Graduation Address

"The Experience, Prospects and Purposes of King’s College, Fredericton: Oration Delivered at the Encaenia, June 26, 1851, By Edwin Jacob, D.D. Principal" (UA Case 71)

The occasion on which it becomes my duty to address you calls forth remembrances attended with peculiar emotions. Twenty one years have this day passed since I here delivered the first Encaenial Oration. That was a day of remarkable solemnity. We were standing as it were—so we felt at the time, and so it shortly proved in the event—beside the deathbed of the Sovereign (the Fourth of the House of Brunswick) from whom we had received our Charter; and we could not fail to meditate, with more than usual interest, on the destinies of an institution intended, as far as circumstances might admit, to communicate to this Colony the knowledge, the sentiments, and the character which our venerable mother-country had learned to regard as the best inheritance of her children. And now that those years have run their course, and the College has attained (to speak after the manner of individual men) its majority, what has been our experience and our progress? and what are our prospects and purposes for the future? It will be my endeavour, although Orations are often taken for little more than elaborate and ornamental compositions, to set forth in a few plain and honest words what I may have found to observe on each of these points.

It would be needless to repeat what has been said on such occasions in former years; and much of it said with a clearness of statement, a force of argument, and a happiness of illustration, to which I could not expect or desire to make any requisite addition. Well may we all be convinced of the credit due to our "Founders and Benefactors" for a competent "Endowment" secured by positive law; a Charter empowering us to "confer Degrees in the liberal Arts and Sciences, as they are conferred by the Universities in England;" and the respective measures from time to time adopted, in order to "ensure to those who might receive their instruction here all the advantages which usually result from a Collegiate Education." I quote the language of the Act of the General Assembly of New Brunswick, which originally provided for the establishment of this College; and which further enacted "That His Majesty should be vested with all the rights and powers belonging to the Founder; and might, in and by Charter, nominate, constitute and appoint the Corporation, Patron and Visitor; and put the establishment upon such a footing as to His said Majesty in his Royal Wisdom might seem meet."

But it may be not unbecoming me to remind you of some things which have come under my own more particular observation; and a reference to which must, I conceive, be necessary to a just estimate of the progress made, and the expectations to be entertained of the future.

When therefore I received from His Excellency Sir Howard Douglas, then in England on public business, my appointment to this College, I was informed that accommodation had been provided in the building for twenty Students. The number was much less than I had previously anticipated; but I was assured that more were not likely to apply for admission in the then existing state of the population of the Colony. On my arrival I found in fact but twelve actually assembled, to whom four were added during the first Term. The venerable gentleman, then as President administering the Government of the Province, congratulated however the General Assembly on this, as he was pleased to describe it, "auspicious" commencement; and the two branches of the Legislature responded to his view. Some few accessions were subsequently made; but the experience of our first seven years indubitably proved that, although the College was then without the name or shadow of a rival, it had received its complement of ingenuous youth at that period requiring a collegiate education. E’er long indeed a change in the commercial relations of the Colony, together with the reduction of the support afforded to the Clergy of the Church of England, and the abrogation of its Divinity Scholarships, involved a painful diminution; while the members of other communions proceeded to establish their separate places of education; which, although disclaiming any thing like unfriendly competition, could scarcely fail to intercept some who might otherwise have repaired to the Provincial University. Complaints were at the same time made, more especially by ministers and members of the Church of Scotland, (and they were in some measure founded in reason) that the ecclesiastical character imposed on the College by the Charter was too exclusively English. The appointment of Professors from the sister Church, under the auspices of Sir Archibald Campbell and his successor Sir John Harvey, simultaneously with the return of commercial prosperity, and the restitution of the English Scholarships, (on which Sir William Colebrooke had an early opportunity of congratulating the Convocation) so far operated favourably that the Students rose to thirty—the greatest number yet attending in any one Term; and that, I may remark, according to the statements published by the late much lamented Bishop of Nova Scotia, nearly double the average attendance at King's College, Windsor, during thirty years of its existence, under his Lordship's zealous patronage, and the munificent support of the British Parliament and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, as the sole University for that Province, together with New Brunswick and the adjoining Colonies.

