States a far more ample and equal provision for pastors, and of
religious instruction for the people, than could have been secured by a
religious establishment of any kind; and that one of the greatest
services which his country will be hereafter perceived to have rendered
to the world, will be the having proved that religion is the more cared
for the more unreservedly it is committed to the affections of the
people. He quoted the remark of Voltaire, that if there were only one
religion in a country, it would be a pure despotism; if two, they would
be deadly enemies; but half a hundred subsist in fine harmony. He
observed that this was the case in America, and that so true and
pregnant a remark as this ought to be accepted as an atonement for many
that would die of untruth. He went on to notice the remarkable fact that
creeds which oppose each other, and which, in concatenation, would seem
to be most demoralizing, do, by virtue of some one common principle,
agree in causing the moral elevation of those who hold them. He
instanced Philosophical Necessity, as held by Hume, Kaimes, Edwards, and
Priestley. He told me how he had once been prejudiced against Priestley,
and how surprised he was, when he first met the philosopher at
Philadelphia, to find him absolutely mild and candid.
The whole of this day was spent like the last, except that we went over
the house looking at the busts and prints, which gave an English air to
the dwelling, otherwise wholly Virginian. During all our conversations,
one or another slave was perpetually coming to Mrs. Madison for the
great bunch of keys; two or three more lounged about in the room,
leaning against the doorposts or the corner of the sofa; and the
attendance of others was no less indefatigable in my own apartment.
The next morning we found our host in fine spirits. He described, with
much vivacity, the variety of visits from strangers that he was subject
to, saying that some were taxes and others bounties. He laughed about
the ludicrous effect sometimes produced by an utter failure of sympathy
in matters of grave pursuit; and told us of a ride he took with a young
English geologist who was on a visit to him, and who spurred up to him
in a fit of transport, holding a stone almost into his eyes, and
exclaiming, "Graywacke, sir! graywacke, graywacke!" the host all the
time being quite unable to understand or sympathize with this vehement
rapture.
I glanced at the newspapers when they came in, and found them full of
the subject of the quarrel with France, the great topic of the day. Mr.
Madison gave me an account of the relations of the two countries, and of
the grounds of his apprehensions that this quarrel might, in spite of
its absurdity, issue in a war. This is all over now, but some of his
observations remain. He said it would be an afflicting sight if the two
representative governments which are in the van of the world should go
to war; it would squint towards a confirmation of what is said of the
restlessness of popular governments. If the people, who pay for war, are
eager for it, it is quite a different thing from potentates being so who
are at no cost. He mentioned that George the Fourth, as prince regent,
was a large gainer in the last war, from his share of the Droits of the
Admiralty, amounting to 1,000,000_l._ per annum; a pretty premium, Mr.
Madison observed, to pay a king for going to war. He told me about the
formation of the philosophical and humane agreement between Franklin and
Frederic of Prussia, that merchant ships, unarmed, should go about their
business as freely in the war as in peace. The Salem merchants, who were
formerly in favour of war, and who suffered from captures in the course
of it, were, on the present occasion, petitioning against war and for
reprisals.
Franklin was near seventy when Mr. Madison first knew him. He went to
the Hall of Congress in a sedan, and sat all the time, writing what he
had to say, and getting it read, because he could not stand. He was
soon afterward bedridden, when Madison was his frequent visiter. He had
much self-command; and, when seized by severe pain, soon roused himself
to converse almost as if it did not exist. One of the most striking
points about him was his dislike of argument. He would listen to his
adversary, and then overthrow him with an anecdote.
After avowing a very unfashionable admiration of Darwin's poetry, and
declaring that the splendour of the diction put his imagination into a
very gay state, Mr. Madison went into a speculation about what would
eventually become of all existing languages and their literature;
declaring that he had little hope of the stability of languages when
terms of even classical derivation are perpetually changing their
meanings with time. Then, by some channel, now forgotten, we got round
to the less agreeable subject of national debts and taxation, when, as
might be expected, Mr. Madison expressed his horror of the machinery
necessary under a system of indirect levy, and his attachment to a plan
of moderate expenditure, provided for by direct taxation. He remarked
upon Pitt's success in obtaining revenue when every other man would
rather have surrendered his plans than used the means he employed. He
observed that king, lords, and commons might constitute a government
which would work a long while in a kingdom no bigger than Great Britain,
but that it would soon become an absolute government in a country as
large as Russia, from the magnitude of its executive power; and that it
was a common but serious mistake to suppose that a country must be small
to be a republic, since a republican form, with a federal head, can be
extended almost without limits, without losing its proportions, becoming
all the while less, instead of more, subject to change. In a small
republic there is much noise from the fury of parties; while in a
spreading but simply working republic, like that of the Union, the
silent influence of the federal head keeps down more quarrels than ever
appear.
