Address in Praise of Founders

"The Encoenia" The Daily Telegraph (23 June 1876): 1-2.  (UA Case 71)

Nearly half a century ago, His Majesty, George the Fourth, issued a Royal Charter ordaining and granting that there shall be established at or near our town of Fredericton, in our province of New Brunswick, one College, with the style and privileges of an University, for the education and instruction of youth and students in arts and faculties. And by the same Charter, it is, among other things, further ordained and granted that the said College shall be deemed and taken to be an University, and shall have and enjoy all such and the like privileges as are enjoyed by our Universities of our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, so far as the same are capable of being had and enjoyed by virtue of these our Letters Patent; and that the students in the said College shall have liberty and faculty of taking the degree of bachelor, master and doctor in the several arts and faculties at the appointed times, and shall have liberty within themselves of performing all scholastic exercises for the conferring of such degrees, in such manner as shall be directed by the statutes, rules and ordinances of the said College. And it is further directed and ordained that the Chancellor, President and Professors of our said College, and all persons admitted therein to the degree of master of arts, or to any degree in divinity, law or medicine, and who from the time of such their admission to such degree shall pay the annual sum of twenty shillings sterling money, for and towards the support and maintenance of the said College, shall be deemed and taken and reputed to be members of the convocation of said University, and as such members of the said convocation shall have, exercise and enjoy all such and the like privileges as are enjoyed by the members of the convocation of our University of Oxford, so far as the same are capable of being had and enjoyed by virtue of these our Letters Patent, and consistently with the provisions thereof.

In order to give the Royal Charter effect, ways and means for the support and maintenance of the College were wisely and liberally provided by the then Provincial Legislature. To the men who thus early recognised the great importance of establishing within the Province "a College for the education of youth in the principles of the Christian religion and for their instruction in the various branches of science and literature," we owe a lasting and ever increasing debt of gratitude. It is therefore proper and becoming that we should be enjoined to hold them in respectful remembrance and accord them special honor on occasions like the present, when year by year our graduates, after having their minds disciplined, expanded and invigorated by the course of study they have undergone, leave the cherished halls of their Alma Mater to act well their parts in the arduous battle of life.

It is now universally acknowledged by those most capable of judging, that the general intelligence of a nation, and the place it takes in the onward march of civilization are largely dependent upon the fostering care which it bestows upon its higher institutions of learning. For, although these cannot exist or flourish in the absence or neglect of lower schools for elementary instruction, yet, their reaction upon the latter is of the most vital importance to the increase and diffusion of knowledge among the people. Without them, indeed, the general standard of education, instead of rising higher and higher with each succeeding year, would, inevitably, sink lower and lower, and be like a sickly plant in thirsty soil which needs frequent alternations of rain and sunshine to keep it in healthy and vigorous growth.

The early years of King's College, Fredericton, were cloudy and tempestuous, and it had to undergo a hard struggle for existence. In the original charter there were certain provisions of a denominational character which speedily aroused feelings of fierce hostility and dislike. These tended greatly to mar the usefulness of the institution, which was generally looked upon as too sectarian to be allowed to flourish in the free soil of New Brunswick. The exclusive privileges complained of have been gradually swept away, and now the Provincial University, established on the widest and most liberal basis, stands free and open to all, without distinction of class or creed. Here students of all denominations meet on terms of perfect equality, and enjoy in common that broad and generous culture through which unity of national spirit is fostered and developed, mutual respect and forbearance are engendered, and social harmony and good feeling promoted.

While much of the narrow prejudice and self-conceit necessarily and naturally incident to denominational institutions are thus avoided, the very liberality and comprehensiveness, which constitute the pride and boast of our University scheme, subject us to drawbacks, which ought not to be overlooked, and on the nature of which I now propose to make a few observations.

