother of Bishop Thomas' Atkinson, a Presbyterian minister, in early life a missionary in Texas, afterwards pastor at Warrenton, Va., and Georgetown, D. C, and for twenty-six years President of Hampden-Sidney College. He was a man whose character was clear as crystal, of undaunted cour- age, firm in his convictions and courteous in their expres- sion. As captain of the "Hampden-Sidney Boys'" he took part in the fight at Rich Mountain in 1865 and after the capture of Pegram's command returned to college, brought it safely through the war and reconstruction
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times down to 1883, when he died, honored and beloved by all who knew him.
Passing by a number of distinguished and useful men, we come in 1839 to the name of Moses Drury Hoge, born at Hampden-Sidney in 1818, while his father was pro- fessor and his grandfather was President of the College, the pastor for fifty-five years of the Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, of which he was the founder, con- ducting a school for young ladies (about 1850) several years that he might give his salary to the church building which now stands as a monument to his unselfish devo- tion; the humble man of God, the true patriot, the eloquent preacher, for more than forty-five years the trustee and untiring friend of his alma mater, ever ready to help in every good cause, for years before his death the foremost citizen of the commonwealth, and who on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his pastorate received tributes of honor, esteem and affection from all classes of citizens, including Jews, Catholics, and un- believers, such as perhaps were never before accorded to any man in Virginia.
And so the list of such ministers might be extended indefinitely in telling of John B. Shearer, of Campbell county, who, while minister in Halifax, founded Cluster Springs Academy, was afterwards the reviver and Presi- dent of Stewart College, Tenn., out of which, chiefly by his exertions, the South Western Presbyterian University grew, and who next was President of Davidson College, N. C. ; Thomas Wharey, of Prince Edward, who on ac- count of his fervid and persuasive eloquence was called "the Spurgeon of Virginia" ; of Peter Tinsley, for thirty years rector of the Episcopal church at Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, Ohio ; of Lindsay H. Blanton, of Cumberland
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county, for many years a useful and beloved pastor in Kentucky and the reviver and chancellor of Central Uni- versity at Richmond, Ky., and its co-ordinated schools; of William U. Murkland, of Baltimore, for twenty-five years among the leading divines and pulpit orators of that city; of Robert A. Gibson, of Petersburg, rector in Parkersburg, W. Va., and Cincinnati, Ohio, and Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Virginia; of Edward H. Barnett, of Christiansburg, pastor in Abingdon, Va., and Atlanta, Ga., and many more.
Educators.
The names of many of those included under the pre- ceding head might properly be brought under this sec- tion. All, indeed, there given have had much to do with the advancement of education by active and direct effort. Those that are to come were largely or exclusively en- gaged in this department of work as' the business of their lives.
As far back as 1788, in the third class graduated from the College, the name of James Blythe, of Mecklenburg county N. C, is found. He afterwards studied medicine and theology and adopting the ministry as his profession, found his field of labor in Kentucky. Ranke in his His- tory of Lexington, (Ky.) says': "The first president of Transylvania University, Rev. James Moore, was suc- ceeded by Rev. James Blythe, M. D., who was born in North Carolina in 1765 and was educated for the Pres- byterian ministry. He came to Kentucky in 1791 and two years after was ordained pastor of Pisgah and Clear Creek churches. He continued to preach up to the time of his death. For six years before his' accession to the Presidency of the University, he was professor of math-
56 ADDRESSES AND PAPERS.
ematics and natural philosophy and often supplied the pulpit of the First Presbyterian church. He was presi- dent for nearly fifteen years and after his resignation filled the chair of chemistry in the medical college until 1 83 1, when he accepted the Presidency of Hanover Col- lege, Ind., which prospered greatly under his charge."*
In the class of 1791 looms up the name of Moses Waddell, of Iredell county, N. C, who was afterwards closely connected with the States of South Carolina and Georgia in the capacity of preacher, teacher, and presi- dent of Franklin College, out of which the University of Georgia grew. So rapid and solid was his progress" as a boy at school that at the age of fourteen years his ser- vices as a teacher were sought, which profession he followed for six or seven years until he entered Hampden-Sidney as a student. After his ordination to the ministry, he gave his life chiefly to teaching, and founded the famous Academy at Willington, S. C, at which such men of national reputation as John C. Cal- houn, Legare, McDuffie, and Petigru of South Carolina, and Cobb, Longstreet, Crawford, Gilmer, and Appling of Georgia, received their youthful training. He was after- wards elected to the Presidency of the University of Georgia. "Of this institution, while not the founder, he was the reviver and first successful administrator. Franklin College, as it was also styled, opened its doors to its first students as late as 1804, and after fifteen years of what seems to have been sheer struggle for existence, there was a virtual suspension of its' existence until Dr. Waddell was invited, in its darkest hour, to undertake its restoration and improvement. The invitation, to his
♦The Kaleidoscope, 1900, p. 32.
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earnest religious nature, came like a summons to a heaven appointed duty, and in this temper, he began and prose- cuted the work, so that in ten years he had started the institution upon a career of usefulness and honor.* The Hon. John C. Calhoun, who was both his' pupil and brother-in-law, says of him : "He discharged punctually and faithfully the various duties attached to all his pri- vate relations. He was sociable and amiable, but not without a due mixture of sternness and firmness. As a minister of the gospel, he was pious, zealous, and well versed in theology generally. His style of preaching was plain, simple, earnest. He addressed himself much more to the understanding than to the imagination or passions'. As a teacher he stands almost unrivaled."f
In the year 1813, we come across the name of Ed- ward Baptist, a native of Mecklenburg county, the son of a Presbyterian mother and an Episcopal father, not only a collegiate graduate but a student of theology at Hampden-Sidney under Dr. Moses Hoge, and a devout admirer and friend of his alma mater and his venerated perceptor, afterwards became a Baptist minister and settled in Powhatan county. It is said that early in his ministerial life he founded a school in the bounds of his congregation which grew into a Baptist College, and was afterwards removed to Richmond and became the foun- dation on which Richmond College is built. Certain it is that he "held influence among the Baptists second to none in his day;" that he was "a prime mover in the organization of the Virginia Baptist Association in 1822 and drafted its constitution;" that "he was also origina-
* The Kaleidoscope, 1902, p. 17. t Presbyterian Encyclopedia.
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tor of the Baptist Educational Society and the Baptist Seminary, and by appointment instructed a number of young men who were students for the ministry."^ "He seems thus to have been one among the originators or suggestors of Richmond College; in a sense the fore- runner or beginner of the work done by it, though he never had any connection with the college as such. In 1838 he moved to Alabama, where he did most valuable work and lived and labored till 1863. §
Among the graduates of 1823 we find the name of Robert Burwell, of Dinwiddle county, who, with Jesse S. Amiistead, of Cumberland county, and Thomas P. Hunt, of Charlotte county — all graduates of Hampden- Sidney College — constituted the first class in Union Theo- logical Seminary, an institution which grew out of Hampden-Sidney College by natural evolution, and which for the first two or three years of its existence was main- tained on the college premises and largely through the self-denial and assistance of its professors. Mr. Burwell was a laborious minister of the gospel and lived to the great age of ninety- three years. From the date of his licensure to 1884 ^^ was untiring in his Christian and ministerial efforts, giving about fifty of the later years of his life to the work of teaching young ladies, first at Hillsboro, N. C. ; then as principal of the Female College, Charlotte, N. C, and last as principal of Peace Institute, Raleigh, N. C. During this time he had more than twelve hundred pupils under his care. The influence of his example and instruction on the women of the South and through them on society at large has been immense and always good.
t Baptist Encyclopedia.
§ Prof. C. H. Winston, Richmond College, Va.
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In George E. Dabney, of Campbell county (class 1826) we have the example of a man who devoted his whole life to education as its chief end, first as principal of New London Academy ; then as Professor of Ancient Languages at Washington College, and afterwards, from 185 1 -'6 1, when the college was closed at the beginning of the war, Professor of Latin and French in Richmond College. At the close of the war he was authorized to take charge of the college premises along with President Ryland and open a private school. He died in 1868. Rev. Dr. C. H. Ryland, treasurer of Richmond College, who was his pupil, speaks of him "as' a man of high learning and fine Christian character, reserved and quiet, but of recognized ability."
In the class of 1829 comes Landon Cabell Garland, of Nelson county, one of the most distinguished educa- tors that the South has produced, taking a professorial chair at Washington College immediately on graduation, afterwards professor and President of Randolph-Macon College, then President and Professor of the University of Alabama, afterwards Professor in the University of Mississippi, and his honored life was crowned as Chan- cellor of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tenn., where he died in 1895. "If Virginia ever gave birth to a man who did more real service to the manhood of the South, his name and place would be hard to find."*
Although Robert L. Dabney, of Hanover county, was not a graduate of Hampden-Sidney, he was its student for two years in the Sophomore and Junior classes, after which he taught a year or two and then entered the Uni- versity of Virginia, where he took the degree of M. A.
♦ Irby's History of Randolph-Macon College, p. 43.
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He always recognized his indebtedness to Hampden- Sidney and was its steadfast and active friend throughout life. In the early days of his ministry at Tinkling Spring church, Augusta county, he taught a school for boys, from which some men afterwards distinguished in life were turned out. From 1853 to 1883, he was successively professor of Church History and Theology in Union Theological Seminary, a man of extensive and accurate learning, a robust thinker and writer on a great variety of subjects, a bom teacher, trained and developed under McGuffey at the University of Virginia and adopting the best features of his method and also of that of John B. Minor, diverse from each other but both admirable of their kind, and when brought together by Dabney, attain- ing as great perfection as can perhaps be reached in the art of communicating knowledge, awakening thought and stimulating to effort. In 1883 ^^- Dabney accepted the position of Professor of Moral Philosophy in the Uni- versity of Texas, which he filled until within a year or two of his death, when he resigned on account of im- paired vision. He was a man of masterly ability and exerted a great influence in his day.
In the class of 1842 we find the name of Charles S. Venable of Prince Edward, which is closely identified with the educational history of Virginia and to some ex- tent with that of two other states and which will be borne in honored remembrance by his old boys for many years to come. After graduation he spent a year in post- graduate study at his alma mater, also studied at the University of Virginia and subsequently at Berlin and Bonn, Germany. He was Professor of Mathematics at Hampden-Sidney for ten years, of Physics' and Chemistry in the University of Georgia, of Mathematics and As-
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tronomy in South Carolina College. In 1861 he was Captain of the Engineer Corps in New Orleans and Vicksburg and from 1862- 1865 was A. D. C. to General Robert E. Lee. From 1865-1891 he was Professor of Mathematics in the University of Virginia, during sev- eral years of which he was chairman of its Faculty and rendered important service in enlarging the resources and appliances of the institution. He was also trustee for the Miller Manual Labor School in Albemarle county, and as such, was of incalculable value in developing it into the splendid sphere of usefulness it now fills. Indeed, he discharged the duties of every position he occupied with the highest credit to himself and thorough satis- faction to everyone connected with him. His work, both at Hampden-Sidney and the University of Virginia, was remarkable not only in the classroom but in his inter- course with and influence over the students. In the words of the late Professor L. L. Holladay, who was both his pupil and colleague, "Venable excelled both as an instructor and in his knowledge and control of stu- dents." Wherever the writer meets his old boys, they speak of him with admiration and affection. "To have lived and worked with a man so true in word and deed, so pure in act and lofty in motive, so generous and so brave, is one of heaven's best gifts. May his influence be everlasting; his memory kept green forever."*
We now skip to the class of 1851, where along with other names richly deserving of mention, we find that of Robert Dabney, of Powhatan county, who possessed one of the brightest intellects and best stowed minds in the college, a beautiful speaker and strong debater, ranking
* Prof. W. M. Thornton in the Kaleidoscope of 1901.
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with P. W. McKinney in forensic power and his chief opponent for the speaker's medal in the Philanthropic Society. After graduation, he studied at the University of Virginia, was a member of the House of Delegates t86i-'62, served in the 4th Regiment of Va. Cavalry. After the war he was elected Professor of Moral Phil- osophy in the University of the South at Sewanee, which position he filled until his death in 1876. His old stu- dents showed their appreciation of his instruction and example by the erection of a monument to his memory. In the class of 1852, we select the name of Joseph McMurran, of Jefferson county, nearly the whole of whose life was devoted to the instruction of the young. In Green Academy, Huntsville, Ala., at Chatham, Va., as principal of the Montgomery Male Academy of Chris- tiansburg, Va., he made himself felt. One of his pupils at the last named school. Dr. Robert W. Douthat, Pro- fessor of Latin in the University of West Virginia, pays the following tribute to his memory: "I was for three years during the formative period of my life under the very excellent instruction of Dr. Joseph McMurran, than whom I never had a better teacher, more patient, more polished, more impressive, more inspiring. Dr. McMur- ran always had a large school in Christiansburg and was very generally looked upon as another 'Arnold of Rugby,' the very embodiment of patience and love, who under the great Taskmaster's eye lived to serve humanity and in doing this', to glorify God."* He served faithfully and courageously during the war between the States, after which his chief work was the upbuilding of Shep- herd College, Shepherdstown, W. Va., at the head of
* Kaleidoscope, 1902, p. 21
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which he was for ten years, "Besides the sixty-five teachers which he turned out in these ten years, others of his pupils have entered all the departments of life, as' ministers, lawyers, legislators, physicians, merchants, farmers, queens of the home/'t Dr. McMurran was President of the County Board of Education and for five years a member of the West Virginia State Board of Examiners and of Teachers' Institutes.
In the class of 1853, there are two names that deserve to be kept fresh and green in the annals of Hampden- Sidney and in the history of education in Virginia, repre- senting two men very unlike in physical appearance and in some personal characteristics, but both possessing fine ability, genial disposition, excellent scholarship, thorough conscientiousness and unsullied piety; bosom friends at college and throughout life, and not far separated in death, the one, Charles W. Crawley, of Charlotte, a Meth- odist; the other, Lewis' L. Holladay, of Spottsylvania, a Presbyterian; the first spending the whole of his life, with the exception of two years as tutor in Randolph- Macon College, in the instruction of private and public schools; the second, with the exception of one year in post-graduate study at the University of Virginia, prom- inently connected with his alma mater as professor of Phyisical Science from the beginning to the end of his career, than whom no one ever enjoyed more of the respect, confidence and affection of his colleagues and pupils. Crawley filled his place as well as any man could, and was blessed by those who knew him. Holla- day, in a more exalted position, and exerting a wider and more potent influence on a larger circle of educated
t Kaleidoscope, 1902, p. 22.
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men, accomplished his Hfe work as eflfectively and use- fully— I had almost said, completely — and his name and influence are a benediction to multitudes. Both did much to advance the progress and history of education in Vir- ginia and the South through the men who came under their instruction and guidance.
There still remain the names of three ante-bellum students of Hampden-Sidney whose influence in educa- tion has been so potent that their record must be given briefly: the first of whom is Joseph W. Southall, of Amelia, who subsequently attended William and Mary College, became a practitioner of medicine and a member of the Senate of Virginia, and is now serving his third term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, in which position his intelligent and indefatigable labors have been of much value in enlarging and improving the public schools of the State and in stimulating to higher ideals of education. The second is Charles H. Winston, of Chesterfield (class of 1854), Assistant Professor in Ancient Languages at Hampden-Sidney, Professor of Ancient Languages in Transylvania University, Ky., President of Richmond Female Institute, Professor of Physics' and Astronomy in Richmond College since 1873, a constant worker in summer normal schools in Virginia and North Carolina, a popular lecturer on religious and scientific subjects, a cultured gentleman, a man of the purest Christian character, whose influence for good is widespread and effective. The third is Walter Blair, of Richmond, (class 1855), who, immediately after grad- uation, was made Assistant Professor of Ancient Lan- guages at Hampden-Sidney, and after two years Profes- sor of Latin and German ; subsequently spent three years in German Universities, served in the Richmond How-
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itzers during the war from i86l-'65, after which he resumed his chair which he filled with marked ability till 1896, when he resigned on account of failing eyesight; a thorough scholar, a conscientious and faithful teacher, a noble gentleman, whose influence in behalf of refined culture will be felt for years to come. Many of the men, trained under his hand, now fill educational posi- tions' in leading Colleges and Universities in Virginia and the South, and carry on the work so nobly done by him.
Conclusion.
It is regretted that these sketches are necessarily so fragmentary and incomplete, not for want of material but because of restriction in space. It is even more regretted that the names of many richly entitled to men- tion have to be omitted. It is believed, however, that enough has' been said to illustrate the position of Hamp- den-Sidney as an "educational force" of great value to Virginia and the South and to show that from the first day it opened its doors down to and through the period covered by the war between the States, has done much for the church and country. It may also be remarked that if the scope of our inquiry permitted a statement in regard to its work to the present time, it could easily be shown that during the past forty years its influence has not been less potent. The old College, sitting on the hills of Prince Edward, in the same position and under the same charter that it has worked from the beginning, has at present as in the past, high ideals of scholarship and character and endeavors to send out into the world men well prepared for its duties' and who with masterful energy, address themselves to their performance.
DOES COLLEGE EDUCATION PAY?
THIS question has been discussed of late with much vigor. The opinions of leading men in different parts of the country and in various walks of life have been gathered, some of which have obtained currency through the daily and weekly press, while others have been embodied in special treatises.
The trend of thought seems vastly in favor of the affirmative, the facts and figures going to show that edu- cated talent, while in the minority, is predominant and increasingly in the ascendant in all high places of trust and influence. A recognized authority, from data deemed ample and reliable, estimated that one of every forty college-bred men has attained distinguished usefulness, whereas only one in ten thousand of those who have not enjoyed this advantage has risen to a like position, the proportion in favor of "college education" being as 250 to I.
On the other hand, a few gentlemen (notably two) of national reputation, great wealth, and, in certain direc- tions, of large beneficence, and some others following in their wake, have aligned themselves on the negative and declare that "education is overdone;" that "the aver- age youth ought to go to work at from twelve to fifteen years of age," and that "he will be much more likely to achieve success and make the most of life" by thus early taking up some special line than by wasting his time in intellectual improvement and thus unfitting him- self for the stern realities and arduous labors to be en- countered in the future.
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What Is Proposed.
In what follows, it is proposed to look at this ques- tion from a practical standpoint, which, so far as is known to the writer, has not heretofore been duly occupied, by taking the facts as set forth in the life of a single college during a brief period of time as an ex- ample of what has been done by this college throughout its history, and of what has probably been paralleled and possibly exceeded by other similar institutions in Vir- ginia and throughout the country. The college selected is Hampden-Sidney, chartered in 1783, with a continuous history from that time, and the period is the decade from 1883 to 1893. The reasons for these selections is that the writer has entire familiarity with the institution and period chosen, and can certify to the" substantial accuracy and correctness of the facts presented.
Facts.
An accurate count shows that during the period above named — ^the sessions of 1884-1893 — one hundred and forty-one A. B. graduates went out from Hampden- Sidney College.
As preliminary to the main inquiry and vitally con- nected therewith, it is a matter of interest to know where these young men came from ; what was the profession or vocation of their parents; what prospect they had of making their way in the world without an education.
Their Nativity. — Ninety-six were Virginians ; twenty- five West Virginians ; six Texans ; four Kentuckians, and the remaining ten from six Southern States.
Employment of Parents. — Of the fathers of these youths, fifty-seven were farmers; thirty-seven ministers
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of the gospel ; twenty-eight, business men ; eight, lawyers ; seven, physicians ; three, mechanics, and one a teacher.
Financial Status of the Families. — Of the whole num- ber, it is not believed that more than one-fifth possessed any estate beyond what was necessary, with wise econ- omy, for the household maintenance, and of those who were better off, not many were in affluent circumstances'. While these young men were all, or nearly all, sons of people of the highest respectability, they were mostly so circumstanced in childhood and at college as to en- force carefulness in expenditure and, in some cases, much self-denial. Few could expect to enter life with any- thing to depend on except their character and education and their own efforts. Some supported themselves in whole or in part by money earned through their own labor before entering college, and during the vacations of their college course. Others were partly on borrowed money, which they have repaid. A few, after leaving college, have aided in the education of younger brothers and sisters, and so have been later in entering their life- work than otherwise would have been the case.
Present Status of these Young Men. — What has be- come of these one hundred and forty-one young men, some of whom left college as far back as' 1884, and some as late as 1893? This is an interesting question, and its answer is the crucial test by which our main inquiry is to be decided. The facts are worthy of close attention and ought to be carefully considered. Here they are :
Of the whole number, thirty-nine selected the Gospel ministry as their profession, six of whom became for- eign missionaries, one died before finishing his prepara- tory course, and one is reported to have changed his profession. Thirty-three chose education as their life
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work, fourteen of whom became professors in universi- ties and colleges of the South, six have died, one is in infirm health, and one is engaged in post-graduate uni- versity study. Thirty elected the law as their vocation, all of whom except three are successfully, and most of them to an unusual degree of success, engaged in their work ; two are now pursuing professional study, and one is reported to have abandoned his profession. Twenty- one entered business, three of whom are editors, two cashiers of national banks, two are expert chemists, and one has died.* Fourteen selected the medical profession, one of whom is in infirm health, and one, after teaching for years', is engaged in professional study. Four are farmers, diligently and successfully at work.
