[Footnote 1: Repeated calls from the friends of William and Mary, as
well as our own high estimation of this Address, have induced us to
publish it. It will be understood, of course, that the M.S.
originally, was solicited of Professor Dew for publication, by a
Committee on the part of the Students. We omit the correspondence as
of no general interest.]
_Gentlemen_:—In obedience to the customs of our institution, I proceed
to address you on the present occasion; and I do it, I assure you,
with feelings of no ordinary character. When I reflect upon the
antiquity and reputation of this venerable institution,—upon the
numerous alumni who have been sent forth from its halls, so many of
whom have graced the walks of private life, or risen into the high
places of our government, and shed around them the benign influence of
their talents and statesmanship,—when I reflect upon the long line of
efficient and distinguished men who have preceded me in this office,
and upon the character and virtues of him who was my predecessor, I
cannot but feel a weight of responsibility which excites in me a deep
and painful solicitude. For eight years it was my pleasure to be
associated with him whose place I have been called to fill. His
learning, his piety, his conscientiousness in the discharge of his
duties, however onerous, will long be remembered by all who knew him
well; and the regret manifested in the countenances of the citizens of
our town when he bade them an affectionate farewell, marks
conclusively the deep impression which his virtues and usefulness had
made upon their hearts, and the loss which our society has sustained
by the departure from among us of one, who, with his amiable family,
constituted so interesting a portion of our social circle. Again,
then, let me say, I enter upon the duties of my station with deep and
painful solicitude, sustained alone by the consciousness, that I shall
yield to none who have gone before me in this office, in zeal,
fidelity, and love for our venerated Alma Mater.
I shall not, on the present occasion, endeavor to present to your view
an exposition of the general advantages resulting from education; the
limits which I have prescribed to myself in this address, together
with the necessity of introducing other topics, will, of course,
prevent me from such an effort. Nor is it necessary;—your presence in
this hall—your determination to subscribe to our laws, and to obey the
requisitions of our statutes, prove that you have already comprehended
the inestimable benefits of education, and have come up here to pursue
your collegiate career.
As it is probable there may be students in every department of our
college, and each one may be anxious to know something of our entire
system previous to the selection which he may make of the courses of
study for his attendance, I will, in the first place, give you some
information as to our general plan. Our plan embraces a course of
general study, which may be pursued to great advantage by all having
the time and means, no matter what may be their professions in after
life. Besides this course of general study, it embraces the subject of
law, and aims at accomplishing the student in one of the learned
professions.
Let me then commence with the subject of the classics. In this school
we have a preparatory department, in which the student may acquire
that elementary instruction requisite for the successful study of the
higher classics. As but few of you, however, will, in all probability,
wish to enter this school, I shall confine the remarks which I have to
make on this subject to the higher classical studies. In one
department of this higher school, the attention of the student will be
confined to the following authors: Horace, Cicero de Oratore, Terence,
Juvenal, Livy and Tacitus, in Latin—and to Xenophon’s Anabasis,
Æschylus, Herodotus, Euripides, Sophocles, Thucydides, and Homer in
Greek.
He will be required to read them with facility—to construe them—to
explain their meaning—to master portions of history which may be
referred to, and to acquire a thorough and intimate acquaintance with
the whole philosophy of the Latin and Greek Grammars. In this school
it is expected that the classic student shall complete his knowledge
of the ancient languages. I would therefore recommend it to all who
may have the time and inclination to pursue such studies, or whose
profession in after life may demand deep classical learning.
The knowledge of the ancient languages is far more important to us
than that of any other, save our own. At the time that the barbarians
from the north and east broke up the Roman Empire, and engrafted the
feudal system on its fragments, whence the nations of modern Europe
have arisen, the Latin and Greek languages were the two great
languages of the civilized portion of the ancient world. It is
necessary to study them in order that we may be enabled to understand
their transition into the modern languages; the latter are derivations
from the former. It has been well observed that there is not a single
nation from the north to the south of Europe, from the shores of the
Baltic to the plains of Italy, whose literature is not imbedded in the
very elements of classical learning, and this remark applies
particularly to the literature of England. But again, in order that
you may understand well the classical authors put into your hands, it
is necessary that you should become acquainted with the manners,
customs, {761} institutions and religion of the ancient world. Great
and mighty changes have taken place in the condition of man since the
fall of the vast fabric of the Roman Empire. The whole interior
economy of nations has been changed. The complex system of polytheism,
with its thousand of forms, and ceremonies, and sacred mysteries, has
all been overthrown, and the beautiful and simple religion of the meek
and humble Saviour of the world traced, as with the pencil of light,
upon the sacred page, and revealed even unto _babes_, has been
established in its stead. This great and salutary change alone, has
stamped a new character upon the age in which we live. How vast the
difference between a Priest of Jupiter and a Minister of the Gospel!
How great the difference between the Eleusinian mysteries of the
Polytheist, and the communion service of the Christian! In order then
that you may be enabled to read the classic authors to advantage, and
apply with skill the lessons which you may draw from the page of
ancient history, it is necessary that you should study the laws,
customs, institutions, religion, and polity of Greece and Rome. For
this reason, there has been recently attached to our classical
department, a school of Roman and Grecian Antiquities, and Heathen
Mythology, in which you will be enabled to derive full and complete
information on all these topics.
The degree in the classical department has been placed upon a high
footing. It is necessary that the candidate for this honor should not
only be a proficient in the studies just mentioned, but that he should
obtain a certificate of qualification on the junior, mathematical,
rhetorical, and historical courses. With this additional information,
our classic graduate goes into the world not a _mere Latin and Greek
scholar_, but an elegant classic. This course of study has been
devised principally for the benefit of that large and respectable
class of students who propose to follow the profession of teaching. To
all students of this description, I would recommend the attainment of
this degree—a degree which will at once give its owner a high standing
in our community, and be a most ample certificate of his merits and
qualifications.
Besides the degree in the classical school, there are three others of
a high order given in our institution; these are the degrees of A.B.,
B.L., and A.M. With regard to the first, you will find in our laws a
detail of the courses of study necessary to its attainment. These
courses you will find full and well selected, bearing an advantageous
comparison with similar courses in any other college of our Union.
