Graduation Address

"The Encaenial Oration" Presbyterian Advocate (25 June 1870). (UA Case 67, Box 1)

May it please your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Students of the University.

Introduction Retrospect

Thirty years, lacking three months, have glided away since I first entered these Halls as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in King's College, Fredericton. Coming fresh from a not unsuccessful career at a time honoured University in my native land, full of hope and youthful ardour, and cheered with fair prospects of advancement at home, I little then thought that New Brunswick was destined to be the abiding place of my mature and declining years, that I should become so closely identified with its welfare and prosperity, and that I should learn to regard it with affectionate fondness as the country of my adoption.

Thirty years of the freshest and most vigorous portion of manhood form a long period to every individual. It is especially long in the case of Professors, to whom the power of continuing for such a length of time in the regular and active discharge of their duties is seldom vouchsafed. Some years ago, the last (Sir David Brewster) of the numerous staff of Professors that adorned my own Alma Mater, during my undergraduate course, died full of years and honours; and of those who where my early colleagues in this Institution none now survive. It has even been my fate to mourn the too early death of not a few of the promising students who attended my own classes and graduated here with distinction. Thus, as time moves on with his sure but noiseless tread, change and decay ever follow in his footsteps, and instability and uncertainty mark the lot of humanity. I feel assured that you will pardon these passing personal allusions, inasmuch as this incessant mutation is full of warning to all of us, and the present occasion may be the last of the kind on which it will be permitted me to address you from this place.

Thirty Years Short In the Life Of A University

While thirty years are a long period in the life of an individual, they may and ought to be but a short span in the existence of a University intended by its Founders to shed its beneficient influence not only on one generation of men but on many. Let us hope that such is the destiny of the University of New Brunswick; and that shooting up with ever increasing vitality, the young and weakly-rooted sapling may grow into the strong and healthy tree to which our children's children and future generations will resort to gather and enjoy the sweet and abundant fruit of all the learning and knowledge of a more advanced civilization.

These thirty years, however, have not passed without their accompanying vicissitudes being felt by the Institution itself, nor without leaving a deep and lasting impress upon its condition and prospects. During their revolution, it has had its full share of trials and troubles, and has even undergone the painful throes of a death struggle.

Glance At The History of The University

Without attempting a lengthened narrative of the trying ordeal to which the College has been subjected, the present occasion seems to offer a fitting opportunity for taking a retrospective glance at the most prominent event of its past history.

A Royal Charter, bearing date the 15th December, 1828, was granted by the Crown, incorporating King's College, Fredericton, and conferring upon it the privileges of a University. An Act for the endowment of the College was passed by the Provincial Legislature in the following February. On my arrival, in the Autumn of 1840, I found that much dissatisfaction existed in the House of Assembly and throughout the country on account of the exclusive and restrictive character of the Charter. As early as 1833, a deputation, consisting of Messrs. Simonds and Chandler, was sent by the Assembly to the Home Government with a list of grievances for which they were instructed to seek redress. Among these, they were charged to complain of the narrow and illiberal policy manifested in the Charter of King's College, and to ask for its amendment in several important particulars. They truly represented that, as by the Charter, the Bishop was ex officio Visitor, the President necessarily a Clergyman of the Church of England, and the members of the Council all bound to subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles of the same Church, such exclusiveness was calculated to keep alive the jealousy which unhappily existed with regard to the College, among a great majority of the inhabitants of the Province, who did not belong to the Church of England, and who naturally thought that as they contributed to the support of the Institution, they ought freely to participate in its benefits.

In a supplement to the Fredericton Sentinel of March 10th, 1841, I find that Mr. Wilmot, the present honoured Visitor of the University, is reported to have said in his place in the Assembly:- "He would gently remove the garment of exclusiveness, if by gentle means it could be accomplished; but for his part he would not cease to "cry aloud and spare not" until the spirit of exclusiveness was purged from the Institution. His object and his sole object was to extend its popularity and usefulness. He wished it to take a high stand among Collegiate establishments. He wished to see it supported and encouraged by every denomination of Christians, diffusing its light to the surrounding Colonies, and dispensing the riches of knowledge throughout the land." How far the aims and aspirations, so eloquently expressed by His Excellency twenty-nine years ago, have been released, and how far the University as it now exists, with the last vestige of exclusiveness wiped out, has advanced in the esteem and confidence of every denomination in the Province, I leave you and the public to answer and decide.