Summing Up.
From this statement it appears that of the one hun- dred and thirty-one graduates of the afore mentioned decade now alive and in health, one hundred and twenty- five hold honorable and influential positions in society, command the respect of their fellow men, and are either at, or making their way to, the front ; four, after years' of self-denying eflfort, hope soon to engage in their chosen work, and only two have become discouraged and abandoned the purpose of their life. They are found in seventeen states of the Union, in Washington, D. C, and in three foreign countries, standing in their lot and doing their work well.
Let these facts answer the question with zvhich we began: Does college education pay?
* Of the eight who have died, four deaths were from typhoid fever, three from piihnonary consumption and of one the cause is unknown. None were from diseases contracted at college.
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Non-Graduates.
But it may be asked, What has become of the non- graduate students who were at Hampden-Sidney during the ten years under consideration, and who after one, two or more sessions, for one cause or another, left col- lege without diplomas?
To this inquiry the ready response is given that many, perhaps a large majority of them, are filling places of trust and responsibility, and have earned the confidence of their fellow men, and that among them the college has some of its most honored alumni and warmest friends and supporters, who acknowledge the debt they owe their alma mater for the training and impulse they received at her hands. Of a number, however, no in- formation is' attainable, and consequently no such safe induction in regard to them is possible as in the case of graduates.
It must also be understood that "college education" means a certain prescribed course of useful knowledge mastered, and a definite amount of intellectual and moral training achieved, and that it is by those who have gone through the curriculum and come out victors at the end, the character and worth of any system of education are to be judged. Every worthy college asks to be tested by this standard. If its graduates obtain competent knowl- edge, thorough training and healthful impulse, and are fitted to fill well important positions in the world, it shows by its fruits that it is doing good work, and that youths who find it possible will act wisely in obtaining its aid in developing and fitting them for completed man- hood. College training helps men "to make the most of themselves" ; to enjoy life on a higher plane ; to do more
¥
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for their fellows ; to serve God more fully and truthfully. It places before them ideals seldom presented elsewhere, and excites aspiration after better things, not so likely to be awakened amid other surroundings.
The prime factor in inspiring and moulding manly character is the Christian family. Next, and subsidiary in potent inAuence, is the Christian college. No young man, who is able to secure it, can afford to do without "college education." In the highest sense of the word, It pays !
Richard McIlwaine. Hampden-Sidney, Va.
LEWIS LITTLEPAGE HOLLADAY, A. M., LL. D.
THE subject of this sketch was born February 23, 1832, at Bellefonte, Spottsylvania county Va., the ancestral estate of his forefathers since 1702, when it was' patented by the British Crown to John Holladay, the progenitor of the family in Virginia. He sprang from an honorable and sturdy race of people, several of whom were distinguished in church. and state. In his early youth, his father, Lewis Littlepage Holladay, M.D., purchased an estate in the county of Orange, where he practiced his profession and reared his family and where most of his children settled in life. It was from this home that young Holladay, a modest youth of 17 years of age, having been nurtured in piety and received such educational advantages as his neighborhood afforded, in the month of August, 1849, wended his way by private conveyance over the country roads leading to Hampden- Sidney College, never dreaming that his whole life with the exception of one year was to be spent here or that he was to become so important a figure in the history of the Institution whose instruction he was seeking. When he entered college he was already a member of the Pres- byterian church, having become so at his home under the ministry of the late Rev. Daniel B. Bwing, D. D., for whom he always cherished a very affectionate regard, and it may be well to remark here that throughout his college course and in an intimate personal acquaintance with him during the remainder of his life extending over
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more than forty-one years, I never knew him to say a word or to do an act unworthy of a Christian. This testimony is borne by one, who during his student Hfe at Hampden-Sidney, was' far from being a Christian but who knew well what to expect of one and was ever keenly on the watch for inconsistencies and blemishes in those professing to be such. Holladay's purity of speech and behavior was ever untarnished; his truthful- ness in word and deed was transparent ; his' rectitude of ■character and life was never questioned.
On entering college he was found prepared in every- thing, except Greek, for the Freshman class. On that study he had to go the Preparatory School, then taught by a tutor entirely separate from the college classes, in the upper story of the Steward's Hall, and so rapid was his' progress that when the ante-Christmas examinations came on he stood with the regular Freshmen and took a leading place in his class. It was just after this time, at the beginning of the second term on January 3, 1850, that I first made his acquaintance, became his classmate and soon formed an intimacy and friendship with him which strengthened with passing years' and only ended with his lamented death on July 23, 1891. When I first met him he was a plain-looking country boy, dressed in home- spun, as most of the students were at that day, among whom were our present honored Governor* ; Rev. John B. Shearer, D. D., LL. D., and other men who have since reached distinguished eminence and usefulness. There was' nothing about him to foretell the man of mark, ex- cept a bright twinkle in his eye ; a quick responsive move- ment of his features and a strong cordial grasp of the hand. These characteristics and the qualities of intellect and heart back of them soon won for him the esteem and
*P. W. McKinney.
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affection of every man in college and, while in no sense was he ever a college hero, there was no one on the roll who was more universally respected and loved. Not only the good fellows but the bad fellows (of whom we unfortunately had a superabundance) ; not only the Freshmen but the Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors ; not only the bright men and hard workers but the dull fel- lows and idlers; not only his brethren of the Philan- thropic Society but the Unions, all liked and honored Holladay. He was recognized as easily the first man in his class in point of scholarship and was never known to fail in a recitation or other college duty or to be guilty of a breach of college decorum. He was as popular with the faculty as with the students, and the faculty con- sisted of very able men. They were Lewis W. Green. D. D., President and Professor of Moral Philosophy; Charles Martin, LL. D., Professor of Greek and Latin ; Charles S. Venable, LL. D., Professor of Mathematics', and Joseph R. Wilson, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Phy- sical Science. Dr. Green was a genius; an orator who moved his audiences at times with thunderous eloquence ; a most inspiring teacher and a high man every way. Dr. Martin was a broad and accurate scholar, perhaps the fullest man on "The Hill" at that day, deeply interested in the students, possibly a little inclined to watch them too closely, but earnestly engaged to save them from trouble and to make them good men. Dr. Venable was the youngest member of the faculty but recognized as the equal of any of them, strict in the classroom, a superb teacher, sympathetic with the boys, and intuitively under- standing how to govern them, showing even then the pos- session of abilities which have fitted him to become the Nestor of the faculty of the University of Virginia.
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Dr. Wilson was then a cultured young preacher and an ardent student of science. He made his mark here and impressed himself not only on the students but on the people of the neighborhood and surrounding counties by his brilliant sermons, and was soon called to Staunton, Va., then to Augusta, Ga., then to Columbia Theological Seminary and is now Professor of Theology in the Southwestern Presbyterian University at Clarksville, Tenn. These men all loved and admired Holladay throughout life and the two last named, who survive him, still honor and cherish his memory.
There is not much else to say of his college life. It was regular, systematic and successful. He was a fine student, was fond of innocent fun, took regular exercise, observed early hours and got plenty of sleep; was a cheerful and pleasant companion but allowed no man on any pretense to interfere with his appointed time for study ; was a punctual attendant on his literary society, an ardent Phip. and performed every duty assigned him but never ventured on his feet except when duty com- pelled him. And herein he made, perhaps', the largest mistake of his college life. He might have become a ready and facile speaker, for he possessed every power essential to it, except that afforded only by practice. He was chock-full of humor; had a ready wit which was sharp and bright, and might have greatly enlarged his sphere of usefulness, had he only cultivated the art of speaking. As it was', he seldom appeared before a popu- lar audience and never except under distress and had no comfort in it until he had finished.
He graduated in the class of 1853 with the highest honors, and delivered the valedictory, which was a modest and feeling address and made some of us cry. It
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was the first time I ever saw a tear stand in his eye, but he was a sympathetic, loving friend and this parting from those he loved deeply stirred his emotions. There had, from the Freshman year up, been from fifty to sixty men in the class but they had been gradually sifted out until after the final examination there remained only nine, as follows: Lindsay H. Blanton, now the distin- guished Chancellor of Central University, Ky. ; John B. Burwell, major in the Confederate Army and for many years President of Peace Institute, Raleigh, N. C. ; Charles W. Crawley, engaged successfully most of his life as a classical teacher in which he obtained eminence — as good and true a man as ever lived. He died in Cumberland county about two years ago ; John H. Davis, the beloved pastor of Black Walnut Church, Halifax county, a fine preacher and a noble man; Samuel H. Davis, one of the best men in the class, who passed through Union Theological Seminary and became the pastor of the Church in Amelia county, where he died in 1858, lamented by all who knew him ; Edward M. Henry, for many years a merchant in Norfolk, Va., and for a time mayor of the city; Lewis L. Holladay, the subject of this sketch; Matthew L. Lacy, at^ one time pastor in Lewisburg, W. Va., now in Monroe county, W. Va., the leading man in his Presbytery and one of the foremost in the Synod of Virginia ; Richward Mcllwaine, the writer of this sketch. Every man of us, except one, became a preacher or teacher. There was not an inferior fellow among them. Without exception they have led honorable and useful lives. It is a distinction to belong to such a class' and to have been intimately associated with such men.
Immediately on graduation, Holladay was elected by
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the Board of Trustees tutor of the Preparatory School. This office was far different from that of Fellow now known in college, and the duties were very dissimilar. The tutor was a schoolmaster and his pupils were boys, mostly young, but some of them nearly full grown and venturesome, whom he had not only to teach, but to gov- ern and control, and sometimes to flog. My distinguished friend. Major R. M. Venable, leading Professor of Law in the University of Maryland, at Baltimore, who was a scholar at the time, testifies to the faithful and successful performance by the tutor of all his duties including the use of the rod. Dr. Richard Busby, head-master of West- minster School in the boyhood of the famous John Locke, boasted before he died, that sixteen of the bishops who then occupied the bench had been birched with his "little rod," and it would be interesting to know how many men were helped during that year by the discipline adminis- tered by the young tutor. He was muscular and strong and unacquainted with the emotion of fear, and when one day (according to Major Venable's account) a conspiracy among four or five of the older boys was formed to bring his authority into contempt, all having agreed to stand by the aggressor, no sooner had the oflFence, which was of a serious character, been given, than he was seized and dealt with so summarily that his compatriots stood back and let him bear the brunt of the tutor's indignation. There was order and decorum in that school from that day on, and it turned out some distinguished men.
In the fall of 1854, Holladay entered the University of Virginia. His life there was uneventful but he came out at the close of the session with diplomas on Latin, Greek and Mathematics, besides attending the class on Physics but not offering for graduation. At the end of
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this session he was elected Professor of Physical Science in Hampden-Sidney College, which position he continued to hold throughout life. At times during his incumbency, he taught for longer or shorter periods the classes of Latin, Greek, Mathematics and Moral Philosophy and for several sessions during the absence or sickness of the President performed the administrative duties of the College — all to the entire satisfaction of the trustees, the faculty and the students. For many years he was also clerk of the faculty and curator of the college. In the year 1856, soon after he entered on his professorial duties. Prof. Holladay was united in marriage to Miss Nannie Morton, of Buffaloe, Prince Edward county, who continued throughout his life his beloved and trusted wife, and who, while now mourning and deploring his loss, is comforted by the thought that no woman ever had a truer or purer man for husband.
In estimating Prof. HoUaday's rank as a professor, it goes without the saying that he was thoroughly qualified, faithful in the performance of his duties and a good teacher. The late President Atkinson, who was his col- league for twenty-five years, told me that he had attended his classes for a session and that he regarded him a very fine lecturer, and one of the best instructors he ever knew. Perhaps the marked excellence of his teaching, apart from and beyond the regular and necessary drill of the classroom, consisted in its power to reach and stimulate the great majority of his students. Very few young men passed under his hand, however inattentive they might be in other departments, who were not waked up and made to think. It was as an educator rather than a speciaHst that he was peculiarly distinguished, and he thus impressed many minds, aroused them to a con-
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sciousness of their powers and put them in the way of using their abilities.
As a member of the faculty and officer of the college, Prof. Holladay obtained deserved eminence. Possibly, from temperament as well as a matter of judgment, a little too disinclined to note offences until they had be- come flagrant; possibly, too, when they were no longer concealed but must be dealt with disposed to be some- what too lenient, his error, if he erred at all, was on the right side, and it may have resulted in aiding and saving more than it injured. However this was, he was a tower of strength in the faculty, every member of which loved and trusted him, and he was greatly honored and respected by the students'. As a Christian, Prof. Holladay was modest and unassuming but earnest and practical. As an elder in college church, his services were constant and cheerful. Perhaps no man in the com- munity at the time of his death had so strong a hold on all classes and conditions' of people in and out of the church. He was kind to the poor; sympathetic with those in distress ; a welcome visitor to the sick ; a coun- cellor to the troubled. He was preeminently a man of peace. He loved it; "studied the things that made for" it and communicated it to many souls. He was a very generous man. His was not a religion that consisted in "good wordb', that butter no parsnips," but he was ever ready to help in every good work and in proportion to his means was a bountiful giver. As a citizen he was in thorough accord with his neighbors and friends on all questions of policy; was public spirited and ever ready to bear his portion of every burden.
In the year 1885, he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Central University, Ky. ; an honor espe-
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cially pleasing to him as it was conferred by an institu- tion presided over by his old friend and classmate, Rev. Dr. L. H. Blanton, and which several years before had honored him by an invitation to one of its professorial chairs.
His death was both sudden and unexpected. One afternoon at five o'clock I saw him apparently in health and engaged in pleasant friendly conversation. The next morning at the same hour I was summoned to his resi- dence, but he was not there. The body was laid out for burial. The spirit had departed to the better world. Using the language in a Christian sense, the words em- ployed by Xenophon to describe Socrates may well be applied to this incomparable man: "He was so pious, that he did nothing without the advice of the gods; so just, that he never injured anyone even in the least; so completely master of himself, that he never chose the agreeable instead of the good ; so discerning that he never failed to distinguish the better from the worse. He was just the best and happiest man possible."
SOME ESSENTIALS IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
THE importance of our public schools to society and the State cannot be over estimated. Conditions in Virginia at present are vastly different from what they were formerly and the only hope of the wide diffusion of good educational advantages lies in the public schools. Classical academies and institutes, under private owner- ship or maintained by associated effort, doubtless have their place to fill and many of them will continue to exist as indispensable factors in promoting higher education, but not one in a thousand of the boys and girls of Virginia has the means to attend them. Church schools, too, under sectarian impulse, may be maintained here and there more or less regularly, but really there is no need of them and no place for them in a country like ours, where thought is free as the air and every one is' at liberty to embrace that form of doctrine which commends itself as truth. They have never had any strong hold on the people of Virginia and I regard the present reaction in their favor as the result of well-meant sectarian zeal, wrongly directed. What we need under a republican form of government where the people belong to many different church organizations, is a point of unity where they can come together and bring their combined ener- gies to bear in behalf of a primary and secondary education, good for all and open to all. The nearest approach to this' yet discovered and that which most fully
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meets the demands of the case, is found in the public school system, properly developed and administered. It is by no means perfect. What we are aiming at is its improvement.
But just here, at the very beginning, we find our- selves encompassed by serious" embarrassments. A capi- tal difficulty confronts us by reason of our heterogeneous and scattered population. If the people of Virginia were wholly white or wholly colored, the problem would be simplified, but about one-third of the population of the state and more than one-half of the population of Prince Edward and its' sister counties is composed of negroes, social contact with whom in the schools is impracticable and impossible. No one, not living under these condi- tions, can form an adequate idea of the difficulty and perplexity caused by them. But, my friends, the fathers and founders of the Old Dominion, among whom were the first settlers of Prince Edward and its sister counties, overcame difficulties and put aside perplexities in laying broad and deep the foundations of this commonwealth, and so you, their children, under changed conditions must meet your responsibilities and bear your burdens. God has been with us in the past and will doubtless continue with us in the future. All we need to insure success is an intelligent appreciation of the situation and a determined and persistent discharge of the duties growing out of it.
In the development of my subject, I ask your assent to the following propositions: ist, We need better schools and school houses. 2nd, In order to secure these we must have competent and well paid teachers; longer school terms, fewer school houses and submit to local taxation as a supplement to the fund derived from the State. 3rd, In order to this, we must have more
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sympathetic interest in the schools by the people, more faithful and enlightened superintendents of schools and more intelligent and patriotic school trustees.
I need dwell but a little while on my first proposition, for it is generally admitted that schools outside of cities and towns are not infrequently poor, the teachers often incompetent, sometimes immoral ; and the school houses ugly, uncomfortable, and badly furnished, with excep- aons here and there, but the exceptions' so rare in rural communities as rather to emphasize than to disprove the rule.
Let us for a moment look at this" state of facts. We must be careful, however, not to exaggerate the evils, but only to look them squarely in the face.
It is a depressing fact that many of our schools change teachers every year, or at least, every year or two. There is no permanency about them. Teachers and children come together as strangers and by the time they get acquainted, they part. There is no knowledge of the pupil, of his capacity, proclivities', and character- istics, on the part of the teacher, and no affection and kind regard for the teacher by the pupil. There is no permanent interest in one another and no steady progress in the school. Things are at a dead level. A minimum of instruction is given and a minimum of progress made.
The case is, however, in many instances, worse than this, for the testimony is overwhelming that not a few of our public schools are taught by men and women of little education, whose example and influence are far from inspiring and whose instruction is of little worth. Others testify that in some cases' teachers are immoral. I have been told of a white teacher, who was known in his neighborhood to be utterly untrustworthy, and two
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gentlemen in this county have asserted in my presence that a certain colored school taught by a certain colored teacher is a hot bed of dissension and the breeding place of all sorts of foolish and vain expectations, while the children are taught little or nothing of value, but become adepts in vicious practices.
As to school houses, it is very sure that comparatively few of them are neat and comfortable and elevating in structure or surroundings. They are generally little wooden affairs without architectural beauty or propor- tion and devoid of paint or other adornment, stuck away in the edge of a piece of wood, or worse, of an unshaded field, the faithful picture of forlorn hopelessness and of the entire absence of aspiration. The inside of these seats of learning, where the future sovereigns of Virginia are being prepared for the high duties of citizenship, are as uninviting as the aspect from without, with not a thing that is pleasing to the eye and not much convenient to the hand or stimulating to the mind. It is a dreary waste within as without.
2nd, May I now take it for granted that you agree with me in thinking that "we need better schools and school houses?" If so, then the question arises, how are we to get them ? In reply to this inquiry, I beg to restate by second proposition, to wit, "we must have competent and well paid teachers, longer school terms, fewer school houses and must submit to local taxation to supplement what is derived from the State fund."
A competent teacher is a well educated teacher, a thoroughly trained teacher, a teacher truly interested in, and who gives' his time and attention to, his work; a person, whether man or woman, white or colored, whose character is above reproach and whose conduct is beyond
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suspicion. This is the kind of teachers we endeavor to get in our institutions of higher learning and it is the kind we ought to seek for our public schools. No parent ought to be willing to entrust his child to the care of an ignorant, ill-mannered or immoral guide. The school authorities are culpable if, without proper inquiry or wilfully, they impose such a teacher on confiding parents. All such ought to be weeded out of the profession. Better close your school than have your children injured by the defects and misdemeanors of such creatures.
But if you want good teachers, you must give them reasonable compensation for their services. Well do I remember that many years ago I was told by a venerable minister of the gospel of the pittance he received as his salary, to which I replied in astonishment, "Why, doctor, that is dreadfully poor pay," when he said, "Poor pay, poor preach." So I say, ''Poor pay, poor teach." If you want a good teacher, you must pay him, just as when you want a good lawyer, or doctor, or carpenter, or blacksmith, you pay him the value of his service. It is ridiculous' to expect educated and high-minded men and women, except in rare cases in which they submit to it in the interest of religion and as a means of doing good, to endure extraordinary privation and cut themselves off from profitable employment in order to educate other people's children. It is ridiculous, but it is about the size of the public expectation that for the pittance of $32 per month for male teachers and $26 per month for females in schools with about five month's terms, these competent individuals shall give their time to teach the young idea how to shoot and guide their immature feet into the paths of virtue and goodness. It is a vain hope. You already have as good and in many cases much better
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teachers than your money pays for, and if you wish the teaching and the schools improved, you must use means, and if need be submit to privation, to obtain competent teachers and useful schools.
