ADDRESS TO PRESIDENT MONROE. p. 62.

Sir,- The President and Fellows of Harvard College are happy in an opportunity of presenting their respectful salutations to the Chief Magistrate of the nation. It is peculiarly grateful to us, that a visit to this University has not been found inconsistent with those objects of public concern, which engage the attention of the President of the United States, in the course of his itinerary progress.

We take satisfaction in this notice of our seminary, as evincing your estimation of liberal studies, and your interest in the education and character of American youth. Our Academic functions cannot fail to derive dignity and effect from the countenance of the civil authorities, and our pupils to find incitements to excellence in all the demonstrations of sympathy in their pursuits and destinations, given by those who fill exalted stations.

We bid you welcome, Sir, to an establishment coeval with the foundation of the State, and the object of public and individual favor through many successive generations. While, however, its connection with the history of past times, and the number of sons which, in the lapse of nearly two centuries, it has annually dismissed from its care, are circumstances which naturally excite a degree of interest, we are sensible, that antiquity alone, though venerable, is an inadequate basis of respect from men of intelligence and reflection. We would hope, that this cherished seminary has other and stronger claims to complacent regard from every friend to the best interests of man, every patron of intellectual and moral excellence.

With the rudiments of good literature, and the elements of science, it has been the constant and elevated aim in this Institution, to inspire the minds of youth with those principles of virtue and piety, with those manly sentiments, and with that pure love of truth and duty, which are the most valuable ingredients of character, and which are best calculated to form the man and the citizen.

By pursuing such a course, this ancient school has sought to preserve, in close alliance, the interests of religion and learning, of faith and charity, of liberty and order.

Desiring to train those who are under our charge for the whole public and for mankind, we deem it an essential part of our office to endeavour to temper the prejudices and feelings incident to particular attachments to geographical divisions; to exhibit the evidence and authority of our common faith with a due moderation in respect to peculiarities of opinion and mode; and to encourage free inquiries into the nature, the value, the dangers, and the preservatives of our republican institutions; with a just reserve upon those controverted questions which tend to inflame the spirit of party.

We present to your view, Sir, that portion of the youth of our country, now resident within our walls; and are happy to bear testimony to the many pledges they give of their regard to the interesting objects of literary pursuit, and to those attainments on which their future usefulness must depend.

May they and all the sons of this University, ever cherish those generous affections, and aim at those solid acquirements, which shall bind and endear them to their country, and render them approved instruments in advancing the interests and honor of our nation, and strengthening and protecting its precious institutions.

In these indications of the purposes of public education, we are persuaded, Sir, that we refer to objects which you deem worthy of high regard.

We congratulate you on the auspicious circumstances which attend the commencement of your administration. Accept our wishes and prayers for its happy course and issue; and indulge the expression of our desire, that whilst you, by the favor of Heaven upon the exercise of the appropriate duties of your high station, obtain the happiness of seeing the associated communities over which you preside, safe and prosperous, it may be our privilege, by fidelity and zeal in our allotted sphere, under the smile of the same good Providence, to coöperate in the work of patriotism, by diffusing the light of knowledge and the saving influence of religion and morals.

ADDRESS TO GENERAL LAFAYETTE. p. 62.

We bid you welcome, General Lafayette, to the most ancient of the seminaries of our land. The Overseers and Fellows of the University, the Professors and other officers, the candidates for the academic honors of this day, and the students, tender you their respectful, their affectionate salutations. We greet you with peculiar pleasure at this literary festival, gratified that you regard the occasion with interest, and espouse the attachment, which, as members of a republic, we cannot fail to cherish to the cause of learning and education.