They embrace the four great departments of mathematics, physics,
morals and politics. These studies I would recommend to all who may
have the time and the means to pursue them, no matter what profession
they may follow in after life. Independently of the pleasure which
each of them imparts to the mind of the zealous student, there is a
utility arising from them far beyond the conception of ordinary
minds—a utility which springs both from the enlargement of the
understanding by the salutary exercise which they afford to it, and
from the light which they respectively cast on each other. One of the
most beautiful and interesting facts in relation to literature, is,
that all its departments are connected and associated with each other;
the study of one perfects the mind in the comprehension of another.
The acquisition of a new idea sometimes revolutionizes the little
republic of the mind, and gives a new cast to all our thoughts. Hence
the division of labor in science is not productive of the same
advantage as in physics, but we should always extend the range of our
studies in proportion to the enlargement of mind and the facilities
for acquiring information, no matter what may be our profession or
occupation hereafter.
If the time or means of the student, however, should constrain him to
limit his course of studies whilst here, then it would be certainly
proper that he should make a selection of those subjects which may
have the closest and most intimate connection with the profession
which he may follow, or the station in life which he may expect to
fill. His own judgment will readily inform him of the selection which
should be made, taking care always, according to the requisition of
our statutes, to enter a sufficient number of classes to afford him
full occupation. Every young man should task himself fully, lest want
of employment, while here, should induce idle habits. For the peculiar
advantages of each course of studies, I must refer you to the
introductory lectures of the Professors, all of which will be open to
your attendance, and will give you much more complete information on
each department than I could possibly impart, even if not confined
within the limits of an opening address.
The degree in law is of a professional character, and consequently we
can generally expect that those alone will aim at its attainment who
propose to follow the profession of the law. This profession, in all
countries, but particularly in our own, is one of elevated standing,
of superior learning, and, I may add, of great moral and political
power. The habits of his profession ensure the lawyer, in every
country, an honorable station among statesmen, and the foremost rank
in deliberative councils. Law, said Dr. Johnson, is the science in
which the greatest powers of the understanding are applied to the
greatest number of facts. The common law of England, with the great
modifications which it has undergone in our own country from the
operations of our government and republican institutions, will form
the principal text to which your attention will be directed in this
department. “This law,” it has well been said, “is not the product of
the wisdom of some one man, or society of men, in any one age; but of
the wisdom, counsel, experience and observation of many ages of wise
and observing men.” It is, emphatically, “the gathered wisdom of a
thousand years.” And you, gentlemen, who propose to accomplish its
study, must devote yourselves to it with unremitting ardor. You must
not study the mere statutes and prescriptions of the law alone, but
you must examine, with the eye of philosophy, the whole foundation on
which the great superstructure is raised. It is necessary that you
should examine the principles of the science of government; that you
should look into the wants of our nature; examine the beautiful
structure of the human mind, with all our feelings, principles,
propensities and instincts. In fine, you must, in the language of one
who has risen to the highest eminence in his profession, “Drink in the
lessons and spirit of philosophy. Not that philosophy described by
Milton, as
A perpetual feast of nectared sweets
Where no crude surfeit reigns;
but that philosophy which is conversant with men’s {762} business and
interests, with the policy and welfare of nations; that philosophy
which dwells not in vain imaginations and platonic dreams, but which
stoops to life, and enlarges the boundaries of human happiness; that
philosophy which sits by us in the closet, cheers us by the fireside,
walks with us in the fields and highways, kneels with us at the
altars, and lights up the enduring flame of patriotism.”
Deep and extensive knowledge is, above all things, requisite for the
success of him who aspires to an elevated stand in this honorable
profession. Well, then, have the officers of our institution ordained
that the degree in this department shall not be conferred for a mere
knowledge of laws. The candidate for this honor must have studied,
beside the municipal law, the subject of government and national law,
together with some exposition of our own system of government, all of
which subjects are taught by the Law Professor. He must, moreover,
have obtained the Baccalaureate honor in this, or some other
institution, or if not, must have attended a full course of lectures
in some one of the scientific departments of this institution. With
the collateral information thus obtained, the graduate in law will go
forth, not a mere lawyer, equipped only with the forms and
technicalities of his profession, but with a mind deeply imbued by the
principles of science and the spirit of philosophy. With a mind thus
furnished, every hour of study in his profession becomes efficient,
and moves him forward with ease and rapidity in his career, enabling
him to encounter all the difficulties and obstacles which beset him on
his way.[2] For a full exposition of the courses of study in the law
department, I must refer you to the introductory lecture of the
Professor, which will impart all the information which you may desire
on this subject.
[Footnote 2: One of the great advantages of establishing a Law School
in a college is, that the student, whilst pursuing his professional
studies, is enabled at the same time to give a portion of his
attention to other subjects of a kindred character, and thus
ultimately to enter his profession with the great and inestimable
advantage of a proper elementary education, which must ever give him a
decided superiority to him who is educated in the law alone.]
Before speaking of our Master’s degree, I will say a few words on the
school of civil engineering, lately established by the visitors in
this institution. The United States of North America present at this
moment one of the most sublime spectacles which has ever been offered
to the eye of the philanthropist—the spectacle of a people few in
numbers at first—rapidly increasing and spreading over one of the
fairest quarters of the world; building up institutions, the
admiration of the age in which we live; and rearing up, by the mere
development of internal resources, a fabric of greatness and empire,
unparalleled in the annals of history. The original heterogeneous
interests of the different portions of our Union, are made to
harmonize more and more, from day to day, by the magic influence of
internal improvement. The canal and the rail road, the steam boat and
steam car, constitute in fact the great and characteristic powers of
the age in which we live. Throughout our extensive territory, covering
so many degrees of latitude and longitude, embracing every climate and
yielding every production, nature calls on art to aid her. Although we
have already executed works of improvement within the limits of our
system of republics, which rival in splendor and grandeur the boasted
monuments of Egypt, Rome or China, and far surpass them in usefulness
and profit, yet the work is still in a state of incipiency—a boundless
field is opening to the enterprise of individuals and states. In the
peculiar phraseology of a favorite science, there at this moment
exists a vast demand for internal improvements. From one side to the
other of our immense territory, turnpikes, rail roads and canals are
constructing every where; the engineer is abroad in the land, almost
annihilating by his skill, time and space. Yet his labors are not
commensurate with the demand. There is, at this time, scarcely any
profession in our country which rewards its successful follower more
highly and certainly than that of civil engineering. The visitors of
our institution have therefore very wisely attached a school of this
description to our college, placing it under the direction of an
individual who combines, most happily, profound scientific knowledge
with great practical skill—an individual who for years zealously and
successfully pursued the business of engineering in another country,
until called off by other employments. I would therefore warmly
recommend this school to all who are anxious to follow this
profession, as soon as their attainments will enable them to join it
with advantage.
