Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-05-24
COLUMBIAN UNIVERSITY.
Entertainment ny tine Trustees.
q Feast Of Reason and D Flow Of soul.
Great Interest Manifested In the Pro.
posed Great National University.

.
evening. to discuss measures for the endowment
Of National University, with Columbian Col
lege as a nucleus, and incidentally to partake of
a banquet especially prepared for the occasion
The gathering numbered seventy-five gentle
men, including, among other prominent per-
sons, President Grant, Mr.. W. W. Corcoran,
prot. Henry, DIR. j. G. Hall, Prof. Tyler, Gov.
Cooke; Hon. VIM. Beach Lawrence, OF r. L.;
Rev. Dire. Lewis, Tiffany and Sunderland, Hon.
George Taylor, Mr.. s. III. Kaufman; Secre-
tary Richardson and Assistant Secretary Saw
yer; Gen. Myer, Prof. Newcomb, OF the Naval
Observatory; MIR. A. X. shepherd, Ex- Mayor
Emery, Mr.. Charles Aston Bristed, Marquis de
Noailfes, Gen. Ramsey, and Attorney General
Williams. Sr. X. G.. Fox, VIM. F. Mattingly,
ESQ.,, Gen. Babcock, DR.. James G. yelling
VIM. Stickney, Judge Casey, Admiral Colds
borough. Mr.. George w: Riggs, Mr.. John NJ.
Morris, Mr.. Franklin Philip, Mr.. George F.
Quick, and Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian
Institutions; Mr.. A. III. Herr. Mr.. j. q. Wilson,
Judge Wylie, Gen. Howard, and many other
gentlemen of substance and culture.
At half-past seven O'Clock the company sat
down to dinner, which was prepared in Worm
iey's best style-the table being profusely and
uniquely decorated with choicest flowers. Mr.
W W. Corcoran, president Of the board OF over
Grant on his right. and the French Minister on
his left. Dr. James G. yelling. president of
the faculty of the University, occupied the cen
tire of the table, and opposite him sat Mr.. Will
liam Stickney, the treasurer of the institution.
Al the lower end of the table Judge Bolles, vice
president of the board, presided, with Governor
Cooke, Secretary Richardson, and Cen. Bah
cock on his right, and Attorney General Will
iams, Mr.. A. X. Shepherd and Rev. DIT. Tiffany
on his left
When all were seated Judge Bolles rose and
said that as Mr.. COrcoran, the hOnOred and ven-
cradle president of the corporation of the Co
mmbian University, was not well enough to
perform the active duties of the presiding Off
Ger of the assembly. he, the speaker as wee
mr. n 10 MI a. snn had ,fal
take his place and relieve him from those plea
SAINT yet fatiguing duties
Rev. DIR. Tiffany invoked the blessing of
Providence, and after the vands had been fully
discussed, Judge Boles arose. and i'm a few well
chosen words, gave the health Of the President
of the United States. In behalf of the President
Attorney General Williams spoke elOquently Of
the results to the nation and the world of the
endowment Of a national university at our seat
of government. He spoke with pride OF the
present condition of our city, and of its future
possibilities, and in some facetious and very
happy remarks referred to the past in our his
tory as a national capital.
lency, Henry ID. Cooke, Governor OF the Dis
trict OF Columbia" In responding, the Cover
nor spoke of the vast benefits to be derived in
general from the education of the people, and
he then gave in his adhesion and support to the
plan for the endOw ment in Washington of a
national university, and with a rare fidelity to
the histories and experiences of the capitals of
other leading nations, pictured the vast import
ance of such an university to the capital of the
United States.
Judge Bolles next gave: ..James dwelling,
Doctor OF Laws, our university president"
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT YELLING.
Dr. yelling in response, said the conception
~ the Columbian College entered the mind of
its piOus founders in the wear 1917. The beauti-
full Hill overlooking our city on the sides of the
noTih, and on which the college is perched, was
secured in the year 1919. Its charter was granted
by the Congress OF the United States in the year
1s2l, during the Presidency of James Monroe,
who, in his annual message, expressed the hope
that the institution thus founded, ssif il should
receive hereafter the proper encouragement,
could not fail to be eminentI useful to the
nation" AT the date OF its establishment there
were only two colleges south of the Potomac
river, where now they count by the hundreds.
The record of the college during the last fifty
years is highly honorable, if not ilustrious. Its
graduates have adorned every walk of public
and of private life; its professional schools have
achieved well-earned distinction in the eyes
of the nation.
Its friends, however, have come to feel within
the last few years that there was no longer a
place in the capital of the nation for a college
insuffciently supplied with that indispensable
condition of prosperity-sn ample endowment.
II was felt that there was room in the city of
Washington, and room only, for great uni
done more ebespiv bv simar iDstst%t oan G in
the adjoining states. As rival Of small col
leges il seemed probable that the Columbian
College must ultimately go to the wall, for it
/ as a smaller territory than they from which
TO recruit its pupils. But, as a rival of great
seats of learning, drawing its pupils from near
and from afar, like that at Cambridge, New
Haven, Princeton, and Charlottesville, ii was
believed that magnificent field lay open to it
for successful competition and for perennial
usefulness. With this great end in view an
entire reorganization of the college has been
projected during the last two years. This ere
organization has been projected in the hope
that We may soon make our educational ad-
vantages equal to the measure of our educa-
tonal opportunities, and worthy of the COM
handing position which the institution occu-
pies at this metropolitan seat Of the country.
1t was seen that we have in this city vast
apparatus for the purposes Of scientific educa-
ton, If only this apparatus were placed i'm the
hands Of competent instructors. Here, for in
stance, are the Smithsonian Institution and its
cabinets in natural history; the National Libra
land in the number of its scientific works. as
also in the aggregate number OF its volumes; the
National Observatory, soon to be supplied with
me pest telescope IN the world; the Botanical
Gardens, with living specimens OF native and
exotic plants; the Agricultural Department,
with its herbaria and Genealogical museum; the
Patent Office, stored with the accumulated fruits
OF American inventive genius for the practical
Of technology; the Coast Survey,
vita its corps Of scientific workers; the Medical
Museum, with its illustrations i'm pathology and
surgery, superior, both In number and variety,
10 those Of any similar restitution in the world;
the Meteorological Bureau, connected with
the War department; and lastly, as the flower
Of highest culture, the Corcoran Gallery of the
=
by these establishments, either singly or collec-
lively, that the trustees and overseers propose
to utilize by establishing, at the earliest POSSIBLE
day, schools of science and art in Connection
with the university. In so tar as these national
may be utilized for educational
pur poses, they constitute vast permanent en-
iowment, worth many millions of dollars. but
costing nothing in the use that is thus made of
them.
And IL we are thus favored in the means of
il is safe to say that our position is
equally felicitous as regards the acquisition of
ible and distinguished teachers, for these great
public establishments have naturally called to
heir direction the highest talent which the
country can command. In proof of this fact /
need but point to that illustriOus scientific scho-
ar who presides over the Smithsonian Institu-
ion, and who honors our literary feast by his
presence at our board tonight: or to that emf
lent astronomer, prof. Newcomb,) who sits by |
ny side, and who, by his ''star-eye science"
has written his name among the stars; or to the |
military chieftain, Gen Myer.)
Who has shown thst the most capricious of the |
elements may be breSght within the range of |
human provision if LOT within the scope OF hu- |
nan control. |
With the means OF education, and the men |
best fitted TO use them, brought within our |
each, it follows that great seat OF learning
nay be established at Washington with the |
east possible expenditure Of money. The most |
M this n al rafue IN Ehich n ha ~ II