Address in Praise of Founders

"The Encaenial Address" The University Monthly II, 4 (June 1883): 51-57. (UA Case 71)

May it please Your Honor: Mr. President and Gentlemen:

There can, I think, be no occasion for me to remind you of the purpose for which we meet to-day. Year after year, for nearly half a century past, have similar gatherings annually assembled at this time for a like purpose; and some of you, now members of our governing body, or otherwise occupying positions of public honor and distinction, may even look back towards the beginning of that half century, when, like the band of young men which the University is to-day to enrol among her sons, you too left the walls of your Alma Mater, full of high aspirations, to enter upon the life-struggle, then all unknown, which lay before you. It seems to me that there is something more than more sentimentality in the custom which bids us at such times to look back to the foundation of the Institution, to recall the causes and circumstances of its origin, and to bear in grateful remembrance the active efforts of its founders. Such a retrospect enables us the better to understand the raison d’etre of our existence, it gives us a starting point from which to measure not our years only but the extent of our development; it teaches us to compare what we are with what we were intended to be; to contrast our condition and progress with that of other institutions similarly situated, and thus to recognize our deficiencies and to remedy our shortcomings.

The relation of seed-time to harvest has ever been regarded as fraught with the most instructive lessons, but, as a naturalist, I may be pardoned for finding an especial appropriateness in thus going back to the beginning of things. The student of nature sees, or thinks he sees, in the very germ the promise of all the future; in the conditions under which the germ unfolds itself he likes to recognize the causes which favor or oppose its growth; and as he thus, by study, determines the laws of evolution in the organic world, so he believes that similar laws apply no less to the development of customs and institutions.

Permit me to lay before you a few reflections, suggested by such parallelism, in the case of our own collegiate history.

I imagine that no one will be disposed to dispute the statement that that seed was good and likely to bring forth good fruit which was planted here, now more than eighty years ago, in the foundation of this seat of learning, planted when the Province itself was still in its infancy, to grow with its growth, to derive strength from its progress by its own beneficent influences—surely no better seed can be planted anywhere than that which, by its unfolding, shall help to a right understanding of the true, the beautiful and the good.

But let us now look, in the present instance, a little more closely at this seed, which, if my parallel is a just one, should be prophetic of its future. Judged by the standard of more recent times and wealthier communities, certainly not a seed of any great magnitude, nor one likely to have at first either a rapid or a vigorous growth, but not on this account the less likely to have a healthy development or to bring forth its fruit in due season. It was a seed fairly proportioned to the circumstances under which it was implanted, to its then means of nourishment and the conditions of its existence. He who would judge of a germ merely from its magnitude, knows little of the laws of organic life, and so he who would measure the possibilities of an institution from the smallness of its beginning is likely to fall into equally serious error.

Growth, whereinsoever manifested, is a complex phenomenon, embracing far more than can be seen upon the surface, determined as to character and direction by a variety of unseen agencies, modified as to the nature, extent and rapidity of its development, by an equally varied set of conditions, suggested by the phases of organic progress, may, I think, at least afford some material for reflection as bearing upon our own past history and future prospects.

Of the agencies which may he termed internal or inherent, it is probable there is none, whether in the organic or in the educational world, more potent than what, in the former, has been termed the "law of heredity." Whatever opinions we may hold as to the peculiar views of the great expositor—now resting among the most highly honored of England's dead—we can hardly dispute, if we are competent to judge, the facts upon which it is based, the manifest tendency which then is for the features of the parent, whether good or bad, to repeat themselves in the offspring. Daily experience confirms it as to the physical and mental peculiarities of individuals; the experience of medicine confirms it in the direction of disease and mortality; the records of our courts prove it in the direction of crime. And its influence is no less marked in the development of institutions. These are all the outgrowths of pre-existing institutions, in none more markedly than those of an educational character, and they tend, as a necessary consequence, to perpetuate their peculiarities. Their very names—such as those of academy, college or university—are suggestive of a remote, origin; many of them have an individual history which dates its commencement from a far distant period; in nearly all do the wheels in their curricula show a tendency to run, so to speak, in the old ruts, and anything like a fundimental change of methods requires powerful leverage to secure its accomplishment.