In the supplemental laws, published since the last session of our
board of visitors, you will find a detail of the studies requisite for
the attainment of the degree of A.M. This is the highest honor in our
institution which can be won by the student during his collegiate
career. It will require generally two years additional study after
obtaining the Bachelor’s degree; few of you, consequently, can be
expected to aim at its attainment. Those however who shall have an
opportunity, will find themselves amply rewarded by the advantages
which may be derived from it. In this course, all the studies which
are pursued in the first portion of your collegiate career, are
extended and amplified. In the first portion of your studies, you
master the great principles of science; in the latter, you enter more
fully into your subjects, and begin the great work of applying your
principles to facts. He who shall have the good fortune to obtain this
degree, will have amassed a fund of knowledge which will enable him to
grace and ornament any of the walks of life into which he may choose
to enter. His mind will have been trained in the most important of all
arts—that of acquiring knowledge and generalizing facts. He will
almost necessarily have attained the great desideratum of literary
men—love of study and the power of discrimination. So that in his case
there will be afterwards no waste of labor and time, no useless
expenditure of frivolous and unprofitable thought. To a mind thus
trained, all nature furnishes lessons of instruction and philosophy,
from her least to her greatest operations—from the falling of an
apple, to the complex movements of worlds innumerable, all is harmony,
concord and wisdom. Such a mind can draw the lesson of philosophy
alike from the prattle of the innocent babe, or the deeply studied
conversation of a Bacon or a Newton.
I have thus, gentlemen, endeavored briefly to present an exposé of the
several departments of study in our college.[3] I have given you the
bill of fare, and we hope {763} that you may make your selections with
judgment, and afterwards prosecute your studies with energy and
perseverance. By the late arrangement of the visitors in regard to the
Master’s degree, our scientific courses are as extensive as at any
other institution in this country, and one of them, the moral and
political, is believed to be more extensive than in any other
institution known to us. And this will lead me to say a few words on
the policy of our board of visitors in establishing so extensive a
course.
[Footnote 3: I have dwelt in this address very little on the subjects
requisite for the degree of A.B. because of their well known character
and importance.]
Many persons are under the impression that moral and political studies
need not be prosecuted at college—that the physical and mathematical
sciences are the most important subjects, and should be studied to
their exclusion. This opinion seems to be based upon the popular
notion that moral and political subjects may be comprehended without
the assistance of a teacher, and may consequently be prosecuted to
most advantage when the student has finished his collegiate career and
entered upon the great theatre of life. This impression is certainly
erroneous and highly pernicious; and in justification of the system
which we have adopted in our own college I must employ a few moments
in attempting to explain its thorough fallacy. In the first place
then, I have no hesitation in affirming that moral and political
studies are the most important of all. These subjects are of universal
application; they concern every member of the human family. We cannot
escape their influence or connection, no matter what may be our
destiny through life. The great _high-ways_, and the little _by-ways_,
of our existence, if I may be allowed the expression, alike pass
through the regions of morals and politics. From the village gossip
who tells the tale of her neighbor’s equivocal conduct, and
significantly hints that it was no better than it ought to be, to him
who watches the movements of empires and penetrates the secret designs
of statesmen, all are concerned in these universally applicable
subjects. It is a matter of very little practical consequence to us
what may be the opinions of our neighbor in mathematics or
physics—whether he believes two sides of a triangle may be less than
the third, or that the earth is the centre of our system, and that the
sun, moon and stars revolve around it. We may laugh at him once or
twice during the year for his ignorance, but his opinions wound none
of our sensibilities and run counter to none of our interests. But the
moment our opinions clash upon the subjects of morals and politics,
that moment the case is altered. The opinions of my neighbor are no
longer indifferent to me. If he has notions of morality under which he
is constantly condemning my course of life, or a system of politics
entirely at war with mine, then does the collision become indeed a
serious one. It was a matter of very little moment to Castile that
King Alphonso should believe the solar system miserably defective in
its arrangements, and that he could suggest some most important
improvements in it. But the case was seriously altered when he
believed that he was responsible to God alone, and not to his
subjects, in the administration of his government, and that his wisdom
was sufficient to make and unmake the laws of his country. The fact
is, morals, politics and religion are the great concerns of human
nature. They spring from relations of universal existence throughout
the human family—relations from whose influence none of us can
possibly escape.
But it is said that even if these subjects be of such universal
application, they may easily be acquired in after life when we have
appeared as actors upon the great stage of the world. Then it is
affirmed we may begin the study of morals and politics to most
advantage, when theory and experiment may go hand in hand—when we may
correct the visions of an overwrought imagination by the plain and
palpable realities that exist around us. This opinion is certainly
erroneous. The period of youth is the proper time to commence these
studies. You have come up here, gentlemen, with minds and feelings not
yet hackneyed in the beaten walks of a business life. You are now
enlisted in no mere party warfare. Your hopes have not yet been damped
by disappointment, nor your energies been deadened by adversity. All
your affections and sympathies are warm and generous. Your hearts and
heads have not been besieged by cold, inveterate selfishness, or
perverted by unreasonable and noxious prejudices. You have as yet set
up no false idols in the temple of the mind. Addicti jurare in verba
nullius magistri. You stand committed to the cause of truth and
justice alone. Under such circumstances you are in the best possible
condition for the reception of pure and virtuous principles. Now is
the time to imbibe the great lessons of morality and to study the
general and elementary doctrines of government and politics. A little
time hence you will have entered upon the bustling, busy theatre of
the world. Your private interests and party prejudices will then rise
up at every step to cloud your minds and pervert your judgments. Your
moral and political researches will no longer be conducted with a
single eye to truth and justice, but the demon of party will too
probably exert an irresistible control over the little republics of
the mind and heart.
There are no sciences which require the same full, free, and generous
exercise of the feelings of the heart, as morals and politics. In the
fixed sciences, it is a matter of very little concern to us what the
character of the fact may be; all we aim at is mere truth. We do not
care whether a triangle should have two, three, four, or five right
angles; all we are in search of, is the mere fact, the real truth.