We were compelled to leave Montpelier while our intercourse was thus in
full flow. Mr. Madison would not say farewell seriously, he was so
confident that we should visit him again on our return from the South
and West. I need not say that we earnestly wished to do so; but we never
saw him again, not having an opportunity in the summer to diverge from
our route so as to approach his residence. We heard excellent reports of
him from time to time; of his vigour and cheerfulness, and of his
application to political and literary pursuits. In the spring of the
following year, however, he declined, and died on the 28th of June,
1836.
I have written of him under a strong desire to say nothing that he would
have objected to have repeated, suppressing whatever he dropped relating
to private persons or to public men yet living, while attempting to
afford what gratification I could to the strong interest felt in England
about this virtuous statesman. It is something that, living under
institutions framed by the few for the subordination of the many, the
English feel the interest they do about such men as Jefferson and
Madison; men inspired by the true religion of statemanship, faith in
men, and in the principles on which they combine in an agreement to do
as they would be done by. This political religion resembles personal
piety in its effect of sustaining the spirit through difficulty and
change, and leaving no cause for repentance, or even solicitude, when,
at the close of life, all things reveal their values to the meditative
sage. Madison reposed cheerfully, gayly, to the last, on his faith in
the people's power of wise self-government. As for Jefferson, he has
left, in his last letter to Madison, a few sentences which we may be
thankful for, as golden links added to the chain by which the glorious
memories of these two good men are indissolubly connected:--
"The friendship which has subsisted between us, now half a century, and
the harmony of our political principles and pursuits, have been sources
of constant happiness to me through that long period. It has been a
great solace to me to believe that you are engaged in vindicating to
posterity the course we have pursued for preserving to them, in all
their purity, the blessings of self-government, which we had assisted,
too, in acquiring for them. If ever the earth has beheld a system of
administration conducted with a single and steadfast eye to the general
interest and happiness of those committed to it; one which, protected by
truth, can never know reproach, it is that to which our lives have been
devoted. To myself, you have been a pillar of support through life. Take
care of me when I am dead, and be assured that I shall leave with you my
last affections."[13]
Footnote 13: Jefferson's Memoir and Correspondence, vol. iv., p. 428.
Date, February 17, 1826.
JEFFERSON'S UNIVERSITY.
"That the legislator should especially occupy himself with the
education of youth, no one can dispute; for when this is not done in
states, it is a cause of damage to the polity. For a state must be
administered with reference to its polity; and that which is the
peculiar characteristic of each polity is that which preserves and
originally constitutes it; as, for instance, the democratical
principle in a democracy, and the oligarchical in an oligarchy; and
that which is the best principle always constitutes the best
polity."--ARISTOTLE, _Politik._, book viii.
The existence of the University of Virginia is scarcely recognised by
British travellers. I was welcomed there as the first who had ever
visited it. Charlottesville lies out of the ordinary route of tourists;
but Monticello, the seat of Jefferson, is within sight of his favourite
institution, and Mr. Madison's residence is only about thirty-five miles
off; and it seems surprising that such a combination of interesting
objects should not have drawn more pilgrim feet that way.
It was between five and six in the morning when we entered the stage at
Orange Courthouse, which was to deposite us at Charlottesville before an
early dinner. The snow had wholly disappeared, and I looked out eagerly
to see what aspect the far-famed Virginia wore. For the greater part of
the way all looked very desolate; the few dwellings were dingy; large
mansions, with slave-dwellings clustered near. The trees were bare, the
soil one dull red, the fences shabby. The eye found a welcome relief in
the woods of stone-pine, and in an occasional apparition of the
beautiful bluebird, perching upon a stump or flitting over the fallows.
We breakfasted at a farm a little way off the road, whither we had to
pick our way by a fieldpath, which was a perfect slough. The hostess was
friendly, and served an excellent breakfast to the stage-passengers in a
bedchamber.
From this point the road improved. The mountains were before us; and, as
we approached them, the undulating surface of the country presented many
beauties. It was Sunday. We mounted an eminence all grown over with
stone-pine, and on the top we found, in the heart of the grove, a small
church where worship was going on, while seventeen horses, two of them
with sidesaddles, were fastened to the trees around. This church was
free to all sects, but at present used by the Presbyterians, they being
the most numerous sect in the neighbourhood.
