r
they have been actuated by erroneous conceptions, or mistaken zeal, or
some other cause, in attending to the concerns of the institution. But
with great deference he submits the question, unless men in trust
preserve inviolable faith, whether pledged by words, or action, or
usage, to individuals, unless they continuously keep within the limits
assigned to them by law; if they do not sacredly apply the fruits of
benevolence committed to their charge, to the destined purpose; if the
public affairs in their trust are not conducted with openness,
impartiality, and candor, instead of designed and secret management;
if they become pointedly hostile to those who discern their course,
and honestly oppose their measures which are esteemed destructive; if
they bear down their inoffensive servants, who are faithful to the
cause of truth, how can an establishment under these circumstances, be
profitable to mankind? How can there be a gleam of prospective joy to
any except to those who are converting its interest into their own
channel, to serve a favorite design? What motive, then, will remain to
benefactors to lay foundations, or to bestow their charities on such
an object?

"There is also ground for increasing, fearful apprehension, by adding
to the immediate, what may be the ultimate effect of the measures
which have been described. In a collective view they appear to the
best acquainted and discerning to be, in all their adaptations,
tending to one end, to complete the destruction of the original
principles of the college and school, and to establish a new modified
system, to strengthen the interests of a party or sect, which, by
extending its influence under the fairest professions, will eventually
affect the political independence of the people, and move the springs
of their government.

"To you, revered legislators! the writer submits the foregoing
important considerations. He beholds, in your Honorable body, the
sovereign of the State, holding, by the Constitution, and the very
nature of sovereignty in all countries, the sacred right, with your
duty and responsibility to God, to visit and oversee the literary
establishments, where the manners and feelings of the young are
formed, and grow up in the citizen in after life; to restrain from
injustice, and rectify abuses in their management, and, if necessary,
to reduce them to their primitive principles, or so modify their
powers as to make them subservient to the public