Address in Praise of Founders

"Address in Praise of the Founders by Prof. Claridge at Encaenia of Univ. of N.B." The Daily Mail (15 May 1924): 5.

Prof. E. B. Claridge who is retiring from the chair of Forest Engineering at the University of New Brunswick prepared the Address in Praise of Founders which is really the Faculty Oration of the Encaenia. This afternoon Prof. A. V. S. Pulling, Professor of Forestry who is also retiring from the faculty, read the address which was as follows:--

Each year at this time we dedicate a small part of the encaenial exercises to the memory of the founders of this institution. It is to do for those far-sighted what Ol Mortality did for the Covenanters--to scrape away from their tombstones the moss that has overgrown with time the record of their deeds. It is a happy practice which from year to year revives our interest, not in the men alone who made this University possible, but also in the spirit and traditions which are the outgrowth of a long and honorable history.

Struggle of the Past

Some time ago, I was fortunate enough to open a small pamphlet on "The Genesis of the University of New Brunswick", which had been suggested to me as a possible source of inspiration for this address. It was with a certain feeling of apathy and reluctant duty that I did so. The lack of interest, however with which I began to read, quickly disappeared as I followed the unfolding story in its rich recital of a continual struggle that was marked by constantly recurring set-backs, but the end of which was always progress. It was an epitome, in fact, of a part of Canadian history which though small, was not unimportant and as I continued to read, I gained a clearer vision of the sons of this University in their faithful following of those now far-off men who were its founders, and who laid so well the solid basis upon which it was to stand for the years that were yet to come.

Unfaltering Courage

To anyone who glances back over the history of this institution the realization must come that not only those seven men, whose names are so fittingly inscribed upon the mural tablet in the library, ought to be remembered as the founders of the University. Those brave souls, also who for seventy-five years and more were their successors in sacrifice and service, are equally deserving of that honour at such a time as this. In many ways, indeed it may be truly said that theirs was the harder part. Study the history of that three quarters of a century. Read the annals of the University through that long period! What a story of indomitable perseverance and unfaltering courage it relates! What difficulties had to be met and overcome,--difficulties that were felt in the first days of the Old Academy, gathered strength through the stormy life of King's College and certainly did not end with the actual creation of the University!

Sectarianism and Enmity

For the founders of the University were from the beginning the heirs to an unhappy legacy of narrow sectarianism and open enmity, that even during the happiest and most successful days was smouldering beneath the surface. Their hearts must surely have been "triple-bound wth brass" to enable these men to withstand so bravely the assaults alike of misguided friends and bitter foes. Yet all through these years of trial and tribulation they were building a firm foundation for the University which is our proud heritage today. It is of that achievement that for a few moments this afternoon, I want to speak.

Classical Standard

These men were trained in the intellectual atmosphere of a classical education and they clung tenaciously to the ideals of that system. Witness for example the statement of Dr. Jacob in an Encaenial address in 1851 that no methods ought to be followed, the outcome of which would be the filling of the University with agricultural, mining and commercial students. For such there was to be in the University no place: "Intellectual and moral culture", Dr. Jacob affirmed, "should be our pursuit and occupation. Our peculiar province is to teach the principles of truth." Beyond the narrow confines of the system of education for which he fought, there were no principles of truth.

A New Idea

It is not unnatural that this should have been the case. We need not be surprised at it. Yet, little by little, a new idea emerged and one more suited to the conditions of a new country. It was the idea that it was the function of the University not only to preserve and impart the culture that comes from the study of the classics, but also to give to the people of the Province an education that would enable them to meet all the demands that life might make upon them.

That was the idea that possessed the men upon whose lives we look back today. They strove to create in the University of New Brunswick an intellectual and moral agency, by the aid of which men might be equipped to take their place in the busy world of work, and to play a not unworthy part in the life of the community. It seems to me that the almost extraordinary record of this institution in sending forth men, who have become justly prominent in many spheres of life, is in no small part due to the steady persistence with which it has pursued this aim.

Old Built Into the New

Yet with all their enthusiasm for what is practical to break so rudely with old traditions as to abandon them. They were too wise for that, and so the old was built up into the new. They caused old traditions as someone has said "to run smoothly into the new." It was a law of development that was followed by those who succeeded them. Thus as early as 1860, Dr. Brydone-Jack, in his inaugural address, pointing to the generally admitted necessity for a practical education, appealed for the foundation of faculties in Medicine and Law. He did not live to see the realization of his dream, but the Faculty of Law is today an accomplished thing, and it may be that in some not very far-off future the faculty of Medicine will follow. How ever that may be, it is to the honour of Dr. Brydone-Jack that he sowed the seed of a harvest which the University today is reaping. Other men laboured and we are entered into their labours. It stands as a monument to his efforts, and to the efforts of many others like him, that there are going forth from the University not only to this Province but to every province in the Dominion men and women splendidly fitted for all sorts of public service. Thus the experience of later years has vindicated the wisdom of the plan upon which the University has been erected.

Better Appreciation

May we not hope that the spirit which animated the founders of the University will find its place, not only in those wha who are responsible for its management and administration, but also in all the people of the Province? As yet there would seem to be little realization of the place that such an institution ought to fill in public and private life. In common with most of the English-speaking peoples, we have hardly begun to learn what has long been known in Europe,--the value of the universities in the industrial and commercial life of any country. But we trust that criticism and antagonism will pass in time, and the Province at large learn to understand that the University belongs to it and that a thing to be useful must be used. Thus, and thus only can the University worthily carry on the traditions which have been inherited from those great men of the past whose lives and work we honour at our Encaenia.