Upon no occasion were the sensibility and agitation of Mr. Clinton, in the delivery of his public discourses here referred to, more manifested than in his oration pronounced at the request of the Alumni of Columbia College in 1827. Having obtained an analysis of that Discourse, from the editors of the Commercial Advertiser, to whom, on the day of its delivery, Mr. Clinton loaned the manuscript, I have it in my power to present to the public the following outline of that production, and the remarks which accompanied it.

Analysis of Governor Clinton's Discourse delivered before the Alumni of Columbia College.

The third anniversary of the associated Alumni of Columbia College, was celebrated yesterday, (May 3.) The hour for the delivery of the address was twelve o'clock, and the chapel of the College, including the galleries, was punctually filled by a fashionable assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, including the faculty of the College, the trustees, students, residents, graduates, &c. The exercises were commenced with an appropriate prayer by the Reverend Professor M’Vickar.

His Excellency Governor Clinton then rose and pronounced a discourse which occupied nearly an hour, and was listened to with deep interest and uninterrupted attention. The subject of his address, was a rapid history of the rise, progress, and present condition of his Alma Mater, interspersed with notices of its officers and professors, and some of the more prominent men whose names adorn its catalogue of graduates, and concluding with some happy thoughts upon the state of education in our country, and suggestions for its extension and improvement.

In his preliminary remarks, the distinguished orator first adverted to the pleasures and advantages of intellectual communities, in the republic of letters; more especially of those votaries of thc arts and sciences, disciples of the same great seminary, who have derived their mental aliment from a common parent, and who have received their education from the same source. Speaking of the present occasion, be said he knew of no assemblage better calculated so to awaken the enthusiasm of their youthful days, and to brighten the rays of their setting sun, than a convention of the members of three generations under the protecting roof of their Alma Mater, at the altars of science and literature – to recall to their recollections the transporting scenes of their youthful collegiate lives, and to realise and renew those friendships which were formed in youths and will last as long as the pulsations of the heart, and the operations of memory.

In commencing the principal subject of the discourse, the orator quoted the continuation of Smith's History of New-York, which has lately been given to the world by the historical Society of this city. The germ of the college was a Free Schools established in 1732, for teaching the Latin and Greek tongues, and the practical branches of mathematics, under the care of Mr. Alexander Malcolm, of Aberdeen. The enterprise was patronised by the Morris family, Mr. Alexander, and Mr. Smith, who petitioned the assembly upon the subject. Such was the negligence of the day, that the teacher could not find bread from the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants, although examples had been set in New-England, where colleges had been endowed early in the last century. The bill for founding this school was brought in by Mr. Delancey, and had this singular preamble: – "Whereas, the youth of this colony are found by manifold experience to be not inferior in their natural geniuses to those of any other country in the world, Therefore be it enacted," &c. From this the orator remarked that even at that early period it was thought necessary to vindicate our country against the degenerating and debasing qualities which have since been so liberally imputed to it by Buffon, Robertson, and others. In touching upon these puny efforts of flimsy philosophers, however, the orator wished permission to say that he could not reconcile the sensibility which we have manifested under such vituperations, with the respect which we owe to our country; charges so unfounded being beneath the dignity of refutation. The country which has been called the land of swamps, of yellow fever, and universal suffrage, requires no advocate but truth, and no friend but justice, to place it at the highest elevation of triumphant vindication.

The school was the harbinger of more enlarged views, and more elevated establishments; and at length, in 1754, the charter of King's College was obtained. In four years afterwards it was sufficiently matured to confer degrees. The city then contained but 10,000 inhabitants, and the whole colony but half the population of the city of New-York at the present day. The faculty was composed of very able men; but after a brief career of eighteen years, during which about one hundred degrees were conferred, the college was broken up by the American Revolution. On a rapid inspection of the catalogue of this period, the orator said he was persuaded that the truth of the legislative preamble was clearly established, and that in no period of time, nor in any country, had an institution existed, so fertile of enlightened and able men, within so short a time, and among so small a population.