This perhaps is as it should be. The heritage of the Past is, and will ever remain, an invaluable heritage: but like the vital principle of the plant, while it originates and gives direction to growth, its value will necessarily be effected by, and be proportionate to, the needs of the Present. If any one truth, more than another, is taught by the study of what we call "Life," it is that it must, in order to attain its highest development, possess a power of adaptation to the varied conditions under which that development may occur. This principle overlooked, neglected or defiled, the law of heredity is necessarily opposed to all progress, tends to perpetuate error rather then to develop new Truth, and thereby becomes directly injurious to those who trust too implicitly to its guidance.

Intimately connected with the law of heredity, and to some extent dependent upon it, is another which is quite as frequently pernicious in its results, viz., the tendency towards the perpetuations of embryonic features in the adult, or to speak in less technical language, the continued recognition and employment by our higher institutions of learning, of methods, alike in instruction and discipline, which are more characteristic of and more fitted for a period of infancy. As our schools, academies, colleges and universities stand in a serial relation the one to the other, and have to do successively with different periods of life, so the one by a natural process is the outgrowing of the other, and each is to be directed by methods appropriate to itself. And here let me say that I think it is unfortunate that these relations are so generally misunderstood or ignored, especially in the names by which they are distinguished. As the University of New Brunswick we really occupy as a matter a number of young men, of fact no higher level as a teaching institution than we did as King's College, yet a college and a university are far from being the same. The one has its uses as well as the other, and probably the one is as necessary as the other, but the change from one to the other is the result of a slow process of growth, takes place only under certain special conditions, and can never be really brought about by any merely legislative enactment. Still worse would it be for us if, while styling ourselves a university, we should find ourselves incapable of rising above the methods which are proper to the high school and the academy.

Do you ask me to give more definite illustrations of the methods which, in their application to colleges and universities, I would thus condemn? The time and place forbid my doing so in other than a general way; but, as regards instruction, I may say that it is my belief that in colleges the system of daily definite tasks which is necessary and proper in the school, should be replaced to a large extent by original professorial lectures, serving chiefly as a stimulus and a guide to independent individual effort, and that, more particularly in the physical and natural sciences, these should be as far as possible of a practical character, substituting personal investigation for mere book knowledge. And secondly, as regards discipline, I may at last express my sympathy with that system which is now being tried and with a most gratifying success at so many different institutions and many of them in every way similar to our own: a system which endeavors to substitute to a large extent self-government for that of force (applause): a system which, instead of a whole code of petty rules and regulations which seem to be made only to be broken, makes no other than such general provisions as are necessary to insure respect for its authority and for the rights of others, whether these be the rights of fellow students of college officers and instructors, or of the college itself; a system which looks for the enforcement of its laws more to the existence of mutual feelings of confidence and good-will, to a proper regard for the good name of the institution and the purposes entertained in attending it, than to any system, however elaborate of mere rewards and punishments. Above all would I wish to see any such system shorn, as far as possible, of anything which would fairly come under the title of espionage. The latter, when employed, can hardly fail to prove degrading alike to those who teach and to those who are taught. It has been well said that no Professor can be altogether satisfied with his position who has to combine therewith the duties of a constable or a police officer (great applause) From being placed in a position in which he loses his own self-respect he soon finds, and need not be surprised at finding that he has lost also the respect of those placed under his direction.

But some one may enquire, "Would you then leave a number of young men, at the most critical period of their lives, wholly without restraint?" Certainly not; but the restraint which I would see imposed is, to a large extent, the kind of restraint which would have to govern their conduct through all their future life, a restraint to a large extent self-imposed, but enforced by the whole moral tone of the college and the conditions of its membership. I would have a student clearly understand from the first that he is as it were a party to a contract, the other party being the university or college in which he seeks to matriculate. On the one side the latter engages to afford him such assistance as lies in her power, through the agency of her instructors, her scholarship, her libraries and laboratories, to advance and perfect, so far as she can, the attainment of his education: he, on the other, engaging to give his best efforts in the same direction and especially to do nothing which will tend to affect injuriously the good name or the efficiency of the institution of which he becomes a member. Let this relation be once fully appreciated, and any serious disregard of its obligation be looked upon as a breach of contract, to be followed, after due warning, by a severance of all connection, and all other rules may safely be dispensed with. And do not think that such a plan is chimerical. It is one which has been tried and with great success in more than one institution in every way similar to our own.

