Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1821-12-18

iCkenS, comptroller oil Hublc Accounts
James Dellet, Esq. was chosen Speaker oil
the House of Representatives Nathaniel
Dodson, Principal Clerk Edward r. Bird
Engrossing Clerk; and VIM. II. Gamble, Door
Keeper. In the Senate, John ID. Terrell
OF Marion County, was chosen President
Francis 5. Lyon, Secretary: George V. Dick,
Assistant Secretary; and Matthew w. NJ
Clellan, Door Keeper.
WAsHINGroN, December 1s-The me-
mortal from the University ofVirSinia, publish
ed in the preceding page, derives great inter-
est from the circumstance of the original, as
presented to- the House of Representatives, be-
ing an autograph of the Sage of Monticello,
and the composition of it the fruit of his dis
tinguished mind. 1t is impossible to contcm-
plate without veneration the man, who has
spent his life in the discharge of great public
duties, employing his old age in assiduous en-
beavers to prepare the youth of America fifty
to discharge the high duties to which they
may be called, when they arrive at maturity,
as citizens @. the American states. The Illus
triOus MADISON, it will be borne i'm mind, like
his predecessor, has also devoted much of his
time, since his retirement from office, to the
interests of this rising institution. Nat Int.
MEMORIAL
| OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGI "A TO
CONGRESS.
TO the Senate and House Of Repr .niatires
cfhe United States Of .4merica I Congress
assembled
The Petition of the Rector aud ,isitors of
the University of Virginia, on behalf of
those for whom they are in the office of
preparing the means of instructions as well
as OF Others seeking it elsewhere,
kEsPEcTFULLY REPRESENTATIVE:
That the Commonwealth of Virginia has
thought proper lately to establish an Univcr-
sity, for instruction generally in all the useful
branches of science, of which your petitioners
are appointed Rector and Visitors, and, as
such, are charged with attention to the inter-
ests of those who shall be committed to their
care:
That they observe by the tariff of duties
imposed by the laws of Congress, on impor-
tatIons into the United States, an article ne
culiarly inauspicious TO the objects of their
own, and of all other literary institutions
throughout the United States
That at an early period of the present go
Vernment, when our country was burthened
with heavy debt, contracted i'm the war of
Independence, and its resources for revenue
We're untried and uncertain, the National Le-
g1sature thought it as yet inexpcdient to in
dulSe in scruples as TO the subjects of taxa
ton, and, among others, imposed duty on
books imported from abroad, which has been
continued, and now is, of fifteen per cent. on
their prime cost, raised by ordinary Custom
house charges to eighteen per cent and by
the Importers profits to perhaps twenty-fv
per cent. and more:
4 That, after many years experience, it is
certainly found that the rc-printing OF books
in the United States is confined chiefly to those
IN our native language, and of popular cha
racters, and the cheap editions of few ofthe
classics for the use of schools while the va
luable editions of the classical authors, even
learned works in the English language, and
books in all foreign living languages, (vehicles
OF the important discoveries and Improvements
IN science and the arts, which are daily ad.
vancinS the interests and happiness of other
nations) are imprinted here, and unobtainable
from abroad but under the burthen of heavy
duty:
That, of many important books, in differ
r ent branches of science, it is believed thai
there is not single copy in the United States
of others but few, and these too distant and
difficult of access for students and writers ge-
nerally:
That the difficulty resulting from this mode
Of procuring books of the first order in the
sciences, and in foreign languages, ancient and
modern, is an unfair impeachment to the Anne
rlcan student, who for want of these aids, al
i, ready possessed easily procurable in al
, countries except our own, enters on his course
with very unequal means, with wants unknown
to his foreign competitors, and often with tina
imperfect result which subjects us to reproach
: es, not unfelt by minds alive to the hono
and mortified sensibities of their country:
That, to obstrnct the acquisition of books
from abroad, as an encouragement of the pro
gress of literature at home, is but buryin,
4 the fountain to increase the flow of its wa
. tiers
!, That books, and especially those of the rar,
: and valuable character, thus burthened, arr
o not articles of consumption, but of permanen
. preservation and value, lasting often as many
centuries as the houses we live in, of which
examples are to be found 10 every library O
note:
4 That books, therefore, are capital, often tn
= only capital of professional men on their out
set in life, and students destined for protest.
ons, as most of our scholars are, and barely abb
q too, for the most part, to meet the expense
4 of tuition, and less so TO pay an extra tax o.
;, the books necessary for their instruction
! that they are consequently less instructed thai
!. they would be, and that our citizens mt larg
- do not derive from their employment Al
, the benefits which higher qualifications wou
e procure them
II That this is the only form of capital d
" which a tax Of from IL to Pa per cent. is irstIe
We'd nthe gross, & the proprietor then subjcC
to all other taxes in detail as those holdin
: capitals in other forms, on which no extra to
has been previously levied:
That il is true that no duty is required O
books imported for semnaries oflearning; BIT
II these, locked upin libraries, can he of no ava
g to the practical man, when he wishes recu
" renee TO them for the uses Of life :
% That more than 80 years. experience of u
J. resources Of our country prove them equal