The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-11-01

V0ueRCs
Tie first annual address before the Alumni Of Column
ba College Was delivered last evening BY the Rev VIM.
r. Williams DID,, at the Clinton Hall lecture room it
being the centennial anniversary OF the day on which
the charter was granted to the college large attend
ance Of ladies and gentlemen present The exer
cises OF the evening we're opened with prayer by the
Rev DR.. Anthem. The following Ia brief synopsis Of
the address then delivered by DR.. WILLIAMS =
GENTLEMEN or TIE ALUMNI Tine day now gathering
its shades around has brought the centennial ami
have since its foundation, passed in our own and in
other lands The aims Of the founders Of the college
lofty seeking the honor Of God Most High and the
dvancement Of the church and the commonwealth
The Americans, like the English eminently pract
cal people and they seek to establish their institutions
on firm bases. We use the term practical not in the
mechanical exclusively material sense but by it
intend truth Of the highest grade-science fitting the
the needed knowledge Of his needed task and in the
very hour OF his need.
The reverend speaker took text for his address the
practical benefits which the College has bestowed upon
English liberty the germ Of which first developed
in the age Of Cromwell Hampden, Milton and Pym In
the middle Of the eighteenth century Britain had re-
lapsed into political darkness and Americathen Of
her coloniesnceded to keep strict watch her Ii
berties. In colonial matters il was becoming the colo
nial policy Of the British government curb her Free
dom, and the Of common schools and popular rights
glanced over the condition of Europe socially morally
and intellectually, at the time Columbia College
founded He spoke Of all the great men Of that dayof
Bishop Herkely as metaphysican Of merit, with
whom the institution is supposed to have originated
Of Addison Pope Swift Watson and Doddridge Of viii
field and Wesley, OF johnson and Gray, of William Pitt
law, Of james Watt, then apprentice TO . London
matchmaker, of Cook who yet in the merchant
service commanding collier vessel and Of Gibbon then
recent convert to Popcry who was writing letters to
his father to justify his perverson. Turning from Ea
re to this country there was resessness abroad for
those in power in England often grossly ignorant
and as careless Of the interests Of the colony they
were ignorant. He dwclt eloqucntiy upon the mon Of
the Re, outicn John Jay the clear calm jurist dipo
mast and statesman the patriot and the christian was,
he said Of the practical gifts of this College to the
tegrity the Aristdes Of the Revolution. That
revolution took from this College Alexander Hamil
ton. AS the author Of the Fsdcrdlist, his mets
arc among the glorics Of his country Robert
gers were also early graduates Of the college She
turned out men Their country wrote them as such,
and their country remembers them as such. On the
resuscaton Of the college in 1884 under its present
Clinton, and among others, John Stephens of
the practical benefits which the college has bestowed on
the country In later times Peter Augustus Jay Chan
ceor Kent, Bard Mitchell, Post John NJ. Mason Ran
dolph and John L. Stevens students Of CO.
lumbia College. After passing high euogy the
merits Of these distinguished men, the reverend gentle
college in the midst of great commercial metropolis
may seem unsuitable. Yet Paris owned unver-
sity with 0O0 scholars and in Italy universities
always planted in large ties Let hope that
city may day surpass in this respect what Paris
in the Middle Ages. That Providence may watch
our institution is the prayer Of her and may that
institution, along whose calendar shine the Of
JAY Morris, De Wit Clinton, and many Others
lack sons to do her honor May she bear her ban
in all ages to come, the motto " In Tue lumine De-
bemus uen" 1t is the motto of our institution-le it
be the slogan Of whole alumni.
The Rev DR.. Anthem then pronounced the benedic-
ton, after which the meeting separated.