The Charter Amended

In the year 1845, a Provincial Act was passed by the Legislature for the amendment of the Charter, and received the Royal assent at the end of 1846. By this Act it was declared that the Lieutenant Governor, or Administrator of the Government for the time being, shall be Visitor, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Chancellor. The provisions of the Charter, "that the President of the said College shall be a Clergyman in Holy Orders of the United Church of England and Ireland, and that the Archdeacon of the Province for the time being shall by virtue of his office, be at all times President of the College," were abolished; and the President was in future to be appointed by Her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, or by the Visitor on Her Majesty's behalf. The Chancellor, the President of the College, the Master of the Rolls, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Secretary of the Province, and the Attorney General were made ex officio Members of the College Council, which was to be filled up by nine other Members to be appointed by the Visitor. No religious test was to be required of any of the Members of the Council, or of any Professor of the College, save and except the Professor of Theology, who was to be at all times a Clergyman of the United Church of England and Ireland.

Discontent Not Allayed

This was undoubtedly a great and important step towards placing the Institution on a more liberal basis. It, however, failed to secure the public confidence and allay the irritation and discontent that had for years been sedulously fomented. The sore had rankled too long and been allowed to settle too deeply to be cured by any but the most incisive operation. The fact too, that, even after the new Council was filled up, the governing body still continued to be composed almost exclusively of Members of the Church of England, and the preference shown to that Church by retaining its Professor of Theology, formed ground of continued complaint and served to keep alive the feelings of dislike and hostility with which the Institution had come to be regarded by other denominations. The small number of students compared with the aggregate of the money that had been spent on the establishment - carefully counted from its very foundation for the purpose of giving greater effect to the statement - also furnished a fertile theme on which the enemies of the College did not fail to expatiate. The agitation against it, therefore, did not abate, and misrepresentation and abuse were weapons freely resorted to. As few people in the Province were really interested in making themselves acquainted with the truth or falsehood of the stories so diligently propagated, it is little wonder that many implicitly believed the unscrupulous aspirants to Legislative honours, who thought that one of the easiest ways of making political capital was to denounce the utter uselessness of the College, and the enormous cost it entailed on the country.

As a sample, and by no means the worst sample that might be adduced, of the bitterness and unfairness of the attacks levelled against the College, even after the important modifications in the Charter already referred to, I quote the following sentence from a leading Newspaper published in St. John, on the 9th of April, 1851:-"Cut the head off of King's College,-we mean the £1,100 per annum taken from the pockets of all demoninations that the sons of a particular denomination may graduate."

Petition To Withhold The Grant

In the year last mentioned, an Address passed the House of Assembly, praying His Excellency, Sir Edmund Walker Head, the then Lieutenant Governor, to withhold the warrant for £1,100 payable out of the Treasury of the Province for the endowment of the College. His Excellency stated in reply that he was unable to comply with the prayer of the petition, because the grant in question was secured by an Act up to that time unrepealed.

Next year His Excellency sent a lengthy communication to the Chancellor to be laid before the College Council, urging the pressing necessity of doing something to popularize the Institution, and pointing out what he conceived to be the best methods of making it more generally useful and acceptable to the Province at large. A Committee of the Council was appointed to consult with His Excellency on the subject; and several new statutes were enacted with the object of improving the discipline and giving a more practical cast to the course of instruction. Little or no change, in public sentiment, for the better was effected. Long opposition had roused feelings of bitterness and exasperation in the breasts of those unfriendly to the College, and strong passions and prejudices rather than principles henceforth influenced their actions. Moreover, an extreme party - always dangerous because fierce and vindictive- had at length sprung up who declared that nothing less would satisfy them than the complete subversion of the College. In terms not always either chaste or truthful they inveighed against the uselessness of the Institution and the heavy expense at which it was maintained; and triumphantly asked whether all attempts to improve it had not invariably ended in signal failure? The same result, they asserted, was to be expected in the future, and hence the only sure and effectual remedy was its total destruction. The cry now raised, if sadly wanting in stern dignity and patriotism, resembled in passionate and fanatical vindictiveness that of Cato of old, who at the close of every harangue against Carthage, made the Senate-house resound with the ominous and inexorable words - "delenda est Carthago."