The orator next proceeded to notice some of the most prominent of these men, among whom were Samuel Provost, Samuel Seabury, Benjamin Moore, Isaac Wilkins, and others. The three first of these attained the honours of the mitre; and Wilkins was a distinguished writer at the commencement of the revolution. Among the enlightened jurists who sprung from this institution within the period before spoken of, the names of John Jay, Robert R. Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, Richard Harison, Peter Van Schaick, and Robert Troup, were mentioned "with pride and pleasure." The three first were distinguished in the public councils at the commencement of the revolution; Livingston was one of the committee which drafted the Declaration of Independence; Jay took a leading part in the celebrated state papers which emanated from the old congress, which drew forth the celebrated panegyric from the great Chatham, and which Johnson, the colossus of British literature, undertook to answer. After paying a high tribute to the talents, learning, character and services of the great men above named respectively, the name of "that great man," Hamilton, was introduced, who was a student of this college before the revolution, but before he could obtain his academic honours it was broken up. In speaking of this distinguished patriot, the orator related an anecdote, at once illustrative of his amiable disposition, his firmness, and his independence. He was greatly attached to his preceptor, President Cooper, who favoured the royal cause. The peace of the city was troubled by the conflicts of contending parties. A mob collected before the college door, and had marked Dr. Cooper out as an object of aggression. Hamilton threw himself between the people and his preceptor, addressed the former from the vestibule of the building, and delayed their progress until his friend had time to escape from their fury.

Of learning, said the orator, it may he remarked as of law: – "Inter arma leges silet." – In the revolutionary conflict, the interests of education were almost entirely neglected. The college was broken up, the building converted into an hospital, and the only classical school, to which young men could repair in the pursuit of knowledge, was the Academy at Kingston.

Having thus taken a distant view of this institution, the orator proceeded to sketch its late history – a task gratifying at once to the pride and filial affection of the alumni. The war of independence over, the attention of our statesmen and patriots was directed to the revival of letters, and the establishment of the temple of freedom upon the foundation of knowledge. In 1784, the board of "Regents of the University" was established, clothed with a superintending power over Columbia College, and all future colleges and academies. This board was composed of the principal officers of the government, and of distinguished citizens. On the 17^th of May of that year, the first student was admitted into the college under the new order of things. The board of regents personally attended at the examination of the candidates for admission; and, the speaker said, he might, perhaps, without the imputation of vanity, be permitted to remark, that he was the first student, so examined, and among the first graduates. Instructors were appointed, and apartments for the accommodation of the college were furnished in the old City Hall, until the college building was refitted for use. No president was appointed for some years afterwards, and it was deemed expedient to resort to Europe for teachers. William Cochran, a native of Ireland, and an alumnus of Trinity College, Dublin, was appointed Professor of the Latin and Greek languages; and John Kemp, graduate of Marischal College, Aberdeen, Professor of Mathematics, and afterwards of Natural Philosophy. – The Rev. Dr. Moore, afterwards Bishop, was appointed Professor of Rhetoric and Logic; Dr. J.D. Gros, a German by birth and education, Professor of the German Language and Geography, and afterwards of Moral Philosophy. Dr. Samuel Bard, who had been professor of the theory and practice of medicine under the royal charter, undertook to fill, temporarily, the office of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. The speaker took a rapid sketch of the character and attainments of each of the professors, and his notices of Dr. Gros and Dr. Bard were highly interesting. The former had emigrated to this country before the war, and resided upon the frontier, where in those times of peril and alarm, he stood forth with the bible in one hand and the sword in the other, in the united character of patriot and christian, vindicating the liberties of mankind. An exalted tribute of praise was bestowed upon the memory of Dr. Bard, of whom it was said – "as long as literature has a friend, and science an advocate, the name of Samuel Bard will be identified with some of the best and wisest measures to spread the benefits of the healing art, to diffuse the lights of knowledge, and subserve the essential interests of our country." Glancing along in reference to the new and prosperous career of the college, the names of Peter Wilson, and Dr. Henry Moyes, were introduced: the former, eminent for his learning, was appointed Professor of Latin and Greek, and the latter of Natural History and Chemistry. Dr. Moyes was blind, yet his lectures were popular, and he had the merit of sowing the first seeds of this science in our country, redeemed from the follies of Alchemy, the visions of elixirs and transmutations, and founded on the experimental science of Bacon.

In 1787, the regents were divested of the immediate government of the colleges and academies, and the same was intrusted to boards of trustees. In 1786, the first commencement was held, and the first degrees conferred. The population of the city was then 24,000 – it is now 180,000. The population of the whole state has multiplied in the same ratio, which, by a singular coincidence, is the fact with regard to the cities of London and Philadelphia.