As subsidiary to this, we must have longer school terms; i. e., more of the time of the teachers must be employed than four, five or six months in the year. I am aware that in pressing this point, I have to meet an- other patent and potent difficulty, to wit, the fact that in our rural communities, many parents find it necessarv to have their children over ten or twelve years of age as helps on the farm and cannot afford their absence until the crops are gathered in the fall, or longer than the time when it is necessary to pitch the crops in the spring. This necessity is not universal but in some parts of the state it is general and it constitutes a very great barrier to perfecting the schools.
In some of the counties of North Carolina, this diffi- culty is met in the following manner; the annual school session is divided into two terms of five months each, the first for younger children up to ten years of age, running from May to September inclusive, and the sec- ond for older children over ten years old, running from November through March, thus furnishing a ten months' session to the teacher and school accommodations in the same house for double the number of children who could otherwise be provided for. This plan is set forth lucidly in an interesting paper read before the Richmond Meet- ing of the Southern Educational Association by Col. S. F. Venable and is said to be working admirably in Bun- combe and perhaps other counties in North Carolina. Whether it is practicable or not in Virginia and Prince Edward is a question for school trustees in conference
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■with patrons of the schools to determine. Certainly something must be done to employ teachers for a longer term, if good schools are to be maintained. For employ- ment for the longer term of itself increases the pay of the teacher. A man or woman whose time is occupied for ten months is in a much better position than one who is employed for only a part of that time.
But the salary at present given to most country teach- ers is ridiculous. It is less than many laboring men re- ceive, less than reputable mechanics, or workers in facto- ries or successful boot blacks earn, and we ought not to be content to allow those to whom are assigned such im- portant and elevated duties, from a social, intellectual or moral standpoint, to do this important work at starvation and depressing wages. The teacher ought to be well paid and the school houses neat, comfortable and well fur- nished. All admit the justice and economy of this.
The improvement in teachers implies an improvement in the school houses, their furniture, appliances and sur- roundings, but this advance cannot be made so long as such an unnecessary multiplicity of schools exist. Ac- cording to the report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for 1 900-1 901, there were only five out of forty-two white schools in Prince Edward which main- tained an average attendance of twenty pupils", while there were twenty-one — exactly one-half — which fell be- low fifteen pupils, I know of three schools in this county in an area where there ought to be but one. It is objected that if this consolidation is accomplished some of the scholars will have to walk two or three miles, which, to me, seems to have no force whatever. Some of you, and many of your fathers and mothers, and grandfathers and grandmothers walked three, four or five miles' to school.
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and it made men and women of them, and the children of this generation are no better than their forebears. Many of the most able, influential and useful men of former times and of the present day in the Commonwealth of Virginia had this experience, and it is a necessary inci- dent to the scattered condition of our population that it shall continue a while longer, if the educational advan- tages offered our children are not to continue to be the merest farce.
As I said a moment ago, "we must have well-paid teachers and neat, comfortable and well-furnished school houses." How is this most desirable end to be attained? Something else is necessary besides the diminution of school houses, and I insist that one of the great desiderata in accomplishing this object and without which it cannot probably be attained, is increased taxation — local taxa- tion in addition to what the State furnishes.
According to advanced sheets of the Virginia School Report for 1 900-1 901, the total State fund for last year amounted to $1,029,373.80, which was all in hand to pay for administration and all other charges, together with the support of the schools. Let us suppose that the whole fund were devoted to the support of the schools, then there would have been but $1.47 per capita for the school population of the Commonwealth ; $2.69 per cap- ita for the pupils enrolled ; and $4.57 per capita for those in daily average attendance. This shows you how wretch- edly inadequate the State fund is to the support of repu- table schools and how necessary it is that it be supple- mented by local taxation.
Governor Montague, the honored Chief Magistrate of Virginia, has said sententiously and wisely, "I would rather have one good school within five miles of my house
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than five poor schools at my door," "Good schools" are what we need. Are you wilHng to pay for them?
In the Constitution of the State of Virginia under which we are now Hving, there are found two provisions, not heretofore existing, which it is beheved go far in aiding in the solution of this knotty problem.
The first of these is found in section 173 in the Article on Taxation and Finance, and is as follows :
"The General Assembly may authorize the Board of Supervisors of any county or the council of any city or town to levy an additional capitation tax not exceeding one dollar per annum on every such resident within its limits," (t. e., on every male resident not less than twenty one years of age,) "which shall be applied in aid of the public schools of said county, city or town, or for such other county, city or town purpose as they shall deter- mine."
The object of this' provision is two fold — (i) to get some tax from every male citizen, so far as possible. At present, many citizens pay no tax for the support either of the schools or the government; (2) in counties, cities and towns that desire it, to give larger support to the public schools.
The second provision is found in section 136 in the Article on Education and Public Instruction, and is as follows : "Each county, city, town, if the same be a sepa- rate school district, and school district is authorized to raise additional sums by a tax on property, not to exceed in the aggregate five mills on the dollar in any one year, to be apportioned and expended by the local school au- thorities of said counties, cities, towns and districts in es- tablishing and maintaining such schools as in their judg- ment the public welfare may require."
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The object of this provision is entirely different from that of the former, to wit, to clothe the people in the counties, cities, towns and school districts of the State with authority to tax themselves for the maintenance of graded and high schools', a most important feature which must be added to our public school system, in order to give it full efficiency. I am glad to see that the county of Charlotte is the pioneer in laying hold of this privi- lege and has determined to levy a tax for the full amount allowed for the purpose of establishing within her bor- ders schools of a higher grade than have existed there heretofore. Shall not Prince Edward come next? Will not the trustees of our several school districts and the people of the county awake to the importance of this mat- ter and give our young people, male and female, the op- portunity to fit themselves for higher and broader and larger usefulness in life?
In this connection, I beg to call your attention to the "Southern" or "Ogden Educational" Movement, which has aroused much interest, north and south, and which, I understand, is organized and intended to stimulate, fos- ter and assist just such advances in education as I am advocating. But let it be noted as certain that nothing can be expected from this source until we express a will- ingness to co-operate and to do for ourselves what is in our power, whereas if we move towards the goal, they will join hands with us in the establishment and mainte- nance of a first-rate system of public education. Fortu- nately for Prince Edward, it has strong and influential friends among those most intimately connected with this movement. First, there is Dr. J. L. M. Curry, chairman of the Campaign Committee for the whole South, who knows Prince Edward well and has some close associa-
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tions here. Then there are Dr. Charles W. Dabney, di- rector of the Bureau of Information and Investigation, and Professor J. D. Eggleston, secretary and editor, both born and bred in Prince Edward and graduates of its old College, Hampden-Sidney. Then there are Dr. Robert Frazer, for some years resident among you as president of the State Female Normal School, and Hon. Henry St. George Tucker, than whom there is no more broad- minded gentleman in the Commonwealth — field agents for Virginia. In view of these facts and the possibilities which they appear to open up, I exhort the people of Farmville and Prince Edward to arouse themselves to embrace this opportunity, to put your shoulders to the wheel, every man to take up cheerfully his part of the burden and thus place the old county far in advance along educational lines of what it has ever been in the past.
Third. But if all this were un fait accompli, something else is necessary. The system would not be complete, for there would be no assurance for the future that through lack of interest on the part of the people or by reason of maladministration by those in whose hands school man- agement is placed, there will not be gradual deterioration and permanent inefficiency and therefore I come to my third and last proposition — to wit : "We must have more sympathetic interest in the schools by the people, more faithful and enlightened superintendents of schools and more intelligent and patriotic school trustees."
I. An essential element in the prosperity of any insti- tution of learning is the cordial support it receives from its patrons and the people by whom it is surrounded. Without this, the schools of whatever grade may get along in a hum-drum kind of way and do good work, its teachers faithfully but drearily performing their duties
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and the scholars going wearily through with their tasks', but where there is lack of inspiration, approval and en- couragement from without, the actors are thrown back on the sole reserve of conscientious discharge of duty ; the strongest, the most stable, the most trustworthy of all correct incentives to action indeed, and yet, which when alone, often leaves' the soul in disconsolation and doubt. Even strong men, engaged in arduous work, need the sympathy and expressed regard of their fellows' for their comfort and support and full efficiency. How much more men of sensitive organism and tender women, em- ployed in the onerous task of developing the intellectual faculties of the young, of placing before them the mental pabulum by feeding on which they will acquire growth and strength and stimulus for higher endeavor and of in- fluencing them by wholesome instruction and example to avoid the evil and choose the right and good in life. Surely the teacher of all men deserves the sympathy and encouragement of right-thinking and virtuous people and every community ought to keep alive, and on proper oc- casion to express its sincere interest in its schools, in their work, in their teachers, in their pupils. No com- munity can aflford to leave its schools alone without coun- tenance, sympathy and assistance. Every man, woman and child, be he patron or pupil, or without any direct connection therewith, ought to feel himself under obliga- tion to do all in his power to speed the good work and to cheer on those immediately engaged in it. The influence for good of such sympathetic consideration and action will be two- fold — ( i ) in stimulating teachers and pupils to higher aims and eflForts; and (2) by a natural and necessary reaction on the community in elevating its tone, enlarging its intelligence and putting it on a higher plane
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of living and acting. By all means, my friends, do what you can to promote the welfare of the needful institu- tions within your gates, and, so far as in you lies, in- fluence your neighbors in this and the adjoining counties to do the same. In blessing others, you will also be blessed.
2. But not only must the attitude of the people to- wards the schools be friendly and helpful. It is essential that the officers into whose hands these vital interests are entrusted, the superintendents of schools and the school trustees, shall be. men of character, of intelligence, of loyalty to duty, whose only concern in the discharge of official functions is to promote the welfare of the schools and of those connected with them.
That this has not been the case always is too plain to require discussion ; that it is not universally true at pres- ent is well known to those, who during late months', have given attention to the subject. While many of these offi- cers have been and are excellent in every respect and have performed their duties intelligently and assiduously, many others have not been worth a fig and have used their office for personal ends. There is no doubt about this. Its exact truth cannot be seriously questioned by any one informed on the subject. A young man, a grad- uate of Hampden-Sidney College, taught a public school in one of the eastern counties of the State. He never saw the county superintendent until the closing day of the ses- sion, when that gentleman put in an appearance, shook hands with him, told him that the patrons of the school were pleased with him, and would be glad to have him re- turn and bade him good-bye. In one of the most impor- tant counties of the State, a faithful and useful superin- tendent was superseded by a man of dubious character
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and life, who had a poUtical pull and who was of no man- ner of use in the office to which he was appointed. In another county, a physician of political influence and large practice was appointed to this office, who in the nature of things was incapacitated by professional en- gagements from attending to its duties. These are speci- men cases and the thing was seen to be so bad that in our late Constitutional Convention, it was seriously con- sidered whether it be not better to abolish the office alto- gether, and many were avowedly in favor of this propo- sition, but after protracted conference it was deemed wiser to continue the office and to constitute the State Board of Education so that it would no longer be a politi- cal body, but most largely composed of educators, de- voted to the work throughout the State, whose appoint- ments will henceforth be made in the interest of the schools and not of a political party. It is hoped that this arrangement will gradually eliminate the worthless school superintendents and fill their places with good and effi- cient men.
The matter of school trustees is' also one of great im- portance. Many of them are competent and disinterested and discharge their duties wisely and well. Many others use the office to secure positions for relatives and friends, regardless of fitness and for the location of school houses, not for the convenience of the community, but of them- selves or of certain favored individuals. Nepotism and favoritism are the two curses which attach to this office. They must be gotten rid of or there is little prospect of much improvement. In the late Constitutional Conven- tion I was anxious to have the election of school trustees by the people engrafted on the fundamental law of the land as an indispensable principle, but after full exami-
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nation of the question under our peculiar circumstances and the possibilities growing out of them, it appeared wiser to leave its adjustment to the Legislature. It is hoped that the General Assembly will see its way clear to deal with this question at an early day. In my opinion, we will never have good and efficient school trustees until they are made directly responsible to the people and the people have authority to turn out unworthy and put in good men.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have endeavored as briefly as possible and in plain, straightforward language to lay before you some of the prominent defects of our public school system, with the suggestion of some im- provements which will add greatly to its efficiency and usefulness. In the final analysis the responsibility rests on the people, on you and on me. It is the duty of every citizen to keep himself informed on these questions and in touch with all movements for the betterment of our social condition. We must look to the character and ability of those who make and administer our laws and put intelligent and honest men in official positions. Next to the church of Christ, including in it the Christian family, the school-house is the most important factor in the enlargement of intelligence, the increase of virtue and the elevation of our social status. We owe it to God, to our country, to our State, to our county, to our families, to our friends, to the rising generation and to generations' yet unborn, to do all in our power to promote and perfect this great agency for the betterment of mankind. You can do something towards this end. I can do something. Let us arise and be about it.
I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your kind pres- ence and attention.
LOCAL TAXATION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
UNDER THE PRESENT STATE
CONSTITUTION.
Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
THERE are two provisions in the Constitution of Virginia which authorize "local taxation for public schools."
The first of these is found in section 136, under the "Article on Education and Public Instruction," and is as follows : "Each county, city, town, if the same be a sepa- rate school district, and school district is authorized to raise additional sums by a tax on property not to exceed in the aggregate five mills on the dollar in any one year, to be apportioned and expended by the local school au- thorities of said counties, cities, towns and districts in establishing and maintaining such schools as in their judgment the pubHc welfare may require: provided, that such primary schools as may be established in any one year shall be maintained at least four months of that school year, before any part of the fund assessed and collected may be devoted to the establishment of schools of higher grade. The boards of supervisors of the sev- eral counties and the councils of the several cities and towns, if the same be separate school districts, shall pro- vide for the levy and collection of such local school taxes.
The second provision is found in section 173, under the "Article on Taxation and Finance," last clause of the section — as follows: "The General Assembly may au- thorize the board of supervisors of any county or the
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council of any city or town, to levy an additional capi- tation tax not exceeding one dollar per annum on every such resident within its limits, which shall be applied in aid of the public schools of such county, city or town, or for such other county, city or town purpose as they shall determine."
Both these provisions are local and voluntary and can- not be enforced except through the supervisors or coun- cils' elected by the people. Both, therefore, conform to the fundamental principles of local self-government. They are not imposed by superior authority, but are vol- untarily assumed. Both have in view primarily the im- provement of the advantages offered the children of the locality and ultimately the increased intelligence and cul- ture of the people, the enlarged interest of householders and tax-payers in the betterment of their school system, and, generally speaking, the purification of the franchise, the elevation of the masses', the promotion of virtue, the advancement of civilization and the making of our State in reality, as well as in name, "the land of the free and the home of the brave — "the land of the free," of men delivered from the thraldom of ignorance, sensuality and vice, who think and act for themselves independently and correctly, who keep before them high ideals of right and of life, and who ever seek to improve their own condition and the condition of those about them practically, intel- lectually, socially and morally ; "the home of the brave," of citizens, who, having tasted the blessings of freedom and of intellectual and social light, have the courage of their convictions and are ready, if need be, to exert in- fluence, to make sacrifices, to endure hardness and to put forth effort not only for themselves and their families,
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but for their fellows, not so highly favored and for gen- erations yet to come.
The first provision, which allows the assessment of a tax of five mills on the dollar of property has reference wholly to the upbuilding of the public schools and their improvement from every point of view, and is already at the command of the legalized authorities to be put into operation at their discretion. In carrying out this pro- vision the General Assembly has enacted that, "the board of supervisors of each county . . . shall levy a tax of not less than seven and a half cents, nor more than twenty cents, on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value of the real and personal property in the county for the support of the public free schools of the county and a tax of not less than seven and a half cents on the hundred dollars of the assessed value of the real and personal property in any school district for district school pur- poses." The General Assembly also provides' that if the levy is not sufficient for county or district school support, on a petition from the county school board, the question of other school taxation may be submitted to the qualified voters of county or district.
The second constitutional provision, which permits' a supplementary poll-tax of one dollar, can be utilized only by act of the General Assembly and may be directed to the upbuilding of schools or to any other useful purpose. It is to the first of these methods that reference is made chiefly, as the second will probably not be called into action until the resources' of the first are exhausted or to accomplish some subsidiary purpose with only indirect reference to public schools.
It is worthy of special remark that not only cities and counties have the privilege of levying a local tax for
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schools, but that "towns, if separate school districts," and "school districts" subordinate to counties are accorded the same right. This fact is of interest because it gives scope for improvement not only to the larger divisions of the school system, but also to their more alert and progressive sub-divisions. If a county as a whole is unwilling to bear voluntary taxation, while one of its districts feels able and anxious to advance, the latter cannot be kept back by the lethargy or poverty of the former, but is free to go forward in its beneficent endeavor to perfect its school faciHties and advantages. This provision is of great value — (i) as it enables small bodies of aggressive and enlightened citizens to combine for the betterment of their conditions, and (2) as such action sets an example which will probably be followed by adjacent districts and counties.
The most notable thing, however, about the provision in section 136 is that the local tax collected is "to be ap- portioned and expended by the local school authorities of such counties, cities', towns and districts in establishing and maintaining such schools as in their judgment the public welfare may require," the only proviso being "that such primary schools as may be established in any school year shall be maintained at least four months of that year, before any part of the fund assessed and collected may be devoted to the establishment of schools of higher grade," t. e., it is mandatory that the primary schools shall be kept open at least four months in the year, though they ought to be, and doubtless in most cases will be, maintained for a much longer period.
Here, now, is something entirely new in the Constitu- tion of Virginia — a provision which looks indeed to the prevalance of good primary schools as the essential basis
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of all others, and these to be maintained a certain mini- mum of time, but which has for its chief object the estab- Hshment of graded and high schools' to such an extent as the judgment of local authorities may deem necessary for the public welfare. This, then, is a provision that looks to higher education, which has for its object not merely to communicate the rudiments, but the awakening of the intelligence to higher departments of thought and leading it along lines which tend to incite aspiration and effort and cause it to seek after high and noble things and to exercise itself in obtaining and using them. The public school fund derived from the State, with the addition of so much of that gotten from local taxation as may be necessary to maintain primary schools for all children at least four months in the year must be used for that pur- pose. After that, every dollar obtained from local tax- ation may be employed by local authorities in improving the educational advantages of the district, county or city, as "the public welfare may demand."
It ought also to be emphasized that while five mills on the dollar of property is the maximum of local tax allowed in any one year, supervisors of counties are re- quired to levy annually three-fourths of one mill, and at the request of the school board may levy as much as two mills on the dollar of property to meet the needs of the county schools and the same amount for district schools. If they fail to levy enough to supply the wants of the schools, then, on petition in writing from the school board, they are required to refer the question to the qual- ified voters of the county or district, as the case may be. It is important to notice that in such vote, instead of the maximum allowed, any smaller amount agreed on — say, one mill, or even the half of one mill — may be taken. I
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am careful to call your attention to this point — (i) be- cause a very large portion of the tax-payers in the coun- ties in vast sections of Virginia are poor and find any in- crease of taxation burdensome; (2) because local taxa- tion, if not cautiously managed, will arouse antagonism, hurtful to the cause and an impediment to progress; (3) because there seems to be in the make-up of a good many men an almost irrational prejudice against increased taxation, however laudable the object or promising and profitable its results. The old maxim, Festina lente (Hasten slowly) is certainly applicable here.
Two things are naturally suggested by what has been said — (i) Local taxation is not generally popular in the counties, and needs' to be handled with discretion. I say "in the counties," and, with some exceptions, this is true, and yet it is in the counties that interest chiefly centers, as cities and towns are abundantly able to take care of themselves and are generally doing so; (2) any perma- nent improvement in the public schools is' involved in and dependent on local taxation and can hardly be attained without it.
The only remark that needs to be made under the first head is in reference to the kind of men who ought to be chosen as superintendents of divisions and school trus- tees. It goes without the saying, that they ought to be men of intelligence, of information, of industry, of unsel- fishness and of courage, who, having undertaken a trust have moral force enough to recognize the obligations they assume and to address themselves to their discharge. It is a reproach on the Commonwealth of Virginia that in the past its public school system has been so largely a part of the political machine. It is a harbinger of good for the future that the State Board of Education, as at
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present constituted, has declared the system non-political and taken steps for its administration as such. But I seriously doubt whether the system will ever become what it ought to be until these officials are elected by the people, and thus made directly amenable to the people. These men have high and holy responsibilities resting on them, and it is their province to understand the duties they owe, to manifest interest in the sphere of effort they occupy and to evoke the sympathy and co-operation of their neighbors and fellow-citizens in all plans for for- ward movements. When they fail in this they ought to drop out and leave room for others capable of handling the situation. The best judges of these qualifications and of the discharge of these duties are the people for whose benefit the schools are maintained and among whom these school officials live and act. When the people have confi- dence in the integrity, wisdom and zeal of their officers, they will listen cheerfully to their suggestions, follow their advice and co-operate in their measures.
