76 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE [1782 



their successors, with an account of their other proceedings, and of the 

 management of the estate and monies committed to their trust, shall, 

 when required, be laid before the General Assembly of Maryland, for 

 their inspection and examination ; but in case at any time hereafter, 

 through oversight or otherwise, through misapprehensions and mistaken 

 constructions of the powers, liberties and franchises in this charter or 

 act of incorporation granted or intended to be granted, any ordinances 

 should be made, by the said corporation of Visitors and Governors, or 

 any matters done and transacted by the corporation contrary to the 

 tenor thereof. It is enacted. That although all such ordinances, acts 

 and doi-ngs, shall in themselves be null and void \ yet they shall not, 

 however, in any courts of law, or by the General Assembly, be deemed, 

 taken, interpreted or adjudged into an avoidance or forfeiture of this 

 charter and act of incorporation, but the same shall be, and remain 

 unhurt, inviolate and entire unto the said corporation of Visitors and 

 Governors, in perpetual succession ; and all their acts conformable to 

 the powers, true intent and meaning hereof, shall be, and remain in 

 full force and validity, the nullity and avoidance of such illegal acts to 

 the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. 



And be it enacted and declared, That this charter and act of 

 incorporation, and every part thereof, shall be good and available in aU 

 things in the law, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, 

 and shall be construed, reputed and adjudged in all cases most favorably 

 on the behalf, and for the best benefit and behoof of the said Visitors 

 and Governors, and their successors, so as most effectually to answer 

 the valuable ends of this act of incorporation, towards the general 

 advancement and promotion of useful knowledge, science and virtue. 



And be it enacted. That no person shall act as Visitor and Gov- 

 ernor, or as Principal or Vice-Principal, or as Professor in the said 

 College, before he shall take the oath of fidelity and support to this 

 State required by the constitution, or by the laws of this State. 



The foregoing Charter or Act of Incorporation having duly 

 passed the General Assembly, at their Spring-sessions, 1782, a 

 meeting of the seven Visitors and Governors named in it was 

 held, and the Rev. Dr. Smith, their President, at the request and 

 by the appointment of the Board, undertook to visit the different 

 counties on the Eastern shore, in order to open the subscriptions 

 for founding the Seminary, agreeably to the tenor of the law. 

 On his own horse, he went from country-seat to country-scat, and 

 almost from farm to farm, seeking personally the means of build- 

 ing the new seminary. The following was the preamble to the 

 different subscription-papers : 