With diffusion and expansion comes loss of depth and tenacity; and an institution intended equally for the use and advantage of all denominations suffers by having a weaker hold upon the regard and patronage of each in particular. The pride taken in promoting its welfare, and the pleasure and satisfaction derived from seeing it flourish, are in danger of being enfeebled; and the claims to sympathy and generosity which it might have awakened, had it management been confined to a single denomination, are apt to pass unfelt and unheeded. Moreover, denominational colleges find everywhere warm and influential advocates in the clergy of their respective churches. These reverend gentlemen, owing to their learning and the high and dignified position which they fill, are, in matters of education, very properly and generally consulted by members of their flocks. Whenever, therefore, a clergyman has been educated at a college under the supervision of the religious body to which he belongs, he naturally gives it the preference; and his views and opinions have much weight in turning the current of popular feeling in that direction.

The readiest and most effectual means of counteracting these opposing influences is for our graduates to become active and interested agents, both by word and deed, in spreading the reputation and furthering the interests of the University. To attain this result, they must, on leaving our halls, be imbued with a tender and trusting love for their Alma Mater; be made to feel that inward glow of pride and satisfaction which fires the heart of every true scholar, as his intellectual powers are drawn forth and developed under the skillful guidance of experienced professors; and be brought to look upon the mode of teaching and discipline adopted as of a higher order than is to be found in any similar institution within reasonable reach. To cause the University to be so regarded must be largely the work of the professors employed, and the appropriateness of the studies prescribed. But perhaps even more will depend on the cultivation among the students themselves of that fraternal harmony which creates a strong esprit de corps, and knits them together in loving union as members of one and the same body. Whenever the University is so fortunate as to gain this favored place in the affections of her Alumni,--and it behooves all who are interested in her welfare to labor zealously in their respective spheres for its attainment--her graduates, wherever their lot may be cast, will be found ready and willing to speak a good word in her behalf, and extend to her a helping hand in time of need. Above all, let our students, whether graduates or undergraduates, ever remember this fact--for it is one apt to be neglected though its influence on public opinion cannot be overestimated--that it rests with them in a very great degree to make or to mar the fortunes of their Alma Mater, and that as deeds ever speak louder than words, her fair fame and reputation may be dimmed as well as brightened by their habits and conduct in life, and the repute in which they are held by their fellow-men.

By placing the University at the head of our non-sectarian school system, that system acquires a unity, fullness and symmetry which have been long and ardently wished for in many countries where time-honored customs, vested rights and conflicting interests form almost insuperable barriers to the introduction of any uniform and comprehensive scheme of public instruction. Now, while the endowment of the University out of the general revenues of the Province gives it a recognised status and affords some warrant of stability, yet this very dependence upon the Government seems to dry up the springs of that private magnificence with which most of the Colleges in the neighboring states [.......] -freshed. For, sad to say! ever since the first establishment of the University, our professors in their encoenial orations have never yet been called upon to perform the pleasing  duty of rendering the due meed of praise to a single individual whose benefactions have added to our resources. It is tacitly assumed that as we have the Government to fall back upon, we must find it in our strongest and surest support, and therefore we can have no need of sympathy or assistance from other quarters. Never was assumption built on a more slender basis. Legislators revel in enacting any number of petty laws, and talking over them almost ad infinitum; but they are very chary of making money grants, especially for purely intellectual purposes. Before these can be taken into favorable consideration by either the Government or the Opposition, undoubted evidence must be adduced, either of their immediate and absolute necessity or of their value in promoting the progress and prosperity of the country. But nothing is more difficult than to demonstrate to such bodies the advantages of a liberal provision for the higher education, inasmuch as the profit cannot be weighed in the material scales which both parties insist upon using. Hence, all demands for increased means are usually met with the characteristic deafness of the adder.

