The wise men of that day saw in it one of the best hopes of
future times, and commended it as it was, with parental care, to the
protection and guardianship of the government of the State. A charter of
more liberal sentiments, of wiser provisions, drawn with more care, or
in a better spirit, could not be expected at any time or from any
source. The college needed no change in its organization or government.
That which it did need was the kindness, the patronage, the bounty of
the legislature; not a mock elevation to the character of a university,
without the solid benefit of a shilling's donation to sustain the
character; not the swelling and empty authority of establishing
institutes and other colleges. This unsubstantial pageantry would seem
to have been in derision of the scanty endowment and limited means of an
unobtrusive, but useful and growing seminary. Least of all was there a
necessity, or pretence of necessity, to infringe its legal rights,
violate its franchises and privileges, and pour upon it these
overwhelming streams of litigation.
But this argument from necessity would equally apply in all other cases.
If it be well founded, it would prove, that, whenever any inconvenience
or evil is experienced from the restrictions imposed on the legislature
by the Constitution, these restrictions ought to be disregarded. It is
enough to say, that the people have thought otherwise. They have, most
wisely, chosen to take the risk of occasional inconvenience from the
want of power, in order that there might be a settled limit to its
exercise, and a permanent security against its abuse.
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