Clinton's introductory discourse. 33 



and to the universities of Great Britain, for the benefits of education. 

 Some of our lawyers were brought up in the Inns of Court, and some of 

 our physicians were instructed in the celebrated schools of London and 

 Edinburgh. 



This nisus of the human mind, to emancipate itself from the slavery 

 of ignorance, appeared in a variety of other shapes. In 1754 a public 

 library was founded in this city. On the 31st of October, in the same 

 year, King's (now Columbia) College received its charter, and the first 

 commencement was held in 1758. A faculty of medicine was annexed 

 to that institution in 1769, andClossy, Bard, Jones, and Middleton, men 

 of great eminence, were appointed to direct its destinies. A general 

 taste for science and literature began to exhibit itself. At the head of 

 those distinguished men, who devoted themselves to the interests of 

 knowledge, may be justly placed Cadwallader Colden, a man of great 

 mental acumen, and of extensive acquirements : he was, for a long time, 

 lieutenant governor of the province ; and he spent a great portion of a 

 long life in the cultivation of letters, and in a literary correspondence 

 with Linnaeus, Franklin, and the other illustrious savans of the age. 

 He illustrated the botany of this country, composed many interesting 

 works, was intimately acquainted with the Newtonian philosophy, and 

 was learned in his profession as a physician. A history of the colony 

 was written by William Smith, whom Dr. Robertson has denominated 

 the ingenious historian of New-York. Attempts were made to emulate 

 the periodical writings which adorned the literature of Great Britain. 

 In 1752 several weekly essays were published under the title of the 

 Independent Reflector. Although at this day there appears nothing 

 exceptionable in them, yet they did not suit the temper of the times; 

 they excited the resentment of some of the leading men, and a clergy- 

 man denounced the writer from the pulpit, and compared him to Gog 

 and Magog. The printer was finally menaced into a discontinuance of 



7 



