Inaugural Address of William Weston Patton, D. D. by William Weston Patton
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Title:Inaugural address of William Weston Patton, D. D., as President of Howard University. October 9, 1877.

Author:Patton, William Weston, 1821-1889.

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Print Source:Inaugural address of William Weston Patton, D. D., as President of Howard University. October 9, 1877.

Patton, William Weston, 1821-1889.

20 p. 23 cm.

Washington, D.C.,

W. M. Stuart, printer,

1877.

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PRESIDENT OF HOWARD UNIVERS I TY. OCTOBER 9, 1877. 1 WASHINGTON, D.C.: W.

M. STUAIRT, PRINTER ‘ 1877. ‘I. , I i i ‘I,

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INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 9 4 0D The peculiarity of the occasion calls for an appropriate theme, and I therefore invite your attention to The Relation of the Higher Education to a True Civilization, and to the Elevation of a Depressed Race. A university fully developed, fitly manned, and adequately endowed is the ripest product of modern civilization. It is at once the outgrowth, the sign, and the guaranty of the highest culture of a land.

Sending its roots deep into the soil of past generations, and deriving no small part of its vitality from the researches and the renown of’ scholars who have ceased from earthly studies and gone to wider fields of thought, it also draws to itself the life-giving influences of the air and light of contemporaneous ability and learning. Covering in its various departments, academic training, arcient and modern literature, history, philology, natural science, philosophy, art, medicine, law and theology, it ranges over all the past, while possessing the wide present, and touches human thought and action at every possible point. The name itself stands for the idea of completeness. Hence since the early part of the twelfth century, when the institutions at Bologna and Paris emerge from their obscure beginnings, the names of the universities suggest the course of European history and the glory of their respective lands. Speak to a man of culture of historical France, and by the side of her military fame he will put the renown of her former university of Paris, with its theological college of the Sorbonne, whose doctors at one time decided the grave disputes of all Europe, and feared not to confirnt and oppose the infallible Pope himself.

Name modern Itaily, and the universities of Bologna and Padua, of Ferrara and Pisa, of Naples and Palermo, of Perrugia and Parma, with their illustrious compeers, rush at once into thought. Germrnany-I had almost said, what is it, but the product of the centuries of instructions g,iven within the universities of’i Heidel - es - t

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4 berg, Leipsic, Wuiirtzburg, Freiburg, Titibingen, lIalle, Go6ttin gen, and more modern institutions? The influential thinkiJg of Great Britain has been done by the men trained at Cam bridge and Oxford, at St.

Anidrews, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh. While our own land has had little but the superabounding name of university, having developed in the place gymnasia, under the title of colleges, yet these, with the higlher professional schools, have not been a wholly inadequate substitute, and throughout our brief history they have furnished a large pro portion of the men who have shaped and administered our national affairs. By the necessity of the case, a university, with its several co-ordinate faculties under a common organization, implies variety of knowle(dge with unity of ol-)ject, or wide and increasing learning devoted to the advancement of coulntry and mankind. It could exist only as it fell heir.to the treasures of the buried past; it could have a right to continue to be, only as it sought to transmit these, with all possible enrichment, to the fast-coming future, and to use them in uplifting the race from the limitations and degradations of ignorance. Slow of growth is such an institution, and it must draw its resources from many quarters, making frietnds of all lovers of humanity, rejoicing in the smile of the State, and privileged with the blessing of the Church. In the Old World such institutions received their earliest inspiration from the Church, springing from the scholastic discussions of the middle ages; but they have also owed their prosperity largely to the State, which gave them incorporation and revenues, and retained a quite positive control. It was tae glory of a king or emperor, to found a university an(l to build a cathedral. In this New World, the higher institutions of learnimg have principally sprung fromn and been supported by private generosity, receiving frll the State simply legal recognitionr, iii the form of a charter, with an occasional rift of moniey or land. It is thus that the colleges of New Enigllaiid and of the Middle States were established. qhe plan of a State University, under direct legislative control, alnd supported by the lpul)lic treasury, which has been attempted at the South and West, has been a

