resume his studies in the new and inviting field before him. He made several scientific tours among and beyond the Alleghanies, and was employed to arrange the collection in Peale's Museum. On the receipt of permission he returned to his native country, taking the extensive collections he had formed with him. He became a member of the Institute in 1806, and died, January 21, 1820. He published Fiore d'Oware et de B nin, Paris, 1804-21, 2 vols. fol.; Insectes recueillis en Afrique et en Amérique, 180521, fol.; Essai d'une nouvelle Agrostographie ou Nouveaux Genres des Graminées, 1812, 4to. and 8vo., all of which are illustrated. James Woodhouse was born in Philadelphia, Nov. 17, 1770. He became Professor of Chemistry in the college of Philadelphia in 1795, and published several works on that department of science. He died, June 4, 1809. Several of the other authors of the Transactions will appear at a later date as the founders of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The chief contributor to the recent volumes issued by the Society, is Mr. Isaac C. Lea. Mr. Lea, a native of Pennsylvania, has been long known as a member of one of the most extensive publishing houses of Philadelphia; and after a most successful career in business, has retired in favor of his son, to devote the remainder of his life to a study, the pursuit of which occupied the leisure of his earlier years. His papers in the Transactions are very extensive, and finely illustrated; they are devoted to the description of the fresh water and land shells chiefly of the United States, to the history of which he has contributed more than any other person. His synopsis of Unionida, first printed by the Society, but of which a revised edition was published by the author in 1852, is at present the standard work for the classification of these objects, and has elicited many warm commendations from foreign and native conchologists. Other works by Mr. Lea are, Contributions to Geology, Philadelphia, 1833, and various papers in the Journal and Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences. RUTGERS COLLEGE. THE clergy who accompanied the early Dutch emigrants brought with them the same love of learning which the Puritan divines had derived from the Church of England. Connected with an established church, within whose pale they were contented, they had no occasion to form a new organization to perpetuate their existence; and the recruits to their numbers were drawn, like those of the Episcopal clergy, from the mother country. Like the Episcopalians, they soon experienced the inconvenience of waiting the arrival of acces sions from Europe, or sending candidates for ordination across the ocean. A party soon arose who were desirous that the power of ordination should be conferred by the church in Holland on its offspring of America. This party was known as the "Coetus;" their opponents, who wished the old order of arrangements to continue, were known as the "Conferentie." The latter were for some time in the ascendant, but the incon venience, delay, and expense of the voyage to and from Europe, finally weighed so heavily on congregations as well as clergy, that the Coetus party resolved to establish a school of theology at New Brunswick, New Jersey. A charter was obtained incorporating the institution as Queen's College in 1770. Its Board of Trustees met near the courthouse of Bergen county, and elected the Rev. Dr. Jacobus R. Hardenbergh the President. While this matter was in progress a young student of divinity, John H. Livingston, was pursuing his studies preparatory to ordination in Holland, and obtained from the Dutch church their consent to a separate organization of the American congregations on condition that they should establish a Theological Professorate," as the Church of Holland could not and would not acknowledge and maintain any connexion with a church which did not provide herself with an educated ministry."* Livingston was in due course ordained, and on his return became minister of the Dutch church in New York. This church, which had never been identified with either of the contending parties, at his suggestion sent forth in 1771 a circular proposing a general convention to reconcile the points at issue. The assembly met, the desired union was effected, and Livingston unanimously appointed Professor of Divinity. Dr. Hardenbergh remained president of the new institution, which flourished under his care, until his death in 1792. The college then suspended its instructions until 1807, when a proposition was made and adopted that the Theological Professorate should be united with the college, whose charter provided for a professorship of divinity, and that the professor should be appointed.president. The union was effected, twenty thousand dollars raised to endow the professorship created, and in 1810 Dr. Livingston removed to New Brunswick and entered upon his new duties. The college was embarrassed in its finances, which were barely sufficient to sustain "half a Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy." It received no aid from the state, and was frequently compelled during the presidency of Livingston, as in that of his predecessor, to close its doors. Until the commencement of a college building in 1809, its instructions had been given in temporary localities, and as but one wing of the contemplated edifice was completed its accommodations were limited. Dr. Livingston, the new president, was a member of the eminent New York family of that name, and was born in Poughkeepsie in 1746, and a graduate of Yale in 1762. His subsequent history has already been given. He struggled manfully and hopefully with the difficulties of his position, maintaining his office as president with honor up to the time of his death in January, 1825. Dr. Philip Milledoler was his successor in the presidency and chair of theology. Philip Milledoler was born in the year 1775. His parents were natives of Berne, Switzerland, who emigrated to this country in early life and settled in New York. Their son was graduated at Columbia College, 1792. He studied theology, and at the early age of nineteen was called to the church in Nassau between Fulton and John The Rev. Abraham Polhemus's Alumni Address, 1852, p. 6. streets. In 1800 he removed to Philadelphia, and in 1805 returned to New York and became pastor of a newly es abl shed church in Rutgers street, where he remained until 1825. On the death of Dr. Livingston he was called to the chair of didactic theology, and subsequently to the Presidency of Rutgers College. In 1835 he resigned his post in consequence of his advancing years, and the remainder of his life was passed in retirement. He died on the 22d of September, 1852, and on the following day his wife died also. Undivided in death as in life, they were buried together. A second Dr. He was desirous of reviving the exercises of the college which had been for some time suspended. From the want of endowment it was of course difficult to do so. The difficulty was overcome in an ingenious and practical manner. professorship in the theological school, which, although connected with the college, was under the control of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed church, had just been endowed. Milledoler proposed that a similar amount should be raised for a third professorship, and that the three incumbents should give their services gratuitously to the college. His recently appointed colleague, Dr. John De Witt, warmly seconded the scheme, a subscription was started and the requisite means obtained, ten thousand dollars being liberally contributed by the clergy of the denomination, many of them the recipients of but small salaries. The Rev. Dr. Selah S. Woodhull was elected to the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government; but dying only three months after his appointment, the Rev. Dr. Cannon became his successor. The faculty of letters was then organized. The Professorship of Moral Philosophy and the Evidences of Christianity was taken by the President, that of Belles Lettres and Rhetoric by Dr. De Witt, and that of Metaphysics and Philosophy of the Human Mind by Dr. Cannon. To these were added Robert Adrain, LL.D., in the department of Mathematics, and the Rev. Dr. W. C. Brownlee in the Latin and Greek languages. The name of the college was, about the time of this reorganization, changed from Queen's to Rutgers. Dr. Adrain was succeeded in 1826 by Theodore Strong, LL.D., who still retains the chair. In 1827, Dr. Brownlee accepting a call to the Collegiate church of New York, was succeeded by Joseph Nelson, LL.D., the celebrated blind teacher. "The last named Professor," says the Rev. Mr. Polhemus, was at the time of his appointment, and had been for a number of years, totally blind; but with great powers of memory and thorough acquaintance with the studies of his department, he conducted the exercises of his room to the very general improvement of his students and acceptance of the Board. I remember him well; how he would sit, with his thumb upon the dial of his watch, marking the minutes as they passed, allowing to each student his allotted portion, and the facility with which he would instantly detect the least mistake in the reading of the text or the translation. And I remember, too, that nice ear by which, with his class sitting in alphabetical order, he would detect the location of the slightest whisper; and when rebuking an individual by name for the annoyance, it was rare indeed that the person charged had an opportunity of entering a protest against the justice of his suspicions."