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THE Board of Trustees, after its organization and
meetings held at the house of Doctor Rush, on Second street, Philadelphia,
and in the Statehouse, met for the first time in Carlisle, in the
court-house, April 6, 1784. After assembling, before proceeding to
business, they went in procession to the Episcopal church, where a sermon
suitable to the occasion was delivered. Upon re-assembling, they were ably
addressed by President Dickinson, and immediately proceeded to the organization
of the College. Ways and means were devised for raising money, including
a petition to the Legislature of the State, addresses to religious bodies,
a carefully prepared letter to the Honorable William Bingham, in Europe,
requesting him to solicit aid there, and the preparation of subscription
books
for circulation. A seal was also adopted,
the device consisting of a Bible, a Telescope, and a Cap of Liberty, the
two last placed over the first, with the motto: "Pietate et doctrina
tuta libertas." It was reported by Doctor Rush and President
Dickinson, and, according to Doctor Rush, "the excellent sentiment"
was suggested by the latter. The seals of colleges, in their devices and
mottoes, exhibit much of the spirit and purpose of their founders. The
open Bibles of Harvard, Yale, and Amherst, and the red-cross of Brown,
with the mottoes in harmony, indicate the connection of culture and religion.
In the seal of Dickinson is introduced, in addition, the thought then uppermost,
the guardianship of liberty just entrusted to independent America; and
that virtue and learning were to be its safeguards. Each member of the
Board, in addition to his oath, as trustee, had taken and subscribed the
" iron-clad " oath of that day, as follows: " That we will be true and
faithful to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and that we will not, directly,
or indirectly, do any act or thing prejudicial or injurious to theConstitution
or the Government thereof, as established by the Cunvention, and that the
State of Pennsylvania is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign,
and independent State, and that we do forever renounce and refuse all allegiance,
subjec-
tion, or obedience to the King or Crown of
Great Britain, and that we never have, since the Declaration of Independence,
directly or indirectly, aided, assisted, or abetted, or in any wise countenanced
the King of Great Britain, his generals, fleets, or armies, or their adherents,
in their claims upon these United States, &c., &c."
Although the revenues from productive funds amounted to only £130
per annum, and they were almost without a building, it was thought advisable
to commence operations, by organizing a faculty. Accordingly, the
Reverend Charles Nisbet, D. D., of Montrose, Scotland, was elected Principal,
and James Ross, A. M., well known as a classical scholar and author of
a Latin Grammar, was elected Professor of Greek and Latin. Attention had
been called to the former by Doctor Rush, who had made his acquaintance
whilst a student in Edinburgh. The College of New Jersey had also been
largely indebted to Doctor Rush for the acquisition of Doctor Witherspoon,
as President, fifteen years before. At that time, Doctor Witherspoon, who
at first declined the position, had suggested Doctor Nisbet "as the person
of all his acquaintance the fittest for that office," although he was but
thirty-one years of age. The interval, filled with the excitements and
estrangements of the war, contained nothing calculated to render him less
acceptable as the head of an American College; on the contrary, although
thoroughly loyal to his Sovereign, he had been known, perhaps it might
be said notorious, in his own country, as a fearless, outspoken friend
of America, and champion of her rights, and he had suffered much for it.
On one occasion, called upon to preach upon a public Fast, appointed by
the Government, during the war, he selected Daniel v: 5—25, as his text.
On a similar occasion, the members of the town council of Montrose, during
the introductory remarks, left the church in a body, and the Doctor, stretching
forth his hand
toward the vacant place, said with emphasis, as they
withdrew: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." Such a course was
not calculated to render him popular, and it was only the respect for his
great talents, preeminent learning and acknowledged piety and faithfulness
that preserved him from serious annoyance. He was the center of a
circle of devoted friends, including some of the most eminent men of Scotland.
Among the learned, he was known as a walking library. His excellent social
talent, his unrivaled wit and humor, combined with his vast learning, caused
his company to be courted. The principalship of a college in a new country,
the plans of which were on paper, and revenues in promises, it would seem,
could hardly be attractive enough, although presented with the greatest
unanimity, to draw him from his congenial literary surroundings and assured
position.