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noticeable success in but a sinlle instance, and then at the ex pense of mutch personal anld political colntentiol. T-he prefer ellce for private control has arisen from a general jealousy of the State, and from the Amitricani principle of’ separating, it from everything which concerns religioii. A true university must embrace a department of Theolog,y-a ftct which, under our American system, at once cuts it ofr froni State support and control. or conipels it to exist in a mutilated condition, which belies its name; as if a sculptor should carve from the mnarble an Apollo lacking a limb, or, I might rathler say, lacking a head! Not only so, but it may be predicted that, in the prog ress of philosophic, scientific, and theologic discussion, as lines shall be nmore narrowly drawn, and as difiering consciences shall collme into actiota, State Universities will find themselves in trouble, even without a theological departmnent; for relig,ion rlust be tauglht, or iiplied, or denied, in all the higher educa tion; because its principles run everywhither, and touch human thou,ght and life universally. It is simply impossible to impart a knowledg,e of philosophy, or history, or classical literature, or modern literature, as these should be studied itn university courses, and it the spirit of a true scholarship, without canvass inD points which involve religious difierences, as between de nominations of Christians, especially Protestants and Romanists, and as between Christians and the deniers of a supernatural relig,ion. To preserve logical consistency and to avoid serious practical difficulty, it would appear necessarv for the State ultinately to withdraw entirely from the field of the higher education, and to confine itself to the secularized commoni school systemi for imparting to the masses a kiowledge of the needful prinlary branches. But the complete uni’ersity-trainingi is essential to the developmenit of any wce and nation, and must be a fiactor in the highest civilization. Every people grows to it when rising from barbarism, and then gro%s by it in the development of the natioiial life. Hence we not only niote that the progress of the civilization of moloderil Europe and that of its universities is a parallel progress, but that, at a certalin stage, of the advancement 5

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of all races, whom we are striving to elevate, the demand is inevitably made for the establishment of institutions for the higher education. This is found to be necessary to give permanence to the lower stages, as well as to continue the upward movement. Hence, where Christiall missions have reached a sufficient development, they found a college, as a natural result. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions have seen five such institutions grow up on their field within twenty years; which will soon I)e ft;)llowed by as many more, till amid the benighted races a Christian civilization shall be established upon a firm basis. For every such institution is both reservoir and( fountain. It collects fromn surrounditng springs of thought and science whatever tends to human elevation, and it diffuses this by numberless streams through call classes of society. It is easy and instructive to trace this relation of the University to the development an(d elevation of the people, which, however, we can do but briefly at this time. First of all, it establishes the standard of national culture. The ” high-water muark” ot intellectual advancement is fixed by the university-education, which thus measures and defines the civilization of the people. There are distinct types of mental culture, which are represented by the literati of the various lands, who have their respective standards of learning. Compare, in this respect, the higher education of the Chinese, of the Mohammedan nations, and of Europ)e. Each represents a marked advance of the human mind, under such masters as Confucius, Mohammed and Jesus; and in each case the special form of civilization has crystalized in the superior schools or colleges.

Hentce China lsever thinks of a progress beyond that attained three thousand years since, as its results are taught in the colleges now maintained in the large cities. In like manner the schools or colleges of the Softas fix the limit of Mohaammedan culture.. And even under our own civilization a peculiar stamp is given to the mind of the individual student and to the conceptions of culture generally entertained, according as the prevailing character of the university-education is Christian or RIationalistic, is Protestant or Romisli. In the unive’rsity is the 6 - t

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fountain-head, higher than which the streams will not rise. Scholarship means acquiring what is there taught. Learning signifies eminent acquisitions in the branches of study there recognized. Thus the difference in the universities of various lands marks their standards of scholarly culture, which we know to difler precisely in this way, in America, in Great Britain, and in Germany. Next we observe, that these crowning institutions of education excite the enthusiasm and stir the ambition of the best youthful minds among a people. They do a double work-of selection and of training. The selection is of the natural or Darwinian sort. No explorers are sent forth to ascertain who among the youth have genius and aspiration, and to invite or command their attendance within university walls. It is not as when the eye discovers, and the hand grasps, diamonds among pebbles; but rather as when the magnet comes in contact with the sand, and draws to itself the kindred particles.