1854-Amendment

In the year 1854 a bill was introduced into the House of Assembly to repeal the section of the charter granting £1100 per annum for the endowment of the College. To this, an amendment was moved by the Hon. J.A. Street, then Attorney General, to the effect that a Commission be appointed to enquire into the present state of King's College, its management and utility, with a view of improving the same, and rendering that institution more generally useful, and of suggesting the best mode of effecting that desirable object; and should such Commission deem a suspension of the present charter desirable, then to suggest the best mode of applying its endowment in the mean time for the educational purposes of the Province. This amendment was carried, and being concurred in by the Legislative Council, it received the assent of His Excellency at the end of the session.

Commission Appointed

A Commission was accordingly appointed, and among its members were the eminent educationists, Dr. Dawson and Dr. Ryerson. They, as directed, submitted to His Excellency an able and exhaustive report, together with the draft of a bill for establishing a comprehensive system of University education in New Brunswick. These documents were laid before the House in 1855, and they form the groundwork upon which the University, as now constituted, was finally established.

Report of the Commissioners

From the report of the Commissioners I beg to quote the following paragraph:- "New Brunswick would be retrograding and would stand out in unenviable contrast with every civilized country in both Europe and America, did she not continue to provide an institution in which her own youth could acquire a collegiate education such as would enable them to meet on equal terms, and hold intercourse with, the liberally educated men of other countries. New Brunswick would cease to be regarded with affection and pride by her off-spring, should any of them be compelled to go abroad in order to acquire a university education. The idea, therefore, of abolishing or suspending the endowment of King's College cannot be entertained by the Commissioners for a moment. On the contrary, we think there should be an advance rather than a retreat in this respect, and that the youth of New Brunswick, whether many or few, who aspire to the attainment of the best university education, as preparatory to professional or active pursuits, should be able to secure that advantage in their native land."

Recommendation Of Commissioners Not Palatable To Many

The recommendation of the Commissioners did not at all meet the views of many, who, blind to the value and importance of institutions for the higher education, to the welfare and prosperity of every country, and impatient for the prey now almost within their reach, were determined that King's College however changed in name and character, should cease to exist in New Brunswick.

In 1856, Mr. Connell brought in a bill to suspend the grant, to King's College; and although the bill prepared by the Commissioners was moved in amendment, the former was finally carried in the House, but did not pass the Legislative Council.

In the beginning of 1857, as fresh storms fraught with danger to the College, appeared to be brooding in the political atmosphere, some members of the College Council, anxious for the fate of the institution and watchful over its welfare, deemed it high time to move in the matter. Accordingly, His Honor Justice Wilmot, then an active and useful member of the governing body, drew up a report on the condition of the College, and suggested a plan for its improvement. He, at the same time, prepared a bill to carry into effect the principles embodied in the report. These were adopted by the College Council, and it was resolved that they be transmitted to the Visitor, to be laid before the Legislature. The House ordered five hundred copies of the bill to be printed, but no further action was taken upon it during the session.

In 1858, Mr. Connell, with dogged persistency, again introduced a bill of even a more sweeping and summary nature than had hitherto been attempted. The first section of it read as follows:- "All sums of money payable to the Chancellor, President and Scholars of King's College, Fredericton, and their successors by any law and usage, shall from the first day of November next be discontinued, and all acts relating thereto shall be suspended." This bill was strenuously opposed; but having been amended so as to extend the term of existence of the College to the first day of February, 1859, the friends of the institution were obliged to allow it to pass. It afterwards received the concurrence of the Legislative Council, and was assented to by the Lieutenant Governor, on the 6th of April, 1858.

Professors Held In Suspense

During the weary times of trouble and conflict, the position of the Professors was far from enviable. Harrassed by suspense, and filled with anxiety for the future of their families, it is not to be wondered at if their ardour was damped and their vigor and health so impaired as to render some of them prematurely aged. The College itself doubtless suffered from this as well as from the fact that most people were naturally unwilling to send their sons to an institution whose existence could not be defended on for a single year.

Immediately after the passage of the bill which was to deprive the College of the means of support, the Council forwarded a petition to Her Majesty against the allowance of the bill, and the Professors addressed letters of remonstrance to the Colonial Secretary. At a later date, His Excellency, the Hon. J.H.T. Manners-Sutton, sent to the Colonial Secretary a despatch reviewing in a comprehensive and masterly way all the circumstances of the case. The consequence was that Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, declared Her disallowance of the Bill, simply on the ground that it annulled the pledged faith of the Crown, so far as regards the sum granted out of the Civil List to the College, out of which the salaries of the Professors were paid.

