The History of Dartmouth College

CHAPTER XI.

LACK OF HARMONY BETWEEN PRESIDENT WHEELOCK AND OTHER TRUSTEES.—REMOVAL OF THE PRESIDENT FROM OFFICE.—ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER.

The administration of President John Wheelock is remarkable for two things; its great length, and its unhappy close.

The great "Dartmouth Controversy" is one of the most impressive chapters in the annals of American colleges.

In discussing this subject it is necessary to consider some of the influences which had aided in moulding President Wheelock's character. His residence at Yale College was at an important period in the history of that institution, commencing soon after the resignation of President Clap, who had been driven from his position, virtually, for opposing any interference in the affairs of the college, by the Legislature. The friends of education were divided in sentiment, as to the wisdom of his course, and the institution was in some sense under a cloud till the accession of President Stiles—a friend of the Wheelock family—who effected an arrangement by which the State was admitted to a share in the management of the college. The following letter from a prominent Trustee of Dartmouth to the president, written just at this period, shows that the animated contest in Connecticut was only the natural and logical precursor of one more animated and much more important, in New Hampshire.

"Charlestown, November 17, 1791.

"Hon. Sir: I have set my name to the petition, etc., although, I confess not without some hesitation and reluctance. I like the plan well in general,—but there is one exception. I cannot form any idea of what is intended by the proposal, That the Council, or Senate, or both, be admitted to some cern in the government of the university [college].

"This appears to me to be a proposal of too much or nothing at all, and of something not in the power of this Board to confer, who I think cannot admit any foreign jurisdiction, any man, or number of men to any share in government of the university, properly so termed, otherwise than what the Constitution specifies.

"I have, however, subscribed under the influence of this consideration: That in the event it may subject us to no other inconvenience, but the imputation of inconsistence in conduct in hereafter rejecting a compliance with our own proposal, if we shall find that more is performed by others than was intended, or can be admitted by us, though fairly enough proffered.

"I think some precautionary injunctions to the Agent in this matter would be wise and prudent.

"In haste—

"I am, sir, with much esteem and sincere affection,
"Your sincere friend and humble servant,

"Bulkley Olcott."

"President Wheelock."

Mr. Wheelock's experiences also as a legislator and military commander, in early life, doubtless gave him a larger confidence in his own abilities on the one hand, and on the other a more profound conviction that everything in the State should, be subordinate to the State.

The religious aspects of President Wheelock's character, are worthy of special notice. He was the dutiful, in some sense the favorite son of an honored father. The former president, although sound in the faith, had more catholic views and broader sympathies than many of the leading divines of his day. The son was no less liberal than the father. This liberality was doubtless the real cause of difference between the second president and his associates in office. His first decided opponent was Nathaniel Niles, who entered the Board in 1793, a man of rare ability, and in early life a pupil of Dr. Bellamy, whose religious views on some points were materially different from those of his contemporary and neighbor, the first president.

The first important point gained by Mr. Niles was the election of his friend, Mr. Shurtleff, to the chair of Divinity, in 1804.

For ten years the breach was constantly widening between the president and his opponents. We now find the following official records:

"At a meeting of the Trustees, November 11, 1814, the following preamble and resolutions, introduced by Charles Marsh, Esq., were adopted.

"Whereas, the duties of the president of this university have become very multiplied and arduous; and, whereas, it is necessary that he should continue to attend to the concerns of this institution, and the various officers and departments thereof, and should have time to prepare and lay before this Board the business to which its attention should be directed; therefore, resolved, that, in order to relieve the president from some portion of the burdens which unavoidably devolve on him, he be excused in future from hearing the recitations of the Senior Class, in Locke, Edwards, and Stewart.

"Resolved, that the Professors, Shurtleff and Moore, jointly supply the pulpit, in such manner as may be agreed between them. That Professor Shurtleff hear the recitation of the Senior class in Edwards on the Will; that Professor Adams hear the recitation of the Senior class in Locke on the Human Understanding, and that Professor Moore hear the recitation of the Senior class in Stewart's Philosophy of the Mind, and that he hear them in both volumes of that work."

This action of the Board was followed by the publication of the "Sketches," and, in June, 1815, the presentation of the following Petition to the New Hampshire Legislature:

"Honorable Legislators,—The citizens of New Hampshire enjoy security and peace under your wise laws; prosperity in productive labors by means which you have adopted; and, by your counsels, increasing knowledge in the establishment of literature through the State. But, for none of these, can so much be ascribed to your attention as for Dartmouth College. By your patronage and munificence it was flourishing in former years; and so it still would have continued had the management of its concerns been adapted to answer the designs of your wisdom, and the hopes of its most enlightened and virtuous friends.