The endowment that fifty years ago was liberal and ample no longer suffices to keep us abreast of similar institutions, which, in accordance with the progressive spirit of the age, are ever pressing onward and improving. To render the University popular and attractive, it must be able to show that it is actuated by this spirit. It must be provided with all the best modern appliances for rendering its course of study effective and interesting. Its apparatus, library, museum and laboratory, must receive the additions which from time to time become necessary. Its course of study must also be made more varied and complete, so as to keep pace with the requirements of the age. This would necessitate an increase int  he teaching staff; and if we would secure and retain as professors, men of mark and eminence in their respective departments, we must be prepared to pay them as liberal salaries as their abilities would command elsewhere. All this implies increased expenditure, and to meet it ways and means must be forthcoming, unless we are content to fold our hands and lag behind in the rapid march of improvement. But on this point we are met with strong and uncompromising opposition from those with whom money constitutes the supreme court of appeal alike in things material and spiritual. These dollar-and-cent men are fond of making calculations and parading in figures the large sum expended by the province on each student educated within our walls.

Contenting myself for the present with protesting against this narrow and mercenary method of estimating the benefits which a community, and through it the country at large, derives from the presence and intercourse of even a few cultured and highly educated minds, I propose to show that in the matter complained of the University of New Brunswick is by no means singular. In doing so, let me not be understood as viewing with indifference the small number of students in attendance, or resting satisfied with the amount of good we are now accomplishing. Such is far from being the case; and in this connection I may be allowed to pause for a moment to bring forward evidence to prove that our University is not so utterly inefficient as some of its detractors would fain make the public believe.

I dislike comparisons, and would in general avoid the odious task of making them; but, inasmuch as during the past winter certain parties in Nova Scotia, when seeking to obtain from the Government grants for sectarian Colleges, deemed it fit and becoming to represent our non-sectarian University as a signal failure, I feel constrained, in the cause of justice and air play, to draw attention to the following facts. In the academical year 1874-5, the number of our students who, after completing the full undergraduate course of study, took the Degree of Bachelor of Arts was thirteen, while in the same year the total number admitted to the same degree in three Sectarian College in Nova Scotia, namely, King's, Acadia and Dalhousie, amounted in all to only fourteen. If we carry the comparison backwards for several years, the result will appear still more in our favor. Nor will it, I think, be contended that in point of scholarship and conduct, our students do not rank at least on a par with hose from any of the institutions names.

Without knowing what may be the precise annual income of any of these institutions, I do no hesitate to say that in them the cost per graduate, paid as it is from several sources, is not likely to fall short of that chargeable on the University of New Brunswick. Indeed, the experience of every civilized nation goes to establish and confirm the fact that no institution for higher education can be maintained in a condition of efficiency worthy of its mission, except at an expenditure which must seem disproportionately large to those who regard only the things of sense and take no cognizance of the wants of the spirit. The truth is--and the sooner it is boldly avowed and comes to be generally admitted the better--neither the University of New Brunswick, nor any of the Colleges in the Maritime Provinces is so largely endowed as it ought to be, if it would really reach the high standard of excellence aimed at, and which, with very inadequate means, it is expected to attain. A glance at the resources of one or two of the famous seats of learning in America and Great Britain will render this truth more apparent.

The money donations to the University of Cincinnati during the year 1875 amounted to $119,748.92; and within the same period Harvard College, Massachusetts, received in subscriptions and gifts on less than $214,800. It must not be forgotten that these sums are the more incidental additions of a single year to the already ample endowment funds of these institutions; and yet the annual interest of either sum would, according to opinions freely expressed by some parties both in and out of the Provincial Legislature, furnish not only an adequate but even an extravagant allowance for the support of the University of New Brunswick not only for a generation but for all future time. The total amount of funds possessed by Harvard College on August 31st, 1875, was $3,139,217. [More recently, Mr Marquand of New York has given $150,000 for the erection of a new College Chapel at Princeton.]