We arrived at Charlottesville, at the foot of the mountains, by one
o'clock, and joined the friends whom we found awaiting us at dinner at
the hotel. A Unitarian clergyman was to preach in the courthouse in the
afternoon: a rare event, I imagine; for we heard afterward that one of
the professor's ladies could not sleep the night before from the idea of
a Unitarian being so near. We attended the service, which was very
spiritless. The whole burden fell upon the minister, there being no
preparation for singing, and apparently no interest beyond mere
curiosity. Two long rows of students from the University were there, and
I thought I never saw so fine a set of youths. Their demeanour was
gentlemanly to the last degree, except in the one particular of
spitting, and the seriousness of their manner must have been gratifying
to the preacher.
After the service we walked to the University, at the distance, I think,
of a little more than a mile from the town. The singular ranges of
college buildings are visible from a considerable distance, as they
advantageously crown an eminence, presenting the appearance of a piazza
surrounding an oblong square, with the professors' houses rising at
regular intervals. We found that the low buildings connecting these
larger dwellings were the dormitories of the students; ground-floor
apartments opening into the piazza, and designed to serve as places of
study as well as sleep. The professors' houses are inconveniently small.
Jefferson wished, in the first instance, that the professors should be
young men; and this fact and the smallness of the dwellings have given
rise to the ridiculous belief, entertained by some people, that
Jefferson made celibacy a condition of holding professorships in his
university. Instead of this, ladies' faces may be seen at many windows,
and plenty of children tripping along in the piazzas. At one end of the
quadrangle is the Rotunda, containing the lecture-rooms, library, and
other apartments; and outside the other end a Gothic chapel was about to
be erected. Well-kept grass-plats and gravel-walks fill up the
quadrangle.
The number of students at the time of my visit was 206. They are not
admitted under the age of sixteen, except in the case of a younger
brother accompanying one above that age. Each dormitory is designed to
accommodate two students; but, when there is room, any student may rent
a whole one if he chooses. The ordinary expenses are so moderate as to
be worth specifying:--
Board, including furniture, washing, and attendance $100
Fuel and candles 15
Rent of half a dormitory 8
Use of the library and public rooms 15
Fees to professors, say 75
----
Total $213
exclusive of books and stationary, clothing and pocket-money. The
students wear a uniform which is very becoming and not at all
conspicuous, being merely a coat of particularly simple fashion and dark
colour.
Of the two hundred and six students whom I had the pleasure of seeing,
one hundred and fifty-one belonged to the state, five came from the
Northern States, and the rest from the South and West; six from South
Carolina, though there are colleges both at Charleston and Columbia.
Professor Patterson spoke of the youths among whom he was living as
being as steady and promising a set of young men as could be met with.
We heard afterward a somewhat different account in a stagecoach; but, of
course, the testimony of a professor is worth much more than that of two
chance travellers; and all that I saw of the appearance and manners of
the students was very creditable to the institution. Every student
visits each professor's house twice in the session, once to dinner and
once to a ball; and, I suppose, as much oftener as he may be asked. The
session lasts ten months, the vacation being in the hot months of July
and August.
The distinctive principle of this University is that each student is
free to attend the schools of his choice, and no others; provided that,
being under twenty-one years of age, he shall attend at least three
professors. The professors highly approve of this arrangement, finding
that it enables young men to qualify themselves rapidly and effectually
for particular callings, in cases where time is valuable; and that the
youths put vigour into their pursuits, in proportion as they are free,
within a reasonable limit, to gratify their tastes and fulfil their own
purposes in the choice of their studies.
There are nine professorships, and in each school there are three
regular lectures a week, besides the instructions suited to the several
classes into which the school is divided. The professors when I was
there were--
Professor Harrison, Ancient Languages and History. This gentleman must
find himself fully occupied. He was the sole instructer that session of
seventy-five young men in Latin and Greek, and, of such as desired it,
in Hebrew. His qualifications are understood to be of a very high order.
Professor Blœttermann had sixty-four pupils in Modern Languages,
viz., French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Anglo-Saxon; and was ready
to teach, moreover, the Danish, Swedish, Dutch, and Portuguese
languages.
Professor Bonnycastle (Mathematics) had a large attendance, consisting
of one hundred and nine, divided into five classes, beginning with the
theory of Arithmetic, and concluding the course of Pure Mathematics with
the Integral Calculus. There is, moreover, a class of Mixed Mathematics
for such of the more advanced students as choose to pursue it, and
another of Civil Engineering.
Professor Patterson undertakes the Natural Philosophy, having an
attendance of seventy-three pupils. The apparatus provided for the use
of this school is very extensive and complete; and an observatory, with
the necessary astronomical instruments, is open to the students.