The second point — namely, the dependence of the school system on local taxation for improvement — needs fuller elucidation and illustration.
I have it on high authority, as' proceeding from the officers of the superintendent of public instruction and the secretary of the State Board of Education, that "the best school systems are to be found where the local taxes are relied on to run the schools," and, again, "if our schools are to be improved, the improvement must come from additional funds raised by local taxation." These are pregnant sentences' and may well awaken profound interest on the subject.
If the question be asked, In what localities the best school systems in the United States are found? the an-
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swer will come back readily from all lips qualified to speak, in the North Atlantic, North Central and Western divisions' of the country — in Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, California, etc. — and the answer is justified by the facts. The schools in those divisions and representa- tive States have longer terms, are better housed, pay more remunerative salaries, have more ample appliances' and generally offer their pupils far better advantages than those in the South Atlantic and South Central div- isions. It is also true that the grand divisions of the country which lead in educational facilities also derive much the larger share of the funds used by them from local taxation, while the divisions in which the advan- tages are least have made but little advance in this direc- tion. Thus, in the North Atlantic division, for every dol- lar secured from the State, $5.44 are raised by local tax- ation, and in the North Central division, $8.86 are raised by local taxation for every dollar obtained from the State. On the other hand, in the South Atlantic division only $1.52, and in the South Central division $1.07 is gotten from local taxes for every dollar received from the State. At the same time, the North Atlantic division raises four times as much per pupil of school age as does the South Atlantic division, and the North Central division about the same proportion in advance of the South Central division.
An identical lesson is learned from a comparison of the more and less advanced States of the American Union, when taken separately. For example, for every dollar in Massachusetts derived from State taxation, $126. are raised from local taxation, 98 per cent, of its school fund being local, whereas in Virginia the State and local taxes are about equal. The result is that in
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Massachusetts $22.37 ^^^ secured for every pupil of school age, while Virginia furnishes $3.50 for the same class. So, too, in Ohio $6.51 are secured by local tax- ation for every dollar from the State, and $13.38 assured to every pupil of school age, while in Kentucky only 50 per cent, of the amount received from the State is se- cured from local taxes, and but $4.41 contributed per pupil.*
We need not, however, go outside our own borders to learn the same lesson, though, perhaps, in not so striking a manner, for the principle of local taxation has been applied in some of the cities and towns of Virginia to an extent that is gratifying, and to some extent in a few of the counties, and with results that may well inspire the remainder of the State to higher efforts in this direction. Let us take a few of these cities at random and compare what is' being done by them with the efforts being made by the counties and note the difference in results. In the city of Danville more than twice as much is raised by local taxation as is gotten from the State; in Richmond and Lynchburg more than three times as much, and each has a school term of nine or ten months, and every child has access to a graded and high school, whereas in Prince Edward not more than two-thirds as much is secured by local taxation as from the State; in Brunswick not a third; in Amelia and Buchanan a little over a half, Prince Edward having a school term of five and a half months, Brunswick five and a fourth, Amelia six and a third, and Buchanan four and two-thirds months. The counties are
* The foregoing figures are derived from United States Com- missioner of Education. Report, 1902.
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also sadly below the cities in school houses and property, the qualification of teachers, libraries, appliances, etc.**
It seems now to be pretty clearly shown that local tax- ation has been the solution of the problem of school im- provement, where such advance has been made. It is a natural inference that whatever forward steps are to be taken in future must be brought about by the same means.
How, then, is the cause of local taxation to be ad- vanced? What means can be employed hopefully to arouse interest, so that the people will come to submit cheerfully to an increase of their burdens' for the eleva- tion of their race ?
1. In reply to this question, I have already stated my belief that it will be hard to bring it about so long as division superintendents and school trustees are appointed as at present. They are too far removed from the people and consequently little cordial sympathy exists between them and the people. It makes little difference to any one whether the Governor, Attorney-General or Superintend- ent of Public Instruction is elected by the people, as at present, or by the Legislature, as formerly, but it makes a world of difference whether local officers are appointed by a foreign authority or elected by the people, whom they are to serve.
2. Again, a persistent effort must be inaugurated in every county and in every district of every county to in- terest the people, individually and collectively, in educa- tion, and to incite them to higher endeavor for the wel- fare of the young. The school house must be made an attractive place, the center of intellectual and social light, the meeting ground of neighbors and friends in common
** These figures have been gotten from the Virginia School Report, i902-'o3.
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interest for the advancement of knowledge and culture. In order to this, the schools must be brought more fre- quently and prominently to their attention as objects of great worth, their work be explained, their needs be made known and the community thus be brought into cordial sympathy with them. The assistance of the pulpit and of public meetings may well be invoked in this behalf. It is difficult to get people to submit to sacrifices for things about which they know and care nothing, but once im- press them with their vital importance and secure their personal interest, and the victory is won. This is not a matter of merely individual concern. While a beginning must be made with individuals, it must not stop there. Each individual must let his influence be felt, that a gen- eral awakening may be accomplished and maintained. This is, as I understand it, the prime object of "the Co- operative Education Commission of Virginia," assembled here to-day. It is to enlighten the minds and awaken the dormant energies of the people of the Commonwealth and its constituent parts in behalf of the Public School System, so that there may be good graded schools and at least one high school in every county. How necessary this is in the matter of local taxation, which lies at the basis of all such advance, is illustrated by the following authentic facts which have come to my knowledge lately. In one of the counties of our State, usually regarded as highly favored in some respects, and in the olden time the abode of families of wealth, education and social culture, not long since the Board of School Trustees agreed to re- quest the supervisors to levy a tax of one mill on the dollar of property for the special improvement of the school-houses, some of which are a reproach to our civil- ization. The trustees' wished to ask for two mills, but
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were dissuaded for fear that they would get nothing, and having experience that "half a loaf is better than no bread," adjusted themselves to circumstances and pre- ferred the request. One of the supervisors, a man of high character and an efficient and liberal minded officer, in view of the approaching meeting of his board, and desiring to inform himself of the views and feelings of the tax-payers' of his district, sent them individually a written communication, stating in brief, clear language the facts of the case and asking their opinion in the prem- ises. When last heard from he had received seventy- three replies, eleven of which are favorable and sixty-two opposed, some of them violently and uncompromisingly, to the tax. Among the latter are men of intelligence, of considerable means and of large influence.
Now, here are facts — facts that must be admitted, reckoned with and provided against, and they indicate that the people as' a whole are little interested in the pub- lic schools, opposed to local taxation and willing to let what they regard as "well enough alone." They cheer- fully take what the State gives them or can be derived from sources outside of themselves, but as to making per- sonal sacrifices to achieve results, that is out of the ques- tion.
Manifestly, if this state of thought and sentiment continues to prevail, the outlook is discouraging in the extreme. It must be modified, rectified, reversed, or thousands and tens of thousands of noble youth, possess- ing grand possibilities, must still be denied opportunity of self -development and left in situations from which they cannot disentangle themselves, instead, of being helped forward to lives of large and distinguished usefulness. Every interest, civil and social, intellectual and moral,
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financial and economical, political and religious' must be left to suffer and the old Commonwealth, once so re- nowned in the annals of war and the councils of peace, be content to struggle on with only a secondary position in the galaxy of States and the work of the world. But, is this to be? I call on you, Virginians, to answer this question! I call on you, educators, gathered from all parts of the State, with your minds enlightened and your spirits aglow for the uplifting of your fellow-citizens', to make reply ! I call on you, members of the Co-operative Education Commission, lately inaugurated for a cam- paign against ignorance and deterioration, and in behalf of the enlarged intelligence and increased virtue of the whole people, to say whether these objects are not grand enough, good enough, glorious enough in their achieve- ment to inspire the zeal, animate the courage and direct the energies of every lover of freedom?
This is no school-boy task that is before you. It is no merely academic problem that you have to solve. It is not a transient work to be performed in a day or a year or a brief series of years, that you undertake. It is the enlightenment and elevation of a large portion of the citi- zenship of the State. It is the bringing of them into line with the progress, the best thought, the most approved methods of the age. It is their conversion from a state of ignorance, indifference or hostility to one of friend- ship, co-operation and personal endeavor. It is the uniting of our people throughout all our borders' in one common effort, each to promote the welfare of the other and all to conspire for the well-being of each. It is to fulfill the Royal Law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" ; to measure up to the Golden Rule, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."
THE RELATION OF THE CITIZEN TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I do not know how better to introduce the subject to which I am to ask your attention than by the quota- tion of some sentences from Mr. Andrew Carnegie's "Tri- umphant Democracy." In speaking of the danger to this country from the teeming millions' of foreign immigrants pressing into it, he says : "The generosity, shall I not say the incredible generosity, with which the republic has dealt with these people, met its reward. They are won to her side by being offered for subjectship the boon of citizenship. For the denial of equal privileges at home, the new land meets them with perfect equality, saying, be not only with us, but be of us'. They reach the shores of the republic subjects, (insulting word), and she makes them citizens ; serfs, and she makes them men, and their children she takes gently by the hand and leads to the public schools which she has founded for her own chil- dren, and gives them without money and without price, a good primary education as' the most precious gift she has, in her bountiful hand, to bestow upon human beings."
We of the South are not much concerned, on our own account, with the question of foreign immigration. It is most largely with our native population, white and negro, that we have to deal. The terms of the proposition to be treated in our discussion, however, are the same with those so clearly and truthfully brought to view in th*'"'' sentences — Citizenship and the Public Schools.
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One of the chief grounds of gratitude which presents itself on this occasion is that we are citizens of the State of Virginia, of the United States of America. I have not time to explicate this statement, nor do I regard its expli- cation important. The mere recognition of the fact of citizenship in one of the oldest and noblest of the Com- monwealths of our great republic is enough to awaken the profoundest feelings of honorable pride and thanks- giving in the heart of him who is heir to this" inestimable boon. To be a Roman citizen about the time of the Chris- tian era was both an honor and safeguard; to be an American citizen in its twentieth century carries with it a thousand-fold more of blessing and advantage.
The people of Virginia — native and naturalized, male and female, white and colored, old and young — ^are its citizens. As such they dwell under the aegis of its protec- tion, and are assured of the possession and enjoyment of their inherent rights. We live under a government "of the people, by the people and for the people," "sit every man under his own vine and under his own fig-tree" in the exercise of our undisputed privileges and are gath- ered here to-night in friendly conference to consider some questions of importance to ourselves as individuals and to the body-politic as' a whole.
It is one of the prime principles both of moral and sociological science, that when men come together in or- ganized society, they are bound together by ties of recip- rocal obligation. No r'elation exists in this world which does not carry with it corresponding duty. Human life is a scene of mutual action and re-action, of giving and receiving, of reciprocation. This principle is imbedded in our natures, revealed in our every-day activities and expressed in the language used in ordinary intercourse.
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Take, for illustration, a few of the familiar antonyms of our mother tongue, and note the instruction they give — husband, wife; parent, child; teacher, pupil; seller, buyer; master, servant; State, citizen. Each term of these couplets appears in a sense to be antithetic, and yet each expresses relation and interdependence — no hus- band, no wife; no parent, no child; no teacher, no pupil; no seller, no buyer ; no master, no servant ; no State, no citizen, and vice versa. The one cannot exist without the other. They co-exist in their existence, and in their co- existence there arise obligations from one to the other. They are correlatives and from their mutual relations emerge duties and responsibilities, important and impera- tive, which cannot properly be overlooked or disregarded. The State owes the citizen protection, defence, assistance in the maintenance, enjoyment and prosecution of his rights; the citizen owes the State fealty, loyalty, service in its endeavors to promote the progress, well-being and happiness of its people.
How far the State may go in affording its inhabitants assistance is for its qualified citizens to determine by con- stitutional provision and legislative enactment. When its sphere of action has been settled and it proceeds to per- form its functions, by the law of reciprocity it is the duty of every citizen to stand by and aid it in its efforts to effectuate the objects placed before it.
The State, then, we see, is a complex unity, with man- ifold functions, reaching out in various directions", all having the same end in view — to wit: the establishment and promotion of the welfare of the people as individuals and as an integral whole.
One thing, committed to the oversight of the State, and now generally agreed on as important and indispen-
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sable to the public well-being, is the education of the masses. It has been determined and embodied in the or- ganic law, that ignorance is a monstrous' evil, a menace to civilization, a bar to prosperity, the parent and fosterer of vice, the harbinger of crime, destructive of the rights of the people and injurious to the integrity of society and of the State itself. It is, also, generally conceded that if Virginia is to regain and maintain her ascendency in the sisterhood of States and to retake her place in the van- guard of civilization, it must be through the educated in- telligence of her population. Hence the establishment throughout the Commonwealth of a comprehensive sys- tem of "public instruction and education," the design of which is to give the rudiments of knowledge to every child and higher training to all who show themselves able and willing to take advantage of these opportunities. The Constitution of the State, explicated and enforced by its laws, has clearly and irrevocably determined on a broader and deeper intellectual and moral culture for all classes of her people as essential to their welfare.
I have thus endeavored to place before you as briefly and clearly as may be the principles which underlie the solution of the problem — "What is the relation of the cit- izen to the public schools?" If my diagnosis and pre- sentation of the situation are correct, I think you will agree with me, that from every point of view — ^personal and public, social, economic, patriotic, ethical and relig- ious— the attitude of the citizen to the public schools" ought to be sympathetic and helpful.
I do not mean by this that every citizen ought to send his child to the public schools. There may be good rea- sons why he should not do so. This is a free country, and if a parent or guardian prefers some other system of in-
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struction for those committed to his care, it is right for him to act on his convictions.
Nor do I assert that the citizen is under obligation to neglect his personal affairs — his family, his business, his church — in order to minister to this important interest. It is true that a man's' personal interests are largely depend- ent for good or evil on the intelligence of the community in which he lives, and it therefore behooves him to give what attention he can to this department, but often his whole time is necessarily absorbed in the discharge of im- perative obligations, and there are those appointed and delegated by the State, whose special duty it is to attend to the schools, and who are responsible before the law and their own consciences for intelligent assiduity in their several spheres of employment.
What I do intend to suggest and to press on your in- telligent consideration is, that after these delegated agents — the State Board of Education, the State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction, the Division Superintend- ents, the County and District Trustees and the Teach- ers— have given full service, there is still a sphere of in- fluence and effort which belongs to the citizen, without whose aid the schools cannot attain their complete use- fulness. There is need of the co-operation and support of the community, and of every community, in order to the realization of the full benefits' of the system.
It is the recognition of this fact and the profound conviction produced by it, that inspired certain gentlemen, interested in and prominently identified with education, to unite in the formation of "the Co-operative Education Commission of Virginia," the object of which is to arouse public sentiment and to secure concert of action on the part of the people.
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This movement is greatly needed. There is still some hostility and much apathy throughout the Common- wealth. It can only be removed by the diffusion of in- telligence and by personal and aggregated influence in rallying the people to the help of the State.
Another interesting question connected with this sub- ject is, How can the individual citizen contribute to the welfare of the public schools? What can he do to ad- vance their interests, increase their usefulness and en- large their power for good? What can he bring to the common effort? I reply that he can give his sympathy, his influence, the inspiration of his example and such help as circumstances may permit and justify.
But individual effort alone will not avail. It is good, as far as it goes, but there is need of combination and aggregated force. It is, therefore, recommended that county, district or communal associations be formed, em- bracing in their membership the citizens of a community, larger or smaller, with the avowed object of aiding in this movement.
To promote this object a modest leaflet has been is- sued and widely distributed with the special design of suggesting and encouraging such organizations. It is an unpretentious publication, and all the better for that. It is just six inches long and three and a half inches broad, and yet it is worth many times its' weight in gold. It is infused throughout with good, every-day common sense, and presents a scheme of effort practicable in its pro- posals and methods. It does not call for the flourish of trumpets or the beating of drums, the large expenditure of money or the great absorption of time, but marks out a plan by which busy men and women may come together for the performance of a service of inestimable value
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without detracting from their vitaHty, but with accretions of force for their ordinary employments.
( 1 ) The name of the proposed organization is attrac- tive, "The School Improvement League of ," and
sets forth clearly the object in view. While this title is single and definite in its significance, it contains three im- portant thoughts — (a) It is a league, an alliance, a combi- nation. It is a recognition of the old adage, "In union there is strength." Its members come together with a common purpose and to attain a common end. (b) The end in view is the schools, already established by the State and fostered by the cities, counties and districts. These schools exist, are at work and are generally doing some good work. But none of them has attained the ideal and many fall far short in many respects. There- fore, the (c) controlling thought is their improvement, the amendment of their deficiencies ; the infusion of new life, and interest and power.
The formation of one of these leagues, therefore, means the creation of a new factor, in addition to those provided by law, for the promotion of the welfare of the rising generation, and is a tribute to the future.
(2) The "constitution" proposed for these leagues is a model of brevity and simplicity, dealing in a few sen- tences with their membership, officers, management, quo- rum, executive committee, meetings and amendments. It is also proposed that each "league" shall become a con- stituent part of the "Co-operative Education Commis- sion," and participate in its work, and that the effort shall be made to improve every school in the community.
(3) The "suggestions" of the leaflet, following the constitution, are timely and useful, but do not call for special remark, and so I pass on to the important point of
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(4) "Aims." These leagues may be formed, but un- less inspiring objects claim their attention, they will be in- efficient and accomplish nothing. If there is one thing which excites the disgust of serious-minded and earnest people, it is the show of something while nothing worthy is in view — sham — 'whereas, if a high and noble purpose is indulged, the object of which is practicable, the warm- est impulses of the heart are enlisted. It is, therefore, important that those who are interested in school im- provement shall seek to know their real condition, their defects as well as their excellencies, that being intelli-' gently informed, means may be found to elevate and ad- vance them. It is not suggested that every citizen is com- petent to this task. On the contrary, it is freely conceded that many are not, and that here, as everywhere, leaders are needed. What is essential is for the men and women of earnestness and good, common sense, who, when they see a thing, are able to know it, to understand the adapta- tion of things to one another, the relation of antecedent and consequent, of cause and effect, of means and end; how one thing being brought about, another may be secured, to come forward and take part in this great ef- fort. The preachers, the doctors, the lawyers, the busi- ness men, the mechanics, the farmers, the working peo- ple, the women — all who are accustomed to look after the every-day affairs of life — must be enlisted with the school officials in studying and solving the problem now thrust upon us. It is a plain and practical thing that demands attention. It is a matter in which every one is more or less concerned, whether the interest be recog- nized or not. It ought not to be difficult to arouse this interest and to rally it to the achievement of the desired result. Every man, woman and child in the Common-
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wealth, who will enter on the work with zeal and intelli- gence can do something to aid in its accomplishment.
To me, one of the most valuable and salutary aspects' presented in the working of these "school improvement leagues," especially in the rural districts, is the socializing and elevating influence exerted on their membership. The churches of all denominations have done, and are doing, much in this direction, and I trust and believe that they will continue to be increasingly useful in breaking down social barriers by the dissemination of intelligence and the inculcation of righteousness. In the "school im- provement league," however, a new sphere of social ac- tivity is opened — not antagonistic, but helpful to the churches, broader in its area, more comprehensive in its constituency, embracing not only the members and fami- lies of one church, but of all the churches, and if there be such, of no church, banded together with the noble pur- pose of extending and promoting the intellectual ; and as a corallary, the moral, social, economic and religious wel- fare of the whole community. The school-house thus be- comes, in a high and true sense, the centre of communal life, the place where the children and youth are taught, developed and fitted for active duty in the world, where the older people meet together for conference and action on these important interests, and, as occasion may sug- gest, for social, intellectual or festive enjoyment. I can think of nothing more humanizing, elevating and benefi- cent in its operation or more promising in its results'.
And now, as to the specific service that may be ren- dered by the individual citizen in connection with the "school improvement league," it seems to me that
(i) One important thing is the establishment of a good understanding and concerted action between the
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superintendent and trustees of schools on the one hand and the people of the community on the other. There are communities where such relations do not exist. It is the fault of the officials in some cases and of the people in others. Wherever the blame rests, this condition ought to be looked into and rectified. Without this, the best in- terests of the schools cannot be maintained : with it, there is good ground for hope of progress and steady advance. Any citizen of firmness and good sense can be of eminent service in such a contingency in rectifying wrongs, re- moving obstacles and stimulating progress.