Whilst we are conducting the inquiry, all the passions and active
feelings of our nature are laid to rest, and the intellect is left
alone and unbiassed to move directly to its results. But when we have
reached the region of morals and politics, then do we find that all
the passions, propensities and principles of our nature are brought
into full play. The whole human being, as he has been made by our
Creator, becomes then the important subject of our researches, and we
can never arrive at just conclusions without a due consideration of
all the forces which are in action. And this is one reason why these
are really the most difficult of all sciences.
Hence, gentlemen, the wisest and greatest statesmen have been
generally found among those who have directed their minds at an early
period of their lives to morals and politics. Such men become deeply
imbued with the great principles of those sciences in their youth.
They are early taught to worship at the shrine of truth, while the
ardent feeling of devoted patriotism banishes {764} from the mind all
narrow considerations of selfishness and shields it against the
intolerable prejudices of party spirit. A mind thus early and
correctly impressed with the great elementary principles of morals and
politics, will ever be well balanced and considerate in its
conclusions, and rarely surprised into hasty and rash decisions. In
looking to the speeches which emanate from our deliberative bodies, I
have often been struck with the exemplification which they afford of
the truth of this remark.
There is nothing in which our speakers are more defective than in
comprehension of view. They seem too often to seize but one single
point of a subject; and although they may move with a giant’s strength
in that direction, yet the mind remains unsatisfied. One of the
principal causes of this defect, is the want of a proper moral and
political education in early life. They have not received elementary
instruction sufficient to give the proper impulse to the mind. They
are capable of taking but one view of a subject, and that is dictated
by local and partial interests, or by too intense a consideration of
but one set of circumstances. Such politicians, however brilliant they
may be in mere detail, are incapable of taking the length, breadth and
depth of a great subject; they lack scope and comprehension of idea,
and cannot dive down to the bottom—where truth is always found. Such
men may be efficient instruments when directed by the genius and the
skill of the great politician, but are totally incapable of taking the
lead in difficult times, because incapable of forming the conception
of great plans and the means by which they are to be executed.[4]
[Footnote 4: Such was Lord Grenville, whose character was so ably
sketched by Burke; and such a man was the famous Neckar of France,
whose heart was good and whose mind was active, but he was
unfortunately deficient in general information and in comprehension of
idea. He had been a banker at Geneva and would have managed a great
nation like a banking house. It is a curious fact and serves to show
the penetration of Dr. A. Smith’s mind, that he always said Neckar
would soon fall, though enjoying at first the greatest and most
enviable popularity; and he made the prediction altogether from the
character of his mind which he had thoroughly studied during a short
period of association with him. Turgot may perhaps be given as an
example of a really wise and great statesman, a man of an excellent
elementary education, and of enlarged and liberal views. He has rarely
had an equal in modern times, and may be considered in this respect as
well contrasting with the two first mentioned. I could easily adduce
similar striking illustrations in our own country, and especially
among living statesmen, but it is unnecessary and might be improper.]
Of all the states in the Union, I may perhaps affirm without fear of
contradiction, that Virginia has produced the greatest number of able
and profound statesmen and of eloquent and efficient debaters. And to
this fact, no doubt, has been owing principally that preponderating
influence which she has so happily exerted in by-gone times upon the
destiny of our confederacy. One great reason of the superiority of our
orators and statesmen, is the fact that the mind of the Virginia youth
has always been easily directed to the study of politics and morals.
Our whole state hitherto has been one great political nursery, and I
hesitate not to affirm that our old and venerable Alma Mater has had a
powerful agency in the achievement of this result. The law, political
and moral departments of this college have always been upon a high and
respectable footing, and moral and political subjects have here always
received a due consideration. Hence it is that old William and Mary
can boast of so astonishing a number of distinguished statesmen in
proportion to her alumni—statesmen with whom she might boldly
challenge any other institution in this country, or even in the
world—statesmen who, whilst they have woven the chaplet of her glory
and engraven her name on the page of our country’s history, have
illustrated by their eloquence and statesmanship the national
legislature and federal government, and carried their pervasive
influence into the councils of every state in our wide-spread
confederacy. So that we may well say of our Alma Mater in view of
these brilliant results, in the language of one of the Trojan
wanderers,
Quis jam locus,
Quæ regio in terris nostri non plena laboris?
It is surely then a subject for congratulation, rather than censure,
that the governors of our institution, whilst they have enlarged the
course of studies in every department, have been particularly
attentive to morals and politics, and have prescribed such a course on
those subjects as will, I am in hopes, insure advantages never before
enjoyed in this institution. The great mass of high intellect in all
countries, must be employed in morals and politics, and no mind can
have received its greatest enlargement, or be fully prepared for a
faithful discharge of the great duties of life, without their study.
This applies forcibly to our own country, but particularly to the
slave-holding portion of it, and will lead me to make a few remarks on
the inducements which should urge you, gentlemen, as Americans and
Virginians, to make, whilst here, the greatest possible proficiency in
all your studies.
The establishment of our federative system of government, has justly
been considered as the commencement of a new era in the history of
nations. It is emphatically the great experiment of the age in which
we live; to it the eyes of all are directed, and upon its issue must
the cause of liberty and republican institutions throughout the world,
mainly depend. The great and distinguishing characteristic of our
system is, that the sovereignty resides in the people—that they
constitute the source of all political power, and the only check on
the misconduct of rulers. Where such a system prevails, all must
depend on the general intelligence and virtue of the mass. If the
mainspring of our system is the sovereignty of the people, then does
it follow that the people must be enlightened. In the language of the
great author of the Declaration of Independence, “power is always
stealing from the many to the few;” and nothing can prevent the
gradual decay and final loss of our liberties, but unceasing vigilance
on the part of the people. We must ever be upon the watch-tower, ready
to give the alarm, not only when the citadel of our liberties is
openly and violently attacked by the arm of bold and ruthless
usurpation, but when we behold those secret and artful approaches to
despotism, which gradually undermine the fabric of our institutions,
and give no signs of coming mischief, until we are involved in
irremediable ruin.