In practical application of this principle, and with more immediate reference to a subject which is now engaging the attention of our own University authorities, it is my belief that we may well abandon, or at least very greatly modify, the present cumbrous, inaccurate and, as I believe, totally unnecessary system of daily marking (great and continued applause)—a system which is a constant hindrance to an instructor, which introduces wrong motives for effort, and which with any considerable number of students, becomes practically incapable of application. So long as mere marks are the immediate reward of effort, only such efforts will be made as lead directly to the attainment of the latter; collateral reading, as it brings no reward in this direction, is discouraged, independent effort is paralyzed, trickery of all kinds has a premium placed upon it, anything like a pursuit of knowledge for its own sake is never thought of. And this leads me to say that, in my opinion, our college course has, up to the present time, been altogether too cramped and too rigid: too cramped from the attempt to crowd into a three-years course what almost universal experience has shown cannot be successfully undertaken in less than four,— and too rigid from failure to recognise the fact that mental development may be attained in more than one way, in others than by the long-prescribed channel which we have inherited from antiquity. It is urged by opponents of an elective system that this does away with the signification of a degree and therefore with its value; but who can for a moment assert that the degrees of the thousand or more institutions which claim the power of conferring them are of equal significance value, or that even in the case of any one such institution, like that of Harvard, the degrees granted twenty years ago are on a level with those now annually conferred? and further, does not the very fact just alluded to, that we limit our course to three years, tend to depreciate our degrees in comparison with those for which four are required? Time does not permit me to enter more fully into this subject just now, but it is a subject which every year is pressing itself more forcibly upon our attention, and which must, in the near future, receive the careful consideration of those most interested in the future well-being and progress of the institution. In the meantime I think it is a subject of congratulation, and many will be pleased to know that by a decision of the Senate, made at their last annual meeting, a limited elective system and applicable to the Senior Class, will be inaugurated, by way of experiment, in the next academic year. (Applause.)

I have spoken of the general methods of instruction and government as being among the internal or inherent agencies, which may affect for good or the reverse, the utility and therefore the well-being of an institution of learning. To these several elements of weakness or of strength I might now add those of others which have chiefly to do with giving increased interest and therefore increased efficiency to college work. Among such influences may be enumerated the awarding of scholarships and prizes (though these, as ordinarily bestowed, are not without objection) the extension and fullest utilization of the library, the maintenance and enlargement of the Geological and Natural History Museum, the providing of proper facilities and sufficient time for practical laboratory work, more particularly in chemistry and physics, the means of more fully demonstrating, experimentally, the truth of the important physical and chemical discoveries, and, in the direction of a relief from too prolonged or too severe mental strain, the proper equipment and use of the gymnasium, the encouragement of athletic exercises, and finally the making of geological or similar excursions, either during term, or better, in the long vacations. (Loud and repeated Applause.)

It will be evident, however, from a mere enumeration of many of these wants that the college, cannot find in itself the means of supplying all its requirements. Like the seed with which we have compared it, it must look for support to the soil in which it is implanted; it will advance, remain stationary, or decline, just as the surrounding conditions are favorable to its development or the reverse. Let me now very briefly point to a few of the external conditions which may affect our well-being, some of the more obvious ways in which our college growth is or may be effected by the circumstances of its "environment."

The financial side of the question evidently comes first and is of paramount importance. Libraries, museums, physical and chemical laboratories and apparatus, a sufficiently numerous and competent working staff, all cost money, and without money they are not to be had. Those are facts in themselves too obvious to require any comment, yet they suggest another which, though equally simple, is one upon which a very general misconception prevails, viz: as to the insufficiency of our original endowment to meet our present and prospective want. No doubt that endowment was, under the circumstances, a liberal one, and had it all been properly conserved, would now be the means of affording us a much more ample revenue than we actually possess; but it is absurd to suppose that it was enough, or was ever expected to be enough, to support the institution for an indefinite time. It seems to me that both the purpose of our existence as an educational establishment, and the necessity for continued external aid, are alike indicated in the words of Sir Howard Douglas, the real founder of the institution, when he said, "The Lieutenant Governor confidently trusts that a foundation is thus laid, which, under the patronage of our beloved Sovereign, and the fostering care of the legislature of the Province, will prove a source of great and permanent benefit to the Province." He speaks of it as a foundation only, upon which other hands, guided by like enlightened motives and equal liberality, might in time rear a fitting superstructure. Can it with truth be said that we have received, either at the hands of the Legislature or of the community, that measure of support to which, if we exist at all, we are fairly entitled?