(2) Another thing that may be greatly advanced by the effort of patriotic citizens is the development of such an estimate of the worth of education and the advantages which flow from it that the community will be prevailed on to submit to such "local taxation" as may be necessary to bring up the schools to the point of efficiency. This desideratum has already been attained in some of the cities, towns, counties and districts, but few have reached the point that needs to be gained, and some steadfastly refuse to do anything. Of the opponents, some are men of wealth, while others possess' small means. Now, it is easy enough to denounce these voters and say it is arrant selfishness in the well-to-do citizen and ignorant, short- sightedness in the man of straightened circumstances to occupy this position, but we will never make converts by such a course. What is needed under these conditions is a campaign of education, the diflfusion of information, the display of rational considerations, the awakening of thought, the presentation of true and noble motives" to action. One of the severest indictments ever brought by the Almighty against his ancient people is, "Israel doth not know: my people doth not consider." One of the
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most refreshing and uplifting sentences in the Old Testa- ment is, "A book of remembrance was opened before him (God) for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name." The grand distinguishing characteristic of man is the power of thought. The original meaning of the word "man," in the old sanskirt, is "to think." Man is by his constitution a thinker. "Reason," says a late writer, "is the guide of the soul." All our other powers are dependent on it for direction. When a man thinks accurately and correctly and acts on his thinking, he ful- fills' the object of his being. When he fails to think, he sins against his own nature and against God. Wonderful words are these of the immortal dramatist :
"What a piece of work is man ! How noble in reason ! How infinite in faculty; in form and moving, how ex- press and admirable ! in action, how like an angel ! in apprehension, how like a god I"
The Psalmist, nearly three thousand years before Shakespeare, speaks' to the same eflfect, "Thou hast made him (man) a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor."
All that is great and glorious in human achievement is the result of thought embodied in action.
And yet how often do we find men with little intel- lectual development, no power of consecutive thought, re- fusing to look at more than one side of a question, bound down by narrow prejudice, "cribbed, cabinned and con- fined" within the compass of selfish feeling. But when you come to know them, they are often well-meaning men, just in their dealings and kindly in their expres- sions. They do a neighbor a favor or a friend a service, if it does not cost too much. They are amenable to rea- son, when they can be gotten to listen to it.
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What such men need is to have the light turned in on them ; to be brought to see things as they are and not as they conceive them to be; to have the scope of their vision broadened, to be awakened to reflection, to have high and holy motives set before them, and thus to be led, kindly and persuasively, to change their position and to become factors for good in the community, instead of an incubus on its progress.
I am persuaded that a great work can be done along this line by the members of the School Improvement League, individually and in co-operation, and that in communities where such effort is needed, one of the chief objects of the association ought to be, to convert oppo- nents and arouse the listless. We need to present a united front and to bring the combined influence of the people to bear in behalf of school improvement and the uplifting of the rising generation. One of the most difficult things with which we have to grapple in many communities is to gain the consent of the tax-payers to "local-taxation." Until this is done, little advance can be made. When it has been accomplished, progress will be assured, although there may be much else that requires attention. Let the thinking men and women of the Commonwealth go for- ward, undaunted in the good work, and the victory will be won.
(3) Other important objects to which the School Im- provement League may well give attention are the con- solidation of schools, longer school terms, competent teachers, better school-houses, the beautifying of school rooms and the grounds around them ; the introduction of manual labor teaching, school libraries, etc. I have time only to suggest these matters for your consideration. They are all important and ought to be looked after.
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I beg now to express the profound conviction that the future of our grand old Commonwealth is largely de- pendent on the movement we are met here to-night to foster and promote. We have come to the parting of the ways. You will not regard me as disloyal when I say that Virginia of to-day does not occupy the relative posi- tion in the galaxy of States once accorded her by univer- sal consent. Other Commonwealths have outstripped her in population, in wealth, in manufactures, in agriculture, in commerce, in the development of natural resources, in political prestige, in moral force and influence, and, be- yond all, and in part at least, explanatory of all, in educa- tion.
While it is true that our State University and other institutions of higher learning, male and female, are do- ing a noble work, and that some of our public schools of all grades, from the primary to the high school, are meet- ing the requirements of their position under the condi- tions' that surround them, it is also true that a burden of ignorance rests on the State that is at once appalling and destructive. More than one-fifth of our population over ten years of age are illiterates. According to the latest published statistics from our State Board of Education, it appears that forty-six per cent, (nearly one-half) of the children and youth of school age do not attend school, and that of the whites, forty per cent, are non-attendants. Of those who go to school, nine-tenths' drop out before they reach the high school. Many of our school houses are wholly unfit for the culture and elevation of beings endowed with immortal minds. Many of our teachers, while doing the best they can with their equipment, have had no opportunity to prepare themselves for the work in which they are engaged.
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This condition of things does not exist exclusively in any one section of the State, but more or less' in all parts. Is it to continue or shall it be rectified? If improvement is to be brought about, how is it to be accomplished ? The provisions of our State Constitution are adequate. Our laws are what they should be, or, if not, they can be made so at the next session of the Legislature. We have a full corps of school officials and have had them for many years. And yet something is lacking, and that something is the cheerful, hearty, persistent interest and concur- rence of the rank and file of our citizenship. The work rests, my friends, on you and me. Let us and our fellow- citizens throughout our borders be true to our vocation, and the old State will arise and resume her place among the advanced forces' of our civilization.
One more thought and I am done: You have heard the preachers of all denominations, and not only the preachers, but the officers and members of all the churches, say that religion is the principal thing which lies back of progress; that Christianity is the indispen- sable factor in the regeneration of mankind, and that in order to bring about the abatement of vice, the growth of virtue, the purification and elevation of society and the greatness of a people, there must be the adoption and practice of the principles inculcated in the Bible. You have heard them speak thus. I have heard them. I have spoken this way myself, and I am not here to-night to recant my well-settled convictions, or to contravert the intelligent opinions of my brethren, but I want to ask each one of you, and all of you together, whether you have not heard and do you not believe it to be true, that "education is the handmaid of religion," that educated, enlightened people are more apt to be moral, useful and
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Christian than ignorant and untaught people; that one great demand of Christianity is that those who embrace it shall be lights in the world and helpers of others in their development and preparation for usefulness ? These things belong to the very rudiments of thought and the religious life, and it seems to me, lay a heavy responsibil- ity on each and every one of us, and specially on those who profess and call themselves Christians, to rally to the standard now erected in behalf of a broader and deeper education for the children and youth, of the enlighten- ment of the masses' of our people and of a higher, nobler, purer and more affective and effective civilization among all classes of our citizens. Virginia will then become a beacon-light to the land, to the world and to posterity.
THE FAMILY AND THE SCHOOL.
I appear before you, brethren, as a substitute for the brother on whom this duty was originally devolved, other important engagements demanding his attention at this time. The subject assigned me, "The Family and the School," is complex, though its elements stand closely related and interdependent. E^ch is or ought to be of deep significance to every thoughtful mind. Indeed, I can think of nothing, after an abiding concern for our per- sonal relation to Christ and the unremitted exemplifica- tion of his teaching, that deserves, and ought to receive, more of our thought and effort.
I regret that the subject allotted is so large and the time allowed for its discussion so brief, that my remarks must necessarily be fragmentary and somewhat discon- nected. Nevertheless, it may be, that I shall be able, by the blessing of God, to focus your attention on some of its prominent features, so that your relations and obliga- tions to these fundamental institutions shall be more fully realized and your lives' be enriched and made more fruit- ful than heretofore. If so, I shall thank God and take courage. The word "family" or "families" is found many scores of times in the Old Testament scriptures, and gen- erally in the sense in which we receive it, and but once in the New Testament, and then with a larger meaning than that in which we shall treat it. The word "school" does not occur in the Old, and only once in the New Testa- ment, and then with a significance not relative to our sub- ject. A discussion of these scriptural terms would not be materially helpful, as we accept and shall treat them.
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as they are already understood and used in popular inter- course,
A well-known and trustworthy contemporary, Dr. Carroll D. Wright, United States Commissioner of Labor, has described the family as "a crucial social unit," "the keystone of society," for it results, from that happy asso- ciation of the sexes by which the human species is per- petuated and extended, by which the affections are de- veloped, and by which the interest which compels one unit to preserve and cherish another, is fostered.
Another distinguished author. Dr. Noah K. Davis, of the University of Virginia, in treating of the family, says, "The relations are generally sufficient for the unfolding of the domestic virtues, the building of character and the enjoyment of home life. . .By its primacy it stands as the unit of society and the State."
Another writer of world-wide reputation, the late Dr. Henry Calderwood, of the University of Edinburg, speaking from a higher standpoint and in a yet loftier strain, says : "As the family is the primary unit in society, moral law applies directly within its constitution in a manner analogous to that in which moral law applies within personal life. Governing and working power be- long to it as to the individual life and the play of feeling, affection and emotion, belongs to it as a unity, in closest analogy with all that is characteristic of a single life. The relations of husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, constitute a true unity, in the moral significance of which it becomes apparent how strong and how great is this central though smallest type of the social organization. This unity belongs to the very struc- ture of nature, which we seek to account for when we
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raise the all-embracing problem of the universe as a whole.
"The unity of the family is founded on biological and ethical laws conjointly, for both apply throughout family life just as in individual life. Here lies the provision for order, purity, government and harmonious activity. In constitution of the family, the marriage bond is presup- posed as the essential condition of social life, and this constitution is sustained by recognized application of moral law equally to both sexes. The obligation to phy- sical, intellectual and moral purity is the same for all, and family life becomes the watchful guardian of social purity. The law of purity applies to man as to woman — to woman as to man — with no trace in reason for making the slightest difference in our judgments'. There is noth- ing more clearly destitute of moral or rational warrant than the opinion which would distribute on a different scale the condemnation of social vice.
"All the relative duties of the social life grow from the applications of universal law to the relations existing in accordance with the bonds which nature has ordained. The fact that moral law bears equally on all is the se- curity for a sustained unity. Thus', if moral relations be studied as represented in family life, it will be seen how difficulties are to be met, and how increased strength and vitality of social life are to be secured, by special recogni- tion of the duties and inalienable rights of each personal- ity, taken with the claims which these give on others. For it is when we look steadfastly at those difficulties which spring from the entire dependence of the young on paren- tal authority (or on authority regarded as its equivalent) that we see how dependence and independence are to be harmonized. It is because parents are subject to moral
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law exactly as children are, that we find provision for defence of the weak, not merely in the affections, but in the duties of the strong. Moral law thus carries a guide to all organization on a more extended scale, which must be in large degree voluntary, and must involve the rival claims' of the weak and the strong. In every family the father and mother have in their own hands the applica- tion of the principles concerned in the government of communities and nations. There is no more striking ex- ample of dependence than appears in the life of children, and there is no case in which the acknowledgment of per- sonal rights seems more difficult, as a duty to be persist- ently fulfilled. It is comparatively easy to insist on abso- lute submission, but it is a quite serious difficulty in the circumstances, to make full account of the claims of per- sonality, testifying without stint to the reality that moral law controls those in authority as well as thos'e who are subject."
I have chosen to give you the fundamental principles which underlie and explain the structure, functions and obligations of the family as the teaching of approved scientists and thinkers rather than in my own language : (i) Because I feel sure this method will convey more briefly and lucidly the important thoughts thus' presented, and (2) because the authority of men of accredited intel- lectual power and discrimination carries along with their utterance a force, valuable and useful in itself, in addi- tion to the instruction they impart. You have in the para- graphs just quoted the highest results of scientific investi- gations and philosophic thought. The principles an- nounced appeal to your candid consideration and impar- tial judgment. If they are true, they ought to be accepted, adopted and lived up to.
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Are they not true ? Let us see. I ask every one pres- ent to follow me with close attention, to give heed to the voice of your own consciousness that you may discover for yourselves whether the truths now set before you are not immediately, directly and intuitively given and whether you are not bound to receive them as absolute truth about which there is no doubt. I ask, then, is it not true that the family, such as those to which you and I belong, is' "the crucial social unit," "the keystone of so- ciety," the fundamental "unit of society and the State"? In other words, can there be any society or State without families out of which they proceed, and is not the char- acter of society and the State dependent on the character of the families that compose them for the complexion they take? If family life is marked by purity, temper- ance, justice and benevolence, will not social life be radiant with these virtues and will not the citizens of the State carry into their dealings with one another, and with the State itself the attributes of kindness, integrity, truth and the observance of obligation? In fine, are not fami- lies like little fountains from which issue rivulets, some sweet, some bitter, which coalesce and form the great stream of social, civic and political life?
Again, is it not true that the family as the primary unit in society is amenable to moral law ; that every mem- ber of the household, whether husband or wife, parent or child, brother or sister, is' equally bound by it; that its observance or non-observance determines the character of the family life for good or evil ; that as every member has rights, so each owes correlative duties, and that under these conditions, the family is the place for the unfolding of domestic virtues, the building of character and the enjoyment of home-life"?
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It seems to me that these are self-evident truths, and beyond the pale of contradiction. If so, then from every point of view — national, social, political, patriotic and philanthropic — we ought to cherish and purify and elevate our home life, make it the scene of our dearest joys and purest happiness, and protect it, so far as in us lies, from the intrusion of every sordid, impure and corrupting thought and influence.
It may be said in deprecation that the argument now adduced proceeds wholly from a temporal point of view, appealing wholly to the humanitarian side of life and overlooks the aspirations of the soul after a higher and better — even an eternal life.
To this objection, I reply that in a sense the criticism is just, but that if the domestic circle is such a sacred place, when the demands of our earthly life alone are considered, it ought to be guarded and cultured and im- proved with constant assiduity and endeavor by men of every creed and of no creed ; much more does it behoove those who acknowledge "one Lord, one faith, one bap- tism, one God and father of all" ; who bow down before the one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with adoring gratitude, and look up to the Holy Spirit of promise by whom they are sealed to the day of redemption, to give heed to these truths and adjust their lives in accord therewith.
I beg also to suggest that the moral law, of which we have been speaking, found as a human characteristic in every clime and every age, is the law of God ; that it re- sides' and presides in every human breast, written there, according to the teaching of the great apostle, by God himself ; that its mandates coincide with those of the law given on Sinai, and that it is a sin against our own nature
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and against Almighty God to do anything which does not measure up to this standard or to fail to do anything in accord therewith, so far as it is in our power to do it. It is our duty, as the professed disciples of Christ, not only to obey the explicit commands of God's Holy Word, but to give heed to the monitions of conscience, and in every- thing under all circumstances to do that which is right and true and good and to put behind us every false and deceitful thing. And applying this principle to our family life, we cannot fail to see that there rests on us an imper- ative obligation to consecrate it to the service of God and to make the most of it, not only for the good of society and the State, but in view of those eternal interests, which are involved in all others, but which transcend all others in grandeur and worth as the heavens are high above the earth.
Did time permit, I should be glad to say something as to the duty and privilege of aiding to bring the happiness, comfort and elevating influence of home life into families now destitute of its joys, but I must content myself with this bare reference, leaving the matter to your prayerful consideration, while I pass on to speak a little while about "the school," including the private and the public school,'' the primary, grammar and high school grades, the acad- emy, the college and the university, where children and youth are taught and trained, and where they are pre- pared by studied methods and varying stages for the duties and avocations of life.
I do not think it is claiming too much to say that next to the family and the church, and it must not be forgotten that the family is, or ought to be, an integral part of the church, the most important factor in forming the char- acter and training the young for high and noble useful- ness is the school.
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It has been truthfully and beautifully said that "edu- cation commences at the mother's knee, and every word spoken within the hearsay of little children tends to the formation of character," but it cannot and ought not to end there. It ought to be progressive and as extensive as conditions admit.
Dr. Carroll D. Wright, already quoted, says : "Educa- tion is a mark of civilization. Wherever in the history of the world tribes, communities. States or nations have made any advance, they have provided in some way for the education of either a part or the whole of the popula- tion." The desirableness — may I not say the necessity — of this is' better understood to-day than ever before, so that in most civilized countries provision is made to some extent for the education of the masses of the people, and in many to a large extent. The United States is not be- hind any other country in its efforts in this direction. According to the report of the United States Commis- sioner of Education for 1899- 1900, there were 22,253,050 persons of school age. Of these, 15,341,230 were enrolled in public schools, exclusive of kindergartens, colleges and universities.
"The percentage of the population enrolled in public and other schools is higher in the United States than in any other country of the world. The percentage is 23.3."
According to the Virginia school report for the year i902-'3, there were 8,965 schools opened within the bounds of the Commonwealth, with an enrollment of 375,601 pupils. In the city of Richmond there were 272 schools opened, with a school population of 24,937, of whom 12,203 were enrolled in the public schools.
I give you these statistics, the magnitude of which may well arrest your attention, but cannot dwell on them
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for the want of time. They indicate that much is being done, and that much more needs to be done, and, above all, they appeal to the patriotism of every citizen and the religious sentiment of every Christian. Are these schools what they ought to be ? They are powerful agencies for good or evil. What kind of education are they giving? What kind of influence are they exerting ? Are the teach- ers professionally competent? What is their moral atti- tude and example? Are the surroundings of the pupils sanitary, refining, elevating, inspiring? What improve- ments can be made, promotive of the physical, intellect- ual, moral and religious welfare of the young people? What can be done to get the thousands who forsake the schools to attend them? Whose duty is it to look after these things?
I think I hear you say, The school officials and teach- ers have these matters in charge and on them the respon- sibility rests, and you say truly, But it is also true that the school officials and teachers can do little without the sympathy, co-operation and support of the people. There is something, therefore, for every good citizen — male and female — and specially for every good Christian to do in the improvement and upbuilding and utilization of the schools of the land in furthering the interests of society, in conserving the purity and integrity of family life through their influence on the children, in bringing out into the world men and women of high moral character, prepared to grapple with its problems, to do its work, to stand courageously for what is true and right, and in their turn to lend a helping hand to the progressive ad- vancement of coming generations.
Next in importance to the exercise of simple faith in the Lord Jesub' Christ, and the consecration of all we
I
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have and are to his service, I do not know of any sphere of activity in which we may do more for the glory of God and the upbuilding of his' church in the world than by constant and persistent effort to hallow and exalt family life and to make the schools of our land fountains of in- tellectual, moral and spiritual power.
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatso- ever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, what- soever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things ;" let them adorn your lives, give them effect in your homes, let them irradicate your intercourse with your fellowmen, bring them to bear, so far as you can, on the children and youth of the land and the world, and "the God of peace shall be with you," for in blessing others, you yourselves shall be blessed.
MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. Ladies and Gentlemen :
IN preparing a sketch of the distinguished gentle- man, whom I am to present to you, I have had ac- cess to six or eight of the latest European and American encyclopaedias and to his biography, written by his daughter, Mrs' Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin, aided by his nephew. General Dabney H. Maury, C. S. A. From the former, I have been able to ascertain not a single fact or incident except in the most meagre form. The latter, so far as I am able to learn, contains the only authentic account of his life, and while it is far from being all we could wish, either in fullness or completeness, it contains much valuable information, and is an interesting and valu- able book. My plan has' been to go through this work witli care, selecting pivotal incidents and events, as far as prac- cable, in chronological order and clothed very largely in the language of the author. In this way I am able to give you a more interesting account of the man and to set him before you more in his true and simple greatness, than if I allowed myself larger latitude.
In the galaxy of her distinguished sons, whom intelli- gent Virginians delight to honor, Matthew Fontaine Maury stands in the front rank. He was of Huguenot ancestry through the Maurys and Fontaines, who arrived in Virginia in 1714. On his mothers side he was a de- scendant of Dudas Minor, who received a land grant from Charles" II. in 1665. No more honored, patriotic and useful citizens have dwelt in our Commonwealth
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than those belonging to these families, the members of which arc now widely scattered throughout the United States.
In 1790, Richard Maury, father of our hero, married Diana, daughter of Major John Minor, of Caroline county, and settled in Spottsylvania county, where their fourth son, the subject of this sketch, was bom in 1806. When Matthew was in his fifth year his father emigrated with his family and settled in middle Tennessee, about eighteen miles north of Nashville, where the boy assisted his father and brothers in farm work. He was brought up to work, to obey and to regular religious observance. He obtained elementary education in the old-field schools of that period and region, and having fallen from a high tree when in his twelfth year and been so injured that his father thought he would never be fit for farm labor, he was allowed to enter Harpeth Academy nearby, where he became a diligent and successful student.
His brother, John Minor Maury, entered the navy as midshipman at the age of thirteen, and after most stir- ring adventures, rose to be first lieutenant of a frigate and flag captain of a fleet. He died of yellow fever at sea, leaving two sons, one of whom became Major-Gen- eral Dabney Herndon Maury, C. S. A.
In 1825, Hon. Sam Houston, then member of Con- gress from Tennessee, obtained for M. F. Maury a mid- shipman's' warrant in the navy. His father, however, having lost one son at sea, did not approve his acceptance of this position, and refused his consent, his assistance and even his parting blessing. Nevertheless, Matthew determined to enter this' profession, and with a horse pur- chased on credit, and with thirty dollars, paid him as as- sistant in a school, he started on his journey, reaching his relatives in Virginia with fifty cents in his" pocket.