* On Dr. Nelson's death in 1830, Dr. McClelland succeeded to the professorship; and in 1831, on his appointment to that of Dr. De Witt, was succeeded by John D. Ogilby, who was followed by the present professor, the Rev. Dr. Proudfit. On the resignation of Dr. Milledoler in 1840, the Hon. A. Bruyn Hasbrouck, LL.D., was made president. Dr. Hasbrouck resigning in 1850, was succeeded by the present head of the college, the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, LL.D. Theodore Frelinghuysen was born at Millstone, Somerset County, New Jersey, March 28, 1787. He is the son of Frederick Frelinghuysen, a member of the Continental Congress, who, in 1777, resigned his seat to join the army, and served as captain of a volunteer corps of artillery at Monmouth and Trenton, and during the remainder of the war as a captain of militia. In 1793 he was chosen a Senator of the United States. The son completed his classical education at Princeton in 1804, and then studied law in the office of an elder brother until he became of age, when he was admitted to practice. He followed the profession with great success, and in 1817 was appointed attorney-general of the state. He held the office until his election as United States Senator in 1826. He remained in the senate until 1835. In 1838 he was chosen Chancellor of the University of the City of New York. In May, 1844, he was nominated by the Baltimore Convention as the Whig candidate for the VicePresidency. The cry of Clay and Frelinghuysen will be long remembered in the history of the country as that of a great party in one of the greatest struggles which has ever preceded a presidential election. In 1850 Mr. Frelinghuysen resigned the chancellorship of the University in favor of the presidency of Rutgers College. Mr. Frelinghuysen is also at the head of the Board of Missions and the Bible Society, established by several of the leading denominations of the United States, and has throughout his life been as active and prominent in religious and philanthropic as in political and academic effort. The college has recently received an addition to its endowment of $28,000 from various donations. $25,000 have also been contributed to the same object by the Collegiate church of the city of New York. JOHN M. MASON. In the church history of America there are few persons who have excited more interest in their day than John M. Mason. He was born in tho J. M. Masory city of New York March 19, 1770, was a graduate of Columbia College, and instructed in theology * Address before the Alumni Association of Rutgers College, July 27, 1852. by his father, a minister of the Scottish church. He continued his education at Edinburgh, and in 1792 succeeded his father as preacher in his church in New York. During his ministerial career in the city, he was associated from 1811 to 1816 with the government of Columbia College with the title of Provost. The college statutes adopted in 1811, and subsequently during his administration, and the report in 1810 on the state of the college, attributed to his pen, which is a vigorous presentment of college duties and discipline, show his high qualifications for the labors of this office. He visited Europe for his health in 1816. He suffered after his return from paralytic attacks, by which his constitution was much enfeebled. He was President of Dickinson College for three -years from 1821; returned to New York, and died December 27, 1829, at the age of fifty-nine. His reputation for a certain full, robust eloquence was great. He was powerful as a preacher, a controversialist, and in his practical talent. He had a controversy with Bishop Hobart in the "Christian Magazine," which he edited. His advocacy of open communion gained him distinction in the religious world. His orations of the most general interest were on the death of Wa-hington and of Hamilton. His writings, consisting chiefly of sermons, were collected in four octavo volumes by his son.* Mason meditated a life of Hamilton, of whose principles and character he was a great admirer. Verplanck has paid a handsome tribute to his powers in a college oration delivered shortly after his death. He speaks of his scholarship, of his "rare union of intimate acquaintance with books and deep learning in the spirits and ways of men," of his eloquence, "powerful, impressive, peculiar, original," as it was exhibited in his unwritten discourses from the pulpit, where "he was wont to pour forth the overwhelming opulence of his mind in irregular but magnificent profusion, laying alike under contribution to his object, theological learning, classic lore, and the literature of the day; illustrating the conclusions of the logician by acute observations upon life and manners; alternately convincing the reason, and searching and probing the deep recesses of the conscience; now drawing moral lessons from the history of the long-buried past, and now commenting upon the events or the vices of the day, or perhaps the follies of the hour; now lifting aloft the blazing torch of Christian philosophy to guide the honest seeker after truth, and now showering his withering scorn upon the scoffer's head; explaining, defending, deducing, enforcing his doctrines or precepts, sometimes with colloquial familiarity, and then again in a bold and swelling eloquence, which stirred and warmed the heart like the sound of a trumpet.t FROM THE FUNERAL ORATION ON WASHINGTON. The name of WASHINGTON, connected with all that is most brilliant in the history of our country and in human character, awakens sensations which agitate The Writings of the late John M. Mason, D.D., consisting of Sermons, Essays, and Miscellanies, including Essays already published in the Christian Magazine. In 4 vols., selected and arranged by the Rev. Ebenezer Mason. New York. Published by the Editor. 