Here then is one way in which the College is directly dependent upon its surroundings for its vitality and growth. Leave it with no further provision than sufficed for its mere inception and infancy, nay with less than it then possessed (for it now costs far more than then to meet its requirements) what else can follow than that it remain weak and undeveloped? Strengthen its hands by increasing the number of its working staff, by the establishment of scholarships and bursaries in aid of meritorious students, by endowments for the enlargement of the library and museum, by affording increased facilities for the proper accommodation of students, and you at once raise the college to a higher level, you improve the extent and character of its work, you attract an ever-increasing number of students as the advantages of coining become more apparent, you yourselves reap the benefit in a general elevation of the educational status of the community and of the Province at large. Who is not aware of the stimulus thus afforded in the case of Dalhousie College, in Halifax, through the munificence of one individual, and while we gratefully recall, in this connexion, the recent generous action in our own case of the St. Andrew's Society, of Fredericton, who will not hope that we are thus entering upon a new era, when, as is now so Common with educational institutions elsewhere, the announcement by the president of the bequests made timing the year, will become one of the regular incidents of Encaenia?

In this connexion it may be well to observe that what by many is regarded as our main source of strength, viz: that we are in some sort a State Institution and so in the receipt of support from the public treasury, is in reality a great source of weakness. Had the support any special reference to our needs, did it increase as the demands of the time require a more comprehensive and therefore a more costly curriculum of study, were it even certain that it could always be depended upon, it might indeed be, in some degree, a source of strength; but liable, as it is, at any moment to be reduced, or (as it was in one instance) to be withdrawn, and at the best no more than was sufficient to meet the wants of the college half a century ago, it tends to keep us just half a century behind the position which we might and should occupy. But the worst feature resulting from this dependence upon state support is that it tends to draw off from us all other support; all that individual interest which is so effective in the maintenance of denominational colleges is lost to us; belonging to everybody we belong to nobody in particular; everyone, however unqualified, may criticise our methods or our results, no one considers it worth his while to assist in perfecting either the one or the other. Even in the ease of our legislative grant, I fear that, in too many instances, this is voted, like those of the penitentiary and the lunatic asylum, chiefly through a sort of feeling that the expenditure cannot very well be avoided; certainly not as a grant towards an object which is, or should be, one of the most important with which the Legislature has to deal.

But there are other means than those of pecuniary donations through which effective aid may be afforded towards the extention and invigoration of University work. There is, for example, the sentiment of loyalty on the part of the graduates of the University, a loyalty which, if sincere, will lead them to take an active and intelligent interest in her welfare, a loyalty which will lead them from time to time, even at the cost of some personal inconvenience, to revisit her walls, a loyalty which at all times will be ready to defend her reputation and advance her interests. No more potent factor for good exists in connection with the growth of a college or university than the gratitude and affection of her sons; no more interesting monuments are to be seen in connection with the great centres of learning, whether in the old world or the new, than those which commemorate such love and gratitude. In our own case the incorporation of the Associated Alumni the obtaining and exercise of the power of electing representatives to the University Senate, and the offering for competition of the Alumni gold medal, all show that our graduates are not really deficient in the loyalty of which I have spoken; yet when we remember how few actually become members of this association, how very few, compared with the whole number, ever attend its meetings or even the annual Encaenial gatherings, is it not evident that much more might be done than is done by this agency? Can we help feeling that there is something needed, even if it be only an annual Alumni dinner, to arouse their interest and to draw them together?

