CHAPTER XVI.

FAILING in their endeavours to obtain a suitable person for the office of president from the community at large, the Corporation seem to have been compelled to have recourse to their own body; and made choice of a gentleman, whose paramount claims and qualifications for the appointment must have rendered the circumstance of his being a Fellow of the electoral body an objection only with the over-fastidious; - the Rev. Benjamin Colman, pastor of the Brattle-Street Church in Boston. He was chosen by the Corporation Nov. 18th, 1724, and the choice was approved by the Overseers at their first meeting afterwards, which was on the 24th of the same month. We have the authority of his son-in-law and biographer, the Rev. Mr. Turell, for saying, that the vote in his favor was unanimous. A committee, consisting of Judge Sewall, Col. Townsend, Col. Quincy, the Rev. Mr. Prince, the Rev. Mr. Webb, and the Rev. Mr. Appleton, was appointed to apply for his consent and that of his church, and to procure from the General Court "a proper salary for his encouragement."

Mr. Colman, in his own opinion, "not being well with the House of late years," thought it prudent to defer his answer till the General Court had acted the application for his salary. The House voted

upon

Mr.

not to fix a salary till he had given his answer. Colman refusing to accept under such circumstances, the Overseers voted, Dec. 17th, 1724, that "the same Committee doe now again wait on the Honble. Gen1· Court with Mr. Colman's answer and with this vote, praying that the matter of a salary may be considered by them and so acted upon as may be most for the speedy settlement of a President in the College and therein for the good of the whole province.' Col. Byfield and the Rev. Mr. Wadsworth were added to the Committee. The next day the Committee reported to the Overseers the following vote: "In the House of Representatives, Dec. 18, 1724, the question was put, whether the Court would establish a salary or allowance for the President of Harvard College for the time being, before the person chosen to that office had accepted the duty and trust thereof. It passed in the negative, nemine contradicente. Wm. Dudley Speaker." This decided Mr. Colman to give his final answer in the negative.

Those who consider how few, at any time, among the great number of individuals distinguished for their endowments and virtues in the various departments of life, possess the requisite qualifications for the presidency of a college, will readily conceive that the Corporation must have experienced no small difficulty in finding a suitable person to fill the vacant office. Accordingly it was nearly six months before they came to another choice. At length in June, 1725, they fixed upon the Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, Pastor of the First Church in Boston. The Overseers approved the choice June 10th, and appointed a Committee for similar purposes with those mentioned in the account of the previous appointments. They were moreover

to request the General Court, in addition to an "honourable salary," to provide "a suitable habitation. for his reception at Cambridge." He accepted the appointment, evidently more from a sense of duty, than from any desire, either for its cares or its honors.

His inauguration took place on Commencement day, July 7th, 1725, and was remarkable for its simplicity. The following account of it is taken from the records of the Overseers:

"Commencement Day, July 7, 1725. "The Overseers and the Corporation went, in the usual form, to the meetinghouse, on the Commencement-day morning; where, after the morning prayer, made by Mr. Coleman, Mr. President Wadsworth being in the pew with His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor, His Honor was pleased to make the following speech to him:

'REV'D SIR,

'You being duly elected and approved to be the President of Harvard College, I doe accordingly, in the name of the Overseers, invest you with the government thereof, in the same extent as any of your predecessors, Presidents of Harvard College, have been heretofore vested; and deliver to you the keys, with these books and papers, as badges of your authority; confiding, that you will govern the society with loyalty to our sovereign lord, King George, and obedience to his laws, and according to the Statutes and Rules of the said College.'

"To which speech Mr. President Wadsworth returned the following answer:

'I thankfully acknowledge the respect shewn mee by the reverend Corporation, especially by your Honor and the honored and reverend Overseers. I freely

own myself unworthy of the honor, and unequal to the labours of the important office to which I am called. But I think the call of Providence (which I desire to eye in all things) is so loud and plain, that I dare not refuse it. I desire to have my whole dependence on the great God, my Saviour, for all the wisdom and grace needful for mee in this weighty service. I hope by His help I shall show all proper allegiance to our sovereign lord, King George, and obedience to his laws in this province, and endeavour to promote the same amongst all I shal be concerned with. I shal endeavour to take the best care I can of the College, directing and ordering the members and affairs of it according to the Constitution, Laws, and Statutes thereof. I desire the earnest prayers of God's people, that the God of all would make mee faithful and successful in the very great service I am called to.'

grace

"After which the President went up into the pulpit and called for the Salutatory Oration, and moderated one of the Batchelder's questions; and so the forenoon exercise ended."

The General Court had already taken measures for his support and accommodation. Immediately after the Committee of the Overseers had waited upon them, to give notice that Mr. Wadsworth was to be President of the College, and to ask for an allowance from the public Treasury, a Committee of both Houses was appointed "to inquire into and examine the state of the Colledge Treasury and Revenues, and how the same is appropriated and disposed of, and to inquire into the Rents and profits of the New Colledge or Massachusetts-Hall." They were to make report at the next session, but in the mean time were to procure a house for the temporary residence of the Presi

dent. The Court also voted him one hundred and fifty pounds" to enable him to enter upon and manage the great affair of President of Harvard College to which he is appointed."

The Committee made their report at the following session in December; and, after some disagreement between the two Houses as to the allowance for the President's support, it was finally resolved, that he should be allowed from the public Treasury seventy pounds, which, with the hundred and fifty pounds previously granted, and the sum remaining in the hands. of the Corporation for the rent of Massachusetts-Hall for the first five years, and the rent of the same Hall for the current year (which the Court ordered to be paid to him), making in all the sum of four hundred pounds, "the Court were of opinion was a sufficient and honorable support for him the said President for one year." That he might be "further encouraged cheerfully to go through the momentous affairs of his office," he was to be allowed the future annual rents of Massachusetts-Hall during his continuance in the said office. The sum of one thousand pounds was also granted from the public Treasury to the Corporation of Harvard College to be used by them "for the building and finishing a handsome wooden dwellinghouse, barn, out-houses, &c., on some part of the lands adjacent and belonging to the said College, for the reception and accommodation of the Reverend President of Harvard College, for the time being."

In signifying their concurrence with the House in the above vote, the Council expressed an "opinion, it would be best for the Corporation to be at liberty for the disposal of the £1,000, either to build or buy a house for the President, as their prudence shall

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