appointed for that purpose by the Alumni:" I am authorised to statethat Mr. McCracken did not sign the memorial though earnestly and repeatedly solicited to do so---that he did not vote for the resolution, because he did not approve the proceedings as he stated at the time---and that he is in no sense responsible for the statements by which it was designed to support the memorial, whatever may be his convictions as to the merits of the case.

Thus far I had written before I heard of Dr. Junkin's resignation. That event does not incline me to suppress a single word. Permanent interests are involved; and that instinct of our nature which sometimes impels even the worst of mankind to desire to see justice done, urges me forward.

The public have generally been informed that he received a call to return to Easton and take charge of the institution over which he formerly presided. The Presbyterian Clergyman of Easton, a member of the Board of trustees of Lafayette College, thus writes in reference to the report of his former unpopularity there, to which allusion has already been made:---"Our answer to this, you have perhaps received, in his UNANIMOUS appointment by our Board, to the Presidency of our College. This, we have not only done unanimously, but it has been done with enthusiasm. This enthusiasm of the Board (the old friends of Dr. Junkin who have known him long and know him well) is caught by the inhabitants of the borough and vicinity, and not only have they forwarded letter after letter filled with names of all kinds and classes among us, congratulating him and urging his return, but should he accede to our request, they will not only send him the means to defray his expence, but they will illuminate the College at his approach.

This inteliigence, Sir, however it may be received by you, as a Trustee of Miami University, will no doubt be pleasingly received as the friend of Dr. Junkin."

This was done, and the salary fixed at such a sum as to leave no objection on that score, before they heard of recent events in the west.

Another person who was present on the occasion, and is perhaps also a member of the Board, thus writes: "This is the day of commencement at Lafayette---yesterday was the day of the Junior exhibition. When Col. James Madison Porter, the President of the Board of Trustees, announced to the students and a crowded assembly, the appointment of Dr. J. his closing sentences were lost in a perfect storm of applause. Now, my dear Sir, is it not strange, that a man

who is thus esteemed in a community that has long known him; should be so abused and persecuted in Ohio, by people who do not know him, and who are unwilling to know him?”

The Philadelphia Presbyterian noticing his re-call to Lafayette College, uses this language:

"We recollect hearing that when Dr. Junkin left Easton, some thousands of the inhabitants at an early hour in the morning, assembled around the spot from which he took his departure, in order to take a last glance, and have a last word with that christian philosopher: and that when he bade them farewell in a short speech, the whole mass was suffused in tears and many of them wept audibly; yet notwithstanding this, we did not expect this enthusiasm would have lived, and again have exhibited itself so strongly, after the lapse of so many years! Truly Dr. Junkin has purchased for himself in that place an enviable fame, based as it is to our knowledge, upon a foundation of stern and christian integrity of conduct and principle. And surely that people who can so clearly discover, and fully appreciate, and warmly desire the residence of such a man, is worthy of him!"

We commend these extracts to the attention of some young men who almost seem to regard it as meritorious to abuse Dr. Junkin. They too may win golden opinions from those who know them, by "a patient continuance in well doing;" but not by sleepless endeav-ors to "put down" men who have won such opinions.

That all the opposition which has been made to Dr. J. arose from a disinterested regard to the prosperity of a beloved Alma Mater, I could not believe if I should try. There has been too much zeal. Some of the proceedings, and some of the newspaper essays I have seen, are characterized by a violence, not to say a ferociousness which betray their origin and design. Those, whether Alumni or others, who have had their full share in all this, will think of their conduct another day ---in the day when that righteous Being who sometimes makes even his beloved ones, "possess the sins of their youth," shall say in the aspect of his providence: "happy shall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served"--"that unhappy man."

The Watchman of the Great Valley which is under the control of some of those "literary characters with whom some of the Alumni act," as if inoculated with that "Gothic rudeness" which could assail the female part of the Doctor's family in a Rev. assembly, repeats these words in reference to Dr. J. in a spirit which is quite characteristic..

Did it never occur to them that the declared object, that is the re moval of Dr. J. might be accomplished with half the effort? If he had really become so unpopular as they allege, his resignation would have taken place in due course of time. Grant that it would not have been so soon, and that something might have been lost by delay, was this sufficient to justify a course of action, which must make havoc of all the charities of life? Dr. J. is not the man that will hang as an incumbrance on any institution. About a year after he came to Oxford, in a conversation which turned on the difficulties of his situation, and the prospects of success, he remarked that he yet regarded it as an experiment, but added, You know I did not seek the appointment, and I believe that as soon as it appears I am not to be useful here, Providence will open for me a field of labor somewhere else.

And on the evening after the Board last rose, he made substantially the same remark, but with this addition; "I will wait the course of events a while longer." Only let him see with his own eyes that he could not be useful in Miami University, and it would require no Herculean effort to remove him.

