20 LIFE AND CORRESPOXDENCE OF THE 1^779 



President Reed was one of this bitterly prescriptive party; none 

 of the Trustees of the College were, and none of the professors ; 

 though most of both bodies were true patriots, distinguished by 

 consistent fidelity, not less to the country and the country's cause 

 than to every interest committed to their charge. 



On the outbreak of the Revolution Dr. Smith was awake to the 

 perils to which all institutions having property were subjected ; and 

 so early as 1776 and during the sittings of the P'^irst Republican 

 Convention of the State, a meeting was held at his house of promi- 

 nent gentlemen interested in maintaining the inviolability of the 

 rights and possessions of religious and scientific corporations. Dr. 

 Franklin, President of the American Philosophical Society, in 

 which many members were suspected of Toryism, was among 

 them, and promised to propose (as he afterwards did) to the Con- 

 vention an article securing all chartered rights. It is probable 

 enough that he thus sought to repair to the College the possible 

 injury which his remarks on it in England were likely to do to it. 

 The article was adopted by the Convention, and was an article of 

 the Constitution subsisting at the time of which we are about to 

 speak. 



Three only of the twenty-four trustees which composed the Col- 

 lege Board had refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new 

 State of Pennsylvania ; and different vacancies, which had occurred 

 after the Declaration of Independence, were filled by such men as 

 Robert Morris, Francis Hopkinson, Alexander Wilcocks, E>dward 

 Biddle, John Cadwalader, and James Wilson. Dr. Smith was the 

 only member of the Church of England in the Faculty, and though 

 a majority of the trustees belonged to that church, no undue prefer- 

 ence had ever been shown to its members, nor the least effort to 

 inculcate its doctrines. 



It has been commonly supposed, I think, that the action of 

 President Reed and of his political friends was aimed against Dr. 

 Smith and the ancient trustees. The Provost Stille, as we shall 

 see, regards Dr. Smith as having been the chief object of attack. 

 Bishop White, however, tells* us — and his authority, on every 

 account, is of the highest value — that /lis opinion was, in the 

 beginning, and so always remained, " that what principally gave 



■" Life 1)V Wilson, n. f-n — i/n/r. 