Looking to England, I find it stated in the Scottish American Journal for April 27th, 1876, that the annual income of Oxford and Cambridge combined, amounts to nearly $1,000,000. That this cannot be much of an exaggeration is manifest from an article contributed by a perfectly reliable party to Macmillan's magazine for February last, wherein the revenues of the University and Colleges of Oxford alone, for the year 1871, are set down at £423,841 sterling. Now, Lord Salisbury, in his speech made last winter before Parliament on the Government scheme of University reform, puts the number of undergraduates at the University of Oxford at somewhat less than 1,000. With these data supplied, I leave to those who have no intellectual tastes for talents beyond such simple calculations, the congenial task of cyphering out, as they would express it, the annual cost per head of educating Oxford students. And yet, notwithstanding the enormous expenditure involved in the support of her Universities, every student of history, every man capable of searching out and tracing the hidden springs from which flow the streams of national prosperity and greatness, will readily admit that the proud and honorable place which Great Britain this day holds among the civilized nations of the world is largely due to the high culture imparted to her sons in such institutions as Oxford and Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow. And if so, who will affirm that the money spent by the nation in liberally maintaining its higher educational establishments does not bring an ample and ennobling return? As already intimated the English Universities are not considered perfect; and it must be conceded that they are far from accomplishing the work which the nation has a right to expect from them. Hence, of late years, the cry for reform has become so urgent that the Government has been obliged to take the matter in hand. It is, however, a very noticeable fact that the most ardent advocates of reform, never contemplate the diversion of any portion of their vast revenues to purposes other than connected with the legitimate work of the Universities themselves. The grand object sought to be attained by all parties is the widening of the sphere of the education imparted, the bringing within the scope of University instruction every branch of human knowledge, and the making it more thorough, searching and progressive. An additional feature in the reform demanded is the endowment of scientific research, that is, making a liberal provision for men able and willing to devote their time and talents to original investigations, and the prosecution of fresh discoveries in the special branch of study in which they have become famous. In short, the end desired is not only to make the University a teaching body of the most perfect and comprehensive character, but also a place of resort wherein the most learned men may find in the eminent Professors, the extensive libraries, museums and laboratories, the readiest and surest means of satiating their thirst of knowledge with deeper and deeper draughts from an unfailing and ever-living fountain.

I do not presume for an instant to compare the University of New Brunswick with any of the wealthy and long established institutions above named. With us it is still the day of small things, and for many years we must be content to follow afar off, humbly and laboriously in their footsteps. But from all that has been said I think it will be evident that an endowment liberal and ever-increasing with the requirements of the times is an absolute necessity for the maintenance of even a moderately equipped institution for the higher education. Hence in countries comparatively poor and with a sparse and toiling population it is a grave error and a serious detriment to intellectual advancement to multiply needlessly much less by such establishments. The funds which would barely sustain one in a tolerable state of efficiency and insure to it some degree of reputation would, when frittered away among as many as there are denominations seeking for aid, reduce all to such a pitiable condition of feebleness as would render them wholly unfit for the due performance of the work they had undertaken.

Happily the people of New Brunswick have been hitherto, in a great measure, exempt from the necessity of supporting out of their limited resources more than one institution for the higher education of the youth of the country. In the Provincial University no distinctions of creeds are recognized, and students of all denominations, having equal rights, may be sure of being treated with the same impartial consideration by the Professors and members of the Senate. And although its claims upon the bounty of individuals and the personal interest taken in promoting its prosperity may be less directly felt than it would be if it belonged exclusively to a single denomination, let us nevertheless hope that the wider field of its operations will furnish some compensating advantages, and that all will become more fully alive to the necessity of rallying round it, in order that the people of the Province may have the pride and satisfaction of possessing at least [........] is undoubted the true policy, especially in such a country as New Brunswick. For, in an institution owned and supported by all, the members of each denomination may fairly expect to find more ample and efficient means of literary and scientific culture than could be provided by their separate and unaided efforts. Moreover, spare funds would thus be left available for founding and endowing theological colleges, which thus, to a certain extent, would become affiliated with the University, though conducted exclusively under the auspices of the denomination to which they respectively owed their support. Such, in reality, is the plan adopted in Scotland. There the arts course in the universities is open to all alike; and students of every denomination gladly avail themselves of the many privileges and advantages thereby offered. It is only after having undergone this preliminary training in common that those intended for the ministry in the several denominations seek for instruction in the particular doctrines of their church in theological colleges endowed and supported by the religious body to which they belong. This scheme I have already advocated in former addresses from this place, and I would now again beg for it the careful and unbiassed consideration of the different denominations throughout the Province.

