The History of Dartmouth College Part 13

CHAPTER XIV.

PROGRESS FROM 1820 TO 1828.--ADMINISTRATIONS OF PRESIDENT DANA AND PRESIDENT TYLER.

It was not an easy matter, especially in the impoverished condition of the college, to find a worthy successor of President Brown.

During the period of President Brown's illness, and at different periods after his death, Professor Ebenezer Adams, a gentleman of decided and energetic character, and (in years) the senior professor in the college, was acting president.

Rev. Daniel Dana of Newburyport, Ma.s.sachusetts, was elected the fourth president of the college in August, 1820.

The substance of the next few pages is from the "Life of President Dana," published in 1866.

The following is one of many letters addressed to him, urging his acceptance of the presidency:

"Dartmouth College, Sept. 7, 1820.

"Rev. and dear Sir:--Not having heard from any of our friends what is the prospect in regard to your acceptance of the appointment made by our Trustees, I cannot help troubling you with a line.

"I need not tell you that our solicitude would rise to extreme distress were we seriously apprehensive that you might decide in the negative. Oh, sir, remember the desolations of Zion here, and have compa.s.sion. The friends of the college look to you, and to you only, to repair the waste places. When you know that the voice of the Trustees conspires with that of the clergy and of the public at large, and when this same voice is echoed from the tomb of our late beloved and much lamented President Brown, can you hesitate? That good man, in his last days, with almost the confidence and ardor of prophecy, declared his belief in the future prosperity and usefulness of Dartmouth College. You have, I hope, been informed of the strong manner in which he, last autumn, expressed himself in relation to a successor; and of the same decided and unwavering opinion which came from his mouth a few days before his death. 'I have,' said he, 'but one candidate, and that is Dr. Dana. Whom do they talk of for a successor? My opinion is exactly the same as when I conversed with you last fall.'

"I do pray, my dear sir, that Divine Providence may not permit you to fail of coming.

"I should be grieved if, on making the trial, you should not find yourself pleasantly situated here. I verily believe that you would find a disposition on the part of the people of the village, including all the college Faculty, to render your situation comfortable and pleasant.

"We shall watch every mail and ask every friend, till we learn the decision, or rather what we may expect the decision to be.

With great respect, "Your obedient servant,

"R. D. M."[34]

[34] Professor R. D. Mussey.

What is here stated as to President Brown, was also true of President Appleton of Bowdoin College. Each had desired that Dr. Dana should be his successor. No stronger proof could be given of the confidence felt in him, than these concurrent last wishes of two such men. Each had brought to the office he held not merely intellectual preeminence, but a dignity and elevation of character, and a singleness of purpose, rarely equaled; and to each the future welfare of the inst.i.tution over which he presided was an object of the deepest solicitude.

Dr. Dana's letter of acceptance is as follows:

"To the Rev. and Honorable Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College,

"Gentlemen:--I have received, with deep sensibility, not unmingled with surprise, the notice of the appointment with which you have honored me, to the presidency of the inst.i.tution under your care.

"The consideration of a subject of such magnitude has been attended with no small degree of perplexity and distress.

"The character and objects of Dartmouth College; its intimate connection with the great interests of the Church and of human society; the important services it has long rendered to both; its recent arduous struggle for existence, with the attending embarra.s.sments, and auspicious issue; the claims it possesses on the community, and especially on its own sons; the unanimity of your suffrages in the present case; these with other affecting circ.u.mstances have been carefully considered, and I trust duly appreciated.

"Considerations of a different kind have likewise presented. My long and intimate connection with a most beloved and affectionate people--a connection rendered interesting not only by its duties and delights but by its very solicitudes and afflictions--a diffidence of my powers to meet the expectations of the Trustees, and the demands of the college; the exchange, at my age, of a sphere whose duties, though arduous and exhausting, are yet familiar, for another in which new duties, new responsibilities, new anxieties arise; in which likewise success is uncertain, and failure would be distressing--these considerations, with a variety of others scarcely possible to be detailed have at times come over me with an almost appalling influence.

"In these circ.u.mstances I have not dared trust my feelings, nor even my judgment, with the decision of the case.

"One resource remained,--to seek advice through the regular ecclesiastical channel--and this with a full determination to consider the judgment of the presbytery as the most intelligible expression which I could hope to obtain of the mind and will of Heaven, respecting my duty; to this measure my church and people gave their consent.

"The presbytery having determined, by nearly a unanimous vote, in favor of the dissolution of my pastoral relation, and my acceptance of the appointment, my duty is of course decided. I now, therefore, declare my compliance with your invitation.

"I devote the residue of my life to the interests of the inst.i.tution committed to your care.

"This I do with deep solicitude, yet not without an animating hope that He whose prerogative and glory it is to operate important effects by feeble instruments, may be pleased, even through me, to give a blessing to a seminary which has so signally enjoyed His protecting and fostering care.

"Providence permitting, I shall be at Hanover on the fourth Wednesday of the present month, with a view to attend the solemnities of inauguration. It will then be necessary, considering the advanced season, and other circ.u.mstances, for me to return without delay, that I may arrange my affairs and remove my family.

"Gentlemen, my resolution on this great subject has been taken in the full confidence of experiencing, in all future time, what I shall so much need, your liberal candor, and your cordial, energetic support.

