National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-06

the same ACCIDENT happened TO the palacei II
which was the American hospital. All tn
sick were saved, as well as the greater part o
the effects" This establishes the fact Of tn
fires.
General Washington wrote letter bearing
or this subject October 81, 17s1:
"To The President and Masters or Professors Of tn
UnfUersity Of William and Mary:
| 'GENTLEYKS: accept very kindly the address
OF the president and professors Of the University
William and Mary. The reduction Of the British
force in this State, for which feel myself highly
indebted to the noble exertions Of our brave ant
generous allies, is q circumstance which gives m,
great pleasure, not only as 1t affords q return Of
peaceful security to many of my fellow-cItIzens
but as 1t will, hope, In Its event. be productive
of more extensive good consequences. The sea,
Of literature at Williamsburg has ever, in my
view, been an object of veueration As On insti
tuition important Tor Its communication of useful
learning, and conducive to the true principles oil
national liberty, you may be assured that It shall
receive every encouragement and benefaction iu
my power toward Its re-establishment. The sick
and wounded Of the army, whom my necessities
have compelled me trouble you with, shall be re-
moved rs soon as circumstances will permit, an
event which will be as pleasing to me as agree
able to you.
(see Sparks Writings of washington.)
Thus 1t is seen that the college property was
held and injured by the Continental troops, and
precedent and equity Justify the college in
seeking from the United States some compen-
sation. But, notwithstanding the prospect Of
these losses and their realization, the college
and its teachings, before, during, and after the
War of Independence, ever remained true and
loyal to the great cause of American freedom,
"a child of the revolution of 1858, revolu.
ton second to none that had gone before IL,
its sons were the warm and enthusiastic advo
Gates of that of 1776." Among them, "Irimu'
inter pdres," was to be found Jefferson, "hold
ing in one hand the bill establishing religious
freedom, and In the other the immortal Decla-
ration-the one setting free the human mind
the other emancipating continent-the truest
representative of the people and of democracy
this country ever produced, who first plo,
claimed, as a fitting motto for free America,
Universal emancipation and universal educa-
tion;" next James Monroe, the pure pa
triot and good man, who shed his youth
full blood at the battle of Brandy.
wine, and was distinguished by a long
career of valuable public service: then Peyton
Randolph, the first President of the glorious
Continental Congress, and his nephew, Ed
mund Randolph, to whose great mind and pa
triotic labors the Constitution is in part due,
' and John Marshall, who did good service in
the fields of Brandywine, of Germantown, and
of Monmouth, and under Steuben-who in
spired such confidence in his purity and patri-
otism that the loftiest honors Washington and
Adams could bestow were within his reach"
the legislator, the statesman, the great Chief
Justice, and q host Of their peers whom time
will not allow me even to name, each distin-
guished for some great quality and many of
them master workmen, who gave aid In build
ing up the fabric of government, Federal and
State, and in shaping that system of domestic
and foreign policy which has borne America
through difficulties and dangers, and placed
her in companionship with the most powerful
nations of the earth"
The college gave to the country four signefs
of the Declaration, three Presidents of the
United States, 1.-TWO of these have been men,
toned the third was the honest and the fear
less John Tyler, to whom the credit of the Ash
burton treaty and the annexation of Texas
justly belongs.) at has given to the nation
Cabinet officers, Senators and Representatives,
Judges, officers of the army-among them q
lieutenant general whose conquest of Mexico
rivals that of Cortez-and officers of the navy
-Paladins of the Sea ;" in all, more than two
hundred sages and heroes pre-eminently dis
tinguished in public service and place. Nor is
the college limited to the past. Among It's
living alumni are eminent men who add to its
renown.
Excepting Harvard, It has in its national
ersry institutions.
In 1859 the college lost by an accidental fire
its main building, erected nearly two centuries
before. "When this building was erected" to
adopt the language of one among the most dis
tinguished of the alumni of the college, and
whom have already largely quoted, at looked
out upon country in the early infancy Of set
Element, containing a population not greater
than that which at this day is found In the
smallest State of the Union.
at beheld that population expanding over
regions bounded by two great oceans, to be
counted by millions in place of the scattered
thousands of that day. 1t has seen the colonies
shake of the badges of puberty and put on the
togo viriEiS.' 1t saw the Congress before and
after it had assembled under the Articles of
Confederation, and those articles of the Con-
stitution under which 1t now is our happiness
to live. 1t re-echoed the words of the forest
born Demosthenes in 1865, asserting the rights
of America to be natural, constitutional, char
tered and in thunder tones, at an after day,
its walls resounded to the words, Liberty or
DEATH uttered by the same eloquent lips.
"Under the influence of its teachings its stu
dents threw aside for season their volumes,
and girdled on the sword to do battle in the
great cause of liberty.
1.-THE calm and silver-toned voice of philoso
ply heard within its walls has been ofttimes
hushed by the clangor of drums and trumpets.
At ope time it gave reluctant shelter to the
British troops as they passed on to Yorktown;
and soon after its gates were opened wide to
give willing and exultant reception to the
troops, with their tattered banners, which fol-
lowed CORVALLIS to his last retreat.
"Its walls were alternately shaken by the
thunder of the cannon at Yorktown and BY the
shouts of the noble bands who had
fought and conquered in the name of Ameri-
can independence.
"The boy had gone forth with the surveyors
staff, which it had placed in his hands, into the
wilderness of the West, and now returned the
hero and the conqueror, and once more stood
within its walls, surrounded by the chivalry Of
France and America, wearing on his brow i'm
perishable laurels, and making the name of
Washington foremost on the rolls of fame"
In the early part Of 1861, the College of VIII
liam and Mary, at Williamsburg, Va, gave
every promise of prosperous and useful
career. In its endowments, its appliances, Gin
GLIDING buildings, library, and apparatus in
the public confidence 1t enjoyed, its friends and
patrons had every reason to feel satisfied. Its
main building stood on the site of that de-
stroyed in 1859, and was, together with we'll
selected library and an ample chemical and
philosophical apparatus, entirely new. InMay,
1851, when madness ruled the hour" the ex-
istence Of actual war on its very threshold,
(the distance from Fortress Monroe is not more
than thirty-fve miles) rendered it necessary to
suspend its academic exercises and to close its
doors. and subjected 1t to more serious reverses
than it had ever before met during its long and
varied life.
Tho hui1dino ,vae trrroadiataI1 eaG1od ~, tha