The Attack Renewed

In 1859 the attack was again renewed by the introduction of a bill to suspend the grant to King's College, so far as relates to the sum of £1100 paid out of the revenues of the Province, and not included in the Civil List. As an amendment to this the Hon. Mr. Fisher moved the substitution of a bill relating to King's College. This was, in effect, the bill which had been prepared by His Honor Justice Wilmot, and which had been laid before the House two years previously. The amendment was carried; but the new bill was vehemently opposed at every step in its progress and by every possible manoeuvre. It was amended in several particulars; and it was only by hard fighting that its supporters were enabled to carry it safely through the House. It readily passed the Legislative Council, and finally received the Royal assent.

In the preceding brief and imperfect sketch of the history of King's College, I have purposely abstained from enquiring how far the internal management by its then responsible head tended to affect the popularity and general usefulness of the institution, and check the gradual increase of students. The motives which restrained me will be readily understood.

University of Mew Brunswick

From the time the Royal assent was given to the new bill, King's College ceased to exist, and the institution became the University of New Brunswick. Let us hope and pray that under the new name it is destined to have a less stormy, but a far more lasting and useful career than fell to the lot of its predecessor. Being maintained out of the general revenues of the Province, it is open, as it ought to be, to all classes and denominations without distinction. Fortunate and favoured will it be, if it can succeed in rallying round it the affections of the entire population of New Brunswick, so that all may come to look up to it with honest pride and satisfaction as our University. While free from every sectarian bias or control, it reverently recognises and duly enforces the obligations of religion and morality. It aims to unite the hearts and train the minds of all its students in the love of learning and virtue. By the free intercourse and association of all classes and creeds in the common and ennobling pursuit of science and liberal accomplishments, prejudices are removed, narrow and contracted views are expanded, mutual sympathy and esteem are promoted, and habits of respect for the opinions of others are engendered.

1860

The University was fairly launched on its new career in September, 1860. The events of the succeeding Academical year are too fresh in the minds of most of you to require more than a passing allusion. It seemed that the institution was still to be subjected to a more than ordinary share of trouble and change; but the sources of these were now internal. My old friend and dear companion of many years, Dr. Robb, was removed by death; the former principal, Dr. Jacob, retired on a pension; and the recently appointed President, Dr. Hea, found it necessary to resign in the following June. At the Encaenia of 1861, I delivered the address as President of the University of New Brunswick. If since that time the University has failed to advance so rapidly in the road to prosperity as its ardent friends could desire, no part of the failure can now be attributed to misrepresentations or attack from without. Indeed we have, for the most part, been treated with the utmost fairness both by individuals and the press. This I gladly and gratefully acknowledge; for had it not been for the kindness and consideration so generously and liberally extended to us, the task of securing for the University the confidence and good-will of the general public would have been far more difficult.

Students In The Collegiate Establishment

In making certain comparisons which some people still show a fondness for instituting, the work done at the Collegiate School or Academy ought, in common fairness, to be taken into account, as that forms in reality a part of the work accomplished by the University. Taking this view of the subject, it will be found that within the year 1869, for instance, the total number of students that attended the University establishment amounted to 166. This very respectable number would be considerably increased could we succeed in connecting with the institution an Academy for the higher mental training of females. An object so truly desirable could, I think, be readily effected, if the good people of Fredericton would wake from their apathy to a due sense of their deep interest in this important matter, and, instead of relying so much upon Hercules, were to put their own shoulders unitedly and resolutely to the wheel.

How To Estimate The Success Of The University

In estimating the success of the University proper by comparison with other institutions of a like character abroad, it ought to be borne in mind that here we have as yet only the Faculty of Arts in full operation, and that in thoroughly equipped Universities the students in that Faculty form only a fractional part of the whole, and are usually small in number as compared with those studying Medicine, Law and Divinity. For example, in each of the two last years we have graduated more students in Arts than even McGill College, where the number attending the Law and Medical Classes alone ordinarily exceeds two hundred.