Every man throughout our wide-spread republic, must take his share of
responsibility in the result of the great experiment which is now
going forward. There is no privileged class here to rule by the right
divine. {765} Far different is our case from the despotisms of the
ancient world, or the monarchies of the modern. Sovereignty resided
formerly at Babylon, at Thebes, at Persepolis. Now we find it at
Paris, Vienna, and London. But in our own more happy country, it
pervades our territory like the very air we breathe, reaching the
farthest, and binding the most distant together. Politics here is the
business of every man, no matter how humble his condition may be. We
have it in commission to instruct the world in the science and the art
of government. We must, if we succeed, exhibit the extraordinary
phenomenon of a well-educated, virtuous, intelligent people, “free
without licentiousness—religious without a religious
establishment—obedient to laws administered by citizen magistrates,
without the show of official lictors or fasces, and without the aid of
mercenary legions or janissaries.” As a nation, a glorious charge has
devolved upon us. Our condition prescribes to each one the salutary
law of Solon, that there shall be no neutrals here. Each one must play
his part in the great political drama; and you, gentlemen, who have
assembled here for the purpose of receiving a liberal education, must
recollect that fortunate circumstances have placed you among the
privileged few. Every motive of honor, of patriotism, and a laudable
ambition, should stimulate to the utmost exertion. Neglect not the
precious opportunity which is afforded you. The _five talents_ are
entrusted to your care; beware lest you bury or throw them away. This
is the most important era of your life—the very seedtime of your
existence; success now may insure you success hereafter.
The age in which you live, and the circumstances by which you are
surrounded, as inhabitants of the south, create a special demand for
your utmost exertions. The times are indeed interesting and momentous.
We seem to have arrived at one of those great periods in the history
of man, when fearful and important changes are threatened in the
destiny of the world. In the prophetic language of the boldest of
philosophers, we may perhaps with truth affirm, that “the crisis of
revolutions is at hand.” Never were the opinions of the world more
unsettled and more clashing than at this moment. Monarchists and
democrats, conservatives and radicals, whigs and tories, agrarians and
aristocrats, slaveholders and non-slaveholders, are all now in the
great field of contention. What will be the result of this awful
conflict, none can say. England’s most eloquent and learned divine
tells us, that there now sits an unnatural scowl on the aspect of the
population—a resolved sturdiness in their attitude and gait; and
whether we look to the profane recklessness of their habits, or to the
deep and settled hatred which rankles in their hearts, we cannot but
read in these moral characteristics the omens of some great and
impending overthrow. The whole continent of Europe is agitated by the
conflicts of opinions and principles; and we are far, very far from
the calm and quiet condition which betokens the undoubted safety of
the republic.
When the times are so interesting and exciting; when clouds are
lowering above the political horizon, portending fearful storms; when
the lapse of time is every day disclosing great and startling events,
can you, gentlemen, fold your arms in inglorious indolence—throw away
the opportunity that is now offered you—fail to prepare for the
important part which should devolve on you, and add yourselves to the
great mass of the unaspiring, illiterate citizens, who have been in
all ages and all countries the blind instruments with which despotism
has achieved its results. I hope—yes, I know, that at this moment a
worthier and a nobler impulse actuates every one of you. And you must
recollect too, that you are generally members of that portion of our
confederacy whose domestic institutions have been called in question
by the meddling spirit of the age. You are slaveholders, or the sons
of slaveholders, and as such your duties and responsibilities are
greatly increased. He who governs and directs the action of others,
needs especially intelligence and virtue. Prepare yourselves, then,
for this important relation, so as to be able to discharge its duties
with humanity and wisdom. Then can we exhibit to the world the most
convincing evidence of the justice of our cause; then may we stand up
with boldness and confidence against the frowns of the world; and if
the demon of fanaticism shall at last array its thousands of deluded
victims against us, threatening to involve us in universal ruin by the
overthrow of our institutions, we may rally under our principles
undivided and undismayed—firm and resolute as the Spartan band at
Thermopylæ; and such a spirit, guided by that intelligence which
should be possessed by slaveholders, will ever insure the triumph of
our cause. I will not dwell longer at present on the high motives
which should urge you to exertion; but let me call your attention to
some of the evils and temptations which will beset you in your
collegiate career, and against which I must now warn you to be on your
guard.
There are many persons opposed to a college education, because it is
supposed to subject the youth to strong temptations, and in the end,
to lead many into dissipation and vice, who might otherwise pass
through life moral and correct citizens. I will not say that
temptation does not exist here—that evil may not arise to some from
their connection with college. But I do affirm unhesitatingly, that
there is no better preparation for the great world into which you are
soon to enter, than a proper discharge of your duties in the little
one with which you are now about to connect yourselves. The individual
who passes through a college life with honor and credit to himself,
resisting the little temptations which beset him, has already been
tried and tested, and his virtue is of a much more stern and genuine
character than that of him who has never gone forth from the paternal
roof, and consequently never been disciplined in the school of his
equals. You may rest assured that every one of you who shall pass
safely through this ordeal, will be a better and a more useful
citizen, because of the very temptations which you may have
triumphantly resisted whilst here.
Let me then call on each of you to guard against all excesses which
may lure you from the path of your duties—remember that one
transgression tempts to another, until the individual becomes hardened
and reckless in his course. Beware of the very beginnings of vice; a
little indulgence at first, believed even to be harmless, may lead to
melancholy ruin in the end. Never forget the great purpose for which
your parents have sent you here, and never permit, for a moment, any
circumstances to divert you from it. Be firm, be determined in your
course; listen not to the Syren voice of {766} pleasure and
dissipation, but acquire at once that manliness and resolution which
will enable you to say NO! when pressed to do wrong; and you may rest
assured that you will meet with your recompense not only in after
life, but here, even whilst you are students. I may claim to have some
experience in this matter. I have been myself a student in this
college, and for some years past have been connected with it, and have
been no inattentive observer of passing events; and it gives me
pleasure to assure you, that the economical, moral, and diligent
students have always been the most popular, and the most highly
esteemed by their companions. Are there any honors to be
conferred?—those are the gentlemen to receive them. Are there any
distinguished duties to perform?—those are the individuals invited to
discharge them. It is their names which are sounded with praise by
their fellow-students, wherever they go in society; and their
reputation survives and is cherished, while those who have spent their
time in idleness and dissipation are forgotten; or if remembered,
remembered to be condemned.
It too often happens that the youth at college imagines that he has
rights and interests to defend adverse to those of his instructers.
This false impression is pregnant with the most mischievous
consequences. It arrays the student against the professor, introduces
disorder and idleness into the institution, and in the end becomes,
perhaps, the cause of the student’s dismission, and consequently of
irreparable injury to himself, and of pain and mortification to his
friends and relatives. Now, gentlemen, I beg you to reflect a moment
on the absurdity of this opinion. Where can there be any hostility of
interest between your instructers and yourselves? Is it not our
interest, as well as yours, that you should be diligent in your
studies, correct and moral in your deportment? Does not the student
who makes the greatest proficiency in his studies, earn the greatest
honor for himself, while he reflects the greatest renown upon the
college? and I can assure you that we feel proud indeed when we behold
those who have received our instruction gracing and adorning the
spheres in which they move. Where, then, is the hostility of interest?