A university exists and does its work in a land, and there are attracted to it, as by a necessity of their nature, the minds that thirst for knowledge and that aim at the distinctions known to depend upon knowledge.

It is in this well-known effect, of suggestion and inspiration, that at least a partial compensation has been found for the unwise multiplication of colleges in our land. They have doubled the number of those who otherwise would have sought a liberal education. By them the appeal in favor of learning has been brought homue to every considerable community, urban or rural,‘by the impressiveness of the buildings, by the sight of the professors and students, by the new topics of colnversation and discussion, and by the influence of the commencement occasions and of other public literary exercises. Each has interested a wide circle ofriends, on local, reformatory, or denominational grounds, has secured endowed scholarships, and has carried the inspiritng idea-of a possible liberal education down among the people and before the mind of every mechanic’s and farmer’s boy. Hence come deep and unexpected thoughts, the kindling of noblelambitions, and the rousing of latent 7

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8 powers, resulting in heroic, self-denying effort and triumphant accomplishlment. In these institutions also is gained the needed preparation for achieving the highest results in each grand department of life and work. The preparation’is both specific and general. The niiversity-educatioon, in the Aueriicaii form, fits specifically for each caililg c)f civilized life in which knowledge and culture and professional acquirements are the conditions of success. To enumerate such departments as the Classical and Scientific Courses, and those of Theology, Philosophy, Medicine, Law and Art, is to represent the leading forces in the politics, literature, religion, science and industry of the world.

hence from the universities will largely come the erudite scholars, the eminent authors, the explorers and discoverers inll new fields of thought, the able and accomplished editors, the broad-minded statesmen, the skillful physicians and surgeons, the able instructors, the eloquent preachers, the competent advocates and judges. Such must have the advantages which a university offers, would they attain to the highest success and fill the entire circle of their responsibilities; for thus alone can they be thoroughly grounded in the principles and details of their respective professions. But the general preparation is equally important, as found in the severe intellectual discipline and in the broad literary culture which result from the university-trainingi, and which, aside firom professional details, afford that grasp of mind, solidity of judgment, readiness of faculty, concentration of thought, freedol fron prejudice, and love of truth and beauty, which fit a man for all possible work. This is the result usually least appreciated, and yet widest in its bearings. Lord Macaulay gave an admirable illustration of its practical bearings, in his discussion of Civil Servic Reform, and of Competitive Examinations. In his relort he said: “Skill in Greekl and Latin vers’fication has, in(leed, no direct tendency to forni a judge, a financier, or a d(plonmatist; but the youth who does best what all the ablest and niost ambitious youths about himn are trying to do well, will generally prove a superior manai: nor can we doubt that an accomplishment by

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9 which Fox and Canning, Greenville and Wellesley, Mansfield and Tenterden, first distinguished themselves above their fellows inidicates powers of miid which, properly trained and directed, niay do great service to thle State.” So important is his testimony as to the practical character of a liberal education in fitting for official duties of every kind, that I venture onl more extended extracts from his sl,eechl iri 1833
on East India Company’s Charter Bill: “It is proposed that for every vacancy in the civil service four candidates shall be named, and the candidate elected by examination. We conceive that under this system the persons sent out will be young menii above par-young nmen superior either in talents or i diligence to the nmass. It is said, I know, that examiinations in Latin, in Greek, and in mathenmatics are no10 tests of what nmen will prove to be in life. I am perfectly aware that they are not infallible tests, but that they are tests I confidently maintain. Look at every walk of life-at this house: at the other house; at the bar; at the bench; at the church -and see whether it be not true that those who attaiii high distinction in the world are generally men who are distinguished in their academic career. II deed, sir, this objection would prove far too much. even for those who use it. It would prove that there is no use at all ill education. Why should we put boys out of their way *

Why should we force a lad, who would much rather fly a kite or trundle a hoop. to learn his Latin grammar r Why shjiould we keep a young man to his Thucydides or his Laplace, when he would rather be shloot ing? Education would be mere useless torture if, at two or three and twenty, a man who has neglected his studies were exactly on a par with a man who has applied himself to theme-exactly or likely to perform all the offices of public life with credit to himself and with advantage to seciety. Whether the Elglishli system of education be good or bad is not now the question.