1832. + Address before the Philolexian and Peithologian Societies, 1880, by Gulian C. Verplanck. the fervors of youth, and warm the chill bosom of age. Transported to the times when America rose to repel her wrongs and to claim her destinies, a scene of boundless grandeur bursts upon our view. Long had her filial duty expostulated with parental injustice. Long did she deprecate the rupture of those ties which she had been proud of preserving and displaying. But her humble entreaty spurned, aggression followed by the rod, and the rod by scorpions, having changed remonstrance into murmur, and murmur into resistance, she transfers her grie vances from the throne of earth to the throne of heaven, and precedes by an appeal to the God of battles her appeal to the sword of war. At issue now with the mistress of the seas-unfurnished with equal means of defence-the convulsive shock approaching-and every evil omen passing before her -one step of rashness or of folly may seal her doom. In this accumulation of trouble, who shall command her confidence, and face her dangers, and conduct her cause? God, whose kingdom ruleth over all, prepares from afar the instruments best adapted to his purpose. By an influence which it would be as irrational to dispute as it is vain to scrutinize, he stirs up the spirit of the statesman and the soldier. Minds, on which he has bestowed the elements of greatness, are brought by his providence into contact with exigencies which rouse them into action. It is in the season of effort and of peril that impotence disappears and energy arises. The whirlwind which sweeps away the glowworm, uncovers the fire of genius, and kindles it into a blaze that irradiates at once both the zenith and the poles. But among the heroes who sprung from obscurity when the college, the counting-house, and the plough, teemed with 'thunderbolts of war," none could, in all respects, meet the wants and the wishes of America. She required, in her leader, a man reared under her own eye; who combined with distinguished talent a character above suspicion; who had added to his phy sical and moral qualities the experience of difficult service; a man who should concentrate in himself the public affections and confidences; who should know how to multiply the energies of every other man under his direction, and to make disaster itself the means of success-his arm a fortress, and his name a host. Such a man it were almost presumption to expect; but such a man all-ruling Heaven had provided, and that man was WASHINGTON. Pre-eminent already in worth, he is summoned by his country to the pre-eminence of toil and of danger. Unallured by the charms of opuler.ce-unappalled by the hazard of a dubious warfare-unmoved by the prospect of being, in the event of failure, the first and most conspicuous victim, he obeys her mandate because he loves his duty. The resolve is firm, for the probation is terrible. His theatre is a world; his charge, a family of nations; the interest staked in his hands, the prosperity of millions unborn in ages to come. His means, under aid from on high, the resources of his own breast, with the raw recruits and irregular supplies of distracted colonies. O crisis worthy of such a hero! Followed by her little bands, her prayers, and her tears, Washington espouses the quarrel of his country. As he moves on to the conflict, every heart palpitates and every knee trembles. The foe, alike valiant and veteran, presents no easy conquest, nor aught inviting but to those who had consecrated their blood to the public weal. The Omnipotent, who allots great enjoyment ns the meed of great exertion, had ordained that America should be free, but that she should learn to value the blessing by the price of its acquisition. She shall go to a "wealthy place," but her way is "through fire and through water." Many a gene rous chief must bleed, and many a gallant youth sink, at his side, into the surprised grave; the field must be heaped with slain, the purple torrent must roll, ere the angel of peace descend with his olive. It is here, amid devastation, and horror, and death, that Washington must reap his laurels, and engrave his trophies on the shields of immortality. Shall Delaware and Princeton? Shall Monmouth and York-But I may not particularize; far less repeat the tale which babes recite, which poets sing, and Fame has published to a listening world. Every scene of his action was a scene of his triumph. Now he saved the republic by more than Fabian caution; now he avenged her by more than Carthaginian fierceness; while at every stroke her forests and her