There is none; the belief is vain and idle. The right for which the
student is induced to contend, is often nothing more than the _right_
to do _wrong_, the exercise of which always proves more destructive to
himself than detrimental to us. If the student would only take a
correct view of this subject, there would be nothing more endearing
and harmonious than the relation of professor and pupil. The
complexion of his whole future life may depend upon his acquirements
and conduct whilst here. It is our duty, and it is his interest, that
we should guard and restrain when he would run into excess. It has
been my fortune to meet with several in the world who have spent their
collegiate lives in reckless dissipation and idleness. I have beheld
them while reaping the bitter fruits of their conduct; have heard
their confessions of deep regret, and seen them shed the tear of
heartfelt repentance; and I have not met with one who did not wish
that he could run his race again, that he might avoid the errors of
his youth.
But, independently of the motives of interest which should operate on
you, there are others, of an elevated character, which must ever
stimulate the generous and the virtuous. The friends and relatives,
who dwell around the enchanted spot of your nativity and boyhood, and
seem associated with your very existence, are looking with interest to
your career whilst here, and calling upon you for exertion during this
eventful period of your lives. But, most of all, should the anxious,
the painful solicitude, which is felt for your welfare by those
beloved beings who have guided you along the path of infancy urge you
onwards. Never forget the joy with which you may recompense your kind
indulgent parents by your assiduity and success while here; nor the
sorrow and mortification which you may occasion by your idleness and
misconduct. You have, indeed, the happiness of the authors of your
existence in your hands, and a generous heart will recoil from the
infliction of sorrow. And let me urge you to keep up a frequent and
unreserved correspondence with your families; reveal, frankly, all
that occurs concerning yourselves, and never neglect the mandate of a
father, or spurn the advice of a mother. Perhaps I could not give you
better counsel, than to beg you never to forget the example of
Marmontel. When you are about to perform a questionable act, let each
one pause, and ask himself, “what would my mother say if she knew what
I am about to do?”[5]
[Footnote 5: I know of no one thing more essential to the prosperity
of any college than the co-operation of the parent or guardian with
the discipline of the institution. Such co-operation furnishes a
sanction to the laws which can be derived from no other quarter. Hence
my anxiety that a constant and frequent correspondence, of the most
unreserved character, should be carried on between the students and
their families. A timely letter from a father or a mother, has saved
many a young man from ruin, by making him pause in his career and
reflect on his conduct.]
After having made these general remarks, I must call your attention,
particularly, to several vices which the Faculty will be bound to take
every means within their power effectually to suppress. These are,
_extravagance, drinking and gambling_. The visitors at the last
meeting of the convocation were so much impressed with the belief of
the great injury which the extravagant habits of southern students
have done to the cause of literature, that they passed a regulation
requiring the Faculty to obtain, if possible, from each merchant in
town, a pledge, that he would, in no case, extend credit to the
students unless upon application from the parent or guardian, made
known through the President, or some one of the Faculty. I am most
happy to say, that every merchant in town has given the pledge with a
willingness and promptness which reflect the greatest credit on the
mercantile portion of our city, and mark, conclusively a generous
disregard of all selfish considerations, when arrayed against the
permanent interests of the town and college. In justice to the
merchants, I must state to you, that they have subscribed to this
pledge with no motives of hostility towards any of your number, or
from any dissatisfaction at the conduct of any one of you. Their act
has been the result of the most praiseworthy motives.[6]
[Footnote 6: The resolution of the visitors is as follows:
_Resolved_, That it is highly expedient that the practice of students
buying on credit should be stopped: and therefore, that the President
be directed to endeavor to obtain the consent and a formal pledge from
the merchants and dealers of Williamsburg, not to furnish commodities
in any case to a student, on credit, unless by the written authority
of the parent or guardian, communicated through the Faculty: And it is
made the duty of the President, should his application be rendered
unsuccessful by {767} the refusal to give such pledge, or a violation
of it, if given, to correspond with the guardians or parents of the
young men at college, advising them to give explicit instructions to
their wards or sons not to deal, either in cash or on credit, with any
such merchant or dealer.]
You may suppose, gentlemen, that the conduct of the Visitors and
Faculty in this matter has been unwarrantable, and unnecessarily
strict; but a moment’s reflection will convince you of your error.
This regulation has been made after the maturest consideration of the
subject, and past experience not only justified, but absolutely
demanded such a step. I know of no one thing more loudly and more
universally complained of in all our southern institutions than the
unreasonable and absurd extravagance of many of the students who
attend them. This evil, in some cases, has been enormous, and I have
known many parents to be so much discontented with the conduct of
their sons in this respect, as to cut short their education, and to
become so disgusted with a college life as to resolve never more to
subject a son to the same temptation. Now, the principal cause of this
lavish expenditure of money, has been the facility with which credit
has been obtained. The facility of obtaining credit has ruined even
many a cautious man, by the temptations which have been thrown in his
way, and the consequent inducements which have been offered to him to
run into debt. During the ardent, and too often thoughtless period of
youth, experience has shown that this privilege becomes too dangerous
to be trusted to the individual. He adds expense to expense—proceeds
from one extravagance to another, until he becomes perfectly reckless
in his career. Prices, of course, will be enhanced in proportion to
the risk which the creditor runs. Those who are honest are made to pay
for those who are not. And thus many a student, before he has had a
pausing season for reflection, finds an aggregate of items arrayed
against him, which draws down the displeasure of his parent, or
materially embarrasses his own little property.