"To your Honorable body, whose guardian care encircles the institutions of the State, it becomes incumbent on the citizens to make known any change in their condition and relations interesting to the public good. To you alone, whose power extends to correcting or reforming their abuses, ought he to apply when they cease to promote the end of their establishment, the social order and happiness.

"Gladly would the offerer of this humble address, avoiding to trouble your counsels, have locked up his voice in perpetual silence, while the evils are rolling on and accumulating, were he not otherwise compelled by a sense of duty to your Legislature, and to the best interests of mankind, in the present and future times.

"Will you permit him to suggest there is reason to fear that those who hold in trust the concerns of this seminary have forsaken its original principles and left the path of their predecessors. It is unnecessary to relate how the evil commenced in its embryo state; by what means and practices, they, thus deviating, have in recent years, with the same object in view, increased their number to a majority controlling the measures of the Board; but more important is it to lay before you that there are serious grounds to excite apprehensions of the great impropriety and dangerous tendency of their proceedings; reasons to believe that they have applied property to purposes wholly alien from the intentions of the donors, and under peculiar circumstances to excite regret; that they have in the series of their movements, to promote party views, transformed the moral and religions order of the institution, by depriving many of their innocent enjoyment of rights and privileges for which they had confided in their faith; that they have broken down the barriers and violated the Charter, by prostrating the rights with which it expressly invests the presidential office; that, to subserve their purposes, they have adopted improper methods in their appointments of executive officers, naturally tending to embarrass and obstruct the harmonious government and instruction of the seminary; that they have extended their powers, which the Charter confines to the college, to form connection with an academy[33] in exclusion of the other academies in the State, cementing an alliance with its overseers, and furnishing aid from the college treasury for its students; that they have perverted the power, which by the incorporation they ought to exercise over a branch of Moor's Charity School, and have obstructed the application of its fund according to the nature of the establishment and the design of the donors; and that their measures have been oppressive to your memorialist in the discharge of his office.

[33] Kimball Union Academy.

"Such are the impressions as now related, arising from the acts and operations of those who have of late commanded the decisions of the Board.

"Your memorialist does not pretend to exhibit their motives, whether they have been actuated by erroneous conceptions, or mistaken zeal, or some other cause, in attending to the concerns of the institution. But with great deference he submits the question, unless men in trust preserve inviolable faith, whether pledged by words, or action, or usage, to individuals, unless they continuously keep within the limits assigned to them by law; if they do not sacredly apply the fruits of benevolence committed to their charge, to the destined purpose; if the public affairs in their trust are not conducted with openness, impartiality, and candor, instead of designed and secret management; if they become pointedly hostile to those who discern their course, and honestly oppose their measures which are esteemed destructive; if they bear down their inoffensive servants, who are faithful to the cause of truth, how can an establishment under these circumstances, be profitable to mankind? How can there be a gleam of prospective joy to any except to those who are converting its interest into their own channel, to serve a favorite design? What motive, then, will remain to benefactors to lay foundations, or to bestow their charities on such an object?

"There is also ground for increasing, fearful apprehension, by adding to the immediate, what may be the ultimate effect of the measures which have been described. In a collective view they appear to the best acquainted and discerning to be, in all their adaptations, tending to one end, to complete the destruction of the original principles of the college and school, and to establish a new modified system, to strengthen the interests of a party or sect, which, by extending its influence under the fairest professions, will eventually affect the political independence of the people, and move the springs of their government.

"To you, revered legislators! the writer submits the foregoing important considerations. He beholds, in your Honorable body, the sovereign of the State, holding, by the Constitution, and the very nature of sovereignty in all countries, the sacred right, with your duty and responsibility to God, to visit and oversee the literary establishments, where the manners and feelings of the young are formed, and grow up in the citizen in after life; to restrain from injustice, and rectify abuses in their management, and, if necessary, to reduce them to their primitive principles, or so modify their powers as to make them subservient to the public welfare. To your protection, and wise arrangements, he submits whatever he holds in official rights by the Charter of the seminary; and to you his invaluable rights as a subject and citizen.

"He entreats your honorable body to take into consideration the state and concerns of the college and school, as laid before you.

"And as the Legislature have never before found occasion to provide, by any tribunal, against the evils of the foregoing nature, and their ultimate dangers, he prays that you would please, by a committee invested with competent powers, or otherwise, to look into the affairs and management of the institution, internal and external, already referred to, and, if judged expedient in your wisdom, that you would make such organic improvements and model reforms in its system and movements, as, under Divine Providence, will guard against the disorders and their apprehended consequences.

