From Ladies' do. by Miss E. White

$19 40 Tunbridge, fr. individuals

Waterbury, fr. Amasa Pride, Esq.

Waitsfield, fr. Gent. Asso. by Mr. F. T. Miner
From Ladies' do. by Miss A. Barnard

Windsor, tr. individuals, by Rev. Mr. Hazen,

through J. Lyman, Esq.

From Hon. Thos. Emerson, do. do.

PRESBYTERIAN EDUCATION SOCIETY.
Champlain, N. Y. fr. Mrs. Silas Hubbell, to
cons. Rev. E. D. Kinney a L. M. of Pres.
Ed. Soc.

East Galway, N. Y. rec'd by Rev. Mr. Owen
on acc. of Schol.
Rec'd by E. H. Owen, Esq.

20 75 New York, Life Membership, fr. Mr. J. W.
Kimball

Bleecker St. Ch. rec'd of Knowles Taylor, Esq. 25 50 Bowery ch. fr. Arthur Tappan, Esq. semi-ann. subscription

24 50
1 13
2 00 Brick ch. fr. Miss B. Ivers
From Mr. J. C. Halsey

From Mrs. Frances Tappan, do.
Rec'd fr. D. McArthur, Tr.

Misses M. and H. L. Murray
Mr. Leonard Corning

Central Pres. ch. Broome St.

The office seems to be, in In most of the universities

No class of men in this country, are placed in situations of greater influence, than the presidents of our colleges. many respects, peculiar to the United States. and colleges of Europe, the professors fill the largest space in the eyes of the community. It is not of Isaac Milner as president of Queen's college that we think, but of Isaac Milner as occupying the professorial chair of Newton. Very few men in this country, ever heard the name of principal Baird of Edinburgh; yet who is not acquainted with the names of professors Playfair, Stewart, and Brown. It is, doubtless, less necessary that there should be one prominent, responsible head, in a collection of colleges like that of Oxford, or in a single house like that of St. John's at Cambridge, with its numerous fellows and professors, than in an establishment like any one of the American colleges. Yet, even there, some evils are the consequence of the equality of the instructors. The London university has suffered materially from this very source. The warden did not pos sess a sufficient weight of character and responsibility to reconcile the conflicting claims of the professors, nor be to them a common object of respect and confidence. In Germany, the direct and almost despotic authority which the civil governments exercise over the seats of learning, as well as many things in their mode of organization, render an office, like that of our presidents, unnecessary.

The presidents of our colleges, both in past times and at present, may be arranged into four classes. First, the public men who exert a powerful influence on the surrounding communities, or on society at large. President Burr was one of the most popular men of his times. Very few individuals, at the period of the revolution, swayed a greater political influence than Dr. Witherspoon. President Dwight was a connecting link between Yale college and the State. His vacations were nearly as useful to the institution as his terms of study. His knowledge of the world, popular manners, and commanding presence, were of inestimable service not only to Yale, but to all seminaries of learning. He did very much to correct the common impression, that a college is a separate and exclusive establishment, with which society at large has little connection or sympathy. Parents were glad to intrust their sons to the guidance of a gentleman as well as a scholar.

A second class, are those who are distinguished for attainments in science or literature, and who elevate the character of their college in the eyes of

VOL. V.

23

the community, by the reported possession of extraordinary attainment, rather than by any actual exhibition of talent which men in general can appreciate. President Appleton of Bowdoin, belonged to this class. A promiscuous audience, as they heard him preach, neither manifested nor felt much emotion. He never could have become popular, in the common acceptation of that word. His sermons and addresses are not generally known, even to our educated men. Yet he had a mind kindred to that of the immortal Butler. We cannot read some of his productions, without feeling that emotion of reverence which we experience when we open the Analogy. For the quality of fairness in conductiug an argument, we regard him as nearly unequalled. His power to control a literary community, must have been derived very much from that involuntary respect which all ingenuous students must have felt for a mind so candid, so logical, so transparent as was president Appleton's. It would be interesting to ascertain how far the individuals, who composed the senior classes during his administration, have copied after their illustrious model. Other individuals of the same class, though of very diverse habits and character, were presidents Chauncy and Webber of Harvard, and Stiles of Yale.

A third class, are the men who are capable of conducting a college through seasons of special exigency and trial. It is an interesting fact, that nearly all our colleges have passed through the waves of affliction, and have even been menaced with total extinction. It is equally instructive to observe, that the right men were on the ground at the right time. In the year 1763, when the prosperity, if not the existence of Yale college, was threatened by the anticipated interference of the legislature of the State, it was so ordered in Providence, that president Clap "appeared to be a man of extensive knowledge and of real greatness-and that in points of law, especially as they respected colleges, he appeared to be superior to all the lawyers, so that his antagonists acknowledged that he knew more, and was wiser than all of them." President Brown of Dartmouth, exhibited, in the stormy period of 1816-1820, all that knowledge of the ground upon which he stood, that unconquerable firmness, that intelligent consciousness of the justice of his cause, and that humble confidence in God, which are necessary to guide a kingdom through its most perilous periods. To him, as much as to the distinguished advocate in the civil courts, are the American community indebted, for that security which our colleges now enjoy from legislative protection and interference.

A fourth class, are the disciplinarians. The successful government of a college is a matter of no little difficulty. A company of young men are collected, perhaps from ten or twelve different States, with different family and preparatory education;-many passing the critical period of the last stage of boyhood ;-others without any proper sense of responsibility to parents at home;-some stimulated by a restless ambition ;-others capable of feeling no stimulus whatever;-some governed, or rather governing themselves, almost entirely by moral influence;-and others weakening that influence whenever it is in their power. It is a small part of the duties of a college president, to see that the institution is provided with able instructors, commodious buildings, and competent apparatus and libraries. His great work is to keep the complicated machine in harmonious and healthful action. He must understand well the principles of human nature, as they are modified in a community of ardent young men. He must know how, at all times, to shape his deportment, so that he may secure the mingled love and respect of his charge. He must have that versatility