After most profound consideration, and without the encouragement
of some of his most intimate and influential friends, he finally concluded
to cast in his lot with the Republicans of the New World, with whom he
had so deeply sympathized, and for the defense of whose rights he had not
feared to incur odium at home. The picture that presented itself to his
mind of the "formative condition of America" in all respects, with
the "minds of its citizens free from the shackles of authority yielding
more easily to reason," had considerable influence in producing his decision,
re-enforced as it was by the ardent, persistent, and eloquent persuasions
of his friend Doctor Rush, with all the high coloring imparted to the prospects
of the new institution by his sanguine temperament. The natural caution
of Governor Dickinson, combined with his constant thoughtulness of the
comfort of others, at one time led him to dis- courage Doctor Nisbet from
accepting the position, by a frank statement of his fears that the revolution
in Pennsylvania politics, occasioned by the restoration of the right of
suffrage to
the loyalists, was not favorable to the prospects of the College
for State aid. The doctor, in a letter to the Earl of Buchan, clearly exhibits
his views in regard to this turn in American politics in the following
parap;raph: "Perhaps the late Assembly of Pennsylvania have been too much
in haste to obtain the reputation of being humane and merciful, by taking
in those who have turned out themselves. If they had contented themselves
with restoring the loyalists to their estate, but denied them the privilege
of voting till they had passed a novitiate of ten or twelve years, the
present confusion might have been avoided. * * * But imprudent counsels
are common in all States."
On the 9th of June, 1785, after a voyage of forty-seven days from
Greenock, he arrived in Philadelphia with his family, consisting of his
wife and two sons and two daughters. During a delay of several weeks in
Philadelphia, as the guest of Doctor Rush, he received every attention
from the leading citizens, and was, upon the whole, very favorably impressed
with the people and his prospects. He arrived at Carlisle on the 4th of
July following. Upon information of his approach, a deputation of citizens
and a troop of horse were dispatched to escort him into the town. On the
following day the oath of office was administered, and he delivered a sermon
from Acts VII, 22, upon the importance of the union of piety and learning,
remarkable as the only sermon of his that was allowed to be printed. A
Grammar School was already in successful operation under the charge of
Professor Ross, assisted by Mr. Robert Johnson, tutor, and subsequently
professor of Mathematics. At the first meeting of the Board of Trustees
after the arrival of Doctor Nisbet, Reverend Robert Davidson, D. D. , was
added to the faculty as professor of History, Geography, Chronology, Rhetoric,
and Belles Letters, and a Mr. Jait was appointed, to teach the students
"to read and write the English
language with elegance and propriety." Doctor Davidson was also,
at the same time, settled as the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle.
He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and had been connected
with it as an instructor, and, as will be seen, had an important share
in conducting the College in its earlier years.
Before Dr. Nisbet had fairly entered upon his work, he was prostrated
by a severe and protracted fever, together with several members of his
family, and became so much discouraged by the effect of the climate upon
his health, "especially of the great heats beyond the conception of anyone
who has not felt them," that,on the 18th of October, he resigned his position,
resolved to return to Scotland. The trustees felt obliged to accept his
resignation, though with great reluctance, and Professor Davidson was appointed
Principal pro tem. Unable as well as unwilling to undertake a mid-winter
voyage, Dr.Nisbet postponed his departure to the Spring, and in the meantime
his health and spirits were so far restored, that he consented to a reelection
to his former position on the 10th of May following,and during his long
subsequent connection with the College, his health was never seriously
interrupted again.
In the faculty thus organized, Dr.Nisbet was not only primus infer
pares in position, but also most decidedly in energy and amount of
work. Connected with his position as principal was the chair of Moral Philosophy,
but in order to bring the college curriculum nearer to his ideal, he delivered
four co-ordinate courses of lectures on Moral Philosophy, Logic, Philosophy
of the Mind, and Belles Lettres,and, upon the request of a class, added
a fifth, on Systematic Theology, which extended over two years and embraced
four hundred and eighteen lectures, and is remarkable as probably the first
course of lectures on systematic theology delivered in this country. He
also filled the pulpit of the Presbyterian church alternately
with Dr. Davidson, and with all, according to the
request of tte trustees, visited different parts of Pennsylvania and the
adjoining States, to solicit money for and excite an interest in the institution,
not a small matter at that time, when even postal communications were limited,
and his journeys were for the most part made in the saddle.
Whilst the College seems thus to have been provided with an able
and active faculty, the matter of buildings was apparently neglected. It
is true that at the very earliest meetings of the trustees resolutions
were passed for the purchase of grounds and the erection of buildings,
but other matters, apparently more pressing and important, monopolized
the attention and energy of the friends of the College, so that for nearly
twenty years the exercises were conducted in a small two-story brick building,
with four rooms, near the corner of Bedford street and Liberty alley, long
known as the old College, replaced by a building empioyed for educational
purposes by the borough. One cause for delay on this point was doubtless
also the expectation entertained, when the College was located at Carlisle,
that the government buildings adjoining the town would be obtainable, by
donation or purchase, for the purposes of the College. In April, 1787,
negotiations were entered into with Congress, through the Secretary of
the Treasury, for their purchase, and subsequently a committee of the trustees
was privately instructed to offer $20,000 for them, and political influence
was brought to bear through the senators and representatives in Congress.