Since that period the changes which have taken place can hardly be said as yet to have been followed by the anticipated success. The Charter has received by Provincial Statute the "Amendment" which it was supposed to require; the Council, and certain offices of the institution, have been reconstructed; the "Statutes, Rules and Ordinances" have been revised; the "Responsible Government" now acknowledged to prevail in academic halls, as in legislative chambers and civil departments, unimpeded and uncontrolled, reforms and regulates all things, as it may deem best for the people whose interests and wishes it is understood to represent. The effect however to the present time is simply this :—that the Students attending the College have barely exceeded the number contemplated at its foundation ;—a fourth part more indeed than were received in the year 1829, but less by a third than those whom I had the satisfaction of seeing assembled in 1842.

Are we required to account for this defect of numbers? Surely the causes are self-evident in the facts of the case. In 1824, the year following that in which the General Assembly originally addressed the Crown for a Royal Charter, and pledged an endowment, the population of New Brunswick, according to the map then published in England by the Surveyor General, Mr. Lockwood, fell short of 75,000 souls. Twenty years later, partly in consequence of Irish immigration, it was somewhat more than double; and the subsequent increase, however subject to variation, has been perhaps on the whole proportionally progressive. But where has this population been found? how composed? and in what employments engaged?—Scattered over an area nearly coextensive with Ireland or Scotland; hewing down the indigenous forest, to be laboriously exchanged for imported food and clothing; or struggling to extract a still harder livelihood from amidst the stumps and stones of the desolated wilderness; with some exceptions—a few holders of public offices, now at least not very lucrative; a certain proportion of professional gentlemen, with very scanty incomes for the greater part; and here and there the more fortunate possessor of a peculiarly situated, improved, or accumulated property—destitute of the knowledge to appreciate a liberal education, of the means to enable their sons to obtain it, and of objects to induce and sustain the pursuit.—Surely the condition of a people, hitherto subjected to these disadvantages,—more especially when we add the severe reverses of late years sustained by the commercial part of the Colony, with the disastrous conflagrations repeatedly devastating the best inhabited districts,—must be admitted to furnish an adequate reason for that paucity of Students which has been sometimes made the subject of reproach. But it has been maintained, and we may expect to hear the assertion repeated, that our collegiate system is "unsuited" to the state of the country; that classical and scientific culture is not the want of the people; and that, if we would render our instructions generally useful, we must make them practical—teaching by example and employment, rather than by precept and in principle, the productive arts of life; such as agriculture, manufactures, and I suppose the whole business of commerce and exchange.

This however, I must be permitted to observe, is quite a new discovery among us. Whatever its merits, none of those "Founders or Benefactors," whom I am bound to commend to your grateful remembrance, appear to have contemplated such an application of the faculties and means of the College.

The Legislature in its Acts of Endowment and Amendment, the Government in its Charter, the Visitors, Chancellors, Councils, in the Statutes proposed, enacted, and approved, have alike concurred in prescribing intellectual and moral culture for our pursuit and occupation. The Professors to be appointed were from the first declared to be such as have occupied the Chairs in British Universities;—teachers of ancient and modern Literature and Science; of natural and moral Philosophy; of Theology, History, the Law of Nations and of Nature; of Chemistry and its associates; in short, of those attainments of the improved and civilized man, by the communication of which the nobler portion of our colonial youth might be qualified in mind and manner for the higher stations and more important occupations of a rising community.

Men thus qualified, and therefore thus educated, the community must have; or the best interests of the whole, and of all its component parts, will suffer loss. Men of inferior education may, it is true, perform, alter some fashion, the practical work; may not only till the ground—if that process deserves the name of tillage, which scatters wild labour over indefinite space, and leaves the exhausted soil in a state worse than that which nature had presented; may not only build houses—structures of combustible elements, to be swept away in an hour, whenever the spark may light upon them; may not only make roads—to damage the horse's feet, while their acclivities and descents impair his lungs and sinews;—such men, I say, may not only perform in their own way these manual and material works; but they may be found bold enough to undertake higher functions;—to profess I know not what empirical attainments; to practise surgery and physic; administer or even make laws; preach—divinity!

"So fools rush on, where angels fear to tread."

But what, I pray, must be the dangers, what the inevitable sufferings, of a people, whose health, whose properties and lives, whose souls—and hopes for time and eternity, are committed to such practitioners?