Perhaps I may think that too much time is given to the ancient languages and to the abstract sciences. But what then? Whatever be the languages, whatever be the sciences which it is iii any age and country the fashlion to teach, those who be come the greatest proficients in those languages and thlose sciences will generally be the flower of the youth-thle niost acute, the most industrious, the most am bitious of honorable distinctions. If the Ptolenmaic systelml were taughlt at Cambridge instead of the Newtonian, the’Senior Wriangler’ would nevertheless be in genelal a superior man to the Wooden Spoon.’ If instead of learning Greek, we learned the Cherokee, the man who ulnderstood the Cherokee best, who niade the most correct and melodious Clherokee vel ses, who comlprelendl(led nmost accurately the effect of the Cliherokee particles, would generally be a superior mali to himi who vwas destitute of these accomplishments. If Astrology were taught at our universities, the young lnal who cast nativities best would generally turn out a superior mal If Alchemy were taught, the young man who showed the most activity in til pursuit of the philosophler’s stone would generally turn out a superiorinan.”-Speechces 1

267, -c. These ara not only the words of a scholar and a statesman, but they appeal to the coli;noioti sense of every nmali. Further, it should be considered that the university-iufluence ultimately tends to) elevate the ideas and guide the action of .n~~~~~~~~ 2

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10 ,the mass of the people. Thought is like water, which spreads in every direction upon the earth, sinks into every crevice of the rock, and even moistens the air above. The ideas of the university color, in timne, the thinking, of the masses. Thus, recently ill Germany and France, during an age of scholarly unbelief, skepticism and rationalism have come to leaven the entire nation. Materialism in the philosopher issues as Communism in the citizen. But if error in such institutions proves pervasive, so does truth; and the reason that, in our own land, the popular mind thus far has sustained evangelical religion, and also, on the whole, wise and righteous measures of civil government, is found in the extent of liberal education from the beginning, by which a high average illtelligence has been preserved. Out of the university come the superior teachers for the various grades of schools, as also the leaders of thought alnd action around whom the people rally, in Church and in State. For in both of these relations the peoplewill have leaders; and itf these cannot I)e provided thiroughl educated men in the various professions and business callings, they will be found in ignorant and amblitious men amonig thetmselves, or in the un scrupulous demagogues of a class slightly above them. A thoughtful observer must have felt, during the recent strikes and riots, that one great need of working men is, to be kept in colltact with the intelligence and virtue of thle upper classes, to partake of their ideas and prilnciples, and to receive leaders of more honesty an(t wisdom, who shall have a conception of the solidarity of interests in a conin:uluity.

It requires intelligence to have, ill the proper sense of the word, a commonwealth; for unity of aim and effort is always nmade impossible by ignorance, which, in its suspicioti and fear, in its narrow vision and sudden impulse, fails to recognize those great principles which necessitate common action* and those true friends who seek broad results and a permanent welfare, But it is time for mie to pass from these general considera tions to their more particular connection with the occasion which has convened this intelligent audience. Howard University has, in one respect, but a slender claim

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11 to represent the fact and influence of University-Education Being at the beginning of its career, with resources confessedly small, pecuniarilv and otherwise, an unfriendly critic might suggest that, as with many other Americtan institutions, its name is the grandest thing about it.

Doubtless, also, others, who look with a prejudiced eye upon its thoroughly democratic basis of giving equal educational advantages to all, irr,espective of race or sex, and its special encouragement of the rac(e which hitherto has been largely excluded from literary ilistitutionIs, will iti(lulge in a sneer of contempt for its object, or in an ex clamration of incredulity as to its success. Nevertheless it pro poses to bear its part in the noble work of hunani elevatioi, which has been briefly outlined, and its friends have faith to believe that its object will justify itself to every patriot and Christian. Howard University is a child of Providence, anul an heir of the new future, born out of the great civil war, which, in saving the National Union, gave freedom to four milliols of slaves. That, be it remembered, was an emancipation of four millions of minds, as well as of so many bodies. The greatest crime of slavery was its virtual annihilation of the minlds of its victims. Hence, freedom instantly created a demand for an immense addition to the educational instrumentalities of the land, of every grade-for the common school, the hig,h school, the college, and the professional seminary; that the new citizens might be fitted to assume their responsible position, and to fill every post to which they might be called, from the lowest to the-highest. With a wise forecast it was determined to locate at the Nation’s Capital a University, which should be open, in all departments, to young men and young women of every race and color, upon equal ternis.

