THE inquiry may now be reasonably made, whether the success of the University was such as to justify those high and apparently well-grounded expectations to which the union of the schools had given rise. For the honour of Philadelphia, it would be well could we truly answer this question in the affirmative; but the fact is too notorious to be denied, that, with the exception of the pecuniary affairs, which were soon brought into good order and comparative prosperity, there was reason for several years rather to regret a still further depression than to boast of an advancement in the fortunes of the institution. Since the first establishment of the

College, there had scarcely been a period, unless during the severest commotions of the revolution, when the students in the higher branches were less numerous, or the reputation of the seminary at a lower ebb. In the philosophical school, consisting of the two highest classes, there were in the year 1797 only twelve students; the numbers qualified to graduate were in several instances so few, that it was deemed unnecessary and impolitic to hold commencements; and, when the practice of conferring degrees publicly was resumed, it not unfrequently happened that only five or six individuals appeared as candidates for the honours. It is not to be supposed that this state of things was regarded with indifference by the trustees: on the contrary, committees of investigation were frequently appointed; the sources of the evil were diligently explored; as each mistake or deficiency was rendered sensible, efforts were made to correct or supply it; till at length the features of the institution were completely changed, and its whole system so remodelled as to bring it into

closer accordance with the character of the times, and to extend considerably its sphere of usefulness.

The

The historian of nations deems it his duty not only to record alterations of prosperity and misfortune, glory and disgrace, but also to search out and explain the causes of these changes, that useful lessons may thus be afforded to statesmen, and the good of the past augmented, and its evil diminished, by the example and warning it is made to hold out to the future. same principle should influence the humbler author, who confines his attention to small communities; for they, too, may have successors to be benefited by the picture of their vicissitudes. No excuse, therefore, is necessary for attempting to expose the causes of the very low condition into which the University was depressed at the close of the last and commencement of the present century.

Among these causes may, perhaps, be included the practice of compensating the professors by fixed salaries, without allowing them any share in the proceeds of

tuition. There is a vis inertiæ in mind as well as in matter, and the best men acknowledge that, to put forth their highest energies, they require the incitement of powerful motives. An officer with a fixed salary, of which he neither fears the diminution nor expects the increase, without any apprehension, so long as he exhibits no gross negligence or misconduct, of losing his situation, and equally without the hope of higher advancement, will, if an honest man, perform punctually his prescribed routine of duties; but he will seldom be willing to sacrifice allowable gratifications, to devote to labour his hours of permitted leisure, to task, in fine, all his faculties to the utmost, with no other reward in view than the welfare of those by whom he may be employed, or of the institution to which he may be attached. In great seminaries, where so much depends upon the talents and energy of the teachers, the lukewarmness resulting from this want of strong personal interest, may be seriously felt in the languor of their operations, and the consequent disrepute