Schools Of Law And Medicine Should Be Connected With The University

On addressing you five years ago from this place, I took occasion to point out as forcibly as I could the advantage and desirability of establishing, as early as possible, Faculties of Law and Medicine; and since then I have urged the subject upon the attention of some of the leading gentlemen of these professions; but I am sorry to say that my well-meant endeavours have not met with much encouragement. Many seem to have no thought above and beyond the routine work of their daily calling, and are too much occupied with self to have any time to spare for the public good or the advancement and elevation of their profession. The education which does not awaken intellectual tastes, cultivate kindly and generous sympathies, and disabuse the mind of prejudices, - which does not make man interested in other things than his own household and his own business,- which sinks the true man, with his manifold cravings and aspirations, in the mere merchant, lawyer or physician, is very unsatisfactory and one-sided, and has no tendency to refine or civilize a community.

The medical men of Halifax have evinced a commendable degree of public spirit, and an amount of care for the general interests of their profession, which it would be well for their brethren in New Brunswick to imitate. Within the last two or three years a Faculty of Medicine has been organized in connection with Dalhousie College, and is now, I believe, in fair working order.

Special Courses, In Agriculture, Engineering And Navigation

If, under present circumstances, we cannot look hopefully forward to the speedy establishment of Law and Medical Faculties in connection with this University, there can be no doubt but that the time for them will come; and meanwhile, it behoves the Senate and Professors seriously to consider whether, with even the limited teaching staff we now possess, greater efforts should not be put forth to give stated and regular courses of instruction in such practical subjects as Agriculture, Surveying and Engineering, and Commerce and Navigation, in order that the range of usefulness of the institution may be widened as much as possible. For the information of those who may wish to profit by such special courses, detailed synopses of them should be published in the University Calendar.

Obstacles To Progress

Although, as I have above shown, the number of our students in the Faculty of Arts will compare favorably with that of those attending the same Faculty in institutions usually considered more flourishing; yet it is not to be inferred that I am contented, or mean to rest satisfied with the progress already made. I beg, therefore, that you will bear with me a little longer while I briefly advert to some of the obstacles which hinder the filling of our halls with the crowd of students with which some think they should overflow. For the present, such a desirable result could not be expected by any one who carefully considers the circumstances of New Brunswick, and the occupations of the great bulk of the population. As regards the general undergraduate curriculum in Arts, I have repeatedly visited every section of the Province, and I can testify that in few of the schools have I met with pupils sufficiently far advanced to matriculate, who did not enter as students for the regular course. The small number of such advanced pupils is owing less to the inefficiency of the masters than to the short and irregular attendance of the scholars, arising oftener from apathy than inability on the part of parents. In fact, one of the greatest obstacles to the steady advancement of education is the carelessness and indifference of parents; and the most likely remedy for this evil seems to be direct taxation for the support of schools.

As the Common Schools are improved, the general estimate of the value of education will be raised. Between them and the University there is a sort of reciprocal action, and a more intimate relation than is usually supposed. For, the higher the level to which the education of the people is lifted; the greater will be the number of youths prepared and eager to profit by the University course; and, on the other hand, the greater the number of well-educated men issuing from the University, the higher will be the value set by society on cultivated intellect, and the more will the interest felt in education be diffused through the mass of the population. This mutual dependence was recognized by the University Commissioners of 1854. Their scheme was to give to the Rector of the University the direction and control of the whole educational system of the Province, and thus secure a definite relation and harmonious working between all the different teaching institutions in the State. The nearer the University is drawn to the Schools, and the Schools to the University, the better for the successful working of any comprehensive plan of education. There should be no break in the chain of a truly national and harmonious system, - no divorcement of the Common Schools from the Grammar Schools and the University. It is a matter of great public concern and advantage that boys of more than average ability, in whatever rank of life they may be found, should be enabled to rise to a position suitable to their talents. For this end all available aids and encouragements should be afforded, and every stage in their educational progress, from the lowest to the highest, should be made as smooth and direct as possible.

I have already intimated that, for some time to come, we cannot expect a very marked increase of regular students from the country districts. The case might, and ought to be otherwise, in cities, and more particularly in the commercial metropolis of the Province. There, however, it unfortunately happens that the real intrinsic value of sound mental training is ill-understood and worse appreciated among the generality of business men; and the consequence is that very few of those, who could well afford to give their sons a superior education, think it worth while to send them to the University.