After reviewing the career of the college, and speaking of its increasing numbers and extending usefulness, notwithstanding the many difficulties it has had to encounter from pre-established colleges, on each side (Yale and Nassau Hall) – from rival institutions, and from sectarian jealousy – the speaker remarked that it is since the college has been under professors of native growth, that it has experienced its present fulness of prosperity. And although he expressed his perfect contempt of unworthy prejudices against foreigners, yet he gave his strong and decided preference for native teachers: not from any defects of their character, or education, but because they do not understand the American character – nay, reside here for years, and yet remain as ignorant of it as when they first landed on our shores. The sturdy spirit of liberty which distinguishes our youth, will not tolerate the stern infliction of exotic discipline. The president, and all the professors of the college, are now indigenous plants, and their talents and powers of instruction, are felt in the flourishing state of the institution. Never did it stand on higher ground, and never were its prospects more brilliant. And he argued that from the numerous advantages of its location; the facilities of access to the city from every direction; its rapid growth, and the prospect that it will within a century, extend over the whole island and the adjacent shores, the institution must continue to grow and flourish – unless some extraordinary calamity should derange the natural course of events, and blight its fairest prospects – until Columbia College shall stand upon an equal footing with the most celebrated universities of the old world.

The speaker next adverted to the means of education now in successful operation in this state. We have four colleges, containing 437 students; thirty-three incorporated academies, containing 2,440 students; 8144 common schools, in which 431,601 persons are receiving instruction: and the pupils in private institutions it is computed will swell this number to at least 460,000. From the apex to the base of this glorious pyramid of intellectual improvement, we perceive an intimacy of connexion, an identity of interest, a unanimity of action and re-action, a system of reciprocated benefits, that cannot but fill us with joy, and make us proud of our country. The National School Society of Great Britain, educates but 300,000 children annually; and while it is cause of exultation that there is no state or country that can vie with our common school establishment, the orator expressed his regret that as much could not be said of the merits of its teachers. Upon this part of his subject, the Governor made a number of valuable suggestions in regard to our want off corps of educated instructors, of gratuitous instruction in our colleges and academies, &c. Some of the considerations here presented, have repeatedly been pressed upon the attention of the Legislature, but unfortunately with very little effect. The conclusion of this part of the theme was so happy, that we will quote the passage entire: – "The dii minorum of learning, ought to be elevated in the scale of public estimation and intellectual endowment; for from their hands the rude materials of the mind must receive their first polish of usefulness and improvement; and their depots of instruction, like the speaking bird of Asiatic fiction, which gathers around it all the singing birds of the land, ought to contain all the youth of our country who are fit for improvement. Like the indicator of ornithology, that leads the way to the collected honey of the forest, they must and will conduct us to the highest enjoyment of knowledge. They will act to us as pioneers to delights, which nothing but intellectual pursuits can communicate."

From this branch of his theme, the orator returned to his Alma Mater, and spoke with approbation of its course of studies; the exact sciences, and political economy being sedulously attended to, as well as classical literature. Dwelling for a moment upon the value of college acquisitions in after life, though not called into immediate or frequent use in the every-day pursuits of man, and illustrating his premises by striking instances in point, he proceeded to pronounce a severe and merited sentence of condemnation upon that class of society, which explodes all kinds of knowledge not founded on personal experience – who believe that the less one reads, the more he thinks; and that the less he understands, the better he can act; that education beyond the precincts of common schools is aristocratical, and incompatible with our principles of equality, &c.; and that, above all things, the true statesman ought to be like the genuine empiric, and rely exclusively upon his own experience and observation for his chart and compass. Our readers will probably read this with amazement; not dreaming that we have any in the land who entertain such views. But they are mistaken. More than once have we heard these doctrines advanced in our legislative halls, when attempts were making to endow a college or an academy, and generally such arguments were successful. For the honour of our country, however, as the orator truly remarked, their numbers are diminishing, and as our country advances in her career of light, they will be extinguished in the lustre of her radiated and reflected glory. The benefits of education have been gradually rising in human estimation, from those dark days when kings could not write their own names, and when those who could write their names were exempted from the punishment of death, until the present time. Those vampires of the mind, who derived their aliment from human ignorance, are now viewed in their true colours; and as a refulgent light maintains the same splendour when it illumines a wider space, so does intellectual improvement, the fountain of national greatness, enlarge and extend itself without being displaced; and contrary to the general laws of nature, the wider it spreads the stronger it grows.

The peroration of this admirable discourse, of which we are conscious we have given but a very imperfect outline, was appropriate and happy; and when it is published, it will be found to reflect equal credit upon the head and heart of the distinguished writer. It was listened to with unmingled satisfaction; and those who heard it will hardly credit the assertion, that it was commenced on Monday, and written during the odds and ends of time at the Governor's disposal, between the forenoon of that day and Wednesday. The general subject, however, was one upon which the author delights to dwell, and every word came warm from the heart.

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 5/30/99.