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His biographer mentions three incidents of interest connected with this trip : ( i ) Arrived among his Minor kin in Albemarle, a special entertainment was accorded him. When the ice cream was handed him first as the honored guest, having never seen any before, he aston- ished the negro waiter and tried the good manners of the company by transferring a teaspoon fill of the unknown sauce to his own plate and sending on the rest. (2) "While at his uncle's house in Fredericksburg, he met for the first time his little cousin, Ann Herndon, twelve or thirteen years old, to whom he was married nine years later in 1834. (3) At Fredericksburg, he sold his horse for the price he agreed to pay for him, and immediately for- warded the money to the gentleman in Tennessee from whom he was purchased.
At the period of Maury's entering the navy (1825) there was no naval academy, and the young midshipman had to acquire his nautical education on shipboard. Bear- ing on this state of things, I will be pardoned for giving a brief account of my only personal contact with this re- markable man. It occurred at the close of the session of i853-'4 at the University of Virginia, when he made the annual commencement address to the students. I remem- ber well his appearance, his massive brow, his kindly ex- pression, his gentle manner, his impressive bearing, and I recall his opening words, not given in the extract printed in his biography. They were somewhat as fol- lows: "Young gentlemen, it is' the custom in the navy, when a young man enters as midshipman, for him to seek the guidance and assistance of some older and more ex- perienced seaman to help him acquire the knowledge necessary to enable him to fill the important position to which he aspires, and as you are about to leave your
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alma mater and venture on the voyage of life, I have come, having gained some experience of the sea, to give you some simple saiHng directions, which may help you the better to prepare to meet the breakers and to shun the rocks and quicksands which beset your path." He then went on in a most instructive way to draw from his per- sonal experience important lessons which I am sure have been of much practical value to many who heard him. I find on reading his life, that his address was' a transcript from his personal mode of action, when fitting himself for the great duties he afterwards performed. His biog- rapher says, that after he entered the navy, it soon be- came evident that he had resolved to master the theory and practice of his profession, and was steadily pursuing that object, regardless of difficulties and obstacles. Active and observant, he merited and obtained a reputation for strict attention to the various details of duty and conse- quently was often selected for special service.
During the first year of his' service, he visited the coast of England on the frigate Brandywine, which con- veyed the Marquis de la Fayette to France, by whom he was kindly noticed. On his return to the United States he was transferred to the "Vincennes," which was fortu- nate in that his accommodations were much better and more favorable to study, so that at the end of the voyage, he was able to stand and pass his examinations', though not at all distinguished in them.
In 1 83 1, six years after he entered the navy, he was appointed master of the sloop-of-war "Falmouth,"' ordered to the Pacific coast, in which he had a room to himself and pursued his studies with ardor. He had the Bible and Shakespeare at his fingers' end and made him- self master of much other good literature Tt was on the
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voyage to Rio de Janeiro, en route to the Pacific, that he conceived the idea of the celebrated "wind and current charts," which have done so much for commerce and made his name famous throughout the world. Before leaving New York he had searched for reliable informa- tion about winds and currents, but obtained none. It was also on this voyage that he observed and studied the phe- nomena of "the low barometer" off Cape Horn, and wrote his first scientific paper for publication, which afterwards appeared in the American Journal of Science. He also began at this time to prepare a work on "Naviga- tion," the material of which he had been gathering for some time. From the "Falmouth" he was transferred to the schooner "Dolphin," on which he performed the duties of first lieutenant, until he joined the frigate "Potomac," in which he returned to the United States in 1834, when he married, as heretofore stated, his fee to the minister being the last ten dollars he possessed. Soon after marriage, he put his' work on "Navigation" to press. After the appearance of this volume, he was assigned to duty in making surveys of southern harbors. After being engaged thus for more than a year he obtained a few weeks leave of absence to visit his parents in Tennessee, whom he wished to bring with him to reside with his family in Virginia. On his' way back, having given his seat on the inside to a poor woman, who could not stand the exposure of the cold air at night, he was thrown from the top of the stage coach and seriously injured. This accident injuriously aflfected his prospects in the navy, but soon after his return to Fredericksburg a series of anonymous articles' from his pen on nautical subjects, en- titled "Scraps from the Lucky Bag," having appeared in The Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond) and their
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authorship having become known, great attention was awakened not only by the discussions, but in regard to their author. So deep was the impression that the National Intelligencer (Washington) and other journals urged his appointment as Secretary of the Navy.
In these papers he urged the adoption of "steam as a motive power in navigation," and proclaimed "a new era in naval warfare," that of big guns and small ships. He also in the same year (1839) called attention to "the great sailing circle" as a means of shortening the distance between Europe and America. He also wrote on "Direct Trade in Southern Bottoms," and advised that "a navy- yard and fort" should be established at Memphis' and Pensacola." In 1843, he wrote a further article on "building a dock and navy-yard and school of instruc- tion" at Memphis, which was done, and for which he de- serves credit. In June of the same year, he read a paper on "The Use of Blank Charts on Board of Public Cruis- ers" before the National Institute, and in July before the "President and Corps Diplomatique"; a much-talked of paper, entitled "The Gulf Stream and Its Causes." In another "Scrap," he urged the establishment of forts, arsenals and a ship canal from Illinois river to Lake Michigan to connect with Memphis navy-yard and to transport ships to and fro in time of war." When it be- came known that Maury was the author of the "Scraps from the Lucky Bag," his ability was universally ac- knowledged and he was put in charge of the "Depot of Charts and Instruments," which he developed into "the National Observatory and Hydrographical Department of the United States."
When Maury distributed his "charts and sailing direc- tions," they were not much regarded at first, but Captain
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Jackson, of Baltimore, having followed them in a voyage from the United States to Rio, he made the voyage out and back in the time often consumed in the outward voy- age alone. An active interest was now excited in all parts of the world, and he gained intelligent and zealous friends and assistants everywhere. To show the accuracy and benificence of Maury's work, the case of two ships which left New York abreast and reached San Fran- cisco the same day is cited. The fame of his "wind and current charts and sailing directions" rang round the world. Hunt's Merchants' Magazine of May, 1854, esti- mates the annual saving to the commerce of the United States on the outer voyage to be at least $2,250,000, not estimating the return trip or the saving in wreckage of vessels' and human lives.
The value of this system having been demonstrated, the sympathy and assistance of European nations were now invoked and readily accorded. Secretary Dobbin, of the navy, gave it as his conviction in a letter to Senator Mallory, that "this officer (Maury) has not only added to the honor of his country, but saved millions of dollars to his' countrymen." It was while analyzing and tabu- lating millions of observations, that Maury wrote "The Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology," which Humboldt pronounced "one of the most charming and instructive books in the English language." Upwards of twenty editions of this book were sold in England, to say nothing of America and the continent, and it was translated into French, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish and Italian. In 1853, "^ congress' of nations," chiefly inter- ested in commerce — England, Russia, Belgium, France, Holland, Sweden and Norway, Denmark, Portugal and the United States (with Maury as representative) assem-
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bled at Brussels for the further development of meteor- ological research, applicable to land as to the sea. In 1857, Baron Von Humboldt, at the age of ninety, wrote Maury : "It belongs to me more than to any other travel- ler of the age to congratulate my illustrious friend upon the course he has so gloriously opened." In 1880, Senator Vest, of Missouri, said in a speech before the Forty-sixth Congress of the United States : "The whole signal service of this country originated with the navy, not with the army. The man who commenced it, in whose brain it first had existence, was M. F. Maury. . . This same man by his system of research upon the ocean . . . saved to the commerce of the world from $40,000,000 to $60,000,000 annually." The Weather Bureau system of this and other countries proceeded from his brain, though he has received no credit for it.
It was Maury, also, who instituted deep-sea sound- ings, who prophesied the existence of a telegraphic pla- teau at the bottom of the sea between America and Europe ; who discovered and suggested the place for the Atlantic cable and the kind and size of wire to be used.
At a dinner in New York to celebrate the arrival of the first message across the Atlantic, when called on to give an account of the work, Dr. Cyrus W. Field arose and said: "I am a man of few words: Maury furnished the brains, England the money and I did the work." Yet these services were unrequitted and are, to a considerable extent, unknown. Admiral Fitz Roy, an eminent savant of the British navy, said of him, "One of his most distin- guished characteristics was disinterestedness. . . His sole object was to benefit mankind at large."
I must take a moment to call attention to the most un- gracious act of a naval retiring board appointed by au-
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thority of Congress to retire inefficient naval officers. It was simply a recommendation that M. F. Maury, along with others, be dropped from the list. Equally marvellous is the fact that the recommendation was adopted, and Maury found himself shivering out in the cold. The country was indignant and the press throughout its length and breadth rose up, almost as one man, and demanded not only his reinstatement, but his promotion. I am sorry to say that Senators Davis of Mississippi and Mallory of Florida (one afterwards President of the Confederate States and the other his Secretary of the Navy) were, apparently, both before and during the war, opposed to Maury. Nevertheless the will of the people prevailed over narrow-mindedness, and Maury was restored and promoted.
About this time he received an autograph letter from the Grand Duke Constantine, commander-in-chief of the Russian navy, in which the following sentences occur : "I must confine myself to the expression of my sentiments. They are as exalted as are your own merits; and in my official capacity, I may say to you that you do honor to the profession to which you belong, as well as to the great nation which you have the honor to serve."
Maury continued to write on a great variety of sub- jects, "Light-Houses on the Florida and Gulf Coasts," "Systematic Observations on the Rise and Fall of the Mississippi River," "The Defence of the Lakes and the West," "Drowned Lands Along the Mississippi," "Steam Navigation to China," "A Ship Canal and Railroad Across the Isthmus to the Pacific," "On the Commercial Prospects of the South," "On the Valley of the Amazon," "Our relations' with England," etc., all of which have borne fruit, though some of them tardily.
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About this time, his "chart" was published, "with two lanes laid down, each twenty-five miles broad, for the use of steamers in going and returning across the Atlantic, so that they might avoid collision." In speaking of this dis- covery, the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser and Gazette said: "We agree with Professor De Bow's view, that Lieutenant Maury is certainly entitled to the rank of one of the greatest benefactors of the age." The London Times, at a later date, speaking of the loss of the "Ville du Harve," remarked, "If she had followed Maury's steam lanes, this terrible loss of ship and life would have been avoided." So impressed were the merchants and un- derwriters of New York with their value that they pre- sented him $5,000 and a handsome silver service.
Maury was a stout man, about five feet six inches in height; he had a fresh, ruddy complexion and clear ten- der blue eyes. In later life, he was quite bald. His coun- tenance bespoke intellect, kindliness and force of charac- ter. In manners he was most affable and courteous: in conversation, he was always evolving great ideas — as Mr. Calhoun said of him : "He was a man of great thoughts." He made loving companions of his children, invited their confidence and freely gave them his. Yet his word was law, and that no one ever dreamed of disputing. His dear wife — his "darling Annie" — was the idol of his heart. Like few great men, he was greater the closer one got to him. He never had a study or anything like a sanc- tum, where his wife and children could not come. He sat in the midst of his family, with papers spread out before him, unconscious of what was going on. He taught his children at the breakfast table and for an hour or two after. Their mother taught their Bible lesson and cate- chism and the girls had regular tasks in mending and
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darning. The family could attend only Sunday morning service because of the distance between their home and church, but Maury conducted evening service at home, which was read verse about, "the stranger that was within the gates^' generally taking part.
One of the most remarkable productions of this re- markable man is a letter, published in the Southern Churchman, in the year 1855, on the relation of "the Bible and Science," in which he exhibits not only intimate knowledge of the text, but most intelligent comprehen- sion of its meaning. He was a devout believer in the authenticity and inspiration of the sacred scriptures. In i860 he delivered the address at the laying of the comer- stone of the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tenn., in which the following sentences occur: "Physical geog- raphy makes the whole world kin. Of all the depart- ments in the domains of physical science, it is the most christianizing. . . Astronomy ignores the existence of man: physical geography confesses that existence and is based on the Bible doctrine that the earth was made for man." "Upon no other theory can it be studied : upon no other theory can its phenomena be reconciled! . . I have been blamed by men of science . . . for quoting the Bible in confirmation of the doctrines of physical geography. The Bible, they say, was not written for scientific purposes, and is, therefore, of no authority in matters of science. I beg pardon. The Bible is authority for everything it touches. . . When I, a pioneer in one department of this beautiful science, discover the truths of revelation and the truths of science reflecting light on one another, how can I, as a truth-loving, knowl- edge-seeking man, fail to point out the beauty and rejoice in the discovery."
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In the year 1858, Lieutenant Maury delivered an ex- tensive series of lectures in cities of the North and West on "The Atlantic Telegraph," "The Highways and By- ways of the Sea," "A System of Meteorological Observa- tions'," "The Workshops and Harmonies of the Sea," etc. Of these lectures, the Cleveland (O.) Plaindealer says: "They have all the thrilling interest of romance, all the charming simplicity of narrative, and yet the grandest and most sublime principles of science are grappled with and discussed with the erudition and ability of a master mind."
But now the prospect of a great calamity was darken- ing the land. Maury made earnest efforts' to avert war, maintain peace and insure to the South her equal rights in the Union. He addressed earnest appeals to the Gov- ernors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Dela- ware to stand in the breach and stop this fratricidal strife. It was too late. President Lincoln called on Virginia for troops to subjugate the seceding States, Virginia replied by casting her lot with her seceding sisters. Maury re- signed and took his stand with his native State. No sooner was his resignation known in Europe than most flattering offers from Russia and France were conveyed to him in Richmond by the Russian and French ministers, accompanied by the Prussian Envoy, who came, they said, "to pay their respects and make their adieus to the philosopher and man of science, who had given up all, everything he had save honor, at the call of his native State in her trouble."
Maury, while gratefully appreciating and acknowledg- ing these honorable proffers, as graciously declined them, because his allegiance and service belonged to Virginia.
In writing to a friend about this' time, he says : "The
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President refuses to accept my resignation. The object of this will be plain enough to you. But in such a case, the halter has no more terror than the bullet. Death is death. Our cause is just."
On the loth day of June, 1861, Maury was appointed by the Confederate Government chief of the Seascoast, Harbor and River defences of the South. In his post he assisted in fitting out the "Virginia" for her short, but destructive career. He also invented a formidable tor- pedo to be used both for harbor and land defence, besides contributing in other ways to the protection of the South- ern seaboard. Torpedo warfare was reintroduced to the world by our Civil War, and it was the practical mind of Maury which appreciated its power and developed its efficiency. In the summer of 1862, after overcoming many difficulties, Maury proceeded to mine the James river below its fortifications, and it was this that s'aved Richmond from capture at a much earlier date.
While engaged in this work, without having been con- sulted and strongly against his wishes, he received an order to go to Europe to purchase torpedo material, a duty that might have been performed by any junior offi- cer. It is probable that we here again see the hand of President Davis and his Secretary of the Navy, and there can be no doubt that the loss to the Confederacy by his removal was irreparable and, may be, fatal.
The first and second years of the war Maury wrote a series of papers, published in the Richmond Enquirer^ urging the government to build a navy without delay and showed that it was practicable.
In October, 1862, he sailed from Charleston, S. C, and arrived safely in England, where he remained during the war. While there he assisted in organizing a society
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"for the promotion of the cessation of hostiHties in Amer- ica," and "a petition for peace in America" was sent by "the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" to "the people of the United States," but it ac- complished nothing. "The great American Hydrogra- pher," however, met with much sympathy and kindness. His valuable labors and books had secured him a host of friends. During his stay in England he spent his time in perfecting his discoveries and in the conduct of experi- ments connected with torpedo warfare.
On May 2, 1865, under orders from the Secretary of the Navy of the Confederate States, he sailed from Southampton, and on arrival at St. Thomas, West Indies, received the crushing intelligence of the fall of the Con- federacy and the murder of President Lincoln. He now felt it to be his duty to follow the fortunes of his stricken State, and determined to surrender his sword, which he did to the United States officer commanding the Gulf squadron," accompanied with a letter, the first paragraph of which is as follows : "In peace as in war, I follow the fortunes of my old native State, Virginia. I read in the public prints that she has practically confessed defeat and laid down her arms. In that act, mine were grounded also." He was strenuously advised not to return to the United States, as "vengeance against the leaders" was openly proclaimed. Mr. Charles Francis Adams, at that time United States Minister to England, said to a friend of Maury's, "All his friends should advise him not to go back to the United States yet. The feeling there is bitter against him, and I believe that a step of that kind on his part at this time would be unfortunate for him."
Maury was' left at Havana without a country or a home, and far from friends whom he could consult. He
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had always felt a warm regard for the Archduke Maxi- milian, and when that unfortunate prince undertook the regeneration of Mexico, Maury offered his services and arrived in Mexico in June, 1865. He was welcomed by the Emperor and Empress, and was offered a place in the ministry, which he declined, but accepted the position of "Director of the Imperial Observatory."
Maury now formed a grand scheme for the coloniza- tion of a New Virginia in Mexico, which was cordially adopted by the Emperor, who appointed him "Imperial Commissioner for Colonization," and concurred with him in measures' to make the plan effective.
The course pursued by Maury in entering the service of Mexico did not receive the approval of his friends either in Europe or America. Commodore Jansen, of the Netherlands Navy, General R. E. Lee and others wrote, dissuading him from the enterprise. He, however, thought that he was right, and, from indications, would perhaps, have done much for the upbuilding of Mexico, but for the unhappy and prohibitive state of things which existed.
Maury now got leave of absence to join his' family in England and not long after his arrival received the fol- lowing letter from MaximiHan: "My Dear Councillor Maury :
"It was with pride that I heard of the scientific tri- umph just achieved and due to your illustrious labors. The trans-Atlantic cable, while uniting both hemispheres, will continualy recall to their minds the debt of gratitude they owe your genius. I congratulate you with all my heart, and I am pleased at announcing to you that I have appointed you Grand Cross of the Order of Guadaloupe.
"Receive the assurance of the good wishes of your af- fectionate, "Maximilian."
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It was not long after this that the tragic death of Maximilian was announced to the world.
The Emperor of Russia made Maury "Knight of the Order of St. Ann"; the King of Denmark "Knight of Dannebrog" ; the King of Portugal "Knight of the Tower and Sword" ; the King of Belgium "Knight of the Order of St. Leopold" ; the Emperor of France "Commander of the Legion of Honor," while Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Holland, Bremen and France struck gold medals in his honor. The Pope also forwarded a complete set of all the medals which had been struck during his pontificate, as a mark of his appreciation of Maury's service in the cause of science. His services were also recognized by numerous learned societies at home and abroad.
Maury lost all his property in the States, and the fail- ure of a bank caused him the further loss of all the money brought from Mexico. Soon after his arrival in England, however, "a Maury testimonial," promoted by his friends'. Commodore Jansen and Rev. Dr. Tremlett, consisting of three thousand guineas in a silver casket, was presented to him at a banquet presided over by Sir John Parkington, First Lord of the Admiralty, surround- ed by representatives of nearly all European governments and distinguished officers of their armies and navies'. General Beauregard, C. S. A., was also present.
Maury now set to work with his electrical torpedo, and was in Paris for a time, where he was employed by the government of Napoleon HL The french authorities were delighted. At St. Cloud, the Emperor himself made the circuit and exploded a torpedo, and Maury was in- vited to become a Frenchman and accept service under Napoleon.
On his return to London, he opened a school of in-
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struction in electric torpedoes, which was attended by Swedish, Dutch and other officers. For this work, he was amply remunerated by the governments whose officers were under his instruction. He was also fully occupied in the preparation of a series of geographical text-books.
Although Maury had always been a devout Christian, it was not until this year (1867) that he became a regular member of the church. He was confirmed by Bishop Quintard, of Tennessee, then in London, at Dr. Trem- lett's church, in Belsize Park.
In 1868, the degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Cambridge University, in recognition of his literary and scientific merits, and of his eminent services to man- kind. Alfred Tennyson and Max Miiller received the de- gree at the same time. This same year, the political ob- jections to Maury's return to the United States' were re- moved by the proclamation of general amnesty. He had been offered the "Directorship of the Imperial Observa- tory" by the Emperor of the French, and the superintend- ency of the University of the South at Sewanee, but he declined both. He had accepted the Chair of Physics at the Virginia Military Institute, arrived in the United States in July, 1868, and was duly installed in his profes- sorship the following September, but his residence not be- ing ready for occupancy, he did not enter on his duties till the next year. He, then, set himself busily to work in the instruction of his classes along lines which had inter- ested hin.1 during his whole life. He was invited to make addresses in Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee, Massachu- setts and Missouri. In May and October, 187 1, he de- livered a notable address on "The Development of the Agricultural Bureau at Washington," as a means of help- ing the farmers and increasing the wealth of the country,
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which called forth enthusiastic action, invoking the United States Government to grant these reforms and im- provements. At the National Agricultural Congress at St. Louis in 1872, he strongly urged the importance of an "international conference" between the leading agricul- turists and meteorologists of all countries.