hills re-echoed to her shout, "The sword of the LORD and of WASHINGTON!" Nor was this the vain applause of partiality and enthusiasm. The blasted schemes of Britain, her broken and her captive hosts, proclaime the terror of his arms, Skilled were her chiefs, and brave her legions; but bravery and skill rendered them a conquest more worthy of Washington. True, he suffered in his turn repulse, and even defeat. It was both natural and needful. Unchequered with reverse, his story would have resembled rather the fictions of ro nance than the truth of narrative; and had he bee neither defe ited nor repulsed, we had never seen all the grandeur of his soul. He arrayed himself in fresh honors by that which ruins even the great-vicissitude. He could not only subdue an enemy, but, what is infinitely more, he could subdue misfortune. With an equanimity which gave temperance to victory, and cheerfulness to disaster, he balanced the fortunes of the state. In the face of hostile prowess; in the midst of mutiny and treaso; surrounded with astonishment, irresolution, and despondence; Washington remained erect, unmoved, invincible. Whatever ills America might endure in maintaining her rights, she exulted that she had nothing to fear from her commander-inchief. The event justified her most sanguine presages. That invisible hand which girded him at first, continued to guard and to guide him through the successive stages of the revolution. Nor did he account it a weakness to bend the knee in homage to its supremacy, and prayer for its direction. This was the armor of Washington; this the salvation of his country. It must ever be difficult to compare the merits of Washington's character, because he always ap peared greatest in that which he last sustained. Yet if there is a preference, it must be assigned to the Lieutenant-General of the armies of America. Not because the duties of that station were more arduous than those which he had often performed, but because it more fully displayed his magnanimity. While others become great by elevation, Washington becomes greater by condescension. Matchless patriot! to stoop, on public motives, to an inferior appointment, after possessing and dignifying the highest offices! Thrice favored country, which boasts of such a citizen! We gaze with astonishment; we exult that we are Americans. We augur every thing great, and good, and happy. But whence this sudden horror? What means that cry of agony? Oh! 'tis the shriek of America! The fairy vision is fled: WASHINGTON is no more! How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished! Daughters of America, who erst prepared the festal bower and the laurel wreath, plant now the cypress grove, and water it with tears. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished! The death of WASHINGTON, Americans, has revealed the extent of our loss. It has given us the final proof that we never mistook him. Take his affecting testament, and read the secrets of his soul. Read all the power of domestic virtue. Read his strong love of letters and of liberty. Read his fidelity to republican principle, and his jealousy of national character. Read his devotedness to you in his military bequests to near relations. "These swords," they are the words of Washington, "these swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheathe them for the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for selfdefence, or in defence of their country and its rights; and in the latter case, to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof.” In his acts, Americans, you have seen the man. In the complicated excellence of character he stands alone. Let no future Plutarch attempt the iniquity of parallel. Let no soldier of fortune; let no usurp ing conqueror; let not Alexander or Cresar; let not Cromwell or Bonaparte; let none among the dead or the living; appear in the same picture with WASHINGTON; or let them appear as the shade to his light. On this subject, my countrymen, it is for others to speculate, but it is for us to feel. Yet in proportion to the severity of the stroke ought to be our thankfulness that it was not inflicted sooner. Through a long series of years has God preserved our Washington a public blessing; and now that he has removed him for ever, shall we presume to say, What doest thou? Never did the tomb preach more powerfully the dependence of all things on the will of the Most High. The greatest of mortals crumble into dust the moment he commands, Return, ye children of men. Washington was but the instrument of a benignant God. He sickens, he dies, that we may learn not to trust in men, nor to make flesh our But though Washington is dead, Jehovah lives. God of our fathers! be our God, and the God of our children! Thou art our refuge and our hope; the pillar of our strength; the wall of our defence, and our unfading glory! arm. Americans! This God, who raised up Washington and gave you liberty, exacts from you the duty of cherishing it with a zeal according to knowledge. Never