trenchant pen in exaltation of the many virtues of our ancestor- 

 and their decadence in our day ; it is unquestionably true that the 

 civilization of the present is far in advance of any that has preceded 

 it. Lapses from virtue there have been; great crimes have stained 

 the annals of the times, and ignorance and infidelity still hold ex- 

 tensive sway; but when were the triumphs of the Cross more wide- 

 spread or of the intellect more universal? 



It is always easier, and, I am sorry to say, more natural to criti- 

 cise than applaud, and there are those in whom this disposition ig so 

 strongly developed that nature seems inverted and their organs of 

 vision located in the rear instead of the front of the head. With 

 them whatever is, is wrong, and he who has the temerity to step 

 beyond the boundaries of thought and action marked out by the 

 progress of his ancestors is sacrilegious, if not parricidal. For- 

 tunately these are not the leaders of our race. Fortunately man is 

 ruled by an ever-operating law of development a law as immutable 

 as that which holds the earth in its orbit and while at times, from 

 extraneous causes, he may swerve from the right line of progression, 

 he will ere long resume it again, just as the forest pine, bending to 

 the blast, when the tempest subsides regains its erect position still 

 pointing towards heaven. This law of progressive development de- 

 mands obedience from the institutions of man as well as from man 

 himself. In fact, they must keep abreast of his ever-increasing 

 wants and necessities, or be discarded among the effete rubbish of 

 the past. To meet the demands of the immediate future this Col- 

 lege will require a more ample endowment. Of course as the 

 number of its students is enlarged its revenues will be increased ; 

 but this will prove inadequate to the demand. Other sources of 

 supply must be reached, and my judgment points to' that same 

 source whence came its first endowment the public domain. The 

 act of 1862 evidenced an intelligent appreciation on the part of 

 Congress of the wants and demands of the times. It was " a new 

 departure" from the established policy of the Federal government 

 as to the disposition of the public lands, for while in the organ i /.a - 

 tion of new States it had long been the wise rule to reserve a portion 

 of the public lan<Js for the purposes of education therein, this was 

 the first instance in the history of the government when any por- 

 tion of the public property had been apportioned among all the 

 States, old as well as* new, for this object. And it should be re- 

 membered, too, that this was done prior to the destruction of the 

 labor system of the South and prior to the elevation of four millions 

 of ignorant serfs to the enjoyment and responsibilities of citizenship. 