His health gave way under the fatigue and exposure of this last trip and about the middle of October, he re- turned home. As he crossed the threshold, he exclaimed to his wife, "My dear, I am come home to die!" After four months of patient suffering, borne with pious resig- nation, he entered into rest, February i, 1873, his last words being "All's' well."
His life was a consecrated one — consecrated to God. to duty and to the promotion of the welfare of mankind. He was wholly unselfish. He was at once a patriot and a philanthropist ; a man of the highest personal honor and of unimpeachable integrity. His distinguishing mental characteristics from his youth were the power of cloic observation, chastened imagination and careful generali- zation from observed facts. On his early cruises as a midshipman, he saw things and saw them in their relation to other things, and drew conclusions from what he saw, as no other mariner from the days of Noah had seen and concluded. He was a man not only of intellect, but of un- daunted courage and perennial industry. By day and by night he was' at work ; at work for no selfish end, but for the betterment of mankind. His motive in life was to do somebody — everybody — good. His was a world-wide beneficence. Beginning at home, he was a loving and gracious husband, a kind and solicitous father, a loyal son and brother. He was an humble, sincere and devout Christian, taking the Bible as his standard and conscience,
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enlightened by truth, as his guide. Having enjoyed nar- row educational advantages in youth, as a scientist and literateur he became the peer of the most learned savants of his time, and far outstripped the vast majority of the highly educated men of the world. He was a man of gen- ius— of that kind of genius alone worth having, which, when it sees a thing, takes hold of it, masters it and turns it to account. No man has done more for his country and the world. Few have accomplished anything like so much. His name is known and honored wherever civilization ex- tends. He is recognized as one of the great benefactors of mankind. His mortal remains rest in Hollywood, the cemetery of your sister city near by.
When I think of this remarkable man, sans pcur et sans rcproche, giving his life for the welfare, and confer- ring benefits of untold magnitude and unending duration, on his country and the world, treated with ingratitude and malevolence, I thank God that there is an assize In the future, at which wrongs will be righted and even- handed justice accorded to all.
PRESIDENT WILLIAM McKINLEY.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I remember distinctly that when I was quite a youth I heard in my native city of Petersburg, on the oc- casion of the death of a distinguished and highly honored citizen of the United States, a thrilling discourse by an eloquent minister of the Gospel, based on the text, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of."
A world-renowned preacher, when called to declare the will of God to man before the court of France, as he rose in the pulpit of Notre Dame and looked around on royalty in all its' blazonry of splendor, and the nobility of the kingdom, its lords and ladies, and pomp and circum- stance, stretched out before him in glory and magnifi- cence, paused and seemed lost in contemplation, and then began a discourse which has survived the lapse of time, with the impressive words, "There is nothing great but God : there is nothing terrible, but judgment."
As we are gathered here to-day at a time when men are usually engaged in secular work ; as this convention has interrupted its ordinary course of proceedings and by resolution is assembled for religious worship ; as through- out our common country our fellow-citizens have for- saken their accustomed avocations and betaken them- selves to the house of God in recognition of a common sorrow and in obeisance to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, it behooves us to bow humbly and rever-
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ently before His throne and acknowledge Him Lord of all.
Perhaps never in the history of mankind has there been more heart-felt and universal grief than during the past days preceding and following the death of the hon- ored and beloved Chief Magistrate of the Republic. All parties, all creeds, all peoples throughout Christendom ; the potentates of earth in common with those who fill humble positions in society; all, with the exception of a few enemies of mankind, sit together under the shadow of a common grief and cry out to God for help.
To me this fact has great significance. Not only does it bear witness impressively, as nothing else could do, to the noble character and exalted worth and illustrious ser- vice of our lamented dead, but over and above and be- yond this, it implies' that deep down in the constitution of the human soul there are noble and generous instincts that on occasion rise superior to minor differences of opinion, break asunder the shackles of sect and party, and assert the existence within us, amid all the weakness and sinfulness of our nature, of the Divine spark of justice and truth and right which has not been wholly extin- guished.
We learn from classic history that the people of Rome were wrought up to the point of frenzied enthusiasm when an impassioned orator stood before them and cried out in their hearing, "Homo sums et humani nihil a mc alienum puto" ("I am a man and I deem nothing pertain- ing to man foreign to me") ; and so to-day we find our- selves in common with our fellow-citizens throughout this broad land and our fellow-men throughout the world, laying our tribute of reverential homage on the bier of our departed chieftain, acknowledging his virtues and
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holding him up as an example of all that is" good and great in American citizenship and in human nature.
Gentlemen of the Convention, this is well, but it is not all, and does not express the full significance of this occa- sion. If, assembled here, we content ourselves with mag- nifying the dead, however justly and truthfully, and fail to gather lessons of wisdom and grace from his life of consecration, and his death of faith and hope, we have missed the crowning lesson of the sad event which has brought us together, and are engaged in a heathen rather than a Christian service.
There are, Gentlemen of the Convention, some trite and commonplace instructions to be drawn from the mo- mentous crisis through which we are passing, and the cir- cumstances which have brought it about, which I should fail in duty did I omit to call your attention, and the neg- lect of which would leave you without the benefit which ought to be derived from this solemn service. It is true that these lessons are not infrequently impressed in our experience of life from other sources, but seldom, per- haps, so forcefully and imperiously as at present. We do well, therefore, to consider carefully and lay to heart to- day the warnings, the admonitions, the instructions which are tided in upon us this sad hour. .
Bear with me, Mr. President and gentlemen, as I stand here not merely as one of your number, permitted to voice your feelings on this great occasion, but also as a minister of Christ, whose duty it is to speak the truth in His name, to draw from the Providential dispensation which rests upon us, and present, as best I can, some sim- ple lessons, in simple language, for our common instruc- tion and use. Ah, it will be a sad thing if a single one of us passes through these scenes untaught and unblessed.
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Let us, then, one and all, give solemn heed to the voice of God as he speaks to us to-day and, having heard, let us determine that by His gracious help, we will live up to the teachings He gives.
Perhaps the most obvious and universally accepted lesson which has been borne in on our minds by the sad series of events through which we have passed is one that has already been alluded to, the uncertainty of life — a lesson learned, indeed, from many other sources, but, alas ! how sadly neglected ! We know that man is born to die; we know that death may meet us anywhere and at any time, and yet how prone we are to put the thought away from us and to go heedlessly on in reckless indiffer- ence to the future. Men deem all men mortal but them- selves. To-day God speaks to us with a voice loud as the thunder of the skies and impressive as' the grave and eternity, and says : "Go to now, ye that say, to-day or to- morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." Our be- loved chieftain, who a few days ago was in the fulness of manly vigor, with the prospect of prolonged and hon- ored usefulness, now lies in the cold embrace of death, and from his voiceless tenement of clay comes the mes- sage: "Prepare to meet thy God." "Let every day be spent in His fear and His service."
Another lesson which comes' to us to-day from the life and death of our lamented President is that we ought to cultivate and cherish a spirit of broad charity and hu- manity, of kindness and forbearance towards our fellow-
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men, a disposition to accord to our fellow-citizens of every degree what rightfully belongs to them, while at the same time we strenuously assert and maintain our own rights, inherited and justly acquired. If there is an in- struction which comes to us from the life and death of William McKinley, the honest man, the exalted patriot, the illustrious chieftain, it is this.
It is not contended that at the beginning or during the earlier part of his political career he had reached tbis high altitude. Exalted character is not the creation of a day, nor is it produced by leaps and bounds, but it is of gradual formation under the inspiration of noble pr-n- ciples and high ideals'. It presupposes and involves man- ful struggle, thoughtful effort, voluntary self-sacrifice, large-heartedness and absolute truthfulness. You cannot have character without that. Its acquisition is slow and gradual, and after conquest upon conquest only is finally complete, and when complete its possessor stands before the world the noblest work of God, the ideal of humanity — the only perfect exemplar of which is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, the Son of God. And perhaps at the time of his death he whom we honor to-day had approached as near this point as any living man.
It is told of Alexander the Great that when he was about to enter on the conquest of the East, the Philoso- pher, Aristotle, the instructor of his youth, made bold to advise him to crush out the alien nations that lay in his path, but to treat with leniency the Greek peoples with whom he should meet; to which the conqueror, wiser than his teacher, made the noble response : "It is not my mission to crush and to destroy, but to unite and reconcile the nations of the earth."
Such seems to have been the spirit of our departed
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hero in private life and in the administration of the affairs of his country, and under this patriotic and Chris- tian policy he did much to bring all parts of our hitherto disunited country to the indulgence of mutual respect and into bonds of cordial fraternity.
Shall his generous example be lost? Shall we not cherish and honor it, and in our private and public rela- tions endeavor to come up to this high ideal ? It was the great Justinian who gave to the world the following defi- nition of justice : "Justitia est constans et perpetua volun- tas cuiquc suum tribuendi" ("Justice is the constant and perpetual good-will to give to every man what belongs to him"). Hundreds of years before Justinian, an inspired prophet, speaking in the name of God, had said, "He h.^th shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?" Thus we have this day brought to our ears and impressed on our hearts the same important lesson from four very diverse sources — from the life and death of one of the noblest of Americans ; from the gracious though ephemeral out- burst of the conqueror of the world ; from the pen of a renowned Roman jurist, and from the everlasting Word of the everlasting God. Oh, let not the appeal be without effect on your hearts and lives.
The only other lesson which I shall venture to bring to your attention is found in the answer to the inquiry, What was the basic principle on which, as a foundation of adamant, the reverent and upright character of Wil- liam McKinley rested ? What is the adequate explanation of his inflexible justice, his broad-minded charity, his un- deviating adherence to what he thought right, his pure- heartedness and devout patriotism? What was' it that
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made him the man that he was, that in life won for him the affectionate regard and confidence of those who knew him, and that at his death sent coursing throughout our great republic and all around the world, along with the thrill of horror at the dastardly act which laid him low, an unbroken wave of deepest distress, which filled all hearts with sadness and all eyes with tears ? Has' such a spectacle ever been beheld before in the history of the world ? Explain it ! Make reply to your own souls !
To me the answer is evident. I have not far to go to find a satisfying explanation of what he was while living, and of what he is to his countrymen and mankind, now that he is dead. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." He drew the inspiration of his life from con- verse with the throne of Heaven, He was an avowed and honest believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He accepted the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the guide of his life. Their doctrines were the sheet anchor of his soul ; their commandments were a lamp to his feet. He could say with the Psalmist, "The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" The teachings and example of Jesus were the rule of his con- duct, and walking in the ways of truth and holiness, he went by degrees from strength to strength, growing in grace and in the knowledge of his God and Saviour ; and in the practice of what he saw to be true and right and good, he became the man that he was, the ruler that he was — the saint that he is.
But he has gone from us. While we are engaged in this service, the last sad tribute of respect is being paid
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to his mortal remains as they are being consigned to the tomb by his kinspeople and friends. "Earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes." But, oh, what a precious thought that "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," for says the seer, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them."
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention, in bringing these desultory remarks' to a close, how can I better repay the genial kindness that I have received at your hands since we have been assembled here, than by indulging and expressing the fervent wish and hope that every one of us may possess like precious faith with Wil- liam McKinley, and that by the aid of heavenly grace, we. may be enabled to fill the several spheres' of activity allotted to us so wisely and well, that when the summons comes to join the ranks of the innumerable departed, each shall enjoy the confidence and regard of his fellowmen, and hear the welcome plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
SUFFRAGE.
Mr. Chairman:
WHILE I feel sure that the views I am about to present will meet with a cordial response from many members of the convention and from the great mass of intelligent citizens of Virginia, I fear they may arouse the antagonism of gentlemen who have already declared themselves hostile to the enactment of principles which I regard essential to the welfare of society and fun- damental to the moral, educational and economic progress of the Commonwealth.
I desire, therefore, at the beginning of my remarks, to assure those who differ with me that the views' I enter- tain have been arrived at after large observation, careful investigation, and prolonged and profound thought, and to invoke their candid, patient and thoughtful attention to what I have to say.
I shall endeavor to be entirely impersonal, and to treat each question discussed with absolute fairness. If I err in either respect, it will be from oversight, and not with design. I have no object in appearing before you but the ascertainment and enforcement of truth, and to aid in the wise and just settlement of the suffrage question.
I do not stand here, Mr. Chairman, as a theorist, but as a man of practical affairs, who has had large dealings with his fellow-men, and who looks with a keen eye at conditions as they actually exist, and with an earnest desire to see them improved.
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It will readily be granted by every member of the con- vention that the purpose which has brought us together is to frame a constitution adapted to the needs of the peo- ple of Virginia — an instrument which, when completed and adopted as the organic law of the Commonwealth, shall embody those seminal principles which are fitted in their effective application to promote the welfare of every dweller within our bounds, and to restore and perpetuate the honor and glory of the old State.
It will also, doubtless, be conceded, that in order to attain this high object, it is necessary to study the real conditions existing; not in any one locality to the exclu- sion of others ; not merely with reference to one interest without regard to others; not with a narrow and sec- tional intent, but with a broad, enlightened and patriotic spirit, infused and dominated by an intense and supreme desire for the rehabilitation of our lost fortunes, the re- establishment of our ancient renown, and the placing of the old Commonwealth on an enduring foundation of vir- tue, intelligence and economic strength.
Let me recall your attention, Mr. Chairman and gen- tlemen, to the fact that we are here to legislate in the in- terests of nearly two millions of people, about two-thirds of whom are of Anglo-Saxon lineage, the remnant being of African descent; that while, with inconsiderable ex- ceptions, they are natives of the soil they inhabit and in- heritors in common of an honorable history, they diflfer widely in many respects — some dwelling by the waters of the sea, and others in mountain fastnesses ; some inhabit- ing cities and towns, and others' the rural districts ; some following agricultural, others pastoral, others mechanical, others mercantile, others professional pursuits, while a
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large portion of the population live by daily bodily toil. Some are educated and intelligent, others are ignorant and stupid; some are cultured and refined, others are brutal and immoral ; some are well-to-do, a few wealthy, others are poor, and the majority possess but small means.
Here, then, we have briefly and imperfectly the prob- lem given us for solution. We are to legislate for all these classes, and to meet all these conditions, in such manner that every citizen, of whatever locality or circum- stance, may not only receive even-handed justice, but find in the organic law of his State and the civic and political arrangements emanating therefrom, incentive and inspi- ration to elevate his character, enlarge his' view of life, and improve his economic and social status. Any lower apprehension of the work before us is fatally defective, and destructive of the great end to be attained. Keeping steadily in view these high and noble objects in the con- struction of every portion of the instrument we are now framing, we will present to the people of Virginia a con- stitution adapted to their needs, and which, in its opera- tion, will prove a benediction to all parts of the Common- wealth.
It will readily be gathered from what has' now been said that I do not stand here as an advocate of any par- ticular section, or of any sectional restrictive measures in regard to suffrage. Restriction in suffrage is demanded — imperatively demanded — by the exigencies of the situa- tion in the Southside, from which I come, but no less in Tidewater and the Piedmont region and the Valley and the Southwest and Northern Virginia. The need is uni- versal, not only in the country, but in the cities and towns ; not only among the blacks, but among the whites,
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in order to deliver the State from the burden of illiteracy and poverty and crime, which rests on it as a deadening pall, sapping its energies, corrupting the sources of politi- cal and social vitality, and lowering it in the eyes of its own people no less than in the view of those who are without.
Since the assembling of this' convention, it has been acknowledged again and again by gentlemen from differ- ent sections of the State that politics in Virginia are cor- rupt ; that there is a large purchasable element, especially in the white sections ; that voters are bought and sold ; and that generally there is no assurance that the will of the electors is truly expressed by the election returns. In the contested election case lately ventilated before this convention you have an object lesson of how things are not infrequently managed, not only in this, but in other sections of the Commonwealth. I am informed that in the Ninth Congressional District there has hardly been a national election in twenty years in which large fraud has not been charged. The same thing is perhaps true, or nearly so, in the Second District, the Ninth being in the extreme western and the Second in the extreme Eastern portion of the State, and each to a greater or less extent representing the condition of things throughout the Com- monwealth. The black belt has no monopoly of wicked- ness— political, social or civic — ^but it prevails more or less throughout our borders; and this being true, the remedy to be applied must be adapted to meet conditions and bring about a cure wherever the evil is' found.
Let us make a more elaborate and thorough diagnosis of the existing state of things, that, understanding the disease, we may know how to adapt remedial agencies.
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I suppose that there is scarcely a member of this con- vention who is not glad that it holds its sittings' in our beautiful capital, the city of Richmond, of which we are justly proud; and as we meet its citizens and are wel- comed into their hospitable homes, and sit with them in their houses of worship, and visit their schools and col- leges, and see what a great work is' being done in educa- tion and charity, we are fain to exclaim : "Surely this is the abode of virtue, of intelligence, of religion" ; and so it is, seen from the point of view most obvious to us ; but let it be noted that Richmond, in common with other cities, has another and a darker side; not only a horde of ignorant and corrupt negroes, but no inconsiderable mass of depraved and vicious whites. Go down into the lower parts' of the city, and you will behold a different spectacle from that which greets our eyes in our usual perambulations, for there you will behold not a few speci- mens of our white fellow-citizens that will awaken at once your pity and disgust. It is this element which con- stitutes a menace to society, which, under the manipula- tion of corrupt political leaders, constitutes the balance of power in elections, and by which the voice of intelligent and upright citizens' is stifled at the polls, and incompe- tent and bad men are put into office. It is not the negro vote which works the harm, for the negroes are generally Republicans, but it is the depraved and incompetent men of our own race, who have nothing at stake in govern- ment, and who are used by designing politicians to accom- plish their purposes, irrespective of the welfare of the community. No one, therefore, is surprised to learn that at least one department of the city government is in an equivocal position ; that certain of its' officials have been
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accused in the public prints of receiving bribes, and that some of its thoughtful and leading citizens are unwilling to trust its people with the poor privilege of electing their own magistrates.
But Richmond is not alone in this condemnation. The state of things in Norfolk is said to be even and far worse, so that the city is now, and has been for years, dominated by a political ring or rings, which have con- tributed to the lawlessness and violence of the population to an intolerable degree. I do not wonder that the gentle- man from that city (Mr. Thom) cries out with protracted utterance and in piteous tones for help, while I think that he makes a capital and destructive blunder in supposing that the elimination of the negro vote will bring relief. He is aiming to heal the hurt of the daughter of his people slightly, for there is a mass of vicious and incapable whites, which must be debarred from suffrage before it will be possible for a better state of things to exist. What is true in this respect of Richmond and Norfolk doubtless finds its counterpart in other cities. If the consensus of opinion of delegates on this floor from cities of the first class were gathered, it would probably be unanimous in support of this view.
Soon after my election to the position which I hold among you, I received a letter from a friend — one of my old pupils — now a prominent lawyer in one of our moun- tain counties, who wrote in substance as follows :
"We have, in county an ignorant and vicious'
white element in our population, which is as destructive of purity in politics, and as injurious to good government, as the negroes are in your section of the State."
I was not unprepared for this specific information,
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having for the past twenty years spent a portion of every summer in this region, not at its health resorts', but among the people of its towns and counties ; my personal obser- vation coinciding with and confirming the testimony of my correspondent. Moreover, coming nearer home, and referring to statements made on this floor, before our committees and in private conference, the conclusion is inevitable that in some of these counties' there is a degree of poverty, illiteracy and lawlessness among whites which must be reckoned with and provided against if our or- ganic law in its construction and administration is to pro- mote and maintain the dignity of the Commonwealth and to accomplish the welfare of its people. We must prepare a constitution equal and just in its provisions, impartial in its application, and which shall be effective not only in curtailing the evils we deplore, but in enlarging the intelli- gence, the virtue, the prosperity, and the happiness of all the people.
In my honest judgment, the bete noire which has con- fronted this convention from the day on which it assem- bled up to the present hour, which has palsied its energies' and made it comparatively inefficient for the purposes which called it together, is the contention that it is our duty, as far as possible, to disfranchise every negro, and, at all hazards, to enfranchise every white man in the Commonwealth. This untenable proposition was evi- dently adopted as a truism by the Suffrage Committee of this convention, was made the basis of its conferences, and is the probable explanation of the unsatisfactory and divergent schemes proposed for adoption. Gentlemen have been trying to do what, in the nature of the case and under the Constitution of the United States, cannot be
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done without fraud; and which, if the inhibition of the Constitution did not prevail, ought not, under existing conditions, to be attempted. This question of suffrage is broader and more far-reaching than the mere matter of curtaiUng the negro vote, imminent and imperative as that is. It concerns the honor, the welfare, the integrity of the State as a whole, and must be dealt with as such.