sully, by apathy or by outrage, your fair inheritance. Risk not, for one moment, on visionary theories, the solid blessings of your lot. To you, particularly, O youth of America! applies the solemn charge. In all the perils of your country remember Washington. The freedom of reason and of right has been handed down to you on the point of the hero's sword. Guard with veneration the sacred deposit. The curse of ages will rest upon you, O youth of America! if ever you surrender to foreign ambition, or domestic lawlessness, the precious liberties for which Washington fought, and your fathers bled. I cannot part with you, fellow-citizens, without urging the long remembrance of our present assembly. This day we wipe away the reproach of republics, that they know not how to be grateful. In your treatment of living patriots, recall your love and your regret of WASHINGTON. Let not future inconsistency charge this day with hypocrisy. Happy America, if she gives an instance of universal principle in her sorrows for the man, "first in war, first in peace, and first in the affections of his country!" JOSEPH HOPKINSON, THE author of Hail Columbia, was born at PhilaHe was the son delphia, November 12, 1770. of Francis Hopkinson, of whom we have before spoken. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and studied law with Judge Wilson and William Rawle. He commenced the practice of his profession at Easton; but soon returned to Philadelphia, where he acquired high distinction as a lawyer. He was counsel for Rush in his libel suit against Cobbett; and for Judge Chase of the Supreme Court of the United States, on the impeachment of that officer by the Senate. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1815 to 1819, where he opposed the re-charter of the United States Bank, and maintained a high position as a speaker. ties for the one side or the other; some thinking that policy and duty required us to take part with republican France, as the war was called; others were for our connecting ourselves with England, under the belief that she was the great preservative power of good principles and safe government. The violation of our rights by both belligerents was forcing us from the just and wise policy of President Washington, which was to do equal justice to both, to take part with neither, but to keep a strict and honest neutrality between them. The prospect of a rupture with France was exceedingly offensive to the portion of the people which espoused her cause, and the violence of the spirit of party has never risen higher, I think not so high, as it did at that time on that question. The theatre was then open in our city: a young man belonging to it, whose talent was as a singer, was about to take his benefit. I had known him when he was at school. On this acquaintance, he called on me on Saturday afternoon, his benefit being announced for the following Monday. He said he had twenty boxes taken, and his prospect was that he should suffer a loss instead of receiving a benefit from the performance; but that if he could get a patriotic song adapted to the tune of the "President's March," then the popular air, he did not doubt of a full house; that the poets of the theatrical corps had been trying to accomplish it, but were satisfied that no words could be composed to suit the music of that march. I told him I would try for him. He came the next afternoon, and the song, such as it is, was ready for him. It was announced on Monday morning, and the theatre was crowded to excess, and so continued, night after night, for the rest of the whole season, the song being encored and repeated many times each night, the audience joining in the chorus. It was also sung at night in the streets by large assemblies of citizens, including members of Congress. The enthusiasm was general, and the song was heard, I may say, in every part of the United States. The object of the author was to get up an American spirit, which should be independent of and ligerents, and look and feel exclusively for our own above the interests, passions, and policy of both belhonour and rights. Not an allusion is made either to France or England, or the quarrel between them, or to what was the most in fault in their treatment of us. Of course the song found favour with both parties at least neither could disown the sentiments it inculcated. It was truly American and nothing else, and the patriotic feelings of every American heart responded to it. Such is the history of the song, which has endured infinitely beyond any expectation of the author, and beyond any merit it can boast of, except that of being truly and exclusively patriotic in its sentiments and spirit. The foregoing was written (Aug. 24, 1840), for the "Wyoming Band" at Wilkesbarre, who had requested the author to give them an account of the occa sion for which "Hail Columbia" was composed. HAIL COLUMBIA. Tune-" President's March." Hail, Columbia! happy land! Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause, |