CHAPTER VI.

PRESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE.

1850-1862.

Early History of the Institution.-Inauguration of Mr. Frelinghuysen.-Growth of the College.-The President's Diligence.-Letter.. from Dr. Crosby.-Death of the first Mrs. Frelinghuysen.-Baccalaureate Addresses.-Useful to the End.-Death.-Funeral.

THE old literary institution at New Brunswick was established by a charter from George III. in 1770, and was styled Queen's College. This charter was obtained and the college founded by the prayers and efforts of the earlier Frelinghuysens and Hardenberghs. It passed through many severe trials, and sometimes suffered a total suspension of service; but its friends persevered, and had the pleasure of seeing a complete and permanent revival of the institution in the year 1825, under the name of Rutgers College, when it entered upon a career of growing prosperity and usefulness. The first president of the revived institution was the learned and eloquent Dr. Milledoler, who at the same time held the chair of theology in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. Dr. Milledoler withdrew from his position in the year 1841, and was succeeded by the Hon. A. B. Hasbrouck, LL.D., of Kingston, N. Y., who had achieved distinction at the bar and in Congress, and who, for a period of ten years, presided over the college with great dignity, efficiency, and success.

At the end of that time domestic circumstances induced Dr. Hasbrouck to resign his office and devote himself to his private affairs.

In looking for a gentleman to fill the responsible position thus vacated, it was natural for the trustees to turn their eyes toward the honored son of New Jersey, whose heart still beat so warmly toward his native state, whose earliest associations connected him. with the institution at New Brunswick, and whose personal gifts and attainments had now been matured by many years' experience in academic instruction and government. They unanimously invited him to become their president. After seeking, according to his invariable custom, the Divine direction, he cheerfully accepted the appointment, and removed his residence to New Brunswick-the last remove he was destined to make on earth. At the annual Commencement, July 24th, 1850, he was formally inducted into office. His Excellency Daniel Haines, the governor of the state, acting in behalf of the Board of Trustees, introduced the president elect to the audience in a short and graceful speech. The venerable Dr. Cannon, the oldest member of the board, then welcomed the new officer to his position with fitly chosen words, which, spoken with the fire of youth, thrilled through the assembly, and gave just expression to the enthusi astic cordiality with which the accession of Mr. Frelinghuysen was regarded by the authorities and friends of the college. The exercises were closed by an inaugural address of the president, abounding with pertinent and instructive suggestions respecting the true aims of a collegiate education. The concluding para

graphs, containing a touching reference to his own feelings in view of his return to the scenes of his childhood, are here extracted:

"If I may be allowed a single personal allusion, it is matter of grateful interest that the revolutions of time have conducted my footsteps, in the evening of life's pilgrimage, to the cherished spot where its morning began; and that, notwithstanding the desolations of the past-and they are many and sad-a benignant Providence permits to-day the recognition of many living names whose early recollections harmonize with my own.

"And now may He whose blessing maketh rich, grant his constant favor that our college may continue to send forth a hallowed influence; that its sons may illustrate its fame by the light of a pure and upright example; and that, whatever else may befall them in a world of affliction and change, no one of them may be permitted, by the perversion of his powers, to impair the foundations of truth, or give countenance to the enemies of virtue."

Here Mr. Frelinghuysen continued to the end of his life, surrounded by the friends of his youth, and happy in the service of an institution endeared to him by precious ancestral recollections. The favorable auspices under which he began his administration of its affairs were fully confirmed by the result. The old friends of the college engaged with fresh zeal in its behalf, and many new ones were enlisted. The number of the students began at once to increase. The endowment funds were considerably augmented. The course of study became, in time, greatly enlarged. Valuable additions were made to the corps of professors. Pecuniary embarrassments were removed; phil

osophical and other apparatus was abundantly provided; and the institution, always respectable for its age, and history, and character, attained a still higher reputation at home and abroad.

Mr. Frelinghuysen's connection with it was far from being nominal. Notwithstanding his approach to the allotted term of human life, he entered into his work with conscientious fidelity and energy, carefully elaborating the special duties of his own department, and conducting the discipline of the institution with a gentleness, firmness, and impartiality which secured the happiest results. To the customary care of the mental progress of the students he added a parental concern for their moral and Christian advancement, for which many will have reason to thank him as long as they live. On this point the author is happy to present the following testimony of one who had rare opportunities of forming an intelligent opinion, the Rev. Dr. Crosby:

"New Brunswick, August 14, 1862. "REV. TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D.D.:

"DEAR SIR,-It gives me great pleasure to comply with your request, and record my impressions of the late Mr. Frelinghuysen in his official capacity as the presiding officer of a college, not only from my desire. to contribute what I can to the general good in the exhibition of so bright a character, but also from a grateful sense of the benefits which I personally received from the official influence of the illustrious deceased. I had the good fortune to witness Mr. Frelinghuysen's administration of a college presidency from two distinct points of view, having been four years a student at the University of New York when he occupied its chancellorship, and having, fifteen

years thereafter, become his colleague in the faculty of Rutgers College, where I enjoyed his intimacy three years until his death. Students uniformly loved and respected him. They knew he was their fast friend, and they also knew that his conduct was actuated by the purest and most exalted motives. Such a knowl edge, of course, was accompanied by the fullest confidence, so that, however disappointed a student was made by the chancellor's denial of his request, the disappointment was never followed by a revengeful or rebellious spirit. I well recollect how, at my first admission to the Freshman class, I applied to Mr. Frelinghuysen for a dispensation from the exercise of public speaking. I promised double exertion in every other department if I could only be excused in this

one.

His reply was gentle in tone and manner, and yet a firm denial. He used the affectionate phrase 'my son,' and assured me that no better opportunity would ever be offered me for the removal of my diffidence, and for the attainment of ease and readiness in oratory. I ventured once after this to renew my request, and received the same answer, with a similar manifestation of regard for my welfare. Instead of repelling me, these interviews won my heart, and I felt ready from that time to meet his 'my son' with a responsive 'my father.' Four years after, when I delivered an oration in the University that possessed some merit, the chancellor came down from the rostra and greeted me warmly, saying, with clear memory of the interviews at my entrance upon college life, 'Are you not satisfied now that I did right in refusing you exemption from oratorical duties when you were a Freshman?'

"The respect which the students entertained for Mr. Frelinghuysen was always a guarantee of orderly behavior and attention in his class-room, so that severity was never needed, and he was relieved from the use of methods from which his mild nature would