The History of Dartmouth College

by Baxter Perry Smith

Distinguished for scholarship in college, a bold but prudent leader among his classmates in their conflicts with the University,[43] immediately after graduation he became the preceptor of Moors Charity School, and a year later entered, as a student of law, the office of Daniel Webster in Boston. Thence, in his twenty-fourth year he was recalled to the college as professor of Languages, and in the ordinary and extraordinary service of the institution he was intensely occupied for the remainder of his short life.

[43] The Rev. Daniel Lancaster, of the Class of 1821, supplies the following recollections of the assault upon the college libraries, made by a band of towns-people, under the guidance of Professors Carter and Dean of the University. They had forced the doors only to find that the books had already been removed, and themselves thus inclosed, the prisoners of the college students, led, among others, by senior Chamberlain. Mr. Lancaster continues: "Having stationed three or four of his classmates at the door of the library to prevent ingress or egress, he ascended a few steps on the flight of steps leading to the next floor, and called the excited throng to order. He then spoke in substance as follows: 'Fellow students, we are in the midst of a desperate emergency. The door of our library has been demolished. The vandals have entered and taken possession, but we have met the enemy. They are our prisoners and the library is safe. I have come from the president, who wishes me to say to you that he is confident you will conduct yourselves as gentlemen—using no violence or insult—in all the arrangements to be adopted, until order and quiet are restored.'

"He then proceeded to marshal them in two files, beginning at the door of the library, and extending down stairs to the lower floor, through which files the University professors were conducted, each under escort of three students, to their homes."

General H. K. Oliver, of Massachusetts, a member of the then Senior class, gives substantially the same account. He adds:

"Having released the roughs on condition of good behavior, we exacted a promise of the learned professors of Mathematics and Dead Languages, 'that they would do so no more.' Classmates Fox, Shirley, and I then escorted Professor Carter home. Dean was escorted by Crosby (Hon. Nathan Crosby) and others. He (Carter) was very polite to us, invited us in, and treated us with wine and cake."

A life so brief and active leaves behind it little but its example. Yet I shall venture to extract a few paragraphs from an address delivered by him on the 4th of July, 1826, the end of the first half century of our national life.

Remembering that they were written at a period before the great problems which have since controlled our history were recognized or appreciated among the people at large, they will be found to indicate a moral tone and a political prescience quite remarkable in a young man of twenty-eight years.

... "I have already alluded to it as the first of the appropriate duties of this day, to turn to Heaven in the exercise of devout gratitude, and render thanksgiving and praise to Him who was the God of our fathers in the day of their trial; who gave to them and has continued to us a fairer portion than was ever allotted to any other people. Is there one in this consecrated temple of the Almighty who would not join in the offering? I know it is unusual to dwell long upon such considerations at a time like this, but surely, if there ever were a call for a nation's gratitude to God, and ever a proper occasion for expressing it, we are the people in whose hearts that emotion should be deep and permanent, and this is a time to give it utterance."...

"We must do all in our power to promote liberal feelings among the several communities and sections of our federal republic, so as to preserve inviolate the Union of the States. Were this Union now in danger, it would call forth a more authoritative voice than mine; yet it may be in danger before the close of another half century. I will only speak my own conviction, that the States cannot be separated without the destruction of the country. They lie together on the bosom of this vast continent, a protection and an ornament, each to the other, and all to each, like the gems on the breast-plate of the Jewish Hierarch, indicative of the union of the Tribes, mutually lending and receiving lustre."...

"We must root out from among ourselves the institution of domestic slavery, or, before the close of another half century, we may have to abide the consequences of a servile war. In effecting this all-important object, we must indeed proceed gradually, temperately, in the observance of all good faith and good feeling toward the people of that portion of our Union on which the curse was entailed by the colonial policy of the mother country.