Professor Emmet, Chymistry and Materia Medica, eighty-nine pupils.
Professor Magill, Medicine, forty-one pupils.
Professor Warner, Anatomy and Surgery, forty-four pupils. An extensive
museum is attached to the Medical Department, and the anatomical school
is regularly supplied with subjects, from which the lectures are
delivered. The advantage claimed for this, above all other medical
schools in the country, is that its session lasts ten months instead of
four.
Professor Tucker, Moral Philosophy, sixty-seven pupils, who are divided
into two classes; the examinations of the junior class being in
Rhetoric, Belles Lettres, Logic, and Ethics, from the professor's
lectures, Blair's and Campbell's Rhetoric, and Stewart's "Active and
Moral Powers." The senior class studies Mental Philosophy and Political
Economy; and the examinations are from the professor's lectures, Brown's
Lectures, Say's and Adam Smith's Political Economy.
Professor Davis, Law, forty-eight pupils. The students of this school
have instituted a Law Society, at whose meetings the professor presides,
and where the business of every branch of the profession is rehearsed.
Three honorary distinctions are conferred in this University; a
certificate of proficiency, conferred by the faculty on any proficient
in a particular branch of study; that of graduate in any school, for
proficiency in the general studies of any school; and the third, of
Master of Arts of the University of Virginia, is obtained by graduation
in the schools of Ancient and Modern Languages, Mathematics, Natural
Philosophy, Chymistry, and Moral Philosophy. All these are obtained when
deserved, and not in consequence of any prescribed term of study having
been gone through. The title of Doctor of Medicine is conferred on the
graduate in the Medical Department. The certificates and diplomas are
delivered in the presence of all the members of the University and of
the public on the last day of the session, in the Rotunda, amid many
observances and rites.
It will be observed that there is no Theological Professorship. It was
noticed by the religious North at the time of the foundation of the
University, that this was probably the first instance in the world of
such an establishment exhibiting this kind of deficiency, and the
experiment was denounced as a very hazardous one. The result seems to
have been, that while theological instruction has been obtainable
elsewhere, a greater number and variety of young men, of different
religious persuasions, have been educated at this institution than would
have been likely to resort to it if it had, by the choice of a
theological professor, identified itself with any single denomination.
The reasons for the omission of a Professorship of Divinity are stated
in the first Report of the Commissioners who met in August, 1818, at
Rockfish Gap, on the Blue Ridge, for the purpose of organizing the plans
of this institution. Jefferson was understood to be the author of the
report, which contains the following passage:
"In conformity with the principles of our constitution, which places all
sects of religion on an equal footing; with the jealousy of the
different sects, in guarding that equality from encroachment and
surprise; and with the sentiments of the legislature, in favour of
freedom of religion, manifested on former occasions, we have proposed no
Professor of Divinity; and the rather, as the proofs of the being of a
God, the Creator, Preserver, and Supreme Ruler of the universe, the
Author of all the relations of morality, and of the laws and obligations
these infer, will be within the province of the Professor of Ethics; to
which, adding the developments of those moral obligations, of those in
which all sects agree, with a knowledge of the languages of Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin, a basis will be formed common to all sects. Proceeding
thus far without offence to the constitution, we have thought it proper
at this point to leave every sect to provide, as they think fittest, the
means of further instruction in their own peculiar tenets."
There are no daily public prayers at this institution, but there are
regular services on Sundays, administered by clergymen of the four
denominations, in turns of a year each. These clergymen officiate on the
invitation of the professors, officers, and students. The attendance
upon public worship is purely voluntary; and, as might be expected as a
consequence, it is regular and complete.
This institution may well be called Jefferson's University. The first
conception was his; the whole impulse and direction; the scheme of its
studies, and the organization of its government. His letters to his
intimate friends during the last five years of his life breathe a
rational ardour about this enterprise which is very animating to those
connected with the university, and which affords a fine stimulus to the
students, who are daily reminded of what they owe to him, and what were
his expectations from them. "I fear not to say," he writes, "that within
twelve or fifteen years from this time (1825), a majority of the rulers
of our state will have been educated here. They shall carry hence the
correct principles of our day; and you may count assuredly that they
will exhibit their country in a degree of sound respectability it has
never known, either in our days or those of our forefathers. I cannot
live to see it. My joy must only be that of anticipation." In his last
letter to Madison, a few months later, he says, "And if I remove beyond
the reach of attentions to the university, or beyond the bourne of life
itself, as I soon must, it is a comfort to leave that institution under
your care, and an assurance that it will not be wanting."