It is said that Dr. Nisbet did occupy a portion of the buildings for a
time, and that some of his lectures were delivered there, and that students
were also accommodated in them for several years. It is perhaps not to
be regretted that they did not become the permanent seat of the College,
or the present more eligible site might not have been obtained.
The College was not only cramped by its limited accommodations,
but even more by the slender support at its command. The aid expected from
the State was tardily given. Public finances were as straightened as those
of individuals. In 1786 the first grant was made, consisting of £500.
in specie, and ten thousand acres of the unappropriated lands of the State. Many private individuals had made similar donations of unimproved
land. However promising such property may have been for the remote future
of the institution, it contributed little to its immediate support or growth.
Under financial pressure, repeated authorizations were given for its sale
by the trustees, but with practically no result. For the same reason, they
formed a poor basis even for loans. The immediate expenses of the College
were therefore met, in great part, by contributions. The latter, though
not munificent in character, were, in many cases, liberal, especially for
that day, and were from leading citizens in widely separated sections.
In Philadelphia, the name of Robert Morris heads one list with £375,
and among the other names are those of John Cadwallader, Thomas Willing,
Charles Thompson, Benjamin Paschal, Edward Shippen, and John Ross. The
report in regard to Baltimore, by Dr. Davidson, after a visit to that city,
was that he had found the inhabitants well disposed toward the institution,
and that they had subscribed with great generosity. Among the contributors
was William Patterson, father of Madame Bonaparte. Even Richmond, Va.,
manifested its interest by substantial aid. The Chevalier de la Luzerne,
Minister of France, paid $200 in specie.
Another expedient, however, of more doubtful morality now, but very
usual then, in the form of a lottery, was resorted to. Other Colleges,
at the time, as well benevolent and public enterprises of different kinds,
had, under legislative sanction, employed the same method for pecuniary
relief. In January,
1790, a lottery was advertised with much display, as authorized
by the Legislature, "for raising the sum of $10,000 for erecting a City
Hall in Philadelphia, and for the use of Dickinson College. The highest
prize was $3,000, and the tickets four dollars each. After the scheme of
prizes, the advertisement continued : "It is to be hoped that a lottery
instituted for the purpose of improving the Capital of the State, and for
promoting the interests of literature in its western parts will meet with
encouragement from the public. The College of Carlisle has already exhibited
very promising appearances of future usefulness to the State. Its central
position, the respectable characters of its principal and professors, and
the reputation it has already acquired for accurate and useful learning,
render it an object worthy of general patronage in this and the neighboring
States." Among the parties from whom it was announced tickets could be
purchased in different localities, a very fair sprinkling of Reverends
appears.
In 1791, the State came to the relief of the College, by a grant
of £1,500, and subsequently, about 1796, an additional grant of $3,000
was made. In the midst of the severest financial embarrassments, the trustees
did not fail, in some way, to provide the necessary educational appliances,
as well as competent instructors. The expenditures for the library and
philosophical apparatus, was more than liberal, in proportion to the resources.
In spite of all the difficulties and discouragements, the College
assumed a very creditable rank as a literary institution. The first public
commencement was held September 27, 1787, and the "first degree in Arts"
was conferred on nine young men. There seems to have been no established
course of study for the degree, as there was no established day for commencement.
Neither were the students classified. When, in the opinion of the Faculty,
a class could be advanced far enough
for examination for graduation by a certain date, the
fact was certified to the President of the Board of Trustees: and a meeting
of that body was called by regular legal advertsement, and the day fixed
for that class. These regulations prevailed as late as 1800. The
second class, of eleven, was graduated on the 7th of May, 1788, a class
of like number on the 3d of June, 1789, and of twelve on the 28th of September,
1790, whilst in 1791 there was no class; but on the 2d of May, 1792, the
largest class was graduated that has gone out from the College, except
that of 1858. The students were first classified in 1796, and a regular
course of study was prescribed at the same time for graduation. But three
classes, however, were formed, designated as Freshman, Junior, and Senior.