Suffer me, in addition, to request, in my behalf, your devout supplications to Him who is the Father of Lights and the munificent bestower of every blessing.

"I am, gentlemen, with every sentiment of esteem and respect,

"Your devoted friend and servant, "Daniel Dana.

"Newburyport, Oct. 3, 1820."

"Allusion is made in his farewell sermon at Newburyport, to his 'recently impaired health.' This was premonitory. Scarcely had he removed his family to Hanover, and entered on his new duties, before the crisis came to which, doubtless, the wasting cares and anxieties of preceding years and the recent severe pressure upon his sensibilities, had been silently but inevitably tending. His health gave way, and great depression of spirits accompanied his bodily languor. He took more than one long journey in the vain effort to recruit his energies. He writes to a friend of being 'in a state of great and very uncommon debility, undoubtedly to be attributed to the protracted operation of distressing causes, both on mind and frame.'

He also states, that, whilst absent from Hanover in accordance with the advice of his physician, he still hoped to be able, after his strength was recruited, to accomplish something in the matter of soliciting aid to the funds of the college; a work which, however uncongenial to his tastes, he found would necessarily be devolved on its president.

"The winter months pa.s.sed by, and there was still little or no improvement in his health. When it became known that he was agitating the question of resigning his office, many urgent requests were made to him not to decide hastily. He delayed only till April, and then called a meeting of the Trustees, to be held early in May, for the purpose of receiving and acting upon his resignation of his office. He wished it to be considered as 'absolute and final.' The notification to a member of the Board with whom he was specially intimate, was accompanied by a letter in which he says:

"'You will naturally conclude that the resolution which I have taken has cost me many a struggle, and much severe distress. This is the fact. The last seven months have been with me a scene of suffering indeed. I have fondly hoped that repeated journeyings would give me relief. But their effect has been only partial and temporary. Such is my prostration at this moment, that the duties of my office, and not less its cares and its responsibilities, seem a burden quite beyond my power of bearing. Had it pleased G.o.d to make me an instrument of important good to the college, I should have esteemed myself privileged indeed; but this privilege, though denied to me, awaits, I confidently hope, some more favored instrument of the Divine benevolence. I earnestly pray, that, in what pertains to this great concern, the Trustees may be favored with much heavenly wisdom and direction.'

"He now took a long journey to Ohio, visiting at Athens the brother who had been the companion of his early years. Under these favorable influences, his health began more decidedly to improve. At their meeting, July 4, the Trustees of the college, by unanimous resolution, requested him to withdraw his resignation; but he declined to do so, though 'gratefully acknowledging the kindness expressed in their communication.'

"Many years after these events, the Rev. Dr. Lord, so long and so honorably the president of Dartmouth College, thus referred to Dr.

Dana's connection with the inst.i.tution:

"'He was chosen president for his well-known excellence as a scholar and theologian, and his extraordinary ministerial qualifications. He was honored the country over, in these respects. It was not doubted that he would be equally honorable as president of the college, should his health endure.

"'That he would have been, had he been able to retain his place, everybody well understood, as well from his auspicious beginning, as his distinguished qualities. He made a deep impression upon the college during the short period of his actual service.

"'But his sensitive nature had received a great shock in the breaking up of his many and most endearing relations at Newburyport and the country around. He began here with health seriously impaired, and in great depression of spirit. The change of scene, of society, labor, and responsibility, was too much for his disordered frame. He sought relief by travel. But he gained little or nothing, and was driven to the conclusion that his life could probably be saved only by resignation. He could not consent to make such an office as he held a sinecure, or to see the college labor through its severe adversities without greater vigor of administration than his infirmities admitted.

With great conscientiousness and magnanimity, he chose to put himself at a seeming disadvantage, rather than to risk the interests of the college upon what he judged to be the doubtful chances of his recovery.

"'He left with the profound respect and sincere regret of the Trustees and Faculty. Their confidence in him was unshaken; and they never doubted, that, had he been more favorable to himself, and borne his new burdens with less solicitude, till he could regain his health, he would have been as distinguished here as elsewhere, and raised the college to a corresponding usefulness and dignity.

"'Most men judge superficially and unwisely in such cases. So far as I know, the most competent judges of Dr. Dana's relations to Dartmouth see nothing that does not redound to his honor. It is understood that he accepted the presidency with great reluctance, on account of his other responsibilities and attachments, and with distrust of his physical ability to perform its duties; that, while he performed them, it was with characteristic ability and effect; and that, when his best efforts to regain his health failed, and he saw reason to fear, that, even if his life should not be a sacrifice, his increasing infirmities would be to the disadvantage of a struggling inst.i.tution, he generously, and entirely of his own accord, resigned. To my apprehension, all this is significant of great moral strength under the pressure of bodily disease, and a memorable instance of that Christian heroism for which he has always been remarkable. "_Maluit esse quam videri bonus._"'"

The subsequent labors of President Dana in the ministry, and the high esteem of all who best knew him till his death, August 26, 1859, are matters of permanent record. His first wife, Mrs. Elizabeth (Coombs) Dana, and the second, Mrs. Sarah (Emery) Dana, had died previous to his residence at Hanover.