The 20th section of the Act establishing the University of New Brunswick expressly declared "Any person, or body politic or corporate, may found such and so many professorships, lectureships, scholarships, exhibitions, prizes or other rewards in the University, not inconsistent with the spirit and provisions of this Act, as they may think proper, by providing a sufficient endowment therefor in lands or other property."

Since the successful inauguration of the Non-Sectarian School System there exists the greater necessity for a non-sectarian university to round off and form the apex of the structure, and give unity and completeness to the whole educational fabric. The Schools and University are intimately connected and the steps of advance from the one to the other should be made as easy and gradual as possible. Now, while very great and marked improvement has been made in the Common Schools of the Province, little or nothing has been done on behalf of secondary education, that is towards providing schools of a higher order which would rank next to the University and act as its immediate feeders. Hitherto the County Grammar Schools have been supposed to perform this duty; but most of them at the present time do little of the work for which they were primarily established. Indeed some of them have become so sadly degenerate as to be little if any better than second or third rate Common Schools. Whatever good, therefore, they may have accomplished in the past, their days of usefulness are now numbered, and it is high time that they should be made to give way to something better. I cannot but hope that an early effort will be made to fill up the deplorable gap now existing between the University and the Common Schools. In some cases where no charge can be brought against the efficiency of the Grammar Schools it is yet certain that very little of the fruit is reaped by the University. How far this may be owing to the masters failing to inspire the pupils with a love of knowledge for its own sake, and stimulate them to draw more copiously from the fountain whose invigorating virtues they are as yet unable to appreciate, I am not prepared to say.

For many years past I have witnessed with astonishment and regret the small number of pupils sent from St. John to receive a University training. Considering the large population of that city and its suburbs, and the wealth and social position of many of the citizens, one would naturally expect that the University would obtain from it a larger number of students than from all the other parts of the Province taken together. There, however, the moving spirit which animates and pervades society seems to be an intemperate haste to get rich; and as business and money-making form the chief topics of conversation, the prevailing idea is implanted in early youth and strikes deeper and deeper root with advancing years. The consequence is that with boys at school it becomes a fixed and settled habit of mind to look forward with impatience to the time when, freed from irksome restraint and drudgery of lessons, they will be able to stand behind a counter or at the desk in a merchant's office.

To guard against the imputation of prejudice or unfairness, I shall preface any further remarks I may have to make upon the injurious effects of such a state of things upon the intellectual condition of the community with an extract from a leading article which lately appeared in one of the best conducted daily papers of St. John itself. The observant and intelligent editor says:--"St. John has no public library and no public park, nor has it any present prospect of obtaining either of these, so far as we can discover. With regard to the first no one can honestly say that it is not greatly needed. There is not in all America a city which affords a literary man or student less facilities for his work than St. John, not even excepting those workroom town in the West, which spring up like Jonah's gourd in one night. Any one who desires to conduct independent researches must trust to his own private resources to collect a library for himself, for there is no public library of any kind to which he can apply. This has naturally caused a dearth of interest in literary and scientific matters in St. John. It seems impossible for any society which deals with subjects outside of business to exist here at all. The Natural History Society is dead; the lately formed Historical Society has not had a meeting for months, and it will probably not be heard of again. And so it is with every society in St. John which aims to extend literary, historical, or scientific knowledge. For this state of things the want of a public library must be held largely responsible; yet, it would not be difficult, if an earnest effort were made, to establish a public library in St. John. We have among us rich men and public-spirited men who would be proud to link their names with so excellent a work as the founding of such a library here. Will they come forward and establish a free public library in St. John."--Daily Telegraph, Nov. 18th, 1875.

