New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-07-25
PUBLIC MEETINGS.
FREE ACADENY-ANNIVERSA or THE ASSO-
CIATE ALUMNI.

Il
Las: evening the Associate Alumni Of tie Free Acafe
ny celebrated Their first anniversary in the chapel Of tha
Institution. Notwithstanding the dsasreeable OF ID
weather. the Hall was well filed with fashionable as
scmblGge OF ladies and gentlemen. Dodworth Band
present, and enyened the exercises with some choc
music. Upon the platform noticed Chancellor Ferris
Peir Cooper. Esq, Mr. Williams President pro ten o
tie Board OF Education, &c.
Tie exercises were opered with prayer by the nv
Theodore L. Cuyer after which Mr. John Hardy, Pres
ident Of the Alumni introduced the of the evening
the Hon. Ogden Hoffman.
Mr. HofTaAS then came forward and confessed that
when the kind invitation deliver Grafton before the
Associate Alumni received, it after much doubt
snd reflection. he accepted it, He well knew would be
bis duty to place Old picture in frame. Only 8
few hours had elapsed since he had been able
20 unyoke the dray horses Of his daily labor
70 prepare and digest few remarks suitable the
tive occasion. He alluded to the temerity If modern
literary men launching into subjects Of grave moment
without due preparation, when IN ancient days Socrates
took more time in composing his panegyric the Athe
uian than It did Alexander to make his c)nqlests.
Tie Free Academy. he said the people gilt. IL had
the public treasury for its Enforcement, the popular will
for IL support vas free from all seearian and religious
tesis-,ree from all creeds By which the will of the Deity
may be interpreted. Ii the browning glory Of the
system OF Common Schools system which was doin
by difiusing the blessing o! education among tn
ope 70 increase the power and elevate the character
The State than all the wealth which floats the surface
our canals or beneath the weight Of which railroad
rrosn The institution created for noble end, CON
trbung it does s thousand rivulets TO the ocean
Of knowledge which benefits mankind. Il was created
vthe people and they like the atuay fold have be come
enauored of the work OF their creation. We are
assembled here to night said he, your
brance Of the Jealous care with which your Alma er
has watched the infancy of your minds by recalling
to your recollection her many kindnesses 20 you.
dsqHi.ion Of the three grand division: Of stu pursued
in the institution. Moral philosophy with rs attendant
branches-pOltea economy, logic literature and ora
tory Moral philosophy, said he is that science which
teaches bis duty and the of H. which regards
him as an active accountable being with duties perform
and vices shun which teaches to love virtue for It's
own sake. administering TO happiness aud
against the deceptyeness of pleasure a. pro-
ducDg misery which establishes the rational grounds
Of choice. and with forttude against the suf-
ferngs Of life She deals with the principles of things
The of moral awthe action OF the passonsthe
influence Of association tine faculties OF the soul and
philosophy of mind. Continuing length in this
strain the speaker next TO the second topic of
his discourse-of maihemailcs-pure and mixed
mathematics, with its auxiliary branches, natural
philosophy, astronomy, chemI-try and all those
sciences when, invoking tie AID OF sublime
geometry are minsistered 20 by her. an which
reed be said in eulogy Ner fame is Identified with the
mighty name Of Euclid, who Il is said alone Kept alive
the FIRE Of science when vas almost cx'iEguished in
the whole earth. and has been adorned in a'cr mes by
Newton and La Place and our own BOwdltch. Her
knowledge has become so Identified with the daily pursuits
Of mantle blessings that flew from her acquisition her
tolls and her labors, have been mingled with our own
daily business and long regarded the source from
which the ordiI AIRY comforts of civilization derived,
that in every rank Of life she finds her euogs and from
every employment start forth her defenders She receives
tie praise the patriot and statesman who in the system
Of internal Improvement, directed by her skill, beholds
that frequency and facility of intercourse which are to
connect the distant parts of empire together and by
the daily communion Of friendship 10 strengthen and pre-
serve the Union.
She called forth the plauiits of the nation when West
Dnf her soho n he of
Young soldier justified his trainings. Size tri
ump ant when poured upon the plains of Mexico the
bloody tide of American yaor and crushed the young
fowere Of her valleys with the armed hoof of hostile
power Her power and her influence outsoar our praise
ard may laugh TO cOrn the impotence of all asaiiants
The third and last division treated of the the depart
ent OF classics Would that he could say that she too
needed defendant but mid the innovations of the pres
day the instability of the classics has been urged
with a zeal worthy of a better cause. When Homer is
bsnshed and Milton usurps his place when the produc-
tons of .Eschylus, SOphOcles and Eunpdes are
consigned to oblivion, then il becomes incumbent
the lover of classic lore TO take up the gaunt-
portant part of liberal education and admitted that their
study did not ut man to discharge the duties OF me-
chanc trrdesman with greater advantage, but he
tended that q knowledge of the Greek and Latin Ian
guaees identified with the terms of every learned
profession that their was indispensable TO the divine
the lawyer and the physician. lie held that the objects
education of nObler and more exalted character
than 10 be sacrificed TO the Unitarian feelings which now
pervGde society.
more purely found than in the pages of Homer, which
tower above all time Who commune with Plato, OF
whom as it said by his own countrymen, That II
" the father of the Gods spoke Greek, he would have
spoken in the language Of Plato" Where can the
phipIcs of Demosthenes the whitening nvectives Of
Cicero be rivaed in modern literature Transitions may
colby tell US what they said and did, but the spirit that
perry AIDED them past and gone The orator concluded
ty saving that if il be that the schools of Eon Har-
row and Westminster contributed much to rescue
England from Continental tyranny, how much
more influence should the prosecution of the same
studies be Effective in this land of freedom. Let,
then 10 change come the spirit OF lyOur learning,
lest like the Grecan exes you forget the mother who
nuItured you. Here the tabled fountain Of Ddonl,
kinde those torches of love which time business
NAV have extinguished and in after days when years
NAV have added to her honor you may excaim
a. Salre, salre alma mater, tnagRa pareHs doctrtn9
AT intervals during the delivery of the Grafton, the
speaker was loudly applauded. -
The President ned introduced the Rev. George II.
Houghton, who delivered Poem the title OF which was
" Each Life his Poem AT the conclusion of the
L IL. a.