The History of Dartmouth College. Baxter Perry Smith

told him there was talk of the school's going to Cohos. He said if it should be fixed there, he believed that many of that tribe would send their children to it."[20] This Canadian chief's statement was considered, most carefully, by Dr. Wheelock. The proper documents were forwarded with the least practicable delay to the English Trustees, and elicited the following response:

[20] See Appendix.

      "London, 3d April, 1769.

      "Reverend Sir:—Last week we received your letters of the 22d and 23d December, 1768, and 10th of January, 1769; and being convinced how necessary it is for the prosperity of your pious institution, as well as for the peace of your own mind, that a place should be fixed upon for the future establishment of your school as soon as possible, we have attentively considered the report of Mr. Ebenezer Cleaveland, whom you employed to take a view of the several spots proposed for that purpose, together with the other papers which have now and heretofore been transmitted to us relative to that matter; and, upon weighing the several generous offers and proposals that have been made to you by gentlemen of different governments for the benevolent purpose of promoting the important design of your institution, and the reasons that have been offered or have occurred to us in support of each, we are unanimously of opinion that the most advantageous situation for carrying on the great purposes of your school, will be in one of the townships belonging to the District of Cowas, in the Government of New Hampshire, agreeable to the proposal of Governor Wentworth and the gentlemen who have generously expressed their intention of contributing to that design; but whether Haverhill or Orford may be the most eligible for this purpose, we must leave to your judgment to determine. According to the best information we can procure of the state of those towns, we think you may possibly give the preference to the former, especially if the farm which you mention as very convenient for an immediate supply of provisions, can be procured upon reasonable terms.

      "We found our opinion, principally, upon this reason, that it appears to us that Cowas is the most central of the situations that have been proposed between the Indians of the Six Nations, on the one hand, and those of St. Francis and of the other tribes to the eastward, on the other; and that it is not inferior to any of the rest in other respects. For this reason, we cannot but recommend to you to accept the offers of Governor Wentworth and the Gentlemen in New Hampshire. And we heartily pray that the same good Providence which has so remarkably blessed your undertaking hitherto, may continue to protect and prosper it in its farther progress, and may prolong your life, that you may have the satisfaction to see it fixed upon such a plan as may afford a reasonable hope of answering all the good purposes you have in view.

      "We are, Reverend Sir,

       "Your most obedient servants,

      Dartmouth,

       S. S. Smythe,

       Samuel Roffey,

       John Thornton,

       Daniel West,

       Charles Hardy,

       Samuel Savage,

       Jos. Robarts,

       Robert Keen."

      "Received August 10, 1769."

CHAPTER VI.

       Table of Contents

      A COLLEGE CHARTER.

      The long-protracted efforts of Mr. Wheelock,[21] to provide legal safeguards for donations in aid of his great work, now demand careful attention.

[21] It will be observed that the appropriate title, at the period under consideration, is given to the founder of the college here as elsewhere in this work.

      The deed of Mr. Joshua More, conveying two acres of land with buildings attached, was dated July 17, 1755, a short time previous to his death. Mr. Wheelock now placed himself in confidential relations with two eminent lawyers in New York, William Smith, and his son William Smith, Jr., the latter of whom, perhaps, may be said to have left his impress upon the Constitution of the United States, through his distinguished pupil, Gouverneur Morris. The correspondence, at first, seems to have been chiefly with Mr. Smith, Senior. August 6, 1755, he writes to Mr. Wheelock: "The means for the accomplishment of so charitable a design seem at present very imperfect." He suggests, that there is "no incorporation" of Mr. Wheelock and the other gentlemen to whom Mr. More conveyed the property; that the deed contains "no consideration;" and that the estate is at most only "for life." He advises Mr. Wheelock, at least, to procure a better deed, which was afterwards executed by Mrs. More. The death of Mr. Wheelock's most influential and valuable associate trustee, ex-President Williams, only a few days after the conveyance by Mr. More, was a severe loss, and a temporary embarrassment to his associates. But Mr. Wheelock determined to proceed in his efforts for an incorporation, relying mainly upon the dictates of his own judgment for direction. After the lapse of some five years, in February, 1760, he gives the results to Mr. Smith, in language of which the following is the substance: "We sent home some years ago for the royal favor of a Charter. Lord Halifax approved the design, but [to save expense] advised, instead of a Charter, the establishment of the school by a law of Connecticut Colony, and promised that when sent there it should be ratified in Council, which he supposed would be as sufficient as any act there. Hereupon I attended our Assembly, in May, 1758, with a memorial, the prayer of which was granted by the House of Representatives; the Governor and Council negatived it, upon the ground that their action would not be valid, if ratified in England, beyond this Colony, and that a corporation within a corporation might be troublesome, as Yale College had sometimes been. I am since informed that the Earl of Dartmouth has promised, if the matter shall be put into a proper channel, to undertake and go through with it at his own expense."

      Thus it appears that Lord Dartmouth was desirous of aiding Mr. Wheelock by his influence, and otherwise, long before being asked by him for pecuniary aid. In explanation of the governor's objections, it should be stated, that Mr. Wheelock desired such an incorporation as would enable him to locate his school in any of the American Colonies, and that there was just at that period an earnest contest between the corporation of Yale College, led by President Clap, and the Colonial government, in regard to the control of that institution.

Nothing having been accomplished in the meantime, Mr. Wheelock writes in July, 1763, to his friend, Dr. Erskine, as follows: "Governor Fitch privately proposes my removing my prayer for an incorporation from this government [Connecticut]. It is likely we shall delay, it till we see the success of our suit for the Royal favor." In September following, he writes to his friend, Mr. De Berdt, in London, that he has sent to him "materials, by General Lyman[22] and Colonel Dyer,"[23] to enable him to "make application for an incorporation." Unsuccessful as before in England, for reasons which will become more apparent hereafter, in May, 1764, we find Mr. Wheelock petitioning the Connecticut Assembly "to incorporate" six gentlemen of the Colony, including George Wyllis, of Hartford, and himself, as legal guardians of his school. But he did not procure the long-desired incorporation.

[22] The distinguished Gen. Phineas Lyman.

[23] Hon. Eliphalet Dyer, of Windham.

      In 1765, being about to send solicitors of charity on a larger scale to England, Mr. Wheelock decided to make yet one more effort there for an act of incorporation. A letter from Mr. Smith, written evidently about this time, no date being attached, contains advice to Mr. Wheelock in which we trace one of the most prominent features of the Charter. He proposes, in substance: "an