But were it advisable to instruct in the practical arts (and I not only think, but have urgently maintained, as my coadjutors have constantly shewn their desire and endeavour, that all our instructions should receive a practical direction) how, I take leave to enquire, is the practice to be taught? Is the College, as some worthy and patriotic men have proposed, to have its farms, with a complete array of buildings, instruments, and appliances, on which our young farmers may learn the various processes of cultivation and husbandry? Is it, as might with equal appearance of reason be proposed, to have its mills, tanneries, and workshops, where our young manufacturers and mechanics may learn the still greater variety of methods by which the products of the ground are adapted to our use and comfort? Is it to have its dockyards and their numerous appendages, in which our young shipbuilders and sailors may learn all that relates to navigation? Is it to have its stores and counting-houses, in which our young merchants and their clerks may learn the mysteries of trade? Is it (you will excuse me for carrying out the principle) to have its courts and offices of justice, in which our young lawyers and magistrates may learn to plead, examine, debate, and pronounce judgment?—its hospitals, theatres of anatomy, and officinal halls, in which our young physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, may learn whatever appertains to the healing art?—its parishes, churches, and schools, in which our young divines may learn to preach, pray, catechise, and solemnize sacred rites; and so acquire a practical acquaintance with all the various schemes of an ecclesiastical polity?

The question might be urged much further; but I presume it is already apparent that our College could scarcely be made a practical encyclopaedia of arts. Such a place of education indeed would be, not a seminary or academy, not even a conventual establishment spreading out into a village or a town; but a city, a state, a self-complete community. Although therefore some such an idea may have presented itself to the energetic intellect of Bacon, may have been adopted by the sublimer genius of Milton, revived by the benevolent ingenuity of Pestalozzi and Fellenberg, and now embraced by the lively and ardent zeal of some among ourselves; it must I am persuaded be found impracticable and delusive. The line must be somewhere drawn, circumscribing the functions of the College; and distinguishing it from the colony, the nation, the society of mankind; arid I know not where this line can be drawn, unless,—as now here, as in the colleges of Britain and of Europe, as in every tried and approved institution bearing the character of an university,—it be still regarded our peculiar province to teach the principles and applicabilities of TRUTH; which our pupils may afterwards apply in fact to their several pursuits, occupations, and duties, in the school of life—the university of the world.

Should the question still be urged why we propose not, after some method of our own, to render our scheme of instruction more specifically comprehensive, the answer might be—because experience appears not to have proved the practicability of such a project. It has at least been tried in a far more promising situation, under the most favourable auspices, and with ample command of instruments and means; and it has failed of an accomplishment at all commensurate with the purposes and hopes of the projectors.—Twenty five year since some of the first men in England proposed to establish an University of London. They stated their objects to be:— in the first place, to bring home to the doors of the inhabitants of that vast metropolis the means of a complete education, at the simple cost of the instruction; secondly, to afford the opportunity of an university education to the various classes of society in England; and finally, the establishment of extended and systematic courses of education for professional pursuits;—for the faculties namely, (for from the very beginning of the attempt to carry the project into practical effect, some limitation of their views was felt to be necessary, while Theology was deemed inadmissible among the instructions provided for all denominations,) of Laws and Medicine, and for Civil Engineering. The proposal was well received within a few months the requisite funds had been raised; and before the end of the year 1828 a suitable edifice had been erected; books, apparatus, and other necessary appliances, had been collected; and courses of instruction, in the three faculties of Arts, Laws and Medicine, were commenced. So comprehensive was the design, and so competent the appointments for its thorough execution, that for these courses were provided Professors of Latin, Greek, English, French, Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Sanscrit, Chinese, Comparative Grammar, History, Political Economy, Mental Philosophy, Logic, Jurisprudence, English Law, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, Zoology, Botany, Geology, Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Comparative Anatomy, Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Surgery, Clinical Surgery, Midwifery, Materia Medica, and Medical Jurisprudence. The College had also its Elementary School, established within its walls in 1832, and placed under the Professors of Latin and Greek, for the appropriate preparation of Students. Moreover in 1834 a Hospital was erected on its ground for the purpose of affording clinical instruction under the superintendence of the proper Professors.

