expected from individual contributions: "-funds for which, he added, "the revenues at the command of the Legislature would alone be adequate." He then continued: "And we are happy to see, that among the cares for the general good, which their station and the confidence of their fellow-citizens have made incumbent on them, this great political and moral want has not been overlooked. By a bill of the last session, passed by one branch, and printed by the other for public consideration, a disposition appears to go into a system of general education, of which a single University for the use of the whole State is to be a component part. A purpose so auspicious to the future destinies of our country, which would bring such a mass of mind into activity for its welfare, cannot be contemplated without kindling the warmest affection for the land of our birth, with an animating prospect into its future history. Well directed education improves the morals, enlarges the minds, enlightens the councils, instructs the industry, and advances the power, the prosperity, and the happiness of the nation. But it is not for us to suggest the high considerations, which their peculiar situation will naturally present to the minds of our law-givers, encouraging a pursuit of such incalculable effect; nor would it be within the limits of our dutiful respect to them to add reasonings or inducements to their better understanding of what will be wise and profitable to our country." The suggestion of the aged Jefferson and of his distinguished colleagues was adopted by the Legislature and thus was born" The University of Virginia." The Assembly did not act, however, before engaging in an earnest debate. It appointed Jefferson and Madison, and some other gentlemen, members of a Commission to report to

** Early History of the University of Virginia." J. W. Randolph, Richmond, Va., 1856, pp. 402-3.

it a suitable location for the State University. Jefferson, as Chairman of the Commission, made a long and valuable report, in which he spoke of the benefits which a republic derives from establishing primary schools and institutions of different grades of learning. In this very able report he said: "The Commissioners were first to consider at what point it was understood that university education should commence." He then continued: "Certainly not with the alphabet, for reasons of expediency and impracticability, as well from the obvious sense of the Legislature." He then pointed out with great ability the high objects which the different grades of education were to subserve and the grand and beneficent results which a nation would reap from a good school system. The grammar schools or colleges, which he characterized as "institutions intermediate between the primary schools and University," he called "the passage of entrance for youths into the university." He sketched an outline of the studies which might be pursued with advantage in the different grades of institutions, and pointed out the great and peculiar benefits which each of the grades of learning would be instrumental in bestowing upon a people. In this long and singularly able report, he presented reasons for erecting the university in the centre of the Commonwealth on the site occupied by Central College. In the Legislature of Virginia Cabell held with Jefferson that the best interests of the cause of intellectual culture in Virginia would be subserved by erecting the buildings which were to be dedicated to learning, near to Charlotteville, which was near the home of Jefferson, and he labored with great ability to induce the Legislature to agree upon the proposed site. As the vote was being taken members of the Assembly spoke with warm eloquence. Judge Briscoe G. Baldwin, a member of the opposition to Cabell,

withdrew his objections, and: "In the name of Virginia, in the name of the dear land of his nativity, by that proud and dignified character which she had always borne," he conjured the members to "unite in the vote for the university. Great in arms," he declared, "great in character, she requires only to be great in science. Let us raise," he continued, "a pillar of fire to conduct her footsteps. If we make a retrogade movement now, if having accumulated a fund for education we refuse to appropriate it in this honorable way, we may, with the old Castilian, live to blush for our country. Let us, then, unite; let us do our duty. He shall have lived to little purpose who does not know that in political matters delay breeds danger. There is a tide in the affairs of nations as of men. Let us, then, all unite-let us erect a temple in which our youths may assemble in honor of science. Virginia! dear land of my birth! protectress of my rights! to thy glory let us consecrate the present hour!" Cabell in a letter to Jefferson, under date of Jan. 18th, 1819, speaking of this debate said: "Having left the House before the critical vote on the site, to avoid the shock of feeling, which I should have been compelled to sustain, I did not hear Mr. Baldwin. But I am told the scene was truly affecting. A great part of the House was in tears; and on the rising of the House, the Eastern members hovered around Mr. Baldwin; some shook him by the hand: others solicited an introduction. Such magnanimity in a defeated adversary excited universal applause."

At the first meeting of the Board of Visitors, Jefferson was requested to become the Rector of the University. He consented to do so. He himself drew the plans for the edifices which were to be arranged in a parallelogram and connected with each other by piazzas. Each of the

* Ibid., p. 150.

buildings was to be of a different style of architecture and to illustrate the styles of architecture of different ages. The small village near where Jefferson lived was to become an academic town. The houses for the professors were artistically located. Every day when the weather was fair and the venerable statesman was strong enough to do so, he might be seen riding on horseback to inspect the rising walls of the new centre of learning, or looking at them through a telescope from a terrace near his mansion. Sometimes he would give the workmen plans, drawn by his own hand, to guide them in their work.

Ex-President John Adams, when about eighty-two years of age, wrote letters of encouragement to the aged Jefferson. In one of these letters, dated May 26th, 1817, he said: "I congratulate you, and Madison, and Monroe, on your noble employment in founding a University. From such a noble triumvirate, the world will expect something very great and very new; but if it contains anything quite original, and very excellent, I fear the prejudices are too deeply rooted to suffer it to last long, though it may be acceptable at first."

During the years in which the buildings of the University of Virginia were being erected it would once in a while happen that the Legislature would not appropriate as much money for the fane of knowledge as the Board of Visitors desired. On April 9th, 1822, Jefferson wrote to General Breckenridge, saying: "Our part is to pursue with steadiness what is right, turning neither to right or left for the intrigues or popular delusions of the day, assured that the public approbation will in the end be with us. * * * If, however, the ensuing session should still refuse their patronage, a second or a third will think better, and result finally in fulfilling the object of our aim, the securing to our country a full and perpetual in

stitution for all the useful sciences; one which will restore us to our former station in the confederacy. ** * The public opinion is advancing. It is coming to our aid, and will force the institution on to consummation. The numbers are great, and many, from great distances, who visit it daily, as an object of curiosity. They become strengthened if friends, converted, if enemies, and all loud and zealous advocates, and will shortly give full tone to the public voice. Our motto should be, "Be not wearied in welldoing." Although Jefferson spoke thus encouragingly he had declared to Cabell, under date of Jan. 28th, 1819: "It is vain to give us the name of a University without the means of making it so."

In a paper to the Directors of the "Literary Fund," dated Nov. 29th, 1821, Jefferson, alluding to the architecture of the university buildings, said: “We had, therefore, no supplementary guide but our own judgments, which we have exercised conscientiously, in adopting a scale and style of building, believed to be proportioned to the respectability, the means, and the wants of our country, and such as will be approved in any future condition it may attain. We owed to it to do, not what was to perish with ourselves, but what would remain, be respected, and preserved through other ages, and we fondly hope that the instruction which may flow from this institution, kindly cherished, by advancing the minds of our youth with the growing science of the times, and elevating the views of our citizens generally, to the practice of the social duties and the functions of self-government, may ensure to our country the reputation, the safety and prosperity, and all the other blessings, which experience proves to result from the cultivation and improvement of the general mind; and, without going into the monitory history of the ancient world, in all its quarters, and at all