National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-06
PRIDE OF OLD DOMINION.
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, AZ
WILLIAMSBURG.

THE HOUSE COMMITTEE On
TON AND LABOR UPON THE DEsi hoN-
TON OF THE BUILDINGS AND OTHER
PROPERTY OF THE CoLLEEE-lNlE"-
EsTING HISTORY.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen OF the Commn.ee:
Having had the honor of appearing before
tbe Committee of Education and Labor OF the
.IForty-frst, and also that Of the Forty-seeond
Congress, as the representative of the College
of William and Mary, I would Lot, willingly,
ask to be allowed to come before you did l not
think my remarks might save time and labor
to these gentlemen present who are not famil-
far with the antecedents Of the college. VI
those TO wlom am repeating "a thrice told
tale" ask pardon for thus again taxing their
patience.
Within twelve years of the settlement OF
jamestown, in 1907, steps were taken by the
friends of the colony of Virginia in England 10
establish and endow a college. Land was pur-
chased for this purpose, and competent gen.
tleman, Mr.. George Thorpe, was sent from
England to be its superintendent.
The Indian massacre of 1922, in which he,
with three hundred and forty of the colonists,
including nine of the college tenents persisted,
efectually defeated the attempt. Again in
17GO, and with more success, provision for a
College" was made by the Colonial Assembly.
Steps were taken to collect money by subscrip-
ton. Lands were ordered to be purchased and
buildings to be erected.
1t did not receive "a local habitation and a
name" till 1898, when charter Of the college
of William and Mary, comforting valuable privi-
1eges and rich endoWments, was granted by the
English Sovereigns William and Mary. As
suming 1913 to be the date of its foundation, it
IS next to Harvard the oldest college in the
country. The charter was not obtained with
out opposition. When the Rev. DR.. James
Blair, the founder, in fact, of the college, went
to the Attorney General Seymour with the
royal command to prepare a charter, he was
met by circumstances against "the expensive
1iberality." Seymour declared he saw "no
occasion for college in Virginia"
I DR.. Blair replied that ministers Of the church
were needed there as the people of Virginia had
souls as well as those of England, and COL
1ege was necessary to educate them. "Souls,
exclaimed Seymour in reply, damn their
souls, let them make Tobacco" The charter
was, however, soon prepared, and the college
entered upon q career Of usefulness and pros
Perity, which it uninterruptedly pursued, with
ibut one serious misfortune, soon overcome, the
burning of its just completed building in 17o5,
till the year 17T6. During this period the
Kings, Lords, and Commons of England, the
House of Burgesses, Governors and citizens of
the colony seemed to vie with each other in
their benefactions to this then favored colleage.
The charter gave it large grants Of money and
Hand, the duty of q penny pound on all to-
bacco exported from the colonies of Virginia
and Maryland, and the Office of Surveyor Cen
raj of Virginia.
It held in trust the Boyle fund, a legacy of
the Christian philosopher the Hon. Robert
Boyle, subject to the condition of the annual
payment to Harvard of ninety pounds sterling
The House OF Burgesses gave it money and the
duties on liquors and skins and furs. The pri-
vate citizens of the colony did their part. In
1T76 its revenues amounted TO about four thou
sand pounds sterling, and they were annually
increasing in almost geometrical ratio. It was
then by far the richest college in America.
The duly on tobacco, the fees of surveyors, and
the proceeds of the Boyle fund at this time
amounted to nearly eight thousand dollars per
ennum.
By virtue of the Office of surveyor general the
college had the sole power of appointing depu-
ty surveyors, and had the right to portion of
their fees. Thus George Washington, in one
sense an alumnus of this institution, for in its
halls, after an examination by its professors |
he received his diploma of surveyor; Zachary
Taylor, the grandfather of the President of the
United States who bore the same name; Peter
jefferson, father of Thomas jefferson, and |
little later Thomas jefferson himself were |
among those appointed deputy surveyors.
/. In 1776 it was wealthy and prosperous, and
exercised Al important and beneficial influence
in the colony. The late Bishop Meade wrote
that " Williamsburg, while it was the seat of
government and of the College of William and
Mary, was, to great extent, Virginia"
But the war that made America the Gland of
the free," that created an empire equal in
power, in wealth, and in resources to any, and
gave to it government that even those hostile |
To 1t acknowledge to be the best the world ever
saw, deprived, by its legitimate consequences,
the College of William and Mary of its char
tered and other endowments, and reduced it to |
comparative penury.
Do not these facts establish, If not legal, an
equitable claim to your sympathy and substan- |
tial assistancel But these were not the only
losses the college endured by the Revolutionary
contest. During the siege of Yorktown, in 1871,
its buildings were held as hospitals by the
French troops. While so held one Of them, the |
presidents house, was destroyed by fire, with
wing of the main building. The presidents
house was rebuilt at the expense Of the French !
Government. No compensation was made by
the General Government for the injury to the |
main building, nor for its rent while used as
hospital and while undergoing repairs; nor for
the rent Of house for the president during the |
rebuilding of that burned. And, further, the |
General Assembly Of Virginia gave to the COL
lege, in 1874, the palace Lands, together with
the houses thereon, so fare as the public inter-
est therein extends"
In June, 1776, the Legislature of Virginia ap-
propriated the palace and outbuildings to the
use of the Continental troops as public hospi-
tai. They were so occupied TIL ISL, on the
23d of December of which year they were
burned down. Uuder the Articles of Confede-
ration the United States were bound to pay the |
State of Virginia rent for the palace, and to in
demnify her for the loss Of the building while |
in their occupation. By virtue Of the statute
Vesting the title to this property in the College
of William and Mary 1t became entitled TO the
claim of the State of Virginia on the United
States for the rent and for the indemnity.
Further, the Braferton and Doxhill estates,
in England, purchased with the Boyle fund, to
the rents and profits of which the college was
entitled, were, after the Revolution, confs-
Gated, and their revenues applied by the Eng
iish Court of Chancery to different charity.
The fee simple value Of these estates was about
fifty-three thousand dollars. The foregoing
facts are taken from report accompanying a
claim of the college, founded on them, against
the United States Government, and pre-
scented to the Senate in 1865. The
claim was referred to the Committee
on Revolutionary Claims. No report on it
was made so far as is known. The total sum
thus claimed amounted to s150,00O.
3. In support of this claim, It was urged that
the United States had paid like claims to Rhode
island college for rent from 1776. to 1880, and
Tor damage done to the building, to the proprie-
tor Of Pennsylvania hospital and others. The
Rev. DR.. Witherspoon was charged with nine
teen thousand and forty dollars, in 1779, on the