The missing Sophomore link was not discovered until 1814. The curriculum
in Latin and Greek was almost as extensive as at present, and the first
year seems to have been almost entirely devoted to these languages and
arithmetic. Lectures were almost exclusi'vely employed in imparting instruction,
where the subject permitted. Complaints in regard to this method of instruction
were frequent. The Trustees, by resolution, repeatedly recommended more
frequent exercises in recitation and examination, and at one time alleged
that the institution was likely to suffer very much from the complaints
of the students in regard to "the labor of writing out so great a number
of lectures on the various branches of literature," and "that the dread
of this circumstance had deterred many young men from coming to the College." They simply recommended that the labor should be lightened by abridging
the amount of writing, but that the plan of education should in no degree
be abridged.
There were many peculiarities of that period that gradually disappeared.
The Latin Salutatory, which was considered the highest honor, and the Valedictory,
next to it, were left to the decision of the class, until 1812, when the
Trustees, discover-
ing that plan to be objectionable, imposed the duty of assigning them
upon the Faculty. The account of Chief Justice Taney, of the class of 1795
, indicates the controlling influence of the literary societies at that
early day. The selection, which was by ballot, was generally decided upon
the society line, the literary society, which happened to be in numerical
ascendency in the class, even assuming to make the nominations for its
mem- bers in the class, and generally, too, without hesitation, appropriating
both of the honors. According to the same authority, the subjects
of the orations of the graduates were not only selected by Dr. Nisbet,
but a skeleton, covering half a page of small letter paper, by him, indicated
the manner in which it might be handled in any case. The method employed
for securing attendance on recitations and prayers had, too, a different
point of contact with the student. The monitor of the class, appointed
weekly, called the roll upon every assembling of the class, not, however,
until the professor had taken his chair. Absentees were fined, at the discretion
of the professor, from 3d. to 6d. All absences, fines, &c., were reported
by the monitor, at a weekly meeting of the professors, and all the students
held on Saturday morning, when fines were collected, excuses heard, admonitions
given, monitors appointed, &c., and absence from this meeting, on the
part of the student, was punished by a fine of one eighth of a dollar.
"The moneys arising from this source" were appropriated by the regulations
for fuel and for keeping the building in an orderly condition. It might
be feared that the physical comfort of students would, in some degree,
be in inverse ratio to their literary and moral character, and yet this
argumentum
ad crumenam style of dealing with literarand moral delinquencies, so
out of harmony with our present notions, may have had some elements of
efficiency in it that more modern devices lack. Although the commencements
were held with great ceremony, and the Trustees,
Faculty, and students accompanied the graduating class
in formal procession to the church, the exercises of the College were conducted
in the "small, shabby building fronting on a dirty alley," as Taney narrates.
The friends of the College were not indifferent to this feature. The Trustees
kept constantly before themselves, and the community, the intention to
have it remedied by resolving that it ought to be done, and by appointing
committees to select a site, &c. After a grant of £1,500
by the Legislature, in 1791, such a committee was appointed to negotiate
for the purchase of a lot in the borough, from the Penns, to build a "college
house" upon, and also to prepare a plan, make estimates, &c.
It was not until 1798, however, that a committee on this subject
found it possible or worth while to act. The present College campus,
comprising a whole square of the town on its western limits, was then purchased
of the Penns in fee for $150.*; The ground was open at the time, and
formed apart of what was called the "commons," under a prevalent impression
that it had been set apart as open ground for the benefit of the town.
Measures were at once taken looking to the erection of a building, and
after great effort, it was in so far completed as to have been partially
occupied by students, when it was totally destroyed by fire on the 3d of
February, 1803. The friends of the College congratulated themselves
that the library, apparatus, globes, charts, &c., had not yet been
removed to it. The fire originated in one of the unfinished rooms,
from ashes placed at a considerable distance from the building. A very
high wind from the west prevailed at thetime, carrying the charred shingles
over the town beyond the Letort spring. Nothing seems to have prevented
the conflagration of the whole town but a light fall of snow. Misfortunes
of this character frequently develope a surprising amount of
* Deed recorded. Cumberland county, Book N, Vol. I, p. 327.
latent vitality as well as unsuspected public spirit and ability.
Judged by all the ordinary rules of diagnosis, the case of the institution
struggling under a load of debt for the new building, would have been pronounced
hopeless. But within twenty-four hours, a subscription for re-building
was liberally filled in Carlisle, and a meeting of the trustees was called,
at which, after setting forth the destruction of "the new and elegant building
erected at the expense of many thousand dollars," they most vigorously
entered upon measures for re-building. A committee was appointed to employ
laborers to dig clay, make brick, and contract for other material. Contributions
came in from unexpected sources. The destruction of the College was regarded
as a national calamity. Political animosities were softened by it. The
College had been notoriously in sympathy with the Adams administration
in its trustees, its faculty, and its students. The latter had sent a letter
expressive of their feelings to President Adams, to which he had given
a very appreciative and fatherly reply.* But at this juncture, of
seventeen members of Congress who contributed to the re-building of the
College, all but one were Republicans, and even Jefferson received the
committee courteously and gave $100. Count de la Laugune also headed
a list with the State, aided with a loan of $6,000 upon unimproved lands
of the College.