The most strenuous advocates of such an institution were, as might have been expected, the leading members of the liberal party in politics, with the very eminent Lord Brougham at their head. It was supported by the most enlightened classes of dissenters; but the list of contributors comprised members of the peerage, and others of many various parties; and a considerable proportion of those who subscribed most largely were men of rank and members of the Church of England; whose names and well known opinions were regarded as sufficient evidence that the aims of the founders were of a catholic and not sectarian character. The shareholders amounted to 1100, and their subscriptions exceeded £160,000.

Now what was the result of this truly magnificent project? The number of Students who entered the classes during the first year was 557; of whom 269 were stated to have entered for general education, 123 attended the Law classes exclusively, and 169 were Medical Students. In the second year the number of Students rose to 596, but the proportions were found to have varied; the entries for the Law classes had diminished, while those of the Medical school had risen to 256. In the year 1836 this institution was partially united with another, denominated King's College, and admitting the Theology of the Church of England, in the University of London; but during the previous years of its existence its courses of instruction are said to have been steadily maintained, and the classes in the several faculties to have arrived at the points at which, with unimportant variations, they subsequently remained; so that, after the acceptance of the Charter, no material alteration took place in the academical arrangements, or in the numbers attending the classes. And what have those numbers been? During the seven years terminating in 1842, the average number of Students had been in Medicine 430; in Arts 145; in Law, who were also included in the latter number, sixteen! The most essential classes varied during the seven years;—in Mathematics, between 54 and 91; in Natural Philosophy, between 29 and 58; in Latin, between 44 and 77; in Greek, 46 and 70; while in the Medical faculty the lowest number of Students in any one year was 338, and the highest 497.—In other words, as I believe the conclusion may be incontrovertibly stated, London, England, the most enlightened, liberal, and energetic men of the country and the age, have signally failed to realize the project of a polytechnic university; and, with their almost infinite command of means, have produced little more than a respectable school of Medicine.

Possibly however it may be suggested that the scheme of such a College, although incapable of coping with the ancient and venerated Universities of England, might find a fairer field in this newly-peopled region; and in support of this view reference may be made to the numbers attending some of the Colleges in the United States.—The fact, I believe, would be found to be, that the most esteemed of these Colleges are those which most nearly resemble the old establishments in the British Isles, while the attendance of Students bears a general proportion to the population and wealth of the respective States. The most successful are undoubtedly such as add to the general departments of literature and science, usually comprised under the faculty of Arts, the professional faculties of Law, Medicine and Theology;—as for instance, the most ancient in the Union, Harvard College, constituting the University of Cambridge in Massachusetts, which, says Mr. Wyse, in his valuable work entitled America, its realities and its resources, "stands pre-eminent, and at the head of every collegiate institution in the United States—was founded so far back as the year 1638; and with Yale College in Connecticut, founded in 1700, sustains the highest literary reputation of any of the Universities."—And in proportion to the omission of any of these, as for instance Theology under the excessively liberal catholicity of Jefferson in Virginia, the institution appears to sustain a deficiency of numbers, by no means compensated by an increase of general repute.

The inference which on the whole I am compelled to draw is, I must acknowledge, none other than this:—that in a thinly peopled and comparatively uncultivated country no means which could be employed would have the effect of filling the College with agricultural, manufacturing, mechanical or commercial Students; but that, unless additional inducements be provided for those who might adopt the professional pursuits more especially denominated learned, we must be content to await the gradual progress of the population in number, in wealth, and in the wants and demands of an opulent and civilized people. To contribute to that progress, and to accelerate it, belongs to us in common with all the improving, diligent, and enterprising, institutions and inhabitants of the Province. To anticipate it by premature and violent efforts could be productive of no better effect than miserable, disheartening, self-destructive disappointment.