For what has learning to do with distinctions of race or complexion. Is knowledge Caucasian, or Mongolian, or African? Is literature white, red, yellow, or black? Surely science, as such, has to do with mi(nd, not with varieties of race; with man, nriot i-erely with the white man. Every true friend of leariung, takes as his imotto that famous sentiment of the ancient poet, Tqreiice, who was by birth an African and by position a freedman. “Homo sum, et nil humani a me alienum

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12 puto”-” I am a mnan, and count nothing that is human foreitgn to me.”

In this spirit HIoward University opens its doors to all comers who thirst for knowledge. And if’ Dartmouth College, now of honorable and wide repute, began but as a hunmble school for the North American Icndian, there may be a glorious futuie for this institutionl, which, excludi,g none, yet has a word of special encouragerment for the non-Caucasian races. The vwlue of such an institution in aiding to solve a national problem, and to meet the pressing wants of millions hitherto in the most depressed condition of humanity, will be more evident if we bear -in mind certain considerations which often are overlooked. First of all, it must never be forgotten by the colored people, or by their-friends,that they can be elevated upon no pnrinciples and by no instrumelntalities other than those which apply to man-. kind in general. As “there is Do royal road to learning” to suit dullards of kingly birth, so no peculiar and accommodating pathway to wealth and power, to civilization and culture, opens betore those of African descent. Their own expectations and the etiorts of those who would assist them must be based simnply on their manhood. It is only as this shall be developed andc brought to bear upon life’s duties and opportunities, that progress can be made in outward condition and in the estimnation of mankind. There are no sudden results to be secured by artificial means. Neither special legislation, nor military protection, nor favor extended bv those in powe,:, nor the peculiar regard and effort of philanthropists will, of thenmselves, avail to procure the abolition ot caste-feeling, and the elevation of the colored people to an entire equality with the whites. The effects of ages of slavery are not to be removed in a day, by a mere legislative vote. An amendment to the Constitution alters no fact of ignoance, of poverty, of moral debasement. The prejudices of the -whites, descending, thr(o)urh generations, imbibed by individluals in -infancy and strengthened by universal sentiment, practic~, and association of ideas, cannot be easilv and soon overcomne, and are not, so far as feeling is concerned, wholly within the power of volition, so as to be annihilated at will. They will vanish gradually in the presetce of

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13 increasing evidence of a noble manhood. Developed intellectual power, the higher education, success in industrial pursuits, the acquirement of wealth and culture and character, will cause it to disappear as the SUIl does the heavy, chilly, obscuriig, mrists which night generates in the valleys. When I deposit a gold coin on the table, it commands a certain degree of respect. No one is obliged to argue in its behialf. It speaks for itself. Hiaving intrinsic value and the added stamp of the national iiiit, it represents so many graitis of precious metal and their equivalent il whatever money will buy. Hence everybody welcomnes it, a.nd looks upon it with regard. Will the result not be analogous, when the colored nmati shall be seen to have an intrinsic value equal to that of the white man? When otie’ shall no loigeri associate with him the ideas of bondage,’ pauperism, and barbarism, but those of freedom, prosperity, intellig,ence, and culture? Whenrl he shall not only carry in his person the stamp of American citizenship, but shall come out fr’om a university-training a scholar and a gentleman, like a glittering coin from the die? But in securing this result, so difficult and yet so essential, the process must be such as to throw the colored man linder every possible quickening influence. Hetnce it is not best to separate him carefully from his white brother, and to raise him in an institution by himself, like a tender pla,it in a hothouse. He needs the contact with the more advanced race. The acknowledgment of his nmanhood thus given will add to his self-respect, and will fire his nobler ambitions, while the white man will be essentially benefitted by laying aside his unrepub-L lican and unchristian caste-feeling, and coming into sympathy with Burns’s immortal declaration, which is true as regaras the color of the skin, q welt as of poverty, that “A maii’s a mnan for a’ that! Colored youth educated Wholly apart fromn the whites lose the stimulus of the competition which they need to ilv; for it is well known that thd progress of a scliol-lr depetids upon: his classmates as well as upon his teacher. An eager, industrious,

