Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1846-01-06
RICHMOND DAILY WHIG
The Unirersuy-Appeai 70 the People Of Vr-
MORNING. JANUARY 9. ,sss

The affairs of the University arc clearly ap-
preaching crisis long in preparation: As 1t Is
wisely or weakly, firmly or timidly, dealt with by
the Legislative Power, the proper remedies aP'
plied or neglected and the indispensable Reform
effected or omitted, the University will retrieve Its
honor and yet realize the hopes Of the country,
OF it will sink more and more into hopeless leth-
argy and premature decreptnde.
Our enlightened correspondent "Reorm, did
net misunderstood, but truly appreciated our po.
Sition in respect to the Institution We are lar,
most far from being enemies to the Onirershy :;
IL we ate disposed to probe, 1T is only because
probing is necessary to effect a cure: II we would
use severe remedies, it is because we and the
universal public are satisfied that the Institution
is laboring under deadly gangrene which, unless
the knife and the cautGry be applied, will sPeedl-
" cat its life away. Our sincere and ardent
wish is to see it worthy OF its founder-worthy
of the profus, lberality of the Commonwealth to
it-and 10 become an honored and eminent IN
strument IN diffusing true science and retrieving
the tarDiShed laures of Virginia. These are our
genuine sentiments, whatever the vanity and re-
sentiment of time servers, or the unauthorized de-
claratons of scheming Priests may pretend TO
the contrary: and we best prove our sincerity by
NAV know what remedies and how TO apply them
That Reform" under his three heads OF the
causes the decline of the University, has touch
ed upon some oft the principal reasons OF that de-
cline, We make no question: but in our persuasion
there IS another cause deeper down than any he
has brought forward, and more influential than
them all: 1t is that the University has been the
fashionable resort OF youth of fortune from the
Southern States, who, born to an ample patrimo-
ny, felt themselves under no necessity 10 study,
and reared IN the knowledge that labor was I'M
necessary for them, had neither the inclination nor
ihe capacity for it. They came but TO acquire
the external polish without the substantial know
ledge Of letters, and to while away the interval
between 10 and 81, boyhoOd and mans estate.
This class have given tone to the niversiy They
have pitched the standard Of expense, excited an
emulation OF eXtravagance, set the exampl OF
cou;emp: for study, headed riots and led disspa-
ton.
B.; II IN this We are mistaken, We cannot be
in the opinion that the University has done and
Is doing, nothing to remuneraie Virginia for the
immense sums expended in lis f1undation-for
the $500. 600 since appropriated in the shape of
annuity-and for the annual sum Of $4,000 which
continues to be appropriated.
We lay down these postulates and ask the pub
lie il they are not true TO the letter:
!. The University erected at the expense
Of The people, to cheaper and PoPuIarize learned
education.
>. To accomplish this, the State pays it every
year $1,000.
3. Notwithstanding the original design, that it
was built at the expense Of The people, and that
the people pay it every year still, $4,000, it is
the dearest institution in Virginia The nine
Professors receive among them $4,000. Professors
at all the other colleges receiving not farthiug
from the public, and yet the charges of education
at the University, seated too in most cheap and
abundant country, are higher than at any other
college in Virginia If this is not crying shame,
and fragrant abuse of public liberality, we know
not what may be regarded. We speak TO
THE PEOPLE; let them say if this ungrateful
return for their patriotic endowment of the Insti.
tuition, ought any longer TO be borne.
4. The Institution, even to the extent it has
educated, has entirely disappointed the views Of
lis great founder and Virginia 1t has not spread
Science among the poorer and humber ranks
on the contrary, it has been, and is now, the
dcaref; and most exclusive School in Virginia.
The miidling and poorer classes Of citizens, OF
farmers, planters, mechanics and artzans, 10
more think ofsending, or being able to send their
sons to that extravagant school, than TO the Uni.
versiiy OF Oxford or Pava. Ii is in vain that The
public money built and endowed 1.-THE masses
Of tho People cannot afford to educate their SOS
at their olcn College. They can educate them
more chsaply at other Colleges, built by the gene.
Tosty Of individuals, and where the Professors re-
ceiye nothing from the Public. We have already
before advanced and now repeat the opinion that
the University has not educated in more than 2U
years, half dozen youth rho Icould not haze been
edgcgicd lci,hOm il. II this be so, il has been OF
little account. 1t has been at best, only a
facility 10 the rich, who were able TO obtain edu.
cation elsewhere. 1t has not extended the slight.
est facility in the way Of greater cheapness to
those Of slender means, who stood in need Of the
helping hand Of their country, to aid them in pro-
curing a learned cducation. The University has
CREASED THE FAT SOW UNDER THE
TAIL" The rich, they who could at all times
and anywhere have purchased their way to the
means Of education, have been helped by the
addition Of another Coege-the masscs-the real
Peoplc-haye been injured for while they built
aud endowed the University, the example Of the
University has been to put mp, not to put down
the price Of learned education.
We say nothing Of Democratic spirit in the
country and the Legis'ature-but If there is a
true Republican sPirH in Virginia, these thing,
will be reformed Tho man who stands Out
against n radical and searching reform of them
will ba held up 10 the public apprehension as an
dbHsc.moager, a. one ola confederation Of 6a5ui
lies who have appropriated the University to their
own behyoC There must be Reform. or there
must be Ruin There must be an abolition oil
NePo''sm' Of the undue and controlling influence
Of fam lies aud ciqucs, Of sPouging, Of the absurd
taste ior foregHcrs, and for every body except or
VirgInians. The country demands it-Whig and
Democrat. This Reform must come, and thai
speedily, and then the University, freed from the
trannmcls Of Crannyism Neoo,,s,, 81 OH.