hitaker, seem to have
thought this private incorporation amply sufficient for the security
of these funds. In writing to Mr. Keen, in November, 1767, Mr. (now
Dr.) Wheelock alludes to the fact that this gentleman had expressed an
opinion that his successor should be "in all respects accountable to
the present Trust." Although dissenting from this opinion, Dr.
Wheelock seems to have been prudent and conciliatory in his
intercourse with his worthy benefactors, wisely deeming it an object
of primary importance to raise the requisite funds for his operations.

Messrs. Occom and Whitaker having fulfilled their mission abroad, and
generous promises of aid having been made by Governor Wentworth, we
find Dr. Wheelock, in October, 1768, writing to him as follows: "As
soon as the place to fix the school shall have been determined to be
in your Province, I will appoint your Excellency, or the Governor for
the time being, to be a Trustee on this side the water till a legal
incorporation may be obtained." This shows that Dr. Wheelock was not
averse to a judicious admixture of the clerical and lay elements in
the Board of Trust, although the Trustees named in his will, the germ
of the charter, were clergymen.

The suggestion seems to have been most kindly received by Governor
Wentworth. Dr. Wheelock now determined to avail himself of the aid of
his firm and valuable friend, Rev. Dr. Langdon, of Portsmouth. A
letter from him to this gentleman is as follows:

"Lebanon, April 7, 1769.

"Reverend and dear Sir,--Yours by Captain Cushman is safe arrived, and
I have considered the contents. And for several reasons I am of
opinion that it will be best that the Trustees be the same for the
present, as I have already appointed in my will, which I have made at
the desire of the Trust in England, whose names were, with the will,
some time ago transmitted to them. The affair is very delicate, and as
such must be conducted, or it will disgust those worthy gentlemen, and
overset all. Their sentiments of an incorporation have been differing
from mine. They have insisted that I should conduct the whole affair
without one, and that my successor should be nominated and appointed
by my will. Experience, they think, has fully taught them that, by
means of an incorporation, such designs become jobs, and are soon
ruined thereby. They choose to hold the moneys collected there in
their own hands for this purpose, and accordingly have publicly
declar