Again, we may be greatly aided (or may be greatly injured), by our relations to the other educational institutions of the country. If the teachers of the different schools keep the university constantly before the minds of their pupils as necessary to crown their educational career, if they urge them to profit by the advantages it offers, and do what they can to prepare them for a successful pursuit of their collegiate course, they become at once important auxiliaries of the college, they increase its numbers, they make its work more effective, they add to its reputation and its worth; but if on the other hand, the importance of collegiate training is denied, if courses of study are recommended which have no reference to its requirements, still worse if misrepresentation is resorted to to turn students in other directions, then we necessarily suffer to a corresponding extent. So again, if the value of our diplomas is underrated, if they should cease to be regarded as guarantees of fitness on the part of those seeking positions in our educational system, still more if preference is given to graduates of other institutions or to those who have not graduated at all, then the number of those seeking such diplomas must necessarily be lessened. (Continued applause.)

Again, we may be aided, or we may be injured, by the Press; aided, if our work and our wants are represented in their true light, if the attention of those seeking the higher education is directed towards the opportunities thus offered, and credit given whore the training thus received proves itself the foundation of subsequent success; injured, if haste is made to publish every little item relating to the college without any care as to whether it be true or not, and which will be not the less detrimental that it is, in most instances, a perversion of the facts, or altogether destitute of foundation. (Applause.)

And, finally, on the part of the community in general, there is that feeling of sympathy which aids through the mere knowledge of its existence, a feeling which will had the members of the community to regard the mere presence of the University in their midst as a privilege which they cannot too highly estimate, a privilege which they should do all in their power to perpetuate and extend, taking an active interest in the welfare of the institution, helping as far as possible to make the life of the students while resident here pleasant as well as profitable, countenancing and assisting all reasonable recreations, such as foot-ball matches, athletic games, conversaziones, cricket matches and the like, but also discountenancing all forms of conduct which tend to lower the reputation of the University or that of its members.

But I think that I have said enough to make my meaning plain. As in the organic world there are ever two sets of forces at work, those which build up and those which pull down; so in our collegiate life there are influences both conservative and destructive. The College itself is indeed, in one sense, an organism, embracing many elements, and those elements so interwoven, so bound up in a common life, that what effects one cannot but be felt by the others also. Want of interest, want of earnestness, still more, want of capacity on the part of teachers, if existing, necessarily lead to inattention, to neglect, and finally to disorder on the part of the taught; negligence of preparation, non-attendence at lectures, or want of attention when present, impair the teacher's power to instruct, and in a greater or less degree tend to lessen his zeal, and to discourage any special efforts he might otherwise be disposed to make; laxity in one department spreads its influence to others; bad or irregular habits on the part of one student soon develop similar habits in others; those who are in authority need to remember the difference of age between themselves and those placed under their direction; and while firm in all points which are essential to good government, to exercise authority with tact, judgment and dignity; students on the other hand ought clearly to understand that their college life will cease to be of service to them the moment they cease to show respect to those who have been lawfully placed over them.

One point more. As an organism the college is but one among many institutions similarity constituted, originating in the same circumstances, fulfilling the same objects, subject to the same conditions of growth, between these institutions there should be, and in most instances there is, a fraternity of feeling as there is a community of purpose,— and each may well profit by adopting, so far as is applicable to their own case, whatever experience has proved to be of service in that of their fellows; at the same time each will naturally seek to further its own advancement, to enlarge its means of support, to offer the highest grade of instruction and the largest number of aids to those who would profit by it. Thus here too, as everywhere in the organic world, there exists a sort of "struggle for existence," a struggle which is doubtless beneficial in that it tends to arouse effort, as well as to develop and perpetuate such institutions and such qualities as are best worth preserving, but which is also suggestive of a fall, involuntarily bringing to one's thoughts that ominous phrase "the survival of the fittest." In this struggle, whether we wish it or not, we must take a part. On every side of us other institutions of learning, similar to our own, are doing their utmost to strengthen their position, to improve their capacity for work, to draw to themselves as many as possible of those who are seeking, in a University career, the higher phases of intellectual culture. The question has been asked, and may well be asked, whether, instead of having so many separate institutions, each barely able to maintain existence, and each, for want of adequate support, wholly unable to do properly what is required to be done, it would but be better to establish one central University for the Maritime Provinces, combining the working powers of all, supported by sufficient revenues, and while gaining the advantages which invariably come, and can only come from a division of labor, creating that educational stimulus, that intellectual atmosphere as it were, which always surrounds a real centre of thought. Though an interesting question, however, and one to which theoretically but one answer can be given, it is also one so beset with practical difficulties as to be, for the present at least, incapable of receiving a definite solution.

