Nothing having been accomplished in the meantime, Mr. Wheelock writes in July, 1763, to his friend, Dr. Erskine, as follows: "Governor Fitch privately proposes my removing my prayer for an incorporation from this government [Connecticut]. It is likely we shall delay, it till we see the success of our suit for the Royal favor." In September following, he writes to his friend, Mr. De Berdt, in London, that he has sent to him "materials, by General Lyman[22] and Colonel Dyer,"[23] to enable him to "make application for an incorporation." Unsuccessful as before in England, for reasons which will become more apparent hereafter, in May, 1764, we find Mr. Wheelock petitioning the Connecticut Assembly "to incorporate" six gentlemen of the Colony, including George Wyllis, of Hartford, and himself, as legal guardians of his school. But he did not procure the long-desired incorporation.
[22] The distinguished Gen. Phineas Lyman.
[23] Hon. Eliphalet Dyer, of Windham.
In 1765, being about to send solicitors of charity on a larger scale to England, Mr. Wheelock decided to make yet one more effort there for an act of incorporation. A letter from Mr. Smith, written evidently about this time, no date being attached, contains advice to Mr. Wheelock in which we trace one of the most prominent features of the Charter. He proposes, in substance: "an application to the King for a short Charter incorporating. First, A sett of gentlemen in the Colonies near Mr. Wheelock, who shall have all the power of a corporation, as to managing estates, supplying vacancies, etc. Second, Another sett in England and elsewhere in Europe, who, shall be correspondents of the first sett, and only have the general power of securing donations to be transferred to them."
Lord Dartmouth and the other gentlemen in England who were constituted, by Mr. Wheelock, a Board of Trust for the moneys collected in that country, by Messrs. Occom and Whitaker, seem to have thought this private incorporation amply sufficient for the security of these funds. In writing to Mr. Keen, in November, 1767, Mr. (now Dr.) Wheelock alludes to the fact that this gentleman had expressed an opinion that his successor should be "in all respects accountable to the present Trust." Although dissenting from this opinion, Dr. Wheelock seems to have been prudent and conciliatory in his intercourse with his worthy benefactors, wisely deeming it an object of primary importance to raise the requisite funds for his operations.
Messrs. Occom and Whitaker having fulfilled their mission abroad, and generous promises of aid having been made by Governor Wentworth, we find Dr. Wheelock, in October, 1768, writing to him as follows: "As soon as the place to fix the school shall have been determined to be in your Province, I will appoint your Excellency, or the Governor for the time being, to be a Trustee on this side the water till a legal incorporation may be obtained." This shows that Dr. Wheelock was not averse to a judicious admixture of the clerical and lay elements in the Board of Trust, although the Trustees named in his will, the germ of the charter, were clergymen.
The suggestion seems to have been most kindly received by Governor Wentworth. Dr. Wheelock now determined to avail himself of the aid of his firm and valuable friend, Rev. Dr. Langdon, of Portsmouth. A letter from him to this gentleman is as follows:
"Lebanon, April 7, 1769.
"Reverend and dear Sir,—Yours by Captain Cushman is safe arrived, and I have considered the contents. And for several reasons I am of opinion that it will be best that the Trustees be the same for the present, as I have already appointed in my will, which I have made at the desire of the Trust in England, whose names were, with the will, some time ago transmitted to them. The affair is very delicate, and as such must be conducted, or it will disgust those worthy gentlemen, and overset all. Their sentiments of an incorporation have been differing from mine. They have insisted that I should conduct the whole affair without one, and that my successor should be nominated and appointed by my will. Experience, they think, has fully taught them that, by means of an incorporation, such designs become jobs, and are soon ruined thereby. They choose to hold the moneys collected there in their own hands for this purpose, and accordingly have publicly declared their Trust of the same under their hands and seals, and have disposed of it, as their wisdom directed, for the benefit of the school. I have, therefore, after much study and consultation in the affair, appointed two setts of Trustees, namely, those in England who have voluntarily condescended to make themselves so, to take care of whatever concerns the object in view on that side the water; and a sett in this vicinity, to take care of and perform whatever shall concern it on this side. I have appointed a successor, to take care of the school, etc., only till he shall be approved and confirmed by the concurrence of both setts of Trustees, or till they all agree in another, nominated by either and approved by both, each sett to have power to supply vacancies in their Trust, made by death or resignation, by the major vote of the survivors; something like this I conceive will be most agreeable to the Right Honorable, Honorable, and generous benefactors who have accepted the Trust in England, and I apprehend it will make the design popular and respectable.
"The Trustees here will hold and have the disposal of lands given in America for this use; and I apprehend it will be proper for his Majesty's Governor of the Province for the time being to be a Trustee, but at present I have not light enough to determine a propriety in making his Majesty himself one on this side the water.