CHAPTER V.

THE UNIVERSITY IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.'

The settlement of Pennsylvania being due to the unrest of the members of a religious sect whose advanced thought brought them into conflict with existing conditions in England, and the moral and mental breadth of its founder having led him to offer it as a home, not only for those of his own way of thinking, but for all in that island and upon the continent who had in vain wrestled against intolerance, it was but natural that his province should attract more men of learning than other colonies whose promoters were simply seeking for profit or were bent upon the enforcement of illiberal policies. Therefore it came about that among the early colonists of Pennsylvania there were an unusual number of men of scholarly attainments, some of whom had been doughty champions upon one side or the other in the polemical warfare then being everywhere waged, a struggle necessary for and preparatory to the establishment of the principle that humanity is capable of gov erning itself. Penn, the founder of a successful state and a practical legislator whose work has stood the test of time, as well as the most conspicuous figure among the colonizers of America, was a student of Oxford University and a profuse writer of books of verse, travel, doctrine, and controversy which made a strong impress upon the thought of his time. James Logan devoted the leisure left to him after attending to the interests of the proprietor to the translation from the Latin of the Cato Major and the Moral Distichs, and he collected a library of rare books which was then unrivaled upon this side of the Atlantic and even now would be considered extraordinary. David Lloyd, a lawyer ready and pertinacious in the discussion of all questions affecting the polity of the province, was equally skillful in the drafting of acts of assembly and the compilation of the laws. George Keith, trained in the schools of Edinburgh, was the author of numerous treatises upon theology and, together with Penn and Robert Barclay of Ury, defended the Quaker doctrines against the assaults of the learned divines of the European churches. Francis Daniel Pastorius, lawyer, linguist, and philosopher, proud of his pedigree and fresh from the public discussion of ab

'In the preparation of this paper I have used freely Dr. Stille's memoir of Wm. Smith and Wickersham's History of Education in Pennsylvania, and I am indebted to Mr. F. D. Stone for calling my attention to the interesting fact that the Constitution of 1776 provided for university education.

struse questions of ethics and government upon the university platforms of the continent, signalized his arrival at Germantown by the preparation and publication in 1690 of his Four Treatises, and left for future generations a bibliography in manuscript of the volumes in his library. Ludwig, Count Zinzendorff, of noble lineage and influential surroundings, came with the Moravians, whose leader he was, to the hills of the Lehigh, but was not prevented by the practical duties of looking after the welfare of his flock from writing numerous collections of hymns, sermons, and addresses. Christopher Taylor, familiar with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, of which he had prepared and published a text-book, had long been the head of a school at Edmonton in Essex. Not only were there many such individual instances of more than ordinary learning, but the sects from which the early population of Pennsylvania was mainly drawn, though they regarded the amusements and adornments of life as frivolities by means of which Satan was enabled to lead souls astray, were nevertheless people of great intellectual activity, finding prolific expression abroad in a flood of publications, and it was not surprising that soon the printing houses of the Bradfords, Keimer, Sower, Ephrata, Franklin, and Bell, the most productive in the colonies, sprang up here to supply their mental needs. A community with such examples before them and permeated with such influences could not long remain without an institution giving the opportunities for the higher education of youth. The frame of government announced by Penn as early as April 25, 1682, provided that the "governor and provincial council shall erect and order all publick schools and encourage and reward the authors of useful sciences and laudable inventions," and directed the council to form a "committee of manners, education, and arts, that all wicked and scandalous living may be prevented and that youth may be successfully trained up in virtue and useful knowledge and arts." At the meeting of the council on the 17th of the eleventh month, 1683, a "school of arts and sciences" was proposed, and in 1689 the William Penn Charter School, still in existence and doing most valu able work, was formally opened. Following the suggestion of the petition of Anthony Morris, Samuel Carpenter, Edward Shippen, David Lloyd, and others, the assembly in its charter granted in 1711 provided for the instruction of "poor children” in "reading, work, languages, arts, and sciences." This school in its successful operation was the forerunner of the University of Pennsylvania, and the later institution had, like its predecessor, its origin in that spirit of broad philanthropy, regardful of the welfare of the lowly, which has ever been characteristic of Philadelphia and has resulted in the establishment of so many of her public institutions.

