At a meeting, held by adjournment, of the Church and Society of the New South Meeting House, at their usual place of worship, on Sunday, September 30th, 1810, the foregoing Report having been read and considered,

Voted, That this Church and Society accept the Report of their Committee; and do consent that the connection subsisting between them and the Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, as their minister, be dissolved, and that the same be considered as ended from and after the first Sunday of November next.

Voted, That the gentlemen who made the foregoing Report, be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Dr. Kirkland with an attested copy of these proceedings, and assure him, in behalf of this Church and Society, of their warmest affection and exalted esteem; and that their fervent prayers are, that his labors may be crowned with success, and his reward be the perpetual blessing of God.

THE INAUGURATION. p. 50.

November 14th, 1810.

The Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, D. D., LL. D. was this day inducted into the office of President of the University.

The Corporation, the Immediate Government, the Overseers, with gentlemen invited, assembled in the Library and Philosophy Chamber, in Harvard Hall, at 10 o'clock, and went in procession to the meeting house.

The exercises commenced with an introductory address and prayer by the Rev. Dr. Lathrop, the oldest clerical member of the Corporation, from the pulpit, the President elect being seated on the stage, which was prepared as on Commencement Day.

His Excellency Elbridge Gerry, the Governor, made an address in Latin, followed by the ceremonials of induction, in which the Governor announced the Rev. John Thornton Kirkland President of the University, presented him the Charter of the College, the College Seal, the keys of the Halls, and the robes of office; and concluded by affectionate and respectful greetings and kind wishes.

The President was then invested with the robes, being the usual black silk gown and academic hat, by the Librarian. After which he replied in Latin to the address of the Governor, and ascended to the pulpit, and took the chair.

A Latin oration having been pronounced by Mr. Samuel Cooper Thacher, the Librarian, the Rev. President delivered the inaugural discourse in English; which was followed by an English poem by Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham, Senior Sophister; and the forenoon services closed with an anthem.

The company and two of the classes of students dined in the hall; the other two dined at Mr. Porter's. At the end of the dinner in the hall, a Greek ode was spoken by Horace C. Story, a Senior Sophister, and a Latin ode by Adam L. Bingaman, a Junior Sophister.

The day was observed as a festival in the University. In the evening the students gave a ball at Porter's hall, and the buildings of the University were illuminated.*

THE STATE GRANT. p. 52.

The best account of the manner in which this appropriation was used by the Corporation is contained in a Report made to the Convention of Delegates which assembled in 1820, to revise the Constitution of Massachusetts. The Chairman of the Committee who made this Report, was DANIEL WEBSTER, and the other members were Judge Wilde, Leverett Saltonstall, Henry A. S. Dearborn, and Allen Tillinghast. They say in their Report,

-

"In 1814, on the petition of the College, the Legislature granted it ten thousand dollars a year, for ten years, out of the proceeds of the tax on Banks. Three objects were intended to be answered by the application for, and reception of, this liberal and munificent grant. The College had undertaken to build University Hall, an edifice which it deemed necessary and essential, but the cost of

* MS. Records of the College.

which pressed hard upon its funds. The first object of the grant was, to pay the expense of this building. It was desirable also, that there should be a building erected for the use of the Medical School; and, lastly, a fund was wanted for the charitable support of necessitous young men of merit, the sons of poor parents, who, without the aid of charity, could not go through a course of education; and in whose possession of the means of knowledge, the State supposed itself to have an interest. University Hall and the Medical College have accordingly been built; and that part of the annual grant (one quarter of the whole) which was destined to purposes of charity, has been so applied.

"Six years of the ten have now expired, and University Hall having been built at an expense of sixty-five thousand dollars, and the Medical College at an expense of about twenty thousand dollars, and one quarter part of the grant being, as before mentioned, appropriated to the use of necessitous scholars, when the four remaining years shall have expired, the College will have invested and applied the whole amount of the grant, with ten thousand dollars of its own funds, to the purposes for which the grant was made. The Committee have inquired particularly into the manner in which this charity is distributed, and they think it wise, impartial, and efficacious. In the first place, it is given to none but those who apply for it, and who clearly show, by proofs from their Instructers, their Ministers, the Selectmen of their town, or otherwise, that they and their friends are necessitous, and unable to supply the means of education. In the next place, it is required that they should be persons of fair character and good behaviour; and when it is ascertained that the applicant possesses a fair character, and that he is necessitous, he is admitted to partake in the benefit. The scale of merit, kept by the Instructers of the Classes, is then referred to, and among those who are thus necessitous and of fair character, such as give most proof of talent and promise receive most; those who give less, receive less. It may be added, that this charity is confined to young men of this State. The Committee do not know how a plan could be devised more likely to give effect to the intention of the Legislature.”