In the meantime what is our own position? What are ire doing towards fitting ourselves to become, should occasion ever arise, an important factor in the making of such a great university? What are we doing even towards keeping pace with our striving neighbors? How far are we meeting the varied requirements of this modern age of material as well as intellectual progress? Are we to rest quietly, seeing ourselves outstripped on every side, left behind, if not by our own inaction, at least by the more energetic efforts of others? Or is the college to awaken to a new life, to make itself more actively felt as a real power in the community and in the province, and that it may thus be felt, receive in a larger degree that cordial sympathy and that liberal support without which it can never hope to prosper? These are questions which now, more than at any previous time, force themselves upon the attention of every well-wisher of the college. They are questions in which, as I have said, our very existence is involved, and which are pressing for an answer. Let me, however, not be misunderstood. It is by no means my intention to indicate that the college is not now doing good work, much less that it is in any sense upon the decline. The number of our students is increasing—not rapidly, it is true, but still increasing—and is in excess of most of the other collegiate institutions in the Lower Provinces; our teaching capacity (though some of us do not feel quite so young as we did twenty or thirty years ago) has, I trust and believe, not sensibly diminished; the interest taken in college work (I can speak with certainty as to my own department) has not lessened; our standards are as high as circumstances will permit; our graduates continue to take, as they have always taken, a high place in the medical or other universities in which they have pursued their studies after leaving here; among their numbers will be found those occupying the highest positions in all the several professions—in law, in medicine, in the church, upon the bench, in the Legislative Assemblies both of the Province and of the Dominion.

But while our past record is in many respects satisfactory, and one of which we may fairly boast, I cannot but feel that our position is a less gratifying one as regards both the present and the future; as regards the present because it seems to me that neither is the rate of our development nor the influence of the college commensurate with its years, or with the position which it occupies as the Provincial University; and as regards the future, because I feel that the requirements of the future are likely to be in many respects widely different from those of the past, and that to meet these requirements there exists no present or prospective provision. I would wish to see more evidence of strength and activity than we now possess. Where the college seems to be stationary, I would wish to see it more progressive; while it is now comparatively isolated, I would wish to see the field of its influence enlarged; while aiming, as it has ever aimed, to provide for those seeking a high grade of intellectual culture, I would wish to see it also affording, by the establishment of associated schools of law, of medicine, of theology, of agriculture, of theoretical and applied sciences, the means of study in subjects beating more directly upon the practical pursuits of life. In short, I would wish to see it a University in something more than name.

Of course to expect at once such an expansion as that to which I have referred is not to be at present expected, nor is our position such as to favor it, yet I cannot but think it a matter of regret that something cannot be done in this direction. As an institution founded, by Royal Charter, as claiming the style and privilege of a University, as being the legally constituted University of New Brunswick, it is but right that we should be called upon to offer, at least in some degree, those facilities for the commencement of special professional work, which almost without exception are afforded by the other Provinces of the Dominion. Until something of the kind is done we need not be surprised that the more ambitious young men of the country, so far as they possess the means, will seek elsewhere what they cannot get at home; until it is done it is idle to complain of the University not doing what it has never been placed in a position to do.

In short, it is not enough that we may continue to do what we have done in the past. I need not tell you that without growth there can be no vitality; that an arrested development but too often becomes the precursor of incipient decay. We have passed through several transformations, we have successfully overcome many difficulties; have we reached the highest stage of growth of which we are capable? and if so, are we, too, to enter upon that downward path which, as the law of Nature, invariably has its beginning just where growth and progress terminate? I am sure I but voice the feeling of all who hear me, of all whose sons have here received the crowning rewards of their educational career, all who have themselves received for good the assistance and the inspiration of the university, when I say that it must not be. Rather let us reecho, and with a firm determination for its accomplishment, the glowing words of its founder and first Chancellor on the occasion of its inauguration :—

"Firm may this institution ever stand and flourish—firm in the liberal constitution and Royal foundation on which it has been instituted, enlarging and extending its material form, and all its capacities to do good, to meet the increasing demands of a rising, prosperous and intellectual people."