In 1740 a number of citizens of different religious denominations united in raising subscriptions for the purpose of erecting a large building, to be used as a charity school for the instruction of poor chil dren gratis in useful literature and the Christian religion, and also as

a place of public worship. In addition to the establishment of the school, they had in view the special object of providing a convenient house in which George Whitefield could preach whenever he came to Philadelphia. The lot was purchased on the 15th of September of that year and the building was erected. Subsequently the design was enlarged to include the idea of an academy, and on the 1st of February, 1749, the lot and buildings were conveyed to James Logan and twentythree other trustees, upon the trust that they should keep a house or place of worship for the use of such preacher as they should judge qualified, and particularly for the use of Whitefield, and a free school for the instructing, teaching, and education of poor children, and should have power to found an "academy, college, or other seminary of learning for instructing youth in the languages, arts, and sciences." The same year Benjamin Franklin, ever quick to catch inspiration from the events occurring around him, published his "Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania." He alleges in his autobiography that the foundation of the Academy was due to the publication of this paper and his own subsequent personal efforts. He says:

This I distributed among the principal inhabitants gratis, and as soon as I could suppose their minds prepared by the perusal of it I set on foot a subscription for opening and supporting an academy, avoiding as much as I could, according to my usual rule, the presenting myself to the publick as the author of any scheme for their benefit.

The question may be raised whether this account written many years later is quite accurate. Dr. Caspar Wistar, a contemporary and himself long identified with the work and fame of the University, says in his eulogium on William Shippen (page 21) while speaking of the services of Phineas Bond:

In conjunction with the much respected Thomas Hopkinson he originated the scheme of the college now the University of Pennsylvania..

The trustees, among whom Thomas Hopkinson, Tench Francis, and Richard Peters, with Franklin, appear to have been particularly active and efficient, secured among themselves and their friends an endowment for the academy amounting to £800 a year for five years, and the city gave an additional sum of £100 a year for five years and £200 in cash. The institution thus established was incorporated by Thomas and Richard Penn, proprietors and governors of the province, on the 13th of July, 1753, under the name of "The Trustees of the Academy and Charitable School in the Province of Pennsylvania." The charter sets forth that it had been represented by the trustees named that for establishing an academy "as well to instruct youth for reward as poor children whose indigent and helpless circumstances demand the charity of the opulent," several benevolent persons had paid subscriptions expended in the purchase of lands and a building commodious for maintaining an academy "as well for the instruction of poor children as others whose circumstances have enabled them to pay for their learning," and that the proprietors, favoring such useful and charitable designs,

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the trustees are given power to purchase lands, to receive any sum of money or goods, "therewith to erect, set up, maintain, and support an academy or any other kind of seminary of learning in any place within the said province of Pennsylvania where they shall judge the same to education of youth in any kind of literature, erudition, arts, and sciences be most necessary and convenient for the instruction, improvement, and which they shall think proper to be taught," to sue and be sued, and to have a seal, and to make ordinances and statutes for their government. confirmatory charter was granted by the same proprietors, dated June 16, 1755, which changed the name to that of "The Trustees of the College, Academy, and Charitable School of Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsylvania," and limited the power to hold lands to an amount not exceeding £5,000 sterling in yearly value, and gave power to con fer degrees and to appoint a provost, vice-provost, and professors. It thus seen that the plan of the charitable school which originated in 1740 is not only maintained in the deed of 1749 and in both of the charters, but is made an essential and conspicuous feature of the design. It is of importance to call particular attention to this fact, because in all printed accounts of the University heretofore its origin has been assigned to the efforts of 1749, though the movement really began with the subscription, purchase of land and erection of a building for a charitable school nine years before, and the institution is entitled to claim 1740 as the date of its birth and philanthropy as its primary object.'