In respect to the general condition and financial affairs of the College, the Committee say,

"The history and present state of the Institution speak the most decisively, as well on the plan of its government, as on its administration. As to the care and management of the funds, it is believed to have been cautious and exact, in a very high degree. No delinquency to the amount of a single shilling, is known to have existed in any member of the Corporation, or any of their agents or servants, from the time of the first donation, in 1636, to the present moment.

"How far this Government of the University has been found competent to conduct its literary concerns, and to what respectability and distinction, among the institutions of the country, it has raised it, neither the members of this Convention, nor the citizens of this Commonwealth, nor the people of the United States, need be informed."

The mode in which the Legislature expected the Corporation would dispense the fourth part of the grant, may be learnt from the Act itself, passed February 26, 1814.

"Be it enacted, that at least one fourth part of the sums to be received by the said Colleges, shall be appropriated for and towards the partial or total reduction of the tuition fees of such students, not exceeding half the number of any class, who may apply therefor, according to the judgment of the respective corporations of said Colleges."

In an additional Act, passed February 16, 1816, it was "provided further, that if any sum shall be remaining of the aforesaid appropriations, after giving relief to the undergraduates as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the said Corporation to cause the same to be invested in some funds or securities, the income whereof may be applied for the purposes mentioned in the aforesaid Acts."

It is evident, I think, that the Legislature contemplated that one quarter of the annual grant, that is, $2500, should be distributed yearly to reduce the tuition of indigent students. If there was any sum then remaining, that surplus was to be funded. In dispensing this grant, the Corporation acted in entire conformity with the views, intentions, and expectations of the Legislature.

The benefactions to the College from private sources, during the administration of President Kirkland, are stated in the text as exceeding one hundred thousand dollars. This is much within bounds; they might have been put at double that amount; and that too without including Governor Gore's noble bequest, from which the College will ultimately realize upwards of a hundred thousand, and which, though not received till after Dr. Kirkland's retirement from the College, may fairly be put under the same head. Mr. Gore was one of Dr. Kirkland's intimate friends, coöperated with him eight years in the Corporation, from 1812 to 1820, and made his Will in 1826, during his presidency. Had Dr. Kirkland not been elected, that splendid legacy probably never would have gone to the College. The same may be said of most of the other munificent donations and bequests which were presented and devised during his administration. Some of these I will mention. 1814. Samuel Eliot, $20,000. 1814. Benjamin Count Rumford, $20,000. 1814. Samuel Parkman, a township of land, the fund derived from which is now $5000. 1816. Abiel Smith, 30,000. 1817. Ward Nicholas Boylston, $9000, besides a valuable Medical Library. 1818. Israel Thorndike, $6500, the cost of the Ebeling Library.

1819. Theo

1820.

dore Lyman, Jr., $2000, the cost of the Panorama of Athens. Moses Brown, of Beverly, $2000. 1821. John McLean, $25,000. 1822. Samuel A. Eliot, $5000, the cost of the Warden Library. 1822. James Perkins, $20,000. 1823. (Will made in that year) Nathan Dane, $15,000. 1826. George Partridge, $2000. Dr. Joshua Fisher, $20,000, (Will made during Dr. Kirkland's presidency.) Thomas Cary, of Charlestown, $1000. The whole amount of this is $182,500, which added to the $100,000 of Mr. Gore, and the $40,000 subscribed for theological purposes, and the State grant of $100,000, make the round sum of $422,500 given to the College during President Kirkland's administration—a goodly sum for eighteen years!

It must not, however, be inferred from this statement, that the College has now any surplus revenue. With the exception of Mr. Gore's bequest, the larger part of which will be used in building