"He begs only to add the contemplated joys of the friends of man and virtue, in the result of your great wisdom and goodness, which may secure this seat of science, so that it may become an increasing source of blessings to the State, and to mankind of the present and succeeding ages, instead of a theatre for the purpose of a few, terminating in public calamity.

"Whatever disposal your Honorable body may please to make of the subject now presented, the subscriber will never cease to maintain the most humble deference and dutiful respect.

John Wheelock."

It would not be profitable, at the present time, to re-open the discussion of the subject matter of the various charges contained in the above document, which were so fully elaborated in the "Sketches," and so carefully considered in the subsequent "Vindication" by the Trustees.

The prayer of the Memorial was granted by the Legislature, by the appointment of a committee of investigation. The following letter is worthy of careful attention in this connection:

"Exeter, August 15, 1815.

"My dear Sir,—In common with many others I have felt considerable anxiety for the issue of the matter so much in public discussion relative to Dartmouth College. I do not feel either inclined or competent to give any opinion as to the course which ought finally to be adopted by the Board of Trustees for the benefit of that institution. I am entirely willing to leave that to the determination of those much better informed on the subject and better able to judge. From certain intimations which I have lately had, I am led to believe an intention is entertained by some members of the Board of ending all difficulty with the president by removing him from office. I greatly fear such a measure adopted under present circumstances, and at the present time, would have a very unhappy effect on the public mind. An inquiry is now pending, instituted after considerable discussion, by the Legislature of this State, apparently for the purpose of granting relief for the subject matter of complaint. The Trustees acquiesce in this inquiry; whether they appear before the committee appointed to make it formally as a body, or informally as individuals, the public will not deem of much importance. The Legislature, I think, for certain purposes, have a right to inquire into an alleged mismanagement of such an institution, a visitorial power rests in the State, and I do not deem it important for my present view to determine in what department or how to be exercised. The Legislature may, on proper occasion, call it into operation. I have never seen the president's memorial to the Legislature, but am told it is an abstract from the 'Pamphlet of Sketches.' From the statements in that I take the burthen of his complaint to be, that the Trustees have not given him a due and proper share of power and influence in the concerns of the college, and that they have improperly used their own power and influence in patronizing and propagating in the college particular theological opinions. The alleged misapplication of funds [paid for preaching] is stated as an instance of such misconduct. These opinions, it would seem, are particularly disagreeable to the president. The whole dispute is made to have a bearing on the president personally. Should the Trustees, during the pendency of the inquiry in a cause in which they are supposed to be a party, take the judgment into their own hands, and summarily end the dispute by destroying the other party, they will offend and irritate at least all those who were in favor of making the inquiry. Such will not be satisfied with the answer that the Trustees have the power and feel it to be their duty to exercise it. It will be said that the reasons which justify a removal (if there be any) have existed for a long time. A removal after so long forbearance, at the present time, will be attributed to recent irritations.

"That part of the president's complaint which relates to his religious grievances, addresses itself pretty strongly to the prejudices and feelings of all those opposed to the sect called Orthodox. This comprises all the professed friends of liberal religion, most of the Baptists and Methodist, and all the nothingarians. The Democrats will be against you, of course. All these combined would compose in this State a numerous and powerful body. Any measure adopted by the Trustees with the appearance of anger, or haste, will be eagerly seized on. If the statements of the president are as incorrect as I have heard it confidently asserted, an exposure of that incorrectness will put the public opinion right. It may require time, but the result must be certain. If it can be shown that his complaints are nothing but defamatory clamor, he will be reduced to that low condition that it will be the interest of no sect or party to attempt to hold him up. I see no danger in delay, but fear much in too great haste. Perhaps there is no occasion at present to determine how long the Trustees should delay adopting their final course. Circumstances may render that expedient at a future time which is not now. I feel much confidence that a very decisive course against the president by the Trustees at the present time would create an unpleasant sensation in the public mind, and would, I fear, be attended with unpleasant consequences.

"I am sensible I have expressed my opinion very strongly on a subject in which I have only a common interest. I frankly confess I have been somewhat influenced by fears that some of the Trustees will find it difficult to free themselves entirely from the effects of the severe irritation they must have lately experienced.

"I am, dear sir, with esteem,
"Sincerely yours.

"Jeremiah Mason."

"C. Marsh, Esq."

President Wheelock was removed from office on the 26th of August, 1815, by the vote of a decided majority of the Board, upon grounds of which the following is the substance:

"1st. He has had an agency in publishing and circulating a certain anonymous pamphlet, entitled 'Sketches of the History of Dartmouth College and Moor's Charity School,' and espoused the charges therein contained before a committee of the Legislature. The Trustees consider this publication a libel on the institution.