The resolution of the Board of Visitors is intended, if possible, to
eradicate this evil. The student’s expenses now must be known to his
parents and guardians, or they must give their express consent to his
obtaining credit. If he shall be still extravagant, the responsibility
must rest with him and his parents; we shall have done our duty. But
we hope, most sincerely, that you will keep in view both your own and
the college interests in this particular. Strict economy on the part
of the student at college is a great virtue. Let each one remember
that the money which he spends here has not been wrung from his brow,
but from that of another. Liberality with that which is mine may be
generous, but with that which is another’s, is often selfish and
culpable. I beg you to reflect upon the consequences of extravagance
while here: it leads the student into idle, dissipated habits, and
defeats the great purposes for which he has entered our institution;
it blights his future prospects, and draws down upon him the
displeasure of his parents. But, above all, gentlemen, let me bid you
remember that which must always move the generous heart of youth. Your
extravagance here extends beyond yourselves; it may reach your
innocent brothers and sisters—your parents may become disgusted, or
their resources may be contracted, and a Bacon or a Newton may be made
to follow the plough, because the thoughtless, prodigal son has gone
before them. And thus may it be affirmed, but too truly, that every
increase of collegiate expense necessarily inflicts an injury on the
great cause of science and education. There may be those whose ample
resources may place them far above the necessity of strict economy. To
them I would say, that it is selfish, or thoughtless at least, to
indulge, before those with whom they must associate, in a style of
expenditure which they cannot imitate without ruin to themselves and
their parents. Liberality, under such circumstances, ceases to be
generous—it becomes a species of selfish ostentation, which reflects
no credit on him who displays it, and does great injury to his
associates. To every one of you, then, let me recommend rigid economy,
and you may be sure of reaping your reward in more steady habits,
increased diligence, and a more perfect preparation for the great
theatre of life on which you expect to enter.
Upon the subject of drinking and gambling, I shall say but a few
words; the melancholy consequences of these vices are known to all—how
the one stupifies and benumbs the faculties of the mind and the body,
while the other reaches the citadel of the heart, and generates a
train of the blackest vices which human nature is heir to. Let me beg
you to beware of these vices, which have plunged so many families into
distress and mourning, and have generated so large a portion of the
misery of the world. Take care how far you indulge, lest your ruin
come before you are aware of it. Our laws are severe against these
vices, and experience has convinced us that we must rigidly execute
them. But I hope the propriety of your course here will furnish us
with no occasion for the enforcement of our laws.
In conclusion upon this subject, I will say to you, that if the
students of William and Mary shall bind themselves, during their
residence at college, not to spend more than a certain amount of
pocket money, which should be moderate—not to taste ardent spirits any
where, nor wine, or any other intoxicating liquor, except in private
families, and not to touch a card, or play for money at any game of
hazard, and shall strictly conform to these resolutions—then you will
indeed have formed a temperance society, of which you may be justly
proud—one that will do the greatest honor to yourselves, establish the
reputation of our college, and set an example to the world whose
benefit may extend throughout our country; and the students of ’36 and
’37 will long be remembered in the College of William and Mary. How
far superior will such a reputation as this be to that short-lived
notoriety purchased by extravagance and dissipation, and terminating
too often in mortification and ruin. The case of the student is a very
peculiar one; if he can pass through his short career at college, with
all due diligence and propriety, he will have achieved for himself a
great result. Full success in his studies during the few brief months
that he remains within our college walls, may accomplish more for his
future standing, and future happiness, than many years of hard toil
and labor in after life, without the advantages which he might have
reaped whilst here. It is for this reason that a society of the kind
which I have just recommended must succeed here, if it can succeed any
where. For you have only to adhere to your temperance vow for a few
months, and the benefit is attained. But whether you shall form such a
society as this or not, {768} let every one of you endeavor, whilst
here, to be economical, temperate and diligent; and such as persevere
in this course, whatever may be said to the contrary, are most
respected and honored by their fellow-students, make the greatest
proficiency in their studies, and turn out at last the most valuable
and distinguished members of society.
There are many other subjects to which I would wish to call your
attention; but the limits which I have prescribed myself in this
address, compel me to be brief. Our laws forbid your entry into
taverns, and likewise all drinking parties and suppers among
yourselves. Experience has shown these things to be ruinous to the
students, and highly pernicious to the interests of the institution.
You are to respect the college premises—not to deface or injure the
college buildings. Each one of you is to be responsible for the injury
done to his room, and to pay for all the injury which he may do to the
buildings—always bearing in recollection that you come here not to
exercise your knives, but your heads.
I would advise you particularly to be punctual in your attendance on
divine service every Sabbath, and to be respectful and attentive
whilst in church. He who disturbs a religious congregation, not only
manifests a censurable disregard of religion, but exhibits an
unfeeling heart, and is guilty of conduct which is not gentlemanly. An
enlightened pulpit is not only the source of religious instruction,
but of morality and civilization; and a truly pious clergyman merits
the respect, the love, and gratitude of the world, for he is one of
the greatest of its benefactors. Be always respectful in your
conversation towards religion, not only from regard to the feelings of
others, but for the sake of your own reputation. Avowed infidelity is
now considered by the enlightened portion of the world as a reflection
both on the head and heart. The Atheist has long since been overthrown
by the light of nature, and the Deist by that of revelation. The
Infidel and the Christian have fought the battle, and the latter has
won the victory. The Humes and Voltaires have been vanquished from the
field, and the Bacons, Lockes, and Newtons have given in their
adhesion. The argument is closed forever, and he who now obtrudes on
the social circle his infidel notions, manifests the arrogance of a
literary coxcomb, or that want of refinement which distinguishes the
polished gentleman. If there be among you any ministers of the gospel,
or professors of religion studying with a view to the ministry, to
them we cheerfully open our lecture-rooms, free of all expense, and
shall consider ourselves as highly recompensed, if the instruction
which we may communicate shall be made instrumental in promoting
virtue and true religion.
A copy of our laws will be placed in the hands of each one of you:
read and respect them. On the part of the Faculty, with which I have
the honor to be connected, I have to state that the discipline of the
college must and will be enforced. The oath of office, the reputation
of the institution, your own welfare and success, all demand vigilance
and promptness on our part. From your instructers you will always
receive kind, affectionate, and parental treatment, and you may well
believe it will ever be painful to us to animadvert on your conduct,
or to inflict the penalties required by our laws. Nothing but a high
sense of duty could lead us to proceed against those for whom the bare
relation which subsists between us must generate feelings of the
kindest character. The professor, who is kind to the student, and
attentive to his interests, while he nerves himself upon all occasions
to a discharge of his duty, is always his greatest benefactor; and the
student will acknowledge it as soon as he has left the college walls.