In August, 1803, the first stone of the new building was laid. The
original intention was to construct it of brick. Plans, suggested by the
Trustees, were submitted to Latrobe, the Government architect at Washington,
who not only furnished the working plan, as finally adopted, but, fortunately.
succeeded in having it carried out in stone. As represented in a letter
from Judge Breckenridgc, he argued that "either brick or stone would rust and acquire an appearance of age, which, however, would not
be objectionable, as painters, in their drawings, give even
* Life and Works of John Adams, vol. IX, p.
204.
new buildings the rust of antiquity to make them venerable, and
in large buildings, and of a public nature, it is especially becoming."
But as to material, he was "decisively for stone, as proper for a large
edifice, giving it the appearance of strength." The entry was also thrown
to the north, at his suggestion, and the door in the east end was not in
the building, as originally constructed, but enlarged from a window, in
1834, at Doctor Durbin's suggestion. The length of the building is one
hundred and fifty feet, and its breadth forty-five feet, and all the dimensions
and the altitudes of the different stories and basement were carefully
planned, with a view to harmonious architectural effect. It was not ready
for occupancy until November, 1805, and then only in a partially finished
condition internally. A donation from Doctor Rush, subsequently, was used
in erecting partitions, and, in 1821, much remained to be done to completely
adapt it to all the purposes for which it was intended. At present
it contains a spacious and pleasant Chapel with a gallery, the Halls of
the Belles Lettres and Union Philosophical Societies and two large rooms
for their Libraries, the Reading-room, two Lecture-rooms, with offices
for professors, a professor's residence, several rooms for students, besides
ample accommocations for a students' boarding club in the basement.
Whilst the new ouilding was in course of construction, the College
met with its gravest misfortune in the death of Doctor Nisbet, January
18, 1804, after an illness of a few weeks, resuIting from a heavy cold.
He had just completed his sixty-eighth year. For nineteen years, through
all the embarrassments and discouragements, and in spite of many deficiencies,
he had given character to the young institution, and had attracted to it
the sympathy and aid of friends of higher education as well as students.
As a prominent factor in the teach ing force, internally, and as a figure-head,
externally, he had
almost constituted the institution. At home in all branches of human
learning, he had his acquisitions so fully in hand, that they were readily
turned to account. He was a fluent speaker, and in the pulpit never used
aids of any kind. His imagination was lively, his wit keen, his sarcasm
scathing, whilst he was fearless and unreserved, at times, perhaps, needlessly
so in his expressions of opinion or of censure. He had the use of at least
nine languages, and was at home in the whole range of classic literature.
Some of his intellectual feats are incredible. Whilst in Europe, he was
supposed to be one of the best Greek scholars it contained: His memory
was as wonderful as his wit was unequaled. He cou]d repeat whole books
of Homer, the whole of the Æneid, and is said to have often heard his
recitations in the classics without a text-book. His life in America was
not a happy one. His temperament was peculiar, and his ideal of a College
did not harmonize at all times with the views of the trustees, and perhaps
not with the demands of the country at that time. In discipline, he was
generally regarded as too lenient in the execution of law, but he relied
upon his sarcasm, which is said to have been the terror of disorderly students.
His methods of instruction were modeled after those of much older institutions
of very different character. The disappointments encountered caused him
at times to take a gloomy view of American affairs, and combined with the
impressions made by the horrors of the French revolution, eventually imparted
a tinge of anti-republicanism to his sentiments. Thjs was prominent in
his lectures to the students, and the young republicans of the day simply
omitted the offensive passages from their notes, according to Taney, whilst
their high regard for him as a man restrained them from what would have
been open rebellion with any other professor. The wonderful character of
the man, so out of joint with his surroundings, is apparent in the fact
that he retained his position without a question; and his death was
regarded as the greatest calamity that could have befallen
the College. He lies buried in the old grave-yard of Carlisle. His monument
bears a lengthy epitaph in Latin by Doctor Mason, one of his successors
in office. His children were no discredit to so eminent a father. The only
son that survived him, Alexander, was for many years a judge in Baltimore,
and his daughters were married and filled highly respectable stations in
life.
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