[Speech of Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, at the
seventy-second anniversary banquet of the New England Society in the
City of New York, December 22, 1877. The President of the Society,
William Borden, presided, and said by way of introducing the speaker:
"Gentlemen, I now give you the sixth regular toast: 'Harvard and Yale,
the two elder sisters among the educational institutions of New
England, where generous rivalry has ever promoted patriotism and
learning. Their children have, in peace and war, in life and death,
deserved well of the Republic. Smile, Heaven, upon this fair
conjunction.' [Applause.] We are fortunate to-night, gentlemen, in
having with us the representatives of both these institutions, and I
will ask President Eliot, of Harvard, first, to respond." The allusion
made by President Eliot to the words of the Secretary of State refers
to the following remarks which William M. Evarts made in the course of
his address: "New England, I observe, while it retains all its
sterling qualities, is nevertheless moving forward in the direction of
conciliation and peace. I remember when I was a boy, I travelled 240
miles by stage-coach from Boston to New Haven to avoid going to
Harvard University which was across the Bridge. [Great applause and
laughter.] It was because of the religious animosities which pervaded
the community, and I suppose animated my youthful breast; and now here
I come to a New England Society, and sit between the Presidents of
those renowned universities, who have apparently come here for the
purpose of enjoying themselves, and of exhibiting that proximity is no
longer dangerous to the peace of those universities. [Applause and
laughter.] No doubt there is a considerable warfare going on between
them as to the methods of instruction; but to us who have looked on,
we have seen no more obtrusive manifestation of it than that the
President on my left, of Yale, in dealing with the subjects that have
successively been placed before him, has pursued the methods of that
university, its comprehensive method, that takes in the whole
curriculum; while on my right, the eclectic principle is exercised by
my friend, President Eliot [applause and laughter], and he has
confined himself to the dainty morsels of the repast. I speak of this
to show that, although an amelioration of climate or an obliteration
of virtues is not to be expected in New England, or in New England
men, yet there may be an advancement of the sunshine of the heart, and
that an incorporation of our narrow territory in a great nation, and a
transfusion of our opinions, our ideas, our purposes into the veins
of a nation of forty millions of people, may enlarge and liberalize
even the views, the plans, and the action of New England."]
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:--I am obliged to my friend Dr.
Clarke [James Freeman Clarke, D.D.] for the complimentary terms in which
he has presented me to you. But I must appeal to your commiseration.
Harvard and Yale! Can any undergraduate of either institution, can any
recent graduate of either institution, imagine a man responding to that
toast? [Laughter.] However, I must make the best of the position, and
speak of some points upon which the two institutions are clearly agreed.
And here I am reminded of a story of a certain New England farmer, who
said that he and 'Squire Jones had more cows between them than all the
rest of the village; and his brag being disputed, he said he could prove
it, for the 'Squire had forty-five cows and he had one, and the village
altogether had not forty-six. [Laughter.]
We shall all agree that it is for the best interests of this country
that it have sundry universities, of diverse tone, atmosphere, sphere,
representing different opinions and different methods of study to some
extent, and in different trainings, though with the same end.
[Applause.] Holding this view, I have been somewhat concerned to see of
late that the original differences between Harvard and Yale seem to be
rapidly disappearing. For example, a good many years ago, Harvard set
out on what is called the "elective" system, and now I read in the Yale
catalogue a long list of studies called "optional," which strikes me as
bearing a strong resemblance to our elective courses. [Laughter.] Again,
my friend the Secretary of State has done me the honor of alluding to
the reasons which induced his father, I suppose, rather than himself, to
send him on that journey, which we Harvard men all deplore. [Laughter.]
Now, it is unquestioned, that about the year 1700 a certain number of
Congregationalist clergymen, who belonged to the Established Church (for
we are too apt to forget that Congregationalism was the "Established
Church" of that time, and none other was allowed), thought that Harvard
was getting altogether too latitudinarian, and though they were every
one of them graduates of Harvard, they went off and set up another
college in Connecticut, where a stricter doctrine should be taught.
Harvard men have rather nursed the hope that this distinction between
Harvard and Yale might be permanent. [Laughter.] But I regret to say
that I have lately observed many strong indications that it is wholly
likely to disappear. For example, to come at once to the foundations, I
read in the papers the other day, and I am credibly informed it is true,
that the head of Yale College voted to install a minister whose opinions
upon the vital, pivotal, fundamental doctrine of eternal damnation are
unsound. [Laughter.] Then, again, I look at the annual reports of the
Bureau of Education on this department at Washington, and I read there
for some years that Harvard College was unsectarian; and I knew that it
was right, because I made the return myself. [Laughter.] I read also
that Yale College was a Congregationalist College; and I had no doubt
that that was right, because I supposed Dr. Porter had made the report.
But now we read in that same report that Yale College is unsectarian.
That is a great progress. The fact is, both these universities have
found out that in a country which has no established church and no
dominant sect you cannot build a university on a sect at all--you must
build it upon the nation. [Applause.]
But, gentlemen, there are some other points, I think, of national
education on which we shall find these two early founded universities to
agree. For example, we have lately read, in the Message of the Chief
Magistrate, that a national university would be a good thing.
[Applause.] Harvard and Yale are of one mind upon that subject, but they
want to have a national university defined. [Laughter.] If it means a
university of national resort, we say amen. If it means a university
where the youth of this land are taught to love their country and to
serve her, we say amen [applause]; and we point, both of us, to our past
in proof that we are national in that sense. [Applause.] But if it means
that the national university is to be a university administered and
managed by the wise Congress of the United States, then we should agree
in taking some slight exceptions. [Laughter.] We should not question for
a moment the capacity of Congress to pick out and appoint the
professors of Latin and Greek, and the ancient languages, because we
find that there is an astonishing number of classical orators in
Congress, and there is manifested there a singular acquaintance with the
legislation of all the Latin races. [Laughter.] But when it should come
to some other humbler professorships we might perhaps entertain a doubt.
For example, we have not entire faith in the trust that Congress has in
the unchangeableness of the laws of arithmetic. [Laughter.] We might
think that their competency to select a professor of history might be
doubted. They seem to have an impression that there is such a thing as
"American" political economy, which can no more be than "American"
chemistry or "American" physics. [Applause.] Finally, gentlemen, we
should a little distrust the selection by Congress of a professor of
ethics. [Laughter.] Of course, we should feel no doubt in regard to the
tenure of office of the professors being entirely suitable, it being the
well-known practice of both branches of Congress to select men solely
for fitness, without regard to locality, and to keep them in office as
long as they are competent and faithful. [Laughter and applause.]
But, gentlemen, I think we ought to recur for a moment, perhaps, to the
Pilgrim Fathers [laughter], and I desire to say that both Harvard and
Yale recognize the fact that there are some things before which
universities "pale their ineffectual fires."
"Words are but breath; but where great deeds were done,
A power abides, transferred from sire to son."
Now, gentlemen, on that sandy, desolate spot of Plymouth great deeds
were done, and we are here to commemorate them. Those were hard times.
It was a terrible voyage, and they were hungry and cold and worn out
with labor, and they took their guns to the church and the field, and
the half of them died in the first winter. They were not prosperous
times that we recall with this hour. Let us take some comfort from that
in the present circumstances of our beloved country. She is in danger of
a terrible disaster, but let us remember that the times which future
generations delight to recall are not those of ease and prosperity, but
those of adversity bravely borne. [Applause.]