296 



F A R JM E R S' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



honors and diplomas as has always been the practice 

 at William and Mary, that is, upon full examination 

 and evidence of proficiency, has likewise been pursued 

 at the University of Virginia. And consequently, a 

 student who would not even dare to ask for a degree 

 at either of these institutions, from being conscious of 

 not deserving it, would receive it, as a matter of course, 

 if belonging to a northern college of the highest rank 

 and character. Upon this deceptions system, the whole 

 senior class graduates; or it is a very rare and re- 

 markable occurrence if any one of the class should be 

 refused his degree. Therefoie, if rightly viewed, the 

 large number of degrees annually conferred, would 

 show their very small average value; and every one, 

 of the small comparative number, where they are con- 

 ferred on proficiency exhibited, ought to be so much 

 the more highly prized. 



We have just returned from a session of four days 

 of the Board of Visitors, and attendance on and observa- 

 tion of the closing scenes of the last course of William 

 and Mary College. The evidences of the very orderly 

 and correct deportment of the students generally, the 

 rareness of the cases of opposite conduct, and the 

 fruits of labor and profitable instruction shown in that 

 portion of them who earned the honors of the college, 

 were all highly gratifying. These extended remarks 

 show our own individual and entire concurrence in the 

 unanimous expression of approbation of the Board of 

 Visitors, as copied in the proceedings below. And we 

 assert, without hesitation, that if the people of lower 

 Virginia alone who now send their sons to northern 

 colleges would give their support instead to William 

 and Mary, the gain would be not only great and im- 

 portant to that institution, but far more so to the stu- 

 dents and to their parents, and to the commonwealth of 

 Virginia. We would never send a son, or advise 

 (other parents to do so, to an inferior school, because it 

 was in Virginia. But if equal or superior advantages 

 are available at home, as is certainly the case, then both 

 patriotism and economy ought to concur in causing 

 the institutions of learning ia Virginia and the south, 

 to be encouraged, rather than those in the northern 

 states. Ed. Far. Reg. 



PUBLIC EXERCISES OF WILLIAM AND MARY 

 COLLEGE, JULY 4X11, 1838. 



The public exercises at the close of the late ses- 

 sion in this institution, took place on the 4th inst., 

 as usual. 



At 10 o'clock, A. M., the Visitors, Professors 

 and Students, attended by the Volunteer Compa- 

 nies of the place, commanded by Captains Armi- 

 Btead and Durfey, (who politely tendered their 

 services on the occasion,) moved in procession 

 from the College to the Church, where the exer- 

 cises were commenced by a prayer from the Right 

 Rev. Bishop Meade. Then, after fine and appro- 

 priate music, for which the audience were indebt- 

 ed to the kindness of the ladies, the exhibition by 

 the graduates was for a moment suspended, while 

 the President read the (bllowing resolution of the 

 Board of Visitors : 



" Resolved, unanimouslj^. That the Visitors of 

 Willam and Mary College, have learned with iin- 

 dissembled salisfaciion of the flourishing condition 

 of the Colleire, and of the orderly and correct de- 

 portment of the students during the session which 

 has to-day terminated : and that the President he 

 requested publicly to express in the Church, to the 

 young genilemon of the insliluiion, ihe warm and 

 decided ap[iroval felt by the Visitors of their ex- 

 emplary conduct." 



Alter which the following Orations were deli- 

 vered : 



1. Oration on tlie formation of National Cha- 

 racter, by Samuel S. Henley, A. B. of King & 

 Queen. 



2. Oration on the rise and prospetity of the 

 United States, by Tho's, B. Donnelly, A. B. of 

 Williamsburg. 



3. Oration on Internal Improvement and its ef- 

 fects on the condition of Virginia, by William L. 

 Henley, L. B. of James City. 



4. Oration on the influence of Literature on 

 Society and Government, by Herbert A. Clai- 

 borne, A. B. of Richmond. 



5. Oration on the influence of William & Mary 

 College on the Literary. Moral and Political con- 

 dition of this countr}^, by James A. Cloplon, A. B. 

 of New Kent. 



6. Oration on the inefBciency of Governments 

 to conduce to their proper end, with war as their 

 prevailing spirit, by Gawin L, C. Salter, L. B. of 

 York. 



7. Valedictory to the Members of the Franklin 

 Society, by Robert Tyler of Williamsburg. 



The President then proceeded to confer the De- 

 gree of Bachelor of Arts on the following twelve 

 young gentlemen of the senior classes : 



Herbert A. Claiborne of the city of Richmond. 



James A. Clopion of New Kent. 



Benjamin F. Dew of King & Queen. 



Elias Dodson of Halifax. 



Thomas B. Donnelly of Williamsburg. 



John Finney, of Powhatan. 



John M. Gait of Williamsburg. 



Edward Gresham ol" King and Queen. 



Samuel S. Henley of Kinsr and Queen. 



Archibald C. Peachy of Williamsburg. 



Robert G. Scott of the city of Richmond. 



John O. Steger of Amelia. 



And the degree of Bachelor of Law upon the 

 Ibllowing : 



William L. Henley of James City. 



Gawin L. C. Salter of York. 



The President then bestowed upon the follow- 

 ing thirty-nine young gentlemen, of the junior 

 classes, certificates, under the college seal, of pro- 

 ficiency and good conduct, 



William Blankenship of Chesterfield : National 

 Law— Rhetoric, Logic and Ethics— Chemistry — 

 the Junior Mathemaiical Course — History. 



John B. Cary of Hampton : Natural Philo- 

 sophy — Mathematics— Political Economy — Na- 

 tional Law — Rhetoric, Logic and Ethics — Che- 

 mistry—Civil Engineeriug. 



James L.Clarke of Gloucester: National Law — 

 Rhetoric, Logic and Ethics— Chemistry — the Ju- 

 nior Mathematical Course. 



Nathaniel C. Cocke, of Prince George: Nation- 

 al Law— Rhetoric, Logic and Ethics— Chemistry 

 — the Junior Mathematical Course — History. 



John A. Coke of Williamsburg: Natural Phi- 