Higher Education Not Properly Appreciated By Business Men

One man, as if stating an incontrovertible truth, will gravely tell you that, as his son is not intended for a profession but for mercantile pursuits, a University education would be thrown away upon him and his time wasted. Now, there might be some show of reason in this mode of argument were the boy destined to stop at the foot of the ladder, - to continue an office-drudge and a runner of errands, or a mere machine for making entries and adding up columns of figures. But this is not, in general, the end contemplated. The boy is expected to become the prosperous and respected man of business; and it may well be asked, whether by rejecting a thorough mental training he is not sacrificing future welfare and solid success to a present but transient advantage. He may become an effieient and valuable clerk or accountant, and yet be fit for nothing higher; for, has it not often happened that men who acquitted themselves well and satisfactorily in that narrow sphere of action, have miserably failed on undertaking business on their own account? And after all, do not mercantile pursuits, especially on a large scale, imply mental operations of a high order, as well as an extensive and varied acquaintance with the world of nature and the productions of science and art? And will not that mind, in the long run, have the advantage which has been trained and strengthened by the exercise of its various powers, - which has been accustomed to follow processes of argument and induction, and to organize, classify and subordinate details to principles?

The Moral Side

So much for what may be termed the intellectual side of the question; but it also presents a serious and moral aspect, which is to some extent suggested by the different excuse which another man will give for not sending his son to College. He will tell you with much importance and self-complacency that, for his part, he can see no good in a University education, and that he has got on very well and made money without it. His son, he says, has already received at the Grammar School a far better education than ever fell to his lot, and starts in life from a higher position and with much better prospects of success it really true that his prospects of money-making for that is what is meant - are better? Let us see. The father probably sprang fresh from the common people, and has a strong current of the healthy and uncontaminated blood of people coursing through his viens. He was resolute to make his way in the world, and pursued his object with steady and unfaltering aim. He had energy and push, and being born to work, work was and is his pleasure and enjoyment, and he has an unflagging appetite for it. On the other hand, the son, if not actually reared in the lap of luxury, has been allowed to have pretty much his own way, and has not been stinted in the gratification of most of his desires. He thinks more of gaiety and amusement than of work - more of spending than of making money. In short, the good that was in him has not been developed in struggles with adversity, and the evil that was in him has grown rank in the ease and sunshine of prosperity. The experience of every one will tell him that I have not been drawing a fancy picture; and in this view of the relative positions, it need scarcely be asked whether the son has a better chance of more worldly success than was enjoyed by the father.

An Education Befitting The Station, Needed By All Classes

Ignorance and vice are said, and rightly said, to go hand in hand; and it is universally admitted that education is one of the surest and most direct means of repressing the grosser crimes to which the lower orders of society are addicted. But although it is seen that vices of a more or less aggravated character are incidental to every rank and condition of life, it is not yet generally understood that the same kind of remedy - an education suitable in range and quality to the particular class - may in each case be attended with results equally salutary as those which would flow from the wide diffusion of elementary knowledge among the ignorant classes. It is high time that this important fact were recognised and acted upon. This truth being acknowledged, it would at once be conceded that the boy of fourteen, or fifteen, who, getting impatient of school control and longing for the imaginary freedom of manhood, rushes prematurely to seek employment behind the counter or the merchant's desk, can be but ill prepared to begin the serious business of life, and battle with the trials and temptations which beset his path. He is as yet little used to reflect on consequences, and his attainments are meagre and his ideas limited. His mind is plastic and unformed, and its powers are undeveloped and untrained. He has not learned to concentrate his attention and follow consecutive trains of reasoning. His faculties have not been awakened to the beauty and grandeur of the material universe, or to the consideration of the true position he himself occupies therein. He knows little of the limits natural and moral which hem him in on every side, and which he cannot transgress with impunity. The giant powers of nature, which it is the glory and the boast of the man of science to render subservient to his purposes, have never formed the subjects of his study. Having acquired no intellectual tastes and no fondness for literary or scientific pursuits, he finds, as might have been foreseen, his evening leisure dull and irksome, and to relieve its tedium he betakes himself to questionable amusements. On these he may make shipwreck of health, fortune and character, and may find all his expectations irrevocably blasted before he has well set out in life. Of late years, cases of embezzlement by clerks for the support of expensive pleasures, have become more and more frequent; and frauds on a large scale, by public men, have ceased to be uncommon. It cannot but be admitted that these evils exist and are on the increase; and although a sound religious and moral training, which will guide and influence the conduct throughout life, must ever be the only sure safe-guard against them, yet it will be granted that a higher and more thorough education, refining the taste and ennobling the character, may, with the Divine blessing, be made to exert the most powerful and beneficial subsidiary influence that can be brought into action.