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14 ambitious, and able class will tone up every mind which is in it, while a set of dull, apathetic, slothful students will hang as a dead weight upon each individual associated with them Hence it is not so importain to have institutions of leariing expressly for the colored race, as it is to have those which are open to them on equal terms with others. And such is the true character of Howard University, the charter of which makes no allusion! to race or color, but simply says that there “is hereby established, in the District of Columbia, a University for the education of youth in the liberal arts and sciences, under the name, style, and title of’Howardcl University.’ ” There is ‘ therefore no charter-hindrance to its developiig into a truly grand National University, filled with students from all parts of our widely-extended country, and drawn from alI the races which compose its varied population. For when the United States made over to the University property of great value, the Trustees properly pledged the institution never to make any distinction, in its treatment of students, based upon race, color, or previous conditiorn of bondage. It can never, therefore, pro scribe a man because he is white, or because he is black; because he was descended fromn Sheml, or from Ham, or from Japheth; because he was born a king or a slave. And already not a few students of Anglo-Saxon blood have availed themselIves of its privileges, while the North American Indian, the Chinese, the South American, and the Greek have here joined the Negro in the’ zealous pursuit of knowledge. In one department (the Medical) for several years the majority of the students have been white. By such a proper recognition of the colored man in the higher branches of learning, and his consequent necessity of competition with those whom he aspires to equal, there will be secuYed for him a reaid elevation in intellect and character. Every case whiq, is at all parallel, confirms the validity of our reasoning. The classical scholar will, perhaps, remember that Cicero, in writing to one of his friends, advises him, when he has occasion to purchase a slave, not to buy onie of those stupid Britons. Doubtless, after the Roman wars in Britain;, thousands of ctLItives liad been s’ent to Italy and exposed for sale, accord

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15 ing to at(.ient custom; anrid those who bought them had learned that they were intellectually inferior to slaves obtained fiorom other sources.

Why does a Brito,i no longer bear such a reputation Because generatioto of favorable influences have brought him out of the barbaric condition in which he then was, and have educated him into the representative of civilization. Take the case of the Jew, who, in the mniddle ages, and even till within a century, was regarded with universal odium throughout christendom, was excluded from society, was compelled to live in a separate part of every European city, and was insulted on the street with impunity by ally vulgar ruffian. Why has he now almost universal recognition, on an equality with his Gentile brethren? Because he has not only acquired wealth, but has displayed ability in every department of human achievement; because he has furnished Europe withi leaders in philosophy, in history, in philology, in statesmanship, and in arts. A modified illustration may even be drawn from the feelings entertained towards certain classes of immigrants in this country. In every land a foreigner is viewed with a measure of disfavor; but for a long time the American popular feelitng was one of special aversion towards the inmmigralnt Irish and Germans. The mass of them were of the lower classes, and in their poverty, coarseness, anid ignorance seemed below the average American. But since the educated classes have arrived, and since the children of the earlier comers have been to the common schools, and have risen, in many cases, to wealth and to political position, the current of opinion and feeling has rapidly changed, and one less often hears contemnptuous references to “the Irish” and ” the Dutch.” There can be no reasonable doubt, then, that educational forces, rightly brought to bear upon thle colored people, will in time wokaca in time work a change in the matter of prejudice; which is only partially au incident of difference of feature and complexion, and is principally a -manifestation of caste-pride. And here the privileges of a utiversity-traininrg will show marked results, not olly ii’iinidivi(luals, but also in the general mass.

