, 1866-11-09
THE COLLEGES.
President blanchard on the Alleged
UnpopulnTt1y Of Colleges.

NbtN4AO 4t4oAlaN- 1
OUR COLLEGE-TuEtR uNPorCLAn1TY.
In the late Convention of College Presi-
dents, two [Mcssrs. Burrows and Mcston)
Wallace and Allyn that they were not un-
popular.
1rropose to prove both propositions, viz
First. Colleges are popular.
Second. Colleges arc unpopular.
l. 1t is evident that colleges are popular |
because multitudes Of schools, little aud |
large, have taken the name Of "college."
There are three schools calling themselves
colleges in the single little town OF Abiug-
don, Knox County, Illinois, aud there are
two other colleges" and one university"
in the same county Aud this county is but
Il specimen Of other parts Of the State. Are
people go foolish as to desire an unpopular
name for their schools, while they seek pop
ular names for their hotels. llosses aud tlranl-
shops even, calli1g them "saloons," etc. :;
or are colleges populars and do land spccu-
lators want colleges to make their lands sell
we'll, by drawing in ''good population
who love collesess
Again, it is plain that colleges are popular
becalisc our State Legislature has chartered
them. And whatever folly may be charged
upon our Legislatures passing bills In loug
aud for parties whu cannot pay are not
AMONG them. But our Illinois Legislature
has chartered colleges in long succession,
aud colleges cannot pay like horse e.railroals.;
therefore colleges arc popular IN Illinois. *
Again, colleges are popular because all the
State Legislatures have chartered them.
Colleges nre indeed tie mlle.stoncs Of our
national progress, and they have grown
thick US that progress has grown rapid.
From 1856 to ISL, almost 1j0 years, there
Ffy7t$
States, aud never lnure than one in year.
| During the next nineteen years there were
sixteen colleges chartered. That btings us
| up 10 the year lS00, since which all the rest
I OF our two hundred nnG fifty American col
lcges. and multitudcs Of attempted colleges,
lcges has fallen On tho country in the same
shower along With railroads, tclegraphs,
stcnnl-wondeTs, Tree schools, books and news
papers, thick
How comes this delugc Of ''old monkish''
colleges to fall on us in this last ha1fceptury
ot light and progress, increasing precisely as
popular sovereignty has increased, instead Of
increasing Us We 20 back toward the dark
ages, as lega! monopolics, kfngiy regalia,
III hood and cowl increase? We read Of an
lrishlnan who was *'compclled to yolun.
teer." Who has compelled the people ia
volunteer to make colleges, unless colleges
arc populars But they are popular.
II further proof that colleges arc popular
were wanting. it is found in the fact that our
late Senator Stephen A Douglas gaye land
to found one.
did not curse Mr. Douglas while living,
nor canonizc him when dead. But if he had
one speciality, It was popular Sovereignty
and no nlnn ever obeyed more perfectly, or
us general truth, perceive more clearly th'
DRIFT OF the popular mind than he. Whe1
Morlnons were popular, lie carried the Sau
VOC charters, which IN cilect made Josepl
Smith sovereign, and Sauvoo an indercnd
legal t.chnicality, aud SO inspired tha
prophet that he received and published
revelation that Douglus w,1s q master spirit
and ordered the Mormons (who had rotet
; the Whig) 10 vote the Democratic ticket.
!. X But when his Murmuns became unpopular
! he let them fall Oh and crush his FREUD, Goy
crnur Ford, while he ''stood FROM under" III
!. nho1e public life proved that 10 him q
least 'ttile voice Of the people was tho voic
Of God" H first canonized, aud then + :.
J. ''lct slip thu dossn Of the shareholders W.
: on the people OF Kansas, and from his Senlt
u seat looked on cooily while the blood Of hi
: couttrymcn was flowing, and turned again:
| the shareholders only after they had rejeclc
4 him. History scarcely furnishes his equal
political penetration and power over II
J. popular heart /; yet he never cared .',chsth
u surrey trds tuttd up or rvlfd ao,ea." l1isE Ii
;, thus abjured morals. and in Ills death he u
= jured I'LL religion. Does any rational ltll
! suppose that such man would have foandt
g were stJs.lular:"
= But while colleges are popular, they a.
= were, and with some parties still arc uupo
= ular.
!. They were unpopular in this Sta
~ when what is now Tor until lately was) call.
70 Egypt ruled It. The first college chart
hnsi Ind
y by legislative engineering. They were u
~ popular with tiiat class Of preachers who,
" y that day, boasted their inspiration dire
~ ~ from Heaven, and dcspiscd all ''collidsc lar
" ", men, They were unpopular with tho
ts white cmigrants from slave States whom II
y T. slave c,etcm had sunk below the ncgrot
l.. ~ and who crept out from uudcr its mlllsson,
" into this State aud lndiunn, hating tue n
=. . gro, hating the Stakeholder, hating Il
~ ~ Yankee, hating God and hating man, aud i
o, party, colleges included. Colleges were u
~ popular With these, and ifany such rema
~ ~ arc unpopular with them still.
a. They also were theu and arc still unpor
81 81 lar with that class Of Yank.c editors y
IL ~ took lart in the effort to mike ltlinoi;
40 Coles and his Virslnians who had resolE
W. w. 10 make 1t free : class of men who ncith
~ fear God nor regard men only as coycnie
=, articles with which to pack majoriiics q
a. | carry clcclfOnS-
te Colleges too are unpopular with Il
~ ~ class Of men who took from collegiate ei
re cation the fund given to this State by c.
u. ~ grcss for that specific purpose and turned
o., to another use. It became necessary to {
~ ~ cry colleges in order to take AWAY their tii
ms and so colleges are hated by them Us II
re hate those whom they have injured.
i9s r And colleges are now hated by all tn
y, <Mhose ideas and tastes have icen pcrycr1
~ ~ ey the attempt TO divide our population il
nj castles, hating each other, aftcr the monk
S. aar society Of the middle ages: who I
,na farmers thnt the college men and the ''lit
,,J professions Of Law, medicine and diyinit
~ look upon them as "a stupid set,'-tl
~ ~. seeking to make our farmers hate tAeir e,
..as ~. and brothers, who have become doctt
~ lawyers. md ministers; all who are uns
=, ling that the principles Of agriculture {
~ ~ mechanism should be taught Ia all our {
~ leccs. btrduse they cannot control all the cole
w w but they ean and hope to control one. It wo
'nu ~ seem. too, that our Illinois colleges are
~. i" popular with one college president, wh
inn The TRlnCSE quotes, and who affects c
of @ Germ E;e.. Let tle tasRayeIsm By aiding
thc e chauics, should support sectarsanism in
~ legts, i0rsoothi This game respected pr
nn dent said 10 a National Council Of his ''see
uv 'ew In Boston. last June, Brethren, ne N
~ ~ this ecclesiastical question Il, {. sectasi
!nne one Of principle And but few NOR
iAe since he was in Chicago, asking, on dcnc
o oes national grounds, Tor sectaeian fuus
laaS thirty thousand dollars to bear his I
10, ;,ao name, and be sacred TO bis dcnoninat
~. w while at the same time II should be
.a, sls, property Of his college. All this he had
ete M has right TO do; but l see not wei! ho,
W ", consists with calling rs ''sectarians," :
1 ,.aa | are uniting all sccts in one college asso
~ tion, which must compel us to be unsectar
o;s ~ ut least while met together.
VA And. finally rfrrft that Fn11rrns arr