Be diligent, be perseveringly attentive to your studies, and you have
the antidote against all the evils and temptations to which college
life is incident. And let me advise you, particularly in your evening
rambles and social gatherings, to direct your thoughts and
conversation to subjects of importance, particularly to the subject of
your lectures. Enlightened, intelligent conversation is a source of
great mental improvement; it brings mind into conflict with mind,
sharpens the faculties, gives increased relish for study, and greatly
enlarges the stock of information by an interchange of ideas. It is
for this reason that a few intelligent men in a county will be found
quickly to raise its intellectual level; and a few inquiring,
successful students in a college, will in like manner quickly inspire
the whole number with ardor and devotion to study. Hence the fact
which the statistics of all long established colleges will prove, that
great men are not sent out from their walls one by one, from year to
year, in regular succession, but they come at longer intervals, and
always in little platoons. Thus are we convinced of the interesting
fact, that genius is rarely solitary—it delights in company. The
example and conversation of the successful student arouse and
stimulate his companions, and lead them along with himself to
distinction.[7]
[Footnote 7: Our own college furnishes most conclusive proof of the
truth of these remarks. I will give only two examples, and comment
will be unnecessary. John Randolph, L. W. Tazewell, Robert B. Taylor,
and John Thompson, author of the letters signed “Curtius,” were the
heavy product of one season; while P. P. Barbour, B. W. Leigh, Chapman
Johnson, Henry St. George Tucker, (President of Court of Appeals,)
Robert Stanard, J. C. Cabell, and Lewis Harvie were that of another;
and during the whole time William and Mary College rarely numbered
more than sixty students. I have been informed, on inquiry into this
subject, that the northern colleges, especially Yale and Harvard,
furnish similar instances. It is said, for example, that the class in
which Harrison Gray Otis graduated at Cambridge, yielded a most
extraordinary number of great men in proportion to its size.]
Let me advise you by all means to discard at once that absurd notion,
which has made an illiterate man of many a vain student—that genius
delights not in labor. Very different is the fact; love of study, and
unshaken perseverance in the pursuit of its object, is the true
characteristic of genius every where. The men of genius who have built
up the great systems of philosophy, and laid the foundation of
civilization, have all been laborious students, as well as deep
thinkers; they have been the true working-men of the world. Such men
were Socrates and Plato, Demosthenes and Cicero, of antiquity, and
such have been the Luthers, the Bacons, and Newtons of modern times,
and such all men are compelled to be, who possess a laudable ambition
for distinction and usefulness. In the language of Doctor Johnson we
may assert, that “all the performances of human art, at which we look
with praise and wonder, are the results of perseverance. It is by this
that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are
united by canals. It is therefore of the utmost importance that those
who have any intention of {769} deviating from the beaten track of
life, and of acquiring a reputation superior to names hourly swept
away by time among the refuse of fame, should add to their reason and
their spirit the _power of persisting in their purposes_, acquire the
art of sapping what they cannot batter, and the habit of vanquishing
obstinate resistance by obstinate attacks.”
There is even a great deal of labor requisite on your part to place
yourselves on the intellectual level of the age in which you live. In
the beautiful language of one of the ablest writers of our country, we
can truly say, “it is not with us as it was in former times, when
science belonged to solitary studies, or philosophical ease, or
antiquarian curiosity. It has escaped from the closet, and become an
habitual accompaniment of every department of life. It accosts us
equally in the highways and byways. We meet it in the idle walk, and
in the crowded street; in the very atmosphere we breathe, in the earth
we tread on, in the ocean we traverse, and on the rivers we navigate.
It visits the workshop of the mechanic, the laboratory of the
apothecary, the chambers of the engraver, the vats of the dyer, the
noisy haunts of the spinning-jenny, and the noiseless retreats of the
bleachery. It crosses our paths in the long-winding canal, in the busy
rail-road, in the flying steamboat, and in the gay and gallant
merchant-ship, wafting its products to every clime. It enters our
houses, sits down at our firesides, lights up our conversations and
revels at our banquets. One is almost tempted to say that the whole
world seems in a blaze, and that the professors in science, and the
dealers in the arts surround us by their magical circles, and compel
us to remain captives in the spells of their witchcraft.” And can you
consent to waste your time in inglorious repose and idleness, while
the whole world is blazing with philosophy? No, gentlemen, you cannot.
Arouse all your energies, waken up your faculties, enter on your
career like the combatant at the Olympic Games, resolved to win the
prize, and in advance I tell you, the victory will be yours.
You are here placed amid scenes which may well excite a noble and a
laudable ambition, and make the bosom of the patriot throb. You tread
on classic soil—a soil connected with associations which carry the
imagination back to bygone days, and fix it on the noble achievements
of philanthropists, heroes, statesmen, and sages. There is every thing
here to excite generous aspirations. On the one side of you is the
almost hallowed island where our hardy forefathers made the first
lodgment of civilization on our portion of the western world, in face
of the wilderness and the savage foe. On another side, not far
removed, is the spot where the father of his country wound up the
drama of the revolution, by that great and signal victory which gave
us peace, and ensured us so important a station among the nations of
the earth. You will assemble daily in these classic halls, which have
witnessed the collegiate labors of some of the greatest and noblest
men who have ever lived in the tide of time; men who have raised up
their country’s glory, and gone down to their graves covered with the
laurels which their genius and their virtues won. Fronting this
building, at the other end of our street, and in full view, stand the
interesting remains of the Old Capitol of Virginia, which every true
Virginian must gaze on with mingled emotions of pride and pleasure—a
building in which the chivalry and talent of our state were assembled
during the dark days of the revolution, when Wythe, Pendleton, and
Jefferson displayed their wisdom in council, and Lee, Mason and the
matchless Henry poured forth those strains of sublime eloquence which
animated and cheered the drooping spirit of the land, and warmed the
heart and braced up the nerve of the patriot. Looking on such scenes
as these—contemplating the great minds that have been nursed in our
institution, and the intellectual Titans who have won their trophies
on this interesting theatre, can you fail to be inspired with a noble
ambition?—an ambition to imitate those mighty men who have gone before
you, and whom the genius of the place in silent eloquence summons to
your recollection. The author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire tells us, that he first caught the inspiration which gave rise
to his great work, while gazing from the modern capitol of Rome on the
ruins that lie scattered over the vallies and the seven hills. May we
not hope then that many of you will catch a similar inspiration amid
the interesting objects which surround you while breathing, in this
old and hospitable city, a political atmosphere that still retains all
the ardor and patriotism of former days? Again then, gentlemen, I call
on you for perseverance and unremitting exertion; and in view of all
the circumstances which surround and stimulate you while here, may I
not say to you, in conclusion, that your friends, your parents, your
instructers, expect every one to do his duty.