For, in order to such a result, all classes of men need

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16 appropriate leaders, who shall honorably represent them before others, and who, possessing tlleir confidence, shall wisely guide their aims and efitorts in every departmenet of action. The mnass of men must and will have leaders. They are gregarious by instinct, and they have not tbe intelligence to judge and act independently. The ig,lorant become thte victimus of ambitious, setlf-sufficient and incoinpetent, even if well-mealnintg leaders. It is the case of the blind leading, the blind, with the proverbial result. The also fall anl easy prey to designing, and hypocritical dermagogues, who flatter their vanity, work upon their fears, ieed their hopes, appeal to their unienlightened prejudices, and use thern as tools with which to work out personal and selfish ends. He must have been a superficial student of human nature in general, and anll unsophisticated admirer of inegro character in particular; who can persuade himself that the ignorant and unexperienced freedmen of our Southern States have not suf fered extensively in these very ways. Only a perpetual miracle could have p)reserved them. Beyond question they have often been dleceived and le(l astray, religiously and politically, by white men and by those of their own race, who abused their confidence. it is 11o more certain that emalncipation carried to the South a lar,ge body of self-detliyitng Christia,,s and phiilalnthropists, anxious to instruct and elevate the frieedtien,. aind who had their true interests at heart, than it is that there wt’nt thither also ambitious ald unscrupulous adventurers. who cared for the colored race onrly as some northern politicians care for the Iristi, courting thein to ol)tain their votes and to use them as tcols for selfish atnd corrupt ends. It is this fact, with its natural results, which occasions such a ma(ligtiant utterance as that which the newspapers ascribe to Mr. T’oorubs, of Georgia, who is represented as recently saying of the colored people: “They are to be governed as every race of paupers are governed-by those who own the property and givehem bread, and just the same as the red man is governed.

No inferiornqan, no man without civilization, has a chance in thlis race, and I wanlt to save this people from their worst fortunes in the contest.

As his friends tried to control him by-force and by fraud, we will control him by fraud and force, to prevent hin-from bringing ruiln to us.” If the colored people remain’in ignorance, poverty, and degra I

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17 dation, and thus become the natural prey of false friends and open enemies, what can prevent the sentiment of Mr. Toombs from becoming general? The only certain corrective for this evil is general and special education, which shall raise the average intelligence of the masses, so as to make them more capable and independent in their judgments of men and measures, and which shall also provide appropriate leaders worthy of their confidence from among themselves. These leaders must be such as naturally come to the front in organized and cultivated society-the-men in all professions and pursuits who to native talent add superior education.

There must be a speedy addition of cultivated mind to the colored population if it is to be saved from follies which will be fatal. That grade of mind must operate not only directly and purposely through public addresses and by the press, but in all those quiet, incidental, and unconscious ways of daily and hourly intercourse, which are equally or even more effective. Hence we must have colored lawyers, physicians, editors, authors, clergymen, artists, statesmen, and teachers, whose attainments shall be equal to those of white men in similar occupations, and whose expressed opinions shall have just weight with their race on the various mooted questions which may arise in Church and State. But, as the Theological Department of our University emphatically intimates, we include the religious among the most powerful and necessary of the educational forces needed to elevate a depressed race. And herein is our advantage over any university supported and controlled by the civil State; which is not only precluded from having a department of theology, but is much fettered in its attempt to recognize and use the Christian religiou.

Howard University seeks to imbue its students with the principles of the gospel, and to surround them continually with a Christian atmosphere; believing that there can be no genuine success which does not include character, and that there is no such power to regenerate character as the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing else so purifies the motives as well as the life, presents so high an ideal, and de 3

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18 velops such a sense of responsibility for making the most of a manr, for his own sake and that of the world. We attach a special importance to the Theological Department, therefore, be cause the colored people nedd an educated ministry, to deliver them from degrading superstitions, to preserve the more intelligent from the errors of infidelity, and to furnish all their communities with those who shall favor genuine progress in whatever tends to the elevation of their race. As the institution receives aid and students from all denominations of Protestant Christians, this department is conducted in the way of genuine catholicity. Four denominations are represented in its Faculty, and it is under the special supervision and care of the Presbytery of Washington and the American Missionary Association at New York, who unitedly provide the instructions and the pecuniary support. Prominence will be given, in the instruction, principally to the doctrines common to evangelical Christianity, rather than to the peculiar tenets of the rival sects; which latter are viewed historically and descriptively rather than for polemic purposes. Here the friends of the freedmen may unite on a broad Christian gro:lnd, above the contentions of party zealots, to secure for the best minds a liberal training which yet shall be true to the positive teaching of the New Testamnent. And we lay the greater stress oil this feature, because the chief foes of our evangelical faith, at the present time, among the freedmen, as elsewhere, are Romaan ism and Skepticismn; against both of which it becomes Protestant Christians to stand in solid phalanx rather than in divided companies. It may be appropriate here to state, for the information of the public, that Howard University has now in operation, prepared to receive students, these several departments: I. The AcADEMIC, Which includes five courses of study, from that of the eleimentary English branches to the usual Classical College Course. II. The MEDICAL, vwit a large and finely equipped building, a connected hospital of three hundred beds, and an able facultya department havipg so umany professional advantages, that the majority of its students are usually white, and tile numbers are continually increasing. t