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By the confirmatory charter of 1755 the Rev. William Smith, M. A., was at the request of the trustees appointed the first provost. He was a native of Aberdeen, in Scotland, and was graduated from the University there, became a clergyman of the Church of England, and coming first to New York and subsequently to Philadelphia, where an article written by him upon "The College of Mirania," had made a favorable impression, he was selected to take charge of the college and academy in 1754. To his intelligence, energy, and activity in its behalf, its immediate and great success was mainly due. He submitted a plan of education, adopted and carried into effect in 1756, more comprehensive, as Dr. Stillé tells us, than any other then in existence in the American colonies. When in England in 1759 he secured from Thomas Penn a deed conveying for the benefit of the college one-fourth of the manor of Perkasie, in Bucks County, consisting of about 2,500 acres of land, and finding it in debt he went abroad again in 1762, and in two years by indomitable exertion secured, notwithstanding the opposition of Dr. Franklin, who "took uncommon pains to misrepresent our academy," the

'Rev. Andrew Burnaby, D. D., says in his "Travels Through North America in 1760," third edition, p. 60, "There is also an academy or college originally built for a tabernacle for Mr. Whitefield."

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*

"This last institution is erected upon an admirable plan and is by far the best institution of learning throughout America."-Burnaby, p. 66.

very large sum of £6,921 78. 6d. Of this amount Thomas Penn, the chief patron of the college, whose gifts for the purpose during his life equaled £4,500, contributed £500, the king £200, and there were over 11,000 other contributors. In those days the pursuits of men were not so much differentiated as they have since become, and, as might have been expected from one with the acquirements and mental activities of Dr. Smith, his voice was heard and his hand was felt in. all the affairs of the province. As a clergyman, he preached fast-day sermons; as an orator, he delivered addresses upon public occasions; he made investigations in astronomy and other sciences; edited a magazine, and, moreover, he was a speculator in lands and an active politician. He was regarded as the exponent of the views of the col lege and the custodian of its interests, and, while it was benefited by his exertions, it also suffered through the antagonisms he aroused. A churchman and a friend of the proprietors, he cordially disliked and opposed the Quakers, who elected the assembly and controlled public affairs, and the German Mennonites, Dunkers, and Moravians, through whose support they were able to do it. In 1755 he published a political pamphlet in which he denounced the Quakers for being influenced by interest rather than conscience and accused the Germans of sympathizing with the French in their aggressions. He married the daughter of William Moore, president judge of the court of common pleas of Chester County, an aristocratic and influential personage living on his estate at Moore Hall, on the Pickering Creek, twenty-five miles from the city.

On the 23d of November, 1755, Moore, who, besides holding his peaceful judicial office, was a colonel in the militia, wrote a letter to the Assembly saying that he was coming down to Philadelphia with 2,000 men to compel them to pass a law providing means for military protection. His letter marked the beginning of a struggle that shook the whole province, and was fraught with baleful consequences to both Smith and the College. During the succeeding two years numerous petitions. were presented to the Assembly charging Moore with tyranny, injustice, and even extortion, in the conduct of his office, and asking that he might be removed. The Assembly, after a hearing which was many times adjourned in order to give him an opportunity to be heard, but which he declined to attend, upon the ground that they had no authority to make the investigation, determined that he was guilty of the wrongs charged. Soon afterwards, October 19, 1757, he wrote and published a paper wherein he fiercely reviewed their action, calling it "virulent and scandalous" and a "continued string of the severest calumny and most venomous epithets conceived in all the terms of malice and party rage." Immediately after the meeting of the new Assembly, composed for the most part of the same members as the preceding, they sent the sergeant-at-arms with a warrant for the arrest of Moore, and of Dr. Smith who was supposed to have aided in the preparation of the paper. Upon