But here I will take the opportunity of quoting from one of the most popular productions of the English Press—the Cyclopaedia published by the Society for promoting Useful Knowledge, some observations which may, I trust, be borne in mind by all who desire the improvement of our scholastic system in general :—

"The true Theory of Education can only be developed by considering what the being is, on whom it is designed to operate. Education is, according to its etymology, the leading out or unfolding of the human powers. It is obviously therefore a means for a certain purpose. To learn what that purpose is, we must refer to experience, and we must investigate the capacity of the human being. These being ascertained, it follows that education is, in any particular case, an instrument for developing them. Now we know that man has not only physical and intellectual, but also moral and spiritual faculties, all of which Education ought to take under its care. That education is incomplete which neglects any one of these faculties; and that education discharges its functions imperfectly which does not cultivate the faculties in such degree, that their action may be well adjusted, and their general working harmonious. But if there appear to be any one of the faculties, apart from whose influence the rest work indifferently, or produce baneful results; and which is found, when in healthful vigour, to strengthen, refine, and control the whole nature, this power ought to receive primary and chief attention. The work then of education is to foster, strengthen and raise the physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual capabilities of man. Education ought to be universal, both in relation to each individual, and to the community at large; for it ought to be co-extensive with the capabilities on which it is intended to act. It is contrary to the constitution of man, and to the designs of God, for any one of our capacities to remain undeveloped. They err who neglect to educate the body, and they also who neglect to educate the mind. These errors represent two different classes of men. A certain school of philosophy at least makes light of religious education; physical education has been lamentably neglected by the recognized teachers of religion. The latter error is now disappearing, but the former has been gaining ground; and this error is the more to be deplored, because its consequences must be serious and lasting, if any one, certainly the religious faculty may be considered as the moving power of the human being. Religion indeed, rightly understood, is the central science, round which all other branches of knowledge, and all other pure influences are grouped; towards which they gravitate, and from which they receive their light, their heat, and their highest value. But for the peculiar political circumstances of England, any system of popular education which omitted direct religious culture would probably have been considered by thinking men as defective. The difficulties which stand in the way of an adjustment of conflicting claims may be numerous and great, and they may account for the diffusion of the mistake in question; but no difficulties can excuse, much less justify, a departure from truth. Principles must be steadily asserted, under adverse as Well as favourable circumstances; and the result will at last prove far more satisfactory than any thing which can ensue from expediency. Religion in education is all-important and indispensable; nor must the friends of a progressive civilization be deterred from proclaiming the met, by any apprehension that it may in some respects he turned to a bad account."

"There is indeed no other way than that which is afforded by a religious training, for forming such a character, as the trials and duties of life require, both among the rich and the poor. The mere communication of knowledge, and even habits of reflection, can do very little towards real happiness. What, the people want is true wisdom and moral power, without which life is a scene of conflict and misery; but wisdom and moral power are the peculiar gifts of religion."

"Morality therefore should be taught in the schools in connection with the sanctions of religion. Apart from religious influence, morality may direct but cannot control. Morality may enlighten, and it may enjoin; but of itself it is powerless to govern; it is perceptive, not impulsive; pointing out our path, but not urging us to pursue it. Now it is power rather than knowledge, that man wants; and all genuine power for moral purposes has its source in religion. It may be well to remember that these distinctions of morality and religion are factitious and arbitrary; they are not recognized in the records of the Christian revelation; they find no authority in the human mind. Religion includes morality; or rather is morality, as well as religion; comprising in itself whatever is necessary for man to know, do, and be, whether in this state or the next, in order to fulfill the Divine will, to perfect his character, and work out his highest good. Consequently, he that is well trained in the knowledge and practice of the Christian religion, has received both a moral and religious education, and is fitly prepared for the duties of life."

"From this (however) it will be seen that the religious education here demanded is not of a dogmatical, much less a sectarian kind; but such instruction as may enlighten the mind of the child and the adult, as to their capacities, their duties, and their hopes; and such a discipline, as may work the instruction into the character. For the culture which comes from education is in itself an end, if indeed it is not the primary and great end of education.—Education can have no higher object than the creation of happiness by means of the formation of character. This is the great object of THE DEITY himself."

It has been with almost unspeakable satisfaction that I found myself enabled to quote from an advanced part of the work which embodies the conclusions of the most enlightened and liberal members of the commonwealth of letters in the midst of the nineteenth century, sentiments so entirely accordant with the principles of this our College;—with the Charter as originally granted, and the Statutes enacted and appointments made in conformity with that declaration of the Royal will and pleasure; with the Act of Amendment and the revised Statutes, expressing the maturer views of the Provincial Legislature and Government—whatever may be thought of certain subsequent proceedings; and with the course from the first adopted, and invariably I trust to be pursued, within the College itself.