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19 III. The LEGAL. This was last year temporarily discontinued, owing to various difficulties, personal and pecuniary; but it has been reopened this autumn on a small scale, and with hopeful indications for the future.

IV. The THEOLOGICAL, of which I have already spoken, and where nmay be found a goodly company of pious men, usually of quite mature age, some of whom are already preachers in their own denominiations, atnd whose previous advantages have been very small, but who desire to gain what additional knowledge they may, to fit them to be the religious teachers of their race. With their meager previous preparation we’canniot usually carry tlhem through as high and thorough a course as we could desire, but we aim to do good work with them so far as their limited time and training will allow. Through divine favor, the generous and etilightened action of the Uniited States Government, and the liberality of the Christian public, Howard University has been furnished with spacious grouids and numerous buildings, costing over half a million of dollars, ample for its purposes for years to come, and which not inelegantly crown their commnanding site, whence the eye takes in a prospect of peculiar beauty, including the entire city of Washington. There are, besides, valuable vacant lands, adjoiningi and in other parts of the city, fromn the sale of which the University hopes eventually to secure partial en.dowments, but which, in these times of depression, cannot be put upon the market. Its productive property affords but a small income, insufficient to pay the current expenses on their present restricted scale, and requiring to be liberally supplemented by the gifts of the friends of the institution. It has also no permanent scholarships for the aid of indigent students, but is compelled to rely, for this purpose, ipon the annual contributions of the charitable. Yet i will be seen that such broad and deep foundations have been laid, as to make it safb and wise for the benevolent and patriotic to build largely upon them in the future. It was the misfortutle of the University to commence when the country was in the intoxication of supposed wealth, when large plans were laid and corresponding expenses were

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20 incurred, when not only was the present used, but also the future was discounted, and debts were everywhere the order of the day; and also when the enthusiasm for the elevation of the negro was at its heightr immediately upon the close of. the war. It has consequently shared in the reverses of the times, while a partial reaction has taken place in the feeliigs of the North with respect to the freedmen, and it has had also the internal changes of administration which accompany fluctuating fortunes. But its friends now feel that the tide is to turn once more in its favor. The floating debt of over one hundred thousand dollars, of three years since, has been entirely discharged, and the only permanent debt on its valuable property is one of eleven thousand dollars. There is reason to believe that it will soon begin to share in the large benefactions of living philanthropists and Christians, and that it will be liberally remembered in the wills of those who may be desirous of leaving behind, at their death, a perpetual fountain of blessing for coming genlerations. In closing, the speaker may be permitted a few words personal to himself. In the latter part of a life which has always devoted a large share of thought and action to the welfare of the colored race, he finds himself called, in the providence of God, to preside over the interests of this rising and important institution, of whose object and resources he has been speaking. He is conscious how inadequate are his powers and various attainments to the full discharge of the duties of this position, antd it is therefore with humility rather than with pride that he enters upon them. His trust is in the kind indulgence and active cooperation of those who shall be associated with him in the various departments of instruction and in the Board of Trustees, while above all he would gave the blessing of that God whose is all truth, in every.

department of learning; who delights in the progress of his rational creatures in knowledge and holiness; who) is ruling this world in the interests of the kingdom of his Son, Jesus Christ; who, for some great purpose, has brought out of bondage the millions of the freedmen; and who, for a coitncident end has established Howard University! (I

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