REPORT OF AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 419 



" As is well known, the law provided grants of lands, proportioned to 

 the poi^ulation in the several States, as a fund for the support of agri- 

 cultural coUeges. Among the provisions of the Act, was one that mili- 

 tary tactics should be taught in the college. I think this has been one of 

 the most difficult obstacles we have had to overcome. The people have 

 found it difficult to see the connection between agriculture and military 

 tactics. Many a severe jest has been made, based upon the provisions of 

 this requirement. But the provision is in the law, and we cannot go liaek 

 of it. It is no fault of the State that it is there; it is no fault of the trus- 

 tees that it is there : and perhaps, as we are a nation of citizen soldiers, 

 keeping no standing army, and forever dependent upon tlie citizens in 

 case of rebellion or invasion from a foreign foe, it is well that the I'equire- 

 ment is made; for, without a soldier's education, the American citiren 

 cannot perform the full duties of citizenship. 



" In 1863 the Massachusetts Legislature considered the Act provid ing 

 for the establishment of colleges in the several States. It was discussed 

 in committee, and reported favorably. It was discussed in tlie House and 

 Senate, — discussed carefully in detail, every objection was considered 

 and weighed and overcome ; and the bill making provision for the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College was passed by both Houses of the Legisla- 

 tm-e, received the signature of the Governor, and became the law of tlie 

 State. The bill, fully, unequivocally, and unresei-vedly, accepted the 

 national bounty and the terms of the congressional Act. The State 

 accepted the contract. If it was a mistake, it is now too late to rectify it. 

 The Legislature and the executive head of the State entered into a solemn 

 and deliberate contract with the Nation. That responsibility once ac- 

 cepted was accepted for all time. Massachusetts will not go back of her 

 contracts : she is no repudiator. She cannot shift this college off to 

 other shoulders. She cannot make it a part of another institution : it is 

 an independent organization, — chartered and ci'eated for independent 

 work; and the time to regret it has long since passed. 



"In the bill accepting the grant, a Board of Trustees was elected by 

 both branches of the Legislature. The gentlemen elected were carefully 

 selected, and were elected without their request or solicitation. They 

 accepted the responsibility : it was a great one, for an agricultural col- 

 lege was a new thing, an experiment, in Massachusetts. It had older 

 and richer institutions to compete with, it had prejudice from the people 

 to combat, it had a plan to make and shape for which it had no precedent. 

 The agricultural colleges established by despotic governments were no 

 model for the college in the republic of America. So they felt tiieir way 

 — slowly, little by little — in great doubt, uncertainty, and darkness, 

 seldom with great confidence, except in the fact that the principle was 

 sound, the object good, and that in the end the college Avpuld justify the 

 act of its founders. 



" The town of Amherst, in its recognition of the value of the institu- 

 tion, invited the trustees to locate it within its borders, and, as an Induce- 

 ment, offered seventy-five thousand dollars. After great deliberation the 

 offer was accepted. In this liberal offer the people of Amherst had the 

 right to expect that the college would be well maintained, and that both 