While the facts adduced by the learned editor are patent and undeniable, it is clear to me that the confessed dearth of interest in literary and scientific matters arises from a malady more radical in its nature than the mere want of a free public library. For, so long as the boys, who in the future are to become the prominent men and leading spirits in the community, leave school for the active business of life with characters unformed, talents undeveloped, and no regular habits of study or love of learning of any kind instilled into their minds, a cure is hopeless and beyond the reach of a public library. The real root of this evil lies in the lack of the broader and more generous culture supplied by University training, and the remedy must be sought in this direction. The pernicious notion that a college education is thrown away upon those who do not mean to enter one or other of the learned professions is far too widely prevalent and too generally acted upon. Even wealthy patents, who out of their ample means could well afford to provide their sons with the very best education, are often heard giving this an incontrovertible reason for sending them forth into the world with a very scanty measure of wha they superciliously style "book-learning." It is altogether forgotten that intellectual culture and refinement are calculated to dignify and adorn every station of life, and are a legacy far more enduring and more easily transmissible than mere worldly wealth. With the possession of such culture and refinement we would have some guarantee that riches, whether inherited or acquired, would be wisely directed to profitable and praiseworthy uses, and we would be less frequently called upon to witness the sad and spectacle of an idle and ignorant son wasting in riotous living the hard earned substance with which a saving and industrious father had vainly hoped to found a family and perpetuate a name.

Within the last few years St. John has done much for the previously neglected cause of education. She has erected fine, costly and commodious schoolhouses, to which she can now point with honest pride and satisfaction. She has many tried and able teachers, well qualified to lay a good foundation for further intellectual development. The spirit of educational progress has invaded her borders, and let us hope that the march will be ever onwards and upwards until she is worthily represented in our University halls by such number of students as beseem her wealth and population. To this end let her citizens banish from their minds the fatal delusion that the mere driblet of learning which suffices for acquiring the art of good writing and casting up accounts will do anything towards the intellectual advancement of a community, or the creation therein of an "interest in literary or scientific matters."

Before I close I beg the attention of the Alumni more particularly to a paragraph which I have already quoted from our Royal Charter. It reads thus: "And it is further directed and ordained that the Chancellor, President and Professors of our said college, and all persons admitted therein to the degree of Master of Arts, or any degree in divinity, law or medicine, and who from the time of such, their admission to such degree, shall pay the annual sum of twenty shillings, sterling money, for and towards the support and maintenance of the said college, shall be deemed and taken and reputed to be members of the convocation of the said University, and as such members of the said convocation shall have exercise and enjoy all such and the like privileges as are enjoyed by the members of the convocation of our University of Oxford, so far as the same are capable of being had and enjoyed by virtue of these our Letters Patent, and consistently with the provisions thereof."

Now, it seems to me that the Act establishing the University in no way interferes with the organizing of a Convocation as above described, for it especially states: "That all the real and personal estate, rights, easements, privileges and immunities of every nature or kind whatsoever, now vested in or belonging to the chancellor, president and scholars of King's College, Fredericton, in the Province of New Brunswick, shall be and they are hereby vested in the University of New Brunswick."

It is clear that were such a Convocation formed and allowed the exercise of the rights and privileges which it might properly claim, it would in time become a power in the University. The annual payment to the funds of the sum required to constitute membership would of itself be productive of good effects. For it would not only be felt as a yearly stimulus to the interest taken in the University, but it would also serve to strengthen and draw closer the bonds of union between the members of Convocation themselves and between them and their Alma Mater.