I beg now, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, to ask your attention to some specific facts, gathered not from per- sonal observation or from authentic rumor, or from oral testimony, but based on authoritative statistical reports', compiled by State officials, most of which are in the hands of every member of this convention, in support of my contention that in order to subserve the interests of the Commonwealth and to place its people on a basis of sub- stantial and enduring prosperity, conditions must be met and provided for in no single section of the State, but as they exist throughout its borders. In order to show this conclusively and beyond contradiction, I have selected for comparison the Ninth Congressional District as a typical white district, and the Fourth Congressional District as a typical negro district. I propose to give you facts and figures, and let them answer the question whether some common, eflFective remedy is not needed for both, to cure the evils found in each.
I find the following facts, germane to this subject, in regard to the Ninth District:
( 1 ) There are more than nine times as many white as negro voters'.
(2) There are 4.6 white voters who can read and write for one who canot read and write.
(3) There are 2.1 negro voters who can read and write for one who cannot read and write.
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(4) There are 4.2 voters of both races who can read and write for one who cannot read and write.
(5) There was one felony for the year 1900 for every 105 voters.
(6) Taxes are paid at the rate of $2.62 for every voter.
(7) Delinquent taxes are due at the rate of 44 cents for every voter.
(8) Allowance for jurors paid by the State was 19.3 for every voter.
(9) Received into the penitentiary, 106; or one in every 489 voters.
(10) Criminal expenses were $38,482.77, or 74 cents for every voter.
Corresponding facts for the Fourth District are as' follows :
(i) There are about 1-6 less white than colored voters — that is, for every 83-100 of a white voter there is a negro voter; or, for every 830 white voters there are 1,000 negro voters.
(2) There are 10.8 white voters who can read and write for one who cannot read and write.
(3) There are 1.6 negro voters wha can read and write for one who cannot read and write.
(4) There are 2.7 voters of both races who can read and write for one who cannot read and write.
(5) There was i felony case in 1900 for every 268 voters.
(6) Taxes' were paid at the rate of $3.11 for every voter.
(7) Delinquent taxes are due at the rate of 28 cents for every voter.
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(8) Allowance for jurors paid by the State was 9.7 cents for every voter.
(9) Received into the penitentiary, 41 ; or, one in every 912 voters.
(10) Criminal expenses were $15,841.93, or 42 cents for every voter.
Comparing these facts with one another, we find :
First. That the Ninth District has greatly the advan- tage of the Fourth in the preponderance of white popula- tion ; the proportion in the former being more than 9 to I ; in the latter, less than a half of the whole.
Second. That the proportion of white voters who can- not read and write in the Ninth District is more than twice as great as in the Fourth District.
Third. That the proportion of negro voters who can read and write in the Ninth District is 33 per cent, larger than in the Fourth District.
Fourth. That the number of both races who can read and write is 50 per cent, greater in the Ninth than in the Fourth District, in proportion to voting population.
Fifth. That there were 2i/^ times more felonies in pro- portion to voting population in 1900 in the Ninth District than ill the Fourth.
Sixth. That 49 cents more taxes in proportion to vot- ing population were paid per capita in the Fourth than in the Ninth District.
Seventh; That delinquent taxes in the Ninth District are in excess of those in the Fourth, at the rate of 16 cents for every voter.
Eighth. That allowance for jurors paid by the State is twice as large in the Ninth as in the Fourth District.
Ninth. That nearly twice as many in proportion to the
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number of voters were received into the penitentiary from the Ninth District as from the Fourth District.
Tenth. That criminal expenses were nearly twice as large per voter in the Ninth as' in the Fourth District.
Now, let us look these facts squarely in the face and consider their significance. Remember, they are facts, and you cannot get away from them. You have the evi- dence on which they rest in your possession, and no quib- bling or tergiversation or denial will avail. We must accept them, reckon with them, provide against them.
There is a bad state of things in intelligence, in morals, and in economic conditions in both districts, worse on the whole in the Ninth than in the Fourth, and in the former ft is chiefly among the whites, while in the latter mainly among the negroes. It is evident that in both there are many who enjoy the privilege of suflFrage who have no permanent interest in the community and no intelligent apprehension of the duties growing out of it, and who are entirely unfit for its exercise. In the Ninth District, as already shown, this is chiefly among the whites ; while in the Fourth it is chiefly among the negroes ; but whether white or black, they are equally unqualified for this high function, and ought not to possess it.
It is contended by some that voting is a right, and not a privilege ; that it is inalienable and indefeasible, and that no man can be justly deprived of it. This position has been asserted on this floor; but it is evident, from the history of governments — the American Republic in com- mon with others — that it cannot be maintained. No man ought to be allowed to vote who has not sufficient intelli- gence to understand what he is doing, and, besides, has not some interest in the government, which will induce
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him to vote aright As a fact, paupers, idiots, criminals', duellists, women and minors are disfranchised, and the reason which underlies these exceptions is the reason on which I insist as the sufficient ground for the disfran- chisement of those who have not something at stake in the maintenance of law and o^der, whether they be of the Caucasian or the African race.
A friend has furnished me some extracts from The Outlook, an influential journal published in the city of New York, on this subject, which seem to be sound and incontrovertible. In the issue of May 24th last the editor says : "No man has a natural right to share in the govern- ment under which he lives. He has a right to be pro- tected in his' person, property, family, reputation and liberty; and if the government affords such protection, he has no ground on which to demand, as his right, per- mission to participate in it. Suffrage is a prerogative and responsibility, and who shall exercise that responsibility is to be determined by the existing government. This is a practice justified both by philosophy and history,"
In the issue of July 27th he wrote as follows: "The argument that suffrage is a natural right appears to be specious rather than sound. The argument may be thus stated : 'No man is wise enough and good enough to gov- ern his fellow-man ; no class is wise enough to govern an- other class ; therefore every man should share in the gov- ernment of the State.' That conclusion is a non sequitur. The fact that no man is wise enough and good enough to govern his fellow-man does not warrant the conclusion that every man is wise enough and good enough to share in governing his fellow-man. Suffrage is an artificial, not a natural right. It is created by, and dependent upon,
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law; a means and not an end; and the conditions on which it should be granted by those who have it to those who have it not are wholly to be determined by the con- sideration of the question, What conditions of suflfrage will probably secure the more stable, just and free gov- ernment ?"
These principles appear to me unanswerable, and emanating from New York city, and the source from which they come, have special significance at this time.
But it may be said in reply to this contention, that it makes no distinction between the white man and the negro; that the United States Government recognizes racial lines in the disfranchisement of Indians and Chinese, and that the negroes ought, as a race, to be de- prived of suffrage.
In reply, I beg to say, that no member of this conven- tion, and no citizen of Virginia, is more profoundly con- vinced than I of the intellectual and moral superiority of the Anglo-Saxon and the corresponding inferiority of the African and American negro. I believe that they are separated by nature and the God of nature by an im- passable gulf, and I view with horror anything looking towards breaking down the social and domestic barriers naturally and necessarily existing between them. On the other hand, I do not hesitate to say that there are few Virginians, if any, who, from childhood to mature years, in times of slavery, during the war between the States, and since that period, have lived on nearer terms' of kind- ness and sympathy and confidence with the negroes than I. I know their good points; I appreciate their weak- nesses ; I have done, and shall continue to do, all in my power for their welfare. I am their friend, as I am the
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friend of the white man, devoutly desiring the prosperity and happiness of both, at the same time recognizing the disparity between them, and the absolute social and do- mestic separation which must continue to exist; but, so far as regards the matted in hand, as to the right of suf- frage, dealt with fairly and squarely under the domina- tion of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States, there is no difference. We may justly inveigh against these amendments. We may denounce them as the outgrowth of passion and hate and political corruption ; but there they are, a part of the organic law of the land, recognized and sanctified as such by a section of the Bill of Rights already adopted by this convention.
This being true beyond contradiction, it is in order to ask, as I now do for your candid consideration, Who is the more injurious factor in a community, an ignorant, immoral and lazy white man, or an ignorant, immoral and lazy negro? Who of these goes most readily from vice to crime, and by his crime most frequently darkens the fair escutcheon of the Commonwealth ? Who contributes less to the productive energy of the State, and is" more apt to continue in poverty and degradation ? Without pausing for a reply or consuming your time in fine-spun distinc- tions, which add nothing to the elucidation of the subject, I reply emphatically, and in view of what has already been said, both; both are "injurious factors in a community"; both "readily pass from vice to crime" ; "neither contri- butes anything to the wealth and welfare of the State" ; and as a corollary, I add, that both ought to be eliminated from the sovereign and controlling element of society, and have pressure and incentive brought to bear upon
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them to elevate themselves and fit themselves for citizen- ship, and to see that their children attain a higher plane of virtue, intelligence and economic worth than they occupy.
It is now time to consider what are the qualifications for suffrage which ought to be laid down for all classes of our people — in the east and the west, in the mountains and by the sea, for whites' and blacks alike. What are the terms which are believed to be equal and just in their ap- plication, and which will probably prove effective in elimi- nating the evils we deplore and in promoting gradually but surely the permanent welfare of the people of the Commonwealth ?
This is the question which has been uppermost in the thoughts of many members of the convention from the day of its assembling, and which impends at present and authoritatively demands a reply, and to which, in my judgment, the gentleman from King George (Mr. Mon- cure) has contributed the nearest approximation to a cor- rect answer yet submitted to the convention.
If the facts heretofore stated be true, and the princi- ples announced sound (and they seem to be incontrovert- ible), the answer to this inquiry is not far to seek, and it is this :
Let those citizens of Virginia, not debarred by other sections of the Constitution, who are assessed with a poll- tax of $1.50 and a State tax on property of the value of at least $150, be registered and remain on the registration list permanently. Before they are allowed to vote, require a certificate to be presented to the officers of election, showing that these taxes have been paid six months be- fore election. After January i, 1904, require every appli- cant for registration, in addition to the above prerequi-
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sites, to present his application in writing, done with his' own hand in the presence of the registrar. Make no ex- emptions except of soldiers resident in Virginia who have actually served in time of war in the armies of some State of the Union, or of the Confederate States, or of the United States. Add the viva voce vote, and stop.
This simple prescription, equally administered, will give us a clean-cut franchise law, which will, at one stroke, lop off a large mass of the incompetent and cor- rupt voting population of the State, and put its govern- ment in the hands of the intelligent tax-paying portion of its citizens. It will be effective in ridding us of the ignor- ant and vicious negroes, and of the abandoned and worth- less whites, and will insure the vote being counted, and reported as cast.
The chief objection that I have heard urged to this scheme of suffrage is that, along with many stupid and vicious whites, some worthy and good citizens will be dis- franchised. And this is doubtless true; but it must be remembered that this is one of the necessary incidents of organized society, and that no citizen has a right to com- plain of such abridgement or to regard it as a hardship, when it is essential to the welfare of the body politic. Every one of us has to yield many rights and privileges by reason of our relations to society, and whatever is necessary for the social well-being must be given up by the individual. I will not insult your intelligence and waste your time in arguing or illustrating this proposition. It is self-evidently true and universally recognized.
It is also reasonably true that most of those fit by in- telligence and character to discharge the duty of suffrage, and who are disfranchised, will not continue long in this
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position, but will be incited to go to work to accumulate something, and will soon enter the ranks of qualified voters, who will contribute to the welfare of the State, to their own personal benefit, and to the exaltation of the dignity and prosperity of the Commonwealth.
Some of the grounds on which this simple and effec- tive mode of dealing with this important subject are based are as follows :
1. It is honest and just and right. You need no "un- derstanding clause" or "grandfather provision," about which thoughtful men everywhere not only doubt, but from which they shrink with moral aversion. You will not be afraid of the courts. Conscience will not torment you. You can look into the face of God and feel that you have His approval.
As has already been shown, no man is entitled to the privilege of voting who does not value it and know how to use it, and who has no such interest in the community as will conduce to his using it aright. No injustice is done any one who has not character and industry enough to accumulate the paltry sum needed to make him a voter, and if at first some worthy men are debarred, it is not injustice to them, but an incentive to put themselves in a position where they can be admitted to suffrage right- eously.
2. The adoption of such a suffrage requirement will immediately add thousands and tens of thousands of names to the list of tax-payers within the State. Who can estimate the number in Virginia at the present time who exercise the right of voting and who have far more than $150 worth of property, but who never list or pay taxes on their property ? Such men will be brought to the book,
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and if they wish to vote will have to come forward and bear some share of the burden of sustaining the govern- ment.
3. Another desirable end that will be accompHshed is found in the incentive furnished the young men of the Commonwealth to save, instead of squandering, their earnings ; to accumulate something, so that they may be- come and be recognized as independent and rightful voters, with all the privileges' and immunities appertain- ing thereto. At present our young men have no such in- centive and inspiration, and too many of them not only live up to, but squander their means and acquire habits of thriftlessness, and instead of becoming productive factors grow into bummers and incompetents and dead-heads — an incubus on society. Now, let our young men learn that in order to occupy a reputable position among their fel- lows, they must be possessed of this modicum of property and they will go to work to acquire it, and, having suc- ceeded, the desire of accumulation will be stimulated, and the number of thrifty and independent citizens will be largely increased. I verily believe that if this scheme be adopted more will be done for the financial progress of the State, for its economic strength, for its growth in moral power, than by any other means that can be de- vised. Who can doubt that within ten years the number of tax-payers in old Virginia will be at least doubled, and perhaps trebled ; that capable men will be found for posi- tions of importance in our cities and towns, and that our country regions, now being stripped of population, will gradually fill up with aspiring and earnest men, who will add to the resources of the Commonwealth by increasing its productive capacity, and found homes, which will be the abode of comfort and happiness.
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4. The last ground on which I put the proposition I support is that it will do much to purify politics by purg- ing and elevating the electorate. As at present consti- tuted, the voting population in a portion of the State con- sists largely of ignorant negroes, who have no more intel- ligent interest in the result of elections than so many sheep. In other portions of the Commonwealth there is by no means so large, but an appreciable, element of white voters more venal than the negroes, and in politics more corrupt. Both these elements will be eliminated, and, as a consequence, bossism and ring-rule will be abated; honorable, intelligent gentlemen, who, under the corruption now existing, have withdrawn from the arena, will come forward as active and controlling factors in the government, to the manifest improvement of every inter- est held dear by intelligent people. Thus, instead of the rascality and fraud so commonly practiced, and the con- sequent choice of incompetent and sometimes of base men, for governmental service, we may expect to see the return of the day when Virginia's honored sons are among the foremost in the land, and the old Common- wealth shall take and hold her rightful place in the galaxy of States'.
But I will be asked, What about the Norfolk Demo- cratic Convention of 1900? Did it not promise that no white man shall be disfranchised?" To which I reply by asking, "Did the Norfolk convention have authority to make such a promise ?" "Was not its action in this mat- ter ultra vires?" "If it had power to bind this convention in this respect, does not its power to bind reach to any and every other point which it chose to handle ?" This is' a reductio ad ahsurdum, and I therefore assert, without
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fear of successful contradiction, that the dictum of that convention has no more legitimate force on this body or on any member of it than the pronunciamento of the secret conclave of the Pope of Rome, or of a circle of mumbling Buddhist priests in India or China. We are here to obey the behests of no man or body of men, but to consult together and conclude v^hat is best for the people of Virginia, and to embody that in its organic lav^r.
"But what about the promises made before the late election on the hustings and in the newspapers, by certain members of this convention, and other trustworthy citi- zens, to the effect that no white man of Virginia shall be disfranchised as the result of our work?" To which I reply, as I have frequently replied to such inquiries, that the convention has never made any stich pledge, and that the promise rests on the responsibility of those who made it, and only on that. It is far from my purpose to reflect on their action or to impugn their motives. All that I as- sert is that their action does not bind me or this conven- tion. They are intelligent, they are upright, they knew what they were doing, they are responsible for what they have done ; but they cannot implicate me or any other per- son for whom they were not specifically authorized to speak.
But I am told that "the statements were made; that they were made by gentlemen of character and worth" ; and it is added, "that if they were not contradicted, any man who failed to contradict them became responsible for them !"
Were there not such an element of Jesuitry and dan- gerous error in this contention as to render it destructive of good morals and of the very foundations of society, it
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is so silly as to be amusing and mirth-provoking. That I, forsooth, can give to the world an opinion in regard to some important matter within the province of this con- vention, and an assurance that it will be done in order that certain conditions may be brought about, and that, as a consequence, any one or all of you, who become cogni- zant of the facts and fail to declare yourselves to the con- trary, put yourselves under obligation when the matter comes before the convention to sustain my opinion by youf vote and to bring to pass the prophesy I have made, is too ridiculous to be considered.
If moral absurdity can rise higher than this, I can re- call no instance of it in the course of history or exper- ience.
We stand here, then, gentlemen, as freemen, intelli- gent freemen, with no shackles on our limbs or con- sciences ; not to do what others dictate, but what our in- telligent judgments indicate to be right and best for the interests of the great State we represent ; and I beg you not to disgrace the "Mother of States and Statesmen" by putting such equivocal and suspicious provisions into her Constitution as the "understanding" and the "grand- father" clauses. I assure you that neither of these pro- visions meets with the approval of the enlightened and God-fearing people of Virginia. I have talked to many citizens of Richmond, and of other portions of the State, and have met with none who do not spue these things out of their mouths. The idea of enacting anything that may be repudiated by the Supreme Court of the United States is abhorrent to them and to me. On the contrary, they demand that we shall resort to the same honorable and straightforward means used by the fathers and founders
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of the republic in order to rid the electorate of the ignor- ant and incompetent classes. There is no other way of doing it that I have seen pointed out, or that I can think of, in accord with the maintenance of the honor and dig- nity of the Commonwealth, or of our own personal in- tegrity.
But there is a knottier problem yet to be considered — a question of casuistry — which probably perplexes and rests heavily on the minds of some of the members of this convention. It may be stated thus : What is the man to do who in his canvass, or as a condition to his election as a member of the convention, specifically stated that so far as he is concerned, he would vote for the disfranchise- ment of no white man? How is he to get around this pledge? How is he to retain his' self respect and the confi- dence of his fellow-citizens if he votes for a scheme of suffrage which, in the nature of things, must disfranchise some of this class ?
Suppose that there is a member of this convention who stands in this attitude, who put himself in it believ- ing that it was possible to maintain it, and that it was for the welfare of Virginia that it should be maintained, but who has now become convinced that it is impracticable, that the best interests of the Commonwealth, its honor and its dignity, the virtue and the well-being of its peo- ple, demand, that, along with the great mass of irrespon- sible negroes', some irresponsible whites must be debarred from suffrage : is he bound to be guided and governed in his actions as a member of this convention by former and immature impressions or by later and settled convic- tions of what he deems right and just and honest, and demanded by every interest of enlightened statesmanship,
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by every economic and moral consideration looking to the prosperity and happiness of the people? He is in a di- lemma ! Which horn shall he choose ? He must take one or the other ! If he acts on former and immature, though honest, impressions formed and expressed prior to neces- sary investigation, he violates present intelligent convic- tions, casts his vote against what he believes to be essen- tial to the good of society, and, so far as in him lies, does' what he can to perpetuate the degradation of his people, acting as a mere tool to carry out the ignorant and ill- considered wishes of his constituency. If, on the other hand, he follows the leading of his conscience and judg- ment, enlightened and instructed by a more thorough per- ception of the facts of the case and the demands' of his situation, he acknowledges himself to have been guilty of error in making a heedless pledge, but fulfils his duty as a representative of the people by obtaining for them a form of government which shall promote their best interests, and in its wholesome and health-giving effects tend to crown the old Commonwealth with glory and honor.
Mr. Chairman, all of us were probably told in our childhood, by honorable and solicitious parents, that "two wrongs never make a right." So far from its being true that because a man has been guilty of a wrong he ought to adhere to it, exactly the reverse is true. Just so soon as I am convinced that I am wrong in thought, in feeling, in action, I must forsake it, turn from it, and choose and do the right. "To thine own self be true, and it will follow as the day, the night, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Some of you, I am sure, will remember that pregnant sentence which flowed from the pen of the immortal
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Robert E. Lee in a letter to one of his sons, then a cadet at West Point: "Duty," says he, "is the sublimest word in the EngUsh language." What we ought to do, it is our duty to do. Duty is present, pressing, imperative — what the great Kant called "the categorical imperative." It cannot be guiltlessly shirked, but must be unflinchingly met and discharged, and the obligation resting on every one of us is to meet our responsibility as we see it, know- ing that we must give account to our consciences, to our fellow-men, and to our God.
Rev. Lewis W. Green, D. D., who was well known in Virginia fifty years ago as one of its most learned, elo- quent and useful citizens, has left on record a sentence something like the following: "Honesty, honesty, honesty ! Nothing but upright, downright, straightforward honesty will avail as the basis of good character."
And so I say that "honesty — and nothing but honesty, upright, downright, straightforward honesty" — will an- swer in the framework of the fundamental law of an en- lightened Commonwealth!
I thank you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, for your kind and patient attention I
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