1

Besides, for aught that the authors of the movement to displace him could know to the contrary, the Board might have been fully aware that a change had become necessary, and been consulting on the best means of effecting it, with the greatest safety to all the interests involved. Prudence would forbid them to divulge their deliberations. I do not say that such was the fact, but that it was impossible that those Alumni who got up the movement should know that it was not. If then they believed their own assertions as to the unpopularity of Dr. J., and could risk the chance of his becoming unpopular enough, without their efforts to render him unpopular, they might, had they given the Eoard any credit for fidelity and discernment, have supposed it probable that such was the case, and that the change would be effected as soon as it could be done with safety. I repeat, the declared object might have been effected at much less expense.

Hitherto we have proceeded on the supposition that the President had by his own fault, become so unpopular as to produce the declining state of the institution, which was the great argument for his removal. But this admits of more than a doubt. Is nothing to be ascribed to the zeal of those who have circulated falsehoods? To suppose that the efforts which have been made to bring him into disrepute, and in consequence, to retard the progress of the institution,

have been wholly without effect, would be paying a sorry compli ment to their authors. It would make them to be without character and influence. For a sample of the means used to prejudice the public mind--the story has been industriously circulated, that in reproving a student Dr. J. said in substance---"Your companion is gone to hell, and unless you behave yourself better, you will follow him.” I know that this, which is now admitted to be false, has been used and apparently on such good authority, that respectable men, though they thought it "too monstrous for belief," really did not see how it could be false. An Alumnus, in a letter now before me, says, "I was perfectly horrified"--words which mark that state of mind in which a man listens to a horrid tale which seems to have a foundation in truth. I also know that about two weeks after this story was abandoned as hopeless, another Alumnus, who holds a prominent place in society, had never been informed of the fact, though he is believed to be in habits of intimacy with some who must have known it. And even yet, though it has been publicly stated, that something was given up as false, it has never been done in such a way as to enable the public at large to identify it; and from what has been witnessed in similar cases, it can hardly admit of a doubt that it is still reported within forty miles of Oxford. A story which affects virtuous character injuriously, dies hard.---Could any man stand against such assaults---assaults emanating not from the worthless and the vile, to whom they belong, but from respectable men? Need we wonder that students have been deterred from coming to the institution; and that Dr. J's persecutors have furnished themselves with their strong argument for his removal--- the institution is declining?'

I ask again--who could stand before such assaults? Who does not know the power of combination? Let a few active and talented individuals---young and ardent, and who have not yet found out how much their own frailties may render the forbearance of their fellow men necessary---set about collecting facts to bring another down from his eminence---and let them have, as their field on which to gather them, three years of a public life, during which he had to deal with from 100 to 150 young men---and let them be assisted by some who with eagle eye had watched for his halting;---and against whom might not a considerable amount be collected of that precious thing called 'cumulative evidence?' The meekest man that ever lived once had his temper ruffled and broke out on the children of his people in the opprobious language---"Hear now, ye rebels." How could they bear that, without "the loss of self-respect?" What a despotic President!

There is no man perfect. Dr. Junkin has his faults like the rest of us, and I am not blind to them. I regret that he thought it his duty to engage so ardently in the slavery controversy---not merely because I differ from him on that subject: I would have regretted it had he been on my side.---There is some truth in the remark of Messrs. Mills and co. that Lafayette College does not stand in the same rela tion to the public with Miami University. In that institution, and, in a region where society is more homogeneous than in the West, rema rks bearing on controverted topics of Theology, might safely be inade, which, in Miami University would be improper. It was perhaps some time before he comprehended his position fully: and it was during that period, that all those statements of which I have heard, to which exceptions might be taken, were made. As these were past, and had done whatever harm they would do, it would have been the part of friendship to the institution to let them sleep in oblivion; and to Dr. Junkin, to apprize him that we of the West are so sensitive, to whatever seems to assail our religious opinions, that it behooved him to be very cautious and guarded.

But I by no means admit the truth of the broad charges of sectarianism which have been brought against him. Nothing has come to my ears which for one moment convinces me of their truth. True, I may not be the person most likely to hear such things. I have been so long accustomed to hear murmurs against the institution on account of its sectarianism, which for the most part I knew to be entirely groundless or nearly so, that to every thing of the kind I have in general but one answer---incredulus odi. The things to which allusion has been made are only such as might be raked up against other professors in times past. Among these, was a remark which he dropped in reference to the Associate Reformed Church about which we might have made a great "fuss" had we been so minded. But, the Associate Reformed Church must be made of poor stuff, if she could not stand even a broad side, from Dr. Junkin heavy as is his metal.

For the Evangelical Guardian.

OBITUARY:

"DIED, on the evening of the 29th ult. after a protracted illness, which she bore with patience and christian resignation, Elizabeth