There are indeed men, and some for whom I am bound to speak with high respect, who persist in maintaining, not only the difficulty, but the impossibility, of effectually communicating religious instruction, except in dogmatic and sectarian forms, and hence infer that our system ought either to be rendered determinately ecclesiastic, or to be entirely secularized—as (by the legislative measures respectively adopted) that of the University of Toronto; of the Colleges lately established in Ireland; and of the London University College, which probably served for their model. My decided conviction is that the sounder judgment has prevailed in this unsophisticated Province of Her Majesty's dominions; and I hesitate not now to say of the "Via Media" here preferred, "Asto perpetua !" For what, I must be permitted to ask, is in its essence Religion—true and pure religion—or (what I assume to the identical) the genuine, holy, primitive and catholic religion of Jesus Christ? Is it not, must it not be, could it be any other than, a just conception of the relation of all mankind to God, with corresponding emotions, and suitable conduct? It is therefore, and it ought to be taught to those who are capable of so receiving it, (and may not such capacity be presumed in the ingenuous youth resorting to an university?) independent of external modes, which are variable with places and times, and comparatively indifferent in all. Now this instruction "in the spirit, and not in the letter," is precisely what is here attempted, and what it would delight me to see more completely accomplished. Every Student matriculated in this "Alma Mater" is instructed in those principles of Mathematical Science, which led the sound and sober mind of Newton, by what appeared to him clear demonstration, to the fundamental truths of Intellectual Theology. To every Student are presented the inductions of Physical Science, which impressed a Ray, a Cuvier and a Paley, and which now fill the "Cosmos" of a Humboldt, with profound conviction of the wisdom and goodness of the One and All-perfect Creator. Before every Student is opened the Sacred Volume recording, in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and Greek of the New, those revelations of Divine providence, righteousness, and grace, which have been from age to age "the light of the Gentiles," and the glory of "the Israel of God." Would that but time and opportunity were afforded to follow up these primary and essential truths with the history of religion from the beginning; and with its application to the moral, civil, and ecclesiastical duties of men! For these—all these great subjects might be studied before one of the smaller questions need arise, which have divided Church from Church, arrayed Council against Council, and alienated Christian from Christian; not however, after the decrees of the Fathers— "pace tantorum virorum dixerim"—of Trent, or of Dort, or of such as might now compose a Synod at Exeter; or even according to the Creed which an "Evangelical Alliance," in the transparent palace and temple of light at London, might prescribe for "the Church of the future;"—not, I humbly and reverently trust, necessarily estranging man from God, the Father, Saviour, and Comforter of all.

But it has been alleged that the College has not furnished the men whom the higher interests of the Province requires; that its Graduates are not prominent in Councils or Offices; do not distinguish themselves in popular debates; and are not the applauded leaders of religious assemblies. And the allegation may be acknowledged to have some foundation in facts. Our expectations, encouraged indeed by the solemn assurance of Her Majesty's Representative, (made in this place, and I doubt not with perfect sincerity on the part of that gallant and generous-hearted individual,) to whom was committed the duty of introducing a new form of Provincial Administration, that young men of approved proficiency and merit in the College, might depend on the favour and patronage of the Government, have not been verified to any remarkable extent. Although the principles of sound argument and composition have been here taught and studied, the instances are not very numerous of our scholars lifting up their voices in public meetings. And while the Presbyterian, both of the Established Church of Scotland and of the Free Church, the Baptist, the Methodist, and even the Roman-Catholic from the mountains of Tipperary, have here received the same attention and been entitled as Students to equal privileges, I certainly am not aware that they are as yet seen to minister at other altars, or Occupy other pulpits than those of our English Church.

