Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-05-24

- it does not befoul. The true, the beat
full, the good, win find refuge now as it
then in the cloisters of sanctified leaTnil
Into these eloisters however as 30:
We may not carry our College. To I
Chistian liberality which is successful
building up useful and reputable cole.
in Lebanon, and Murfrcesboro a
Clarksville, in Atlanta, and LexiT
ton, and Richmond, and in scores
cities and villages throughout the Ian
We may not appeal. Most rightfuI
where the Church erdOWs, the Churr
requires control Though we may O
cept the former, we cannot yield the Ii
ter. Nothing is more certain than &
magnificent and brilliant success of u
Collegiate Department of the univers
of Nashville, if given up to the Protesta
Episcopal, the Roman Catholic, the Met
odist, the Baptist, the Presbyterian
any other numerous and wealthy branC
OF the Christian Communion. All necdC
buildings and Unfit, all needed endowment
would soon be commenced, and for ce1
turies to come an uninterrupted stream {
1 donations and patronage would continu
. to supply its wants. This bright vision
however, is not ours to entertain. Tn
Church we may accept as an ally and a
AID IN discharging our onerous work, bu
never as master. We must execute on
trust and put up with such success a
may result from our honest endeaVOrs s,
to do. Our University belongs to tn
great public of this entire State, withou
reference to religious creed; and, whilt
special funds committed to our care may
be used for special purposes, the original
endowment of the college must be used
for the benefit of all.
So, then, at last our college stand:
upon a peculiar basis, by this very fact
that it does not and cannot belong to any
fragment in Church or il State, and
hence is virtually discarded and over
looked by all alike. The Presbyterian
| gives his money and his patronage to
Stewart College; the Episcopalian to
the University at Sewanee; and so on to
the end of the chapter This ecclesiasti-
cal influence, which has always governed
college patronage in all Anglo Saxondom,
works silently but most potently against
the College governed by this Board.
Against this influence it is with great diff
Guilty that even home patronage can be
secured. Aud yet the number of young
men from the vicinity who wish college
education, though sufficient to cause in
tense and bitter complaint in the entire
community while said department is sus-
pended, has never been enough to sup
port or even half support the teaching
corps required.
Amid all the difficulties with which the
Board is surrounded in carrying out its
sacred trusts, and in meeting the reasona-
bic demands of the public, it seems every
way advisable to accept the propositions
made by Z. Kirby Smith and Bushrod r.
johnson. By 50 doing the institution
can in no event be damaged, the just
expectations of the public viii be mel,
and in brief period of time the funds
now held will SO accumulate as to be at
last an endowment-a contamination
fruitlessly aimed at by our predecessors
of now two generations past.
BY accepting these propositions the
University committed to your charge can
in no event be damaged. All the risk is
to be borne by the two distinguished
gentlemen who propose to conduct a
great school under your charter and with
your cooperation, in buildings which are
now but partially used, and in the present
unsettled financial condition of Tennessee
may soon be not used at all The only
guarantee demanded by these gentlemen
is that they shall continue in their pro-
fessOrships for the short period OF fifteen
years, instead of being at the pleasure of
the Board, and that they shall have the
right 10 nominate their CO. adjutOrs and
associate teachers in the school When
it is considered that tLCse gentlemen must
at once obtain from the public several
thousand dollars to place the buildings in
good repair; that by their Individual in
fuence and efforts they are to draw students
from distant States to ill these buildings,
and that the salaries of the teach
ing corps will depend entirely upon their
success in 50 doing, surely nothing less
could be asked. As the Board does not
guarantee any pay, it Is but fair that a
reasonable time should be secured TO these
gentlemen so that after having faithfully
and patiently sOwn the seed through a
number of years, they may hope TO reap
the harvest through a second more re-
munerative period. As to nominating
theft associates tEis.is courtesy usually
conceded TO heads of colleges by
Boards of Trustees. By our own regula-
tons it is at present the duty of the Chan
cellor of the University to get together
Faculties and TO nominate suitable per-
sons for vacant prOfessorships. In ae-
ceding to this proposition you in reality
make but a slight and immaterial change
in your own, and but conform to the pre-
valent custom of similar schools. In
less q corps of teachers is got together
upon some principle which secures homo
geneity it always fails to work harmOni-
Ously and always proves a nuisance to
the appointing Board.
The advantage of plan of organiza-
ton which makes use of the public privi-
legcs of the institution and Of the good
will and reputation it has gained
in the past, while at the sametime
it combines all the keen energy,
unity, activity aad enterprise of individ-
ual and private interest has been very
fully demonstrated in the experience of
this Board. In 1854 an able Collegiate
Faculty of four members was made up by
a Committee of five Trustees after mature
and careful action. Each of these four
persons brought to the institution well
earned reputation. There was, however,
no homogeneIty, and no individual inter
est and although occupying the hand
soonest school cdifice in Tennessee and
heartily assisted by the Board, in less than |
six months the undertaking proved fail
ure. In 1856 the Collegiate Department
was re-organized upon basis somewhat |
similar to that now proposed. The friends |
of the enterprise headed by one public |
spirited and energetic member of the |
Board at once contributed over fifteen
thousand dollars towards putting up suit |
able Dormitorics; and for a period of |
seven years the Undergraduate Depart
ment, with itstwO subdivisions, Collegiate |
and Preparatory, maintained large and
reputable corps of teachers without in |
curing any debt for salaries or for con-
tingent expenses. When the Civil War
commenced it was fairly getting under |
way, was paying nearly thousand dol
lars per annum interest upon the |
building debt and spending quite |
that sum annually in making perma-
ncnt Improvements upon the premises. |
The records of the Department from
1856 to 1860 show conclusively that but |
for the great political CONFUSION which
cngulfcd the whole Southern country, the |
entire plan would have been an eminent |
success.
In the autumn Of 1850 the University
of Nashville consisted of three compare