"2d. He claims a right to exercise the whole executive authority of the college, which the Charter has expressly committed to the Trustees, with the president, professors, and tutors by them appointed. He also claims a right to control the Corporation in the appointment of executive officers.

"3d. He has caused an impression to be made on the minds of students under censure for transgression of the laws of the institution, that if he could have had his will they would not have suffered disgrace or punishment.

"4th. He has taken a youth who was not an Indian, but adopted by an Indian tribe, and supported him in Moor's School, on the Scotch fund, which is granted for the sole purpose of instructing and civilizing Indians.

"5th. He has, without sufficient ground for such a course, reported that the real cause of the dissatisfaction of the Trustees with him was a diversity of religious opinions between him and them."

In taking leave of the second president, we have only to remark, as we introduce his eulogist, Mr. Samuel Clesson Allen, that both parties to the contest apparently overrated their grievances.

"President Wheelock was distinguished for the extent and variety of his learning. With a lively curiosity he pushed his inquiries into every department of knowledge, and made himself conversant with the various branches of science. But of all the subjects which presented themselves to his inquisitive mind those which relate to man in his intellectual constitution and social relations engaged and fixed his attention. His favorite branches were Intellectual Philosophy, Ethics, and Politics. Possessing in an eminent degree the spirit of his station, he fulfilled with singular felicity the offices of instructor and governor in the college. Animated and ardent himself, he could transfuse the same holy ardor into the minds of his pupils. What youth ever visited him in his study, but returned to his pursuits with a renovated spirit, and a loftier sentiment of glory?

"He had formed the noblest conceptions of the powers of the human mind, and of its ultimate progress in knowledge and refinement. This sentiment called forth the energies of his mind, and gave direction and character to his inquiries. It pervaded all his instructions, and imparted to science and to letters their just preËminence among the objects of human pursuit.

"He never sought to preoccupy the minds of his pupils with his own peculiar notions, or to impose upon them any favorite system of opinions. He endeavored to make them proficients in science, and not the proselytes of a sect.

"In government he commanded more by example than by authority, and the admiration of his talents ensured a better obedience than the force of laws. His elevation of mind placed him above personal prejudices and resentments, and jealousies of wounded dignity. He practiced no espionage upon his pupils, but reposed for the maintenance of order on their sense of propriety, and his own powers of command. He conciliated their attachment while he inspired their reverence; and he secured their attention to the stated exercises and reconciled them to the severest studies by the example he exhibited, and the enthusiasm he inspired. He knew how to adapt his discipline to the various dispositions and characters, and could discriminate between the accidental impulse of a youthful emotion and deliberate acts of intentional vice.

"He was an interesting and powerful speaker. His erect attitude and dignified action inspired reverence, and commanded attention. But the wonderful force of his eloquence arose from the strength and sublimity of his conceptions. Such were his originality of thought, and rich variety of expression, that he could present the most common subjects in new and interesting lights. His public discourses evinced the strength of the reasoning faculty, the powers of the imagination, and the resources of genius.

"He would sometimes conduct the mind with painful subtility through the multiplied steps of a long demonstration. At other times he would glance upon the main topics of his argument, and seize on his conclusion by a sort of intuitive penetration. He frequently embellished his subject with the higher ornaments of style, and diffused around the severer sciences the graces and elegancies of taste. For force of expression he might be compared to Chatham, and in splendid imagery he sometimes rivaled Burke. He would, at pleasure, spread a sudden blaze around his subject or diffuse about it a milder radiance.

"To the interpretation of the Scriptures he carried all the lights which geography, history, and criticism could supply, and poured their full effulgence upon the sacred page. His daily prayers always presenting new views of the works and perfections of the Deity, exhibited whatever was vast in conception, glowing in expression and devout in feeling.

"He was probably formed not less for the higher offices of active life than for the speculations of science. Distinguished for the boldness of his enterprise and the decisive energy of his character, he set no limits to what individual exertion and effort could accomplish. He attempted great things with means which other men would have esteemed wholly inadequate, and the vigor of his mind increased in proportion to the difficulties he met in the execution of his enterprises. He was disheartened by no difficulties, he was intimidated by no dangers, he was shaken by no sufferings. The glory which he sought was not the temporary applause of this party or that sect, but it was the glory which results from unwearied efforts for the improvement and happiness of man. He was not less distinguished by the object and character of his enterprises than by the great qualities he exhibited in their accomplishment. His was a high and holy ambition, which, while it preserved its vigor, identified its objects with those of the purest charity."

Dartmouth conferred the degree of LL. D. upon President Wheelock in 1789. He died at Hanover, April 4, 1817, his wife, Mrs. Maria (Suhm) Wheelock, daughter of Governor Christian Suhm, of St. Thomas, W. I., surviving him.

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