The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-13
OUR OLDEST COLLEGE.
The Alma Mater of John Marshall and
 of Three Presidents.

1 The Alma Mater of John Marshall and of Three Presidents.
 | A visit to the south in midsummer is | not inviting; but visit to William and Mary college is refreshing, in spite of the heat. No one can comprehend
 American education by going only to Harvard and Yale. By the way, every l northern college is copied after these two formerly after Yale, more likely of late after Harvard. Yale was the embodiment of classical ideas and uni versity traditions. The process of
 planting young Yales went on uninter- ruptedly until Michigan university be-
 gan to assert itself. Here at last was
 a new idea-a state system organized,
 from primaries up to a university apex.
 Founded in the forests of the west. in
 1918 it was part and parcel of the plan
 which Jefferson was working out in
 Virginia. Virginia University did not
 materialize until 1922 Jefferson lived
 just long enough to make it living
 fact But, while creating a state sys-
 tenn the great statesman left his Alma
 Mater to struggle for existence. The
 common-school system of Virginia was
 less complete than that of Massachu-
 setts and other northern states. Her
 college was therefore less able to en-
 dure the rivalry of an official institu-
 tion. William and Mary was founded
 as a college in 1893: but in it's antece-
 dents it existed as far back as 1917, an-
 tedating not only Harvard but even the
 Mayflower Governor Berkeley, not
 withstanding his opposition to com
 mon schools had hand in founding it;
 and the sovereigns whose name it
 bears approved the charter. The early
 support of the college was by a duty
 on exported tobacco, It was the
 wealthiest institution of education in
 America before the Revolution: but
 during the war the buildings were bar
 racks for British and French and American troops alternately, and final
 ly they were burned. During the civ- il war the college was once more occu-
 pied by troops: and once more 1t was
 burned. It was not opened again until 1888, since which time it has been well manned for work, with a faculty of unusual fitnessFheaded by Lyon G. Ty- Ter, son of John Tyler, former presi- dent of the United States.
 William and Mary had early on it's roll of students and alumni the most distinguished colonial statesmen. Dur ing the Revolutionary period it gradu- ated Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe, besides John Mar shall and Edmund Randolph who was chief draughtsman of the American Constitution. No other college in the United States has so distinguished a roll It was here that Jefferson i'm bibed republicanism, and here he for mulated his first conceptions of states and government. In fact, you are here overwhelmed with the con- viction that you have come upon the cradle of our institutions, the birth place of the Declaration of Indepen- dence and of the Constitution. You walk about, wondering wffhat local in- fiuences may have combined with French constitutionalism In Jeffersons mind. Or was it something in the methad of the college itself which bred such statesmanship? Just to the right a few miles down the ridge, is James, town, where Englishmen first succeed ed In establishing an American colony. Down the opposite slope, to the left, you come upon Yorktown, where Wash ington and Lafayette set seal to the fact that the United States is, and of right ought to be, free and indepen- dent. What historic interests cluster at this point A stir of holy emotion of patriotism and noble citizenship thrills man of honest imagination as he breathes the air of this sacred spot, and touches the walls that sheltered the worlds greatest statesman, Thom- as Jefferson. It need not be wondered | at if we find here a degree of conserva- tism and of local pride that honors the spot, yet, after all, may be a hndrance to the future evolution of the college.
 What was there in ttis gray old col ege that produced such men, such | deas. such results? By what means | lid 1t give birth to nation builders? | How came it about that here, right | lere, for the first time in the history | ,f modern nations. ethics was identi- jed with politics, and righteousness with good government? It was no | loubt largely due to the fact that at | education was identical with government as it was at no oth- IT institution, not even excepting at Harvard Our early northern colleges were more closely identified with the 'hurch: the southern, and especially | William and Mary, with the state. Virginia created this college pre-emi- lently as a school for statesmen and
 To Massachusatts we must rive credit for the earliest Completed ysted of common schools for all the people; to Virginia we give acknowl- dgment for the earliest effort toward hat higher education which expresses tself in state universities But even UT present state universities, the pex of the common-school systems, do
 lot have, for their special purport the reation of leaders of the state. Our 1 aim at tho develonment of
 learned class and at good citizenship. and Mary specifically aimed t class thoroughly trained in state raft. If you wish to know why Vir- mia became "Mother of Presidents" O to William and Mary, There you Jill find the key
 In it's palmy days Williamsburg was apital ot Virginia, as well as the seat f it's learning. For safety, in 1779, the tate archives were removed to Rich J lond For some time Jefferson wa cred between Williamsburg and | as the seat of the state diversity, but finally decided for the
 ryy.1 I