Whether such failures (supposing them all alike to be regretted) are in any degree justly chargeable on our system, I will not undertake to determine. The circumstances at which I have glanced might perhaps be candidly admitted to have rendered success in some respects almost hopeless. The period can hardly be thought to have arrived for the full development in many instances of the influential abilities which may have been nursed and formed among us. Nor is it, I may add, the majority of any class at any time or place which can be reasonably expected to attain to distinguished excellence. In the mean time however I may venture to observe that the College has not been unproductive of scholars, of gentlemen, or of christians;—men, whose superiority has been witnessed in writing, in speaking, and in the honorable fulfillment of their civil and religious duties. Essays, for instance, which have attained the Douglas Medal, have shewn an extent of information, a force of argument, a precision and elegance of style, and a purity and elevation of sentiment, sufficiently attesting the talents and the character of their youthful authors. If the thoughts, the feelings, and the language, here become habitual, might be considered some-what too refined for the coarse and reckless oratory of the hustings; there have not been wanting instances in which our youthful speakers have been heard with attention, approval, and effect. The Medical profession, I may also observe, as well as the Legal and the Sacred, (and I might refer to some gallantly serving, or nobly fallen, among the defenders of their country's rights) is not without its members from among our alumni, deserving and enjoying the respect and confidence of the community. And perilous as prediction may always be, I cannot withhold the avowal of my persuasion, that others will appear at a not distant period, whom any College might rejoice to claim;—those who will evince, as soon as the fair opportunity shall be afforded them, that not in vain have they been led to study the immortal works of the great authors of ancient and modern times; been trained to exercise the highest and noblest faculties of their souls; and accustomed to investigate, analyze, and deduce, the comprehensive truths of the natural, the moral, and the spiritual world. Nor can I doubt that with the advancing industry, intelligence, and wealth of the Colony, the number of those who repair to our College for these its appropriate objects will in due proportion increase.

Of that advance we see encouraging evidence in the unabated energy and enterprise of our merchants, achieving so early a triumph over every successive reverse and disaster and admirably exemplifying the classical precept which they may all have learnt at our Grammar-schools, if not in the College—

"Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito!";—

in the earnest and zealous efforts of individuals and societies for the improvement of agriculture, and the various applications of manual and mechanical ingenuity;—and in the rapidly multiplying contrivances for the diffusion of information, and the interchange of all the productions of labor and skill, ensuring us a due participation in the augmenting "wealth of nations."

Such then are the hopes which, in humble reliance on a just and gracious Providence, I venture to entertain and avow. For our purposes—they may, I trust, be all comprised in that one word, Duty—the faithful, diligent, and zealous discharge, —more faithful, (if possible,) diligent and zealous than ever, —of the obligations of our place and time. To those who would make the College a polytechnic institution we may not promise much more in the way of merely practical teaching; we must not listen to the cry which calls us from the pursuit of truth and virtue to the lower paths and grosser occupations of the multitude; we will not yield to the suggestions which would tempt us to pander to the unworthy passions, flatter the prejudices and vain conceits, or court the boisterous plaudits, of factions or the casual crowd. But we may, we must, we will, as far as it shall please God to grant us power and opportunity, exert our best endeavours to communicate knowledge intrinsically valuable, with the disposition to use it for the common benefit; to promote the health, the peace, the welfare and the happiness, of all ranks and orders of the people—the real and lasting good of the mind which we have been called to improve, and the country which we would render worthy of her children's grateful and constant love.

"Worthy indeed in many respects the land in which we are planted undoubtedly is;—in a climate which, notwithstanding some excess of summer's heat or winter's cold, proves itself sufficiently adapted to growth, strength, vigour, and the development of the higher powers and faculties of man; in a soil whose fertility, had it not been otherwise attested, is abundantly displayed in the magnificent variety of forest crowning our highest hills, and the luxuriant herbage which overspreads our plains and vales; in its timber, and metals, and minerals, and exhaustless fisheries, with streams and rivers and bays and harbours, promising a progressive extension of commerce and of opulence;—and, I will add; in the elements of social and moral progression, to be found in an assemblage of colonists speaking the language, imbued with the sentiments, and cherishing the customs and institutions of the British Isles; —whence has sprung, what I shall venture to call, notwithstanding inevitable defects which time alone can supply, our truly admirable scheme of Provincial Education, designed to provide needful instruction for every child of a New Brunswicker, from the indigent occupant of the hut in the remotest clearance, to the landholder, the citizen, and the public officer. To accomplish this scheme,—not by destroying foundations well and wisely laid; not by capricious alterations to be abandoned as soon as made; not by unadvised and ludicrous attempts to perform in a few days or weeks what the nature of man requires to be the work of months, or rather of years; but by well-considered, steady, and persevering application of the best available means,—this is the Teacher's task; this must be the patriotic Statesman’s aim and hope.