As a man, sustaining his part through various scenes, prosperous and adverse, of an eventful life, your character and course, marked by moral dignity, have challenged particular respect and sympathy. As the patron, the champion, and benefactor of America, you have a relation to us, by which we call you our own, and join gratitude and affection to exalted esteem. The early and costly pledges you gave of devotion to the principles and spirit of our institutions, your adoption of our perilous and uncertain contest for national existence, your friendship in the hour of our greatest need, have associated your name in the minds and hearts of Americans with the dearest and most affecting recollections. The fathers teach their children, and the instructers their pupils, to hold you in love and honor; and the history of these States takes charge of your claims to the grateful remembrance of all future generations.

It is a pleasing reflection attending the progress of these communities, that it justifies our friends and supporters; and that the predilections and hopes in our favor, which you indulged in the ardor of youth, have been followed by good auspices till your advanced age. We are, indeed, happy in presenting you the fruit of your toils and dangers, in the kindly operation of the causes which you did so much to call into action, and we rejoice in every demonstration we are able to give, that your care for us has not been in vain. Knowing how you feel yourself to have a property in our welfare, and sensible of the enjoyment accruing to your generous spirit from our prosperity, we find in these considerations new motives to maintain liberty with order; and in the exercise of

our functions, feel bound to endeavour to send out from our care enlightened and virtuous men, employing their influence to secure to their country the advantages, and prevent and remedy the evils, attending the wide diffusion among a people of political power.

Accept our wishes and prayers for your health and happiness. May the Invisible Hand which has been your safeguard thus far, continue his protecting care. May the Supreme Disposer, the Witness and Judge of character and conduct, having appointed you a long and tranquil evening of days, receive you to the final and glorious reward of the faithful in a perfect state.

FAREWELL TO THE STUDENTS. p. 65.

MY YOUNG FRIENDS,

I have come to a determination to relinquish my office after the present term. I am unwilling to take leave of you without expressing my wishes and prayers for your improvement and happiness. The first desire of my heart is that you may feel yourselves accountable to God for all that you say and do.

The next point of solicitude is, that you realize your high obligations to your fellow men; first to your parents and friends, who think of you in this forming period of your lives with inexpressible anxiety; then to all who take an interest in the welfare of the community, especially those wise and good men who have in successive periods provided these ample means for training your minds to just and honorable principles, and your conduct to virtue, I am duly sensible to the many pledges you have given of your love to good learning and your sensibility to virtuous praise.

I am happy that my associates in the cares of instruction and the superintendence of your welfare are seriously intent on accomplishing the objects of their high function, and will give you the benefit of their faithful services. I trust also that he who may come after me will discharge the duties of this responsible station with greater ability, though he cannot have a more sincere desire of pro. moting your best good.

May the legislators of the College ever be directed to the wisest measures for advancing its prosperity and usefulness. May the several instructers be cheered and animated by the evidence of the good influence of their labors. And may all who enjoy the advantages of this Institution now and ever be imbued with the love of knowledge and virtue, and go forth from age to age the excellence of our strength and the joy of our glory.

And now, my young friends, before bidding you farewell, I owe it to you and myself to speak of the satisfaction which has attended our intercourse, being ever attended with freedom on my part, and becoming respect and deference on yours.

I bid you an affectionate farewell. God bless you in time and eternity!

INSCRIPTIONS ON THE PLATE. p. 67.

The silver plate presented by the students of the University to President Kirkland on his retiring from office, consisted of a large pitcher, two salvers, and two baskets, all massive, and of the richest workmanship.

The inscription on the pitcher was as follows: "Reverendo Johanni Thornton Kirkland, D. D., LL.D. Alumni Classis Junioris paternæ ejus benevolentiæ fidelissimæque curæ sese gratè memores hoc dono testari voluerunt. MDCCCXXVIII."

On the salvers: "To John Thornton Kirkland, D. D., LL. D. from the Senior Class. 1828."

On the baskets: "To John Thornton Kirkland, D, D., LL. D. from the Sophomore Class, 1828."

VOTE OF THE CORPORATION.

p. 68.

At a special meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, held April 28, 1840, the following Vote being submitted, was unanimously passed: