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PART II.

THE INSTITUTIONS COMPRISED IN THE

UNIVERSITY.

CHAPTER 5.

UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES FOR MEN, INCLUDING THOSE ALSO ADMITTING WOMEN.

Columbia University, Seth Low, LL. D., President-Columbia College-Faculty of law-College of Physicians and Surgeons-Faculty of applied science-Faculty of political science-Faculty of philosophy-Faculty of pure science-Teachers' College-Barnard College.

1. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.

By FRANK R. HATHAWAY, A. M.

KING'S COLLEGE 1754-1784.

On the 31st day of October, 1754, King George II granted a charter to "King's College in the city of New York," "for the education and instruction of youth in the liberal arts and sciences." This charter was the outcome of years of effort on the part of those interested in the welfare of the colony, but in so short a sketch it is not necessary to go back further than the first measure, an act of the assembly passed in 1746, by which it was provided that moneys should be raised by public lottery "for the encouragement of learning." Under this and subsequent acts the sum of £3,433 18s. was raised, and in 1751 this fund was vested in a board of trustees, ten in number, of whom one was a Presbyterian, two belonged to the Dutch Reformed Chuch, and the remaining seven to the Church of England, some of them being vestrymen of Trinity Church.

It was

The fact that so large a proportion of the trustees belonged to the Church of England led to fears among the colonists lest the college should become a church institution, and when the plan of obtaining a royal charter became known a very bitter opposition arose. led by Mr. William Livingston and represented the American as against the English sentiment. He began in March, 1753, to publish in the Independent Reflector "Remarks on our intended college," in which he claimed that it should be founded by an act of assembly, not by royal charter.

In the fall of this year, in the face of the opposition, Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, of Connecticut, was invited to be president of the new institution at a salary of £250, with Mr. Chauncey Whittlesey

as an assistant, at £200-not very great inducements, surely, but all that the college could afford at that time. Later on Dr. Johnson was enabled to increase his income, being appointed by the vestry of Trinity Church an "assistant minister" of that parish, with a salary of £150. Moving to New York in the spring, Dr. Johnson commenced his labors immediately, but he did not formally accept the position until after the granting of the charter in October.

At a meeting of the trustees on the 16th of May a draft of the proposed charter was read and formally opposed by Mr. Livingston, but in spite of his efforts the trustees proceeded with their application, and in expectation of success advertised their entrance examinations for the 17th of July. On that day, in the vestry room of the schoolhouse belonging to Trinity Church, the following eight men were examined for admission to the college: Samuel Verplank, Robert Bayard, Samuel Provost, Thomas Marston, Henry Cruger, and Joshua Bloomer.

Three months later the charter was granted, and appointed

The most Reverend Father in God, Thomas, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being; The Right Honorable Dunk, Earl of Halifax, first Lord Commissioner for Trade and Plantations for the time being; our now Lieutenant-Governor and Commander in Chief of our Province of New York, and the Governor or Commander in Chief of our said Province for the time being; the e'dest Councilor of our said Province now and for the time being; the Judges of our Supreme Court of Judicature of our said Province now and for the time being; the Secretary of our said Province now and for the time being; the Attorney-General of our said Province now and for the time being: the Speaker of the General Assembly of our said Province now and for the time being; the Treasurer of our said Province now and for the time being; the Mayor of our said City of New York now and for the time being; the Rector of Trinity Church in our said City now and for the time being; the Senior Minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in our said City now and for the time being; the Minister of the ancient Lutheran Church in our said City now and for the time being; the Minister of the French Church in our said City now and for the time being; the Minister of the Presbyterian Congregation in our said City for the time being; the President of the said College appointed by these Presents, and the President of the said College for the time being; and Archibald Kennedy, Joseph Murray, Josiah Martin, Paul Richard, Henry Cruger, William Walton. John Watts, Henry Beekman, Philip Ver Plank, Frederick Philipse, Joseph Robinson, John Cruger, Oliver De Lancey, James Livingston, Esquires. Benjamin Nicoll, William Livingston, Joseph Read, Nathaniel Marston, Joseph Haynes, John Livingston, Abraham Lodge, David Clarkson. Leonard Lispenard, and James De Lancey the Younger, Gentlemen, to be the present Governors of the said College;

And made them "a Body politick and Corporate," capable of holding land, suing, and being sued.

At a meeting held on the 7th of May, 1755, the charter was formally presented by the lieutenant-governor, Mr. James De Lancey, and the legal oath was administered to the governors by Mr. Horsmanden, a judge of the supreme court. At their next meeting, held a week later, the board of governors of the college, being now organized and

authorized by law to hold property, Trinity Church carried out the original plan and presented them with a piece of property west of Broadway between Barclay and Murray streets, facing on Church street and extending to the North River, the same being a portion of the King's farm, which it was believed had been vested in the church as well for the encouragement of learning as of religion. This gift was on condition that

the president of the said college for the time being shal forever hereafter be a member of and in communion with the Church of England.

This conditional clause greatly increased the opposition to the charter. Mr. Livingston looked upon the college as a sectarian school, and objected strenuously to using for the support of any church institution moneys collected by the State. This was the popular side of the cause, and in December, 1756, it became in a measure successful; for the moneys collected by public lottery were then divided between the college and the "mayor and commonality of the city of New York.” 1

An interesting episode in this controversy took place at the first meeting of the governors. The Rev. Mr. Ritzema, senior minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, in an address upon the subject expressed a wish that some plan could be "fallen upon" to controvert the charge of sectarianism. He suggested that a chair in divinity be founded in the college and be filled by a minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. The governors immediately acquiesced, and a committee was appointed to arrange for the altering of the charter, and at a subsequent meeting an addition to the charter was read providing for "a professor in divinity according to the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship established by the Synod of Dort." This proved merely a sop to Cerberus, for the chair so created was never occupied.

On the 3d of June, 1755, the governors adopted a seal, of which the following is a description, copied literally from the minutes:

The device of the College Seal.-The College is represented by a Lady sitting in a Throne or Chair of State, with Severall Children at her Knees to represent the Pupils, with I Peter II., 1, 2, 7 v., under them to express the Temper with which they should apply Themselves to seek for True Wisdom. The words are, Wherefore laying aside all Malice and all Guile, and Hypocrises and Envies and Evil Speakings, as New-born Babes desire the Sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby, &c. One of them She takes by the hand with her left hand expressing her benevolent design of Conducting them to true Wisdom and Virtue. To which purpose She holds open to them a Book in her right hand in which is [in] Greek letters бFÍA ZÖNTA, the living or lively Oracles, which is the Epithet that St. Stephen gives to the Holy Scriptures--Acts. 7:38. Out of her Mouth over her left Shoulder goes a Label with these words in Hebrew Letters ORI-EL, God is my light; alluding to Ps. 27: 1. expressing her Acknowledgment of God the Father of Lights, as the Fountain of all that Light, both Natural and Revealed with which She proposes to enlighten or instruct her Children or Pupils; whereof

The division gave to each corporation the sum of £3,282.

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