Collections in England in Aid of his College.*

In 1761 (November) the Trustees found themselves growing poorer in money as the College grew stronger in number of pupils —the support of the institution having exceeded its income for several years about $700, while there was a pressing necessity for more rooms. In this emergency a Committee of the Board recommended an appeal to English liberality as follows:

'We have no resource but once for all to betake ourselves to the generosity of the public; and when we consider the encouragement that has heretofore been given by the mother country to Seminaries of learning on this Continent, at a time when the affairs of America were not thought of haif the importance which they are at present, and these Seminaries far less extensive in their plan than this Academy, and countenanced by the Governments in which they are erected, we can not entertain the least doubt but under our circumstances, a Seminary placed in this large and trading city, and which promises to be of so much use for the advancement of true learning and knowledge, must at this time meet with great encouragement in England, where there are thousands who want nothing more than the opportunity of showing their beneficence and good will to any thing calculated for the benefit of these Colonies. And we have the greatest hopes in this affair from the assurance given by Dr. Smith, of the disposition which he found in sundry persons of distinction, when he was lately in England to befriend the Seminary on a due application to them, and which some of them have been pleased to repeat in their private letters to him.'

The recommendation was adopted, and Dr. Smith was selected, and he embarked from New York in February, 1762. He was furnished with an Address from the Trustees 'to all Charitable persons, Patrons of Literature, and Friends of Useful Knowledge,' and with a letter to 'the Honorable Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires.' These documents, prepared by Rev. Mr. Peters, President of the Board, gave a complete resumé of the history of the College, and explained its great usefulness and its present pressing wants. To the Penns, especially, an appeal was made to aid the enterprise in England. Thomas Penn was called the principal Patron of the College, (and well he might have been, for he contributed to its support during his life time nearly £4,500,) and it is evident that great reliance was placed upon his influence in England.

On reaching London he at once waited upon those to whom he looked for aid in his design. 'Mr. Thomas Penn,' he says, ' received me with his usual kindness, and said that he was glad to see me on the scheme of a collection, and would forward it all in his power. It is impossible, indeed, for me to express how hearty and zealous Mr. Penn is in this business. He has put himself down for five. hundred pounds sterling.'

'March 19, I waited on the Archbishop of Canterbury, who most cordially assured me that he would do every thing to forward my

design by mentioning it to his friends, and contributing to it in person, asking if there was any thing else that I expected from him, and if I intended to apply for a Brief, adding that there had been so many applications of that sort of late that he feared it would produce little.' The Brief,' spoken of by the Archbishop, was the technical term given to letters patent written in the royal name to the incumbent of every parish in England, (at that time about 11,500 in number), directing him to recommend to his congregation some charitable object which the King was particularly desirous of promoting, and authorizing collections to be made by specially-appointed Commissioners from house to house throughout the kingdom in aid of the undertaking. It had been the practice to issue such Briefs only in cases of great general interest, such, for instance, as when deep sympathy was excited for the Protestant refugees who flocked to England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, or when succor was asked for the inhabitants of portions of the country which had suffered from the overwhelming disasters, of famine or pestilence. In later years, it had been the custom to appeal to the public in this way for the support of such societies as that for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts, as well as for various undertakings of a charitable sort in the Colonies.'

In the meantime he made his business known to the Archbishop of York and to several of the most eminent of the other Bishops. They all declared, he says, 'their readiness to concur with the Archbishop of Canterbury in any scheme his Grace might propose for countenancing and forwarding the design.' Nor did he forget to invoke the powerful aid of Rev. Dr. Chandler, at that time the most eminent Dissenting Minister in England. That gentleman,' writes Dr. Smith, 'sent for me this week, and told me that though he had been afraid that all his Court interest was gone with the Duke of Newcastle, yet he had been with the present Minister Lord Bute, who had most graciously received him, and told him that none of the charities which the Doctor was concerned in should suffer from the late change, and that if there was any good design that the Doctor could recommend it should be mentioned to the King, who was graciously disposed to favor all pious and laudable undertakings.

Pleasing as was the prospect thus far (July 10, 1762,) when he writes: Just as I was about to set out for Edinburgh, taking several trading towns on the way, Dr. Jay, from New York, which he left June 1st, has just called on me, and told me that some business of his own calling him to England, the people of the College at New York had applied to and empowered him to solicit money for

them.' After a good deal of negotiation, during which Dr. Smith's friends, Mr. Penn, Dr. Chandler, and the Archbishop, convinced him that, as the New York College, had applied for a Royal Brief, it must be a joint one for the benefit of both, or else the whole scheme would be ruined, and that nothing would be gained by their entering upon the same field as rivals, it was agreed that a joint application on behalf of both Colleges, should be made to the King. 'His majesty expressed his approval of the plan, and said he would do something to begin the design, that to King's College in New York he would order four hundred pounds sterling, and that in respect to the College in Philadelphia, he observed that it had a liberal benefactor in our Proprietors, who stood, as it were, in his room, but he must not suffer so good a design to pass without some mark of his regard, and therefore would order two hundred pounds sterling for us.'

The King having signified his royal' pleasure that the petition should be granted, it was unanimously and without more difficulty agreed to on the 12th of Angust, 1762, by the King in Council.

The order in Council directed that 'the Right Honorable the Lord High Chancellor in England, do cause letters patent to be prepared and passed under the great zeal for the collections of the charity of all well-disposed persons for the assistance and benefit of the said two Seminaries.'

The next step in the business, was to attend to the stamping of the Brief, and the distribution of a copy to each of the eleven thousand parishes of the kingdom. With each copy was sent a circular letter to the clergyman of the parish, written by Dr. Smith, and signed by him and Dr. Jay. This letter explained more fully the object of the collection, and urged most earnestly upon the clergy the importance of aiding it by their personal influence, and when practicable, by preaching with special reference to it. Leaving this part of the business, for the present, in the hands of the 'Brief-layers,' as the Commissioners were called, he prepared to make a journey to the north of England and to Scotland, while Dr. Jay went to the south and west, in order to gather what they could by personal application, in addition to what might be contributed under the authority of the Brief.

He writes to Mr. Peters, September 14th:

'I find you have strange stories of my being made Commissary, Rector, and the Lord knows what, and that my chief scheme here was to hunt something for myself. I leave the issue of things to show how ill-treated I am in all these matters by low tattling people, who, because they never do any thing disinterested themselves, are unwilling to allow it in others. These things might pro

voke any man to quit all connections with such a people. But the honor 1 propose to myself in being a kind of Founder of our College, you may rest assured shall over balance every other consideration, and this business shall be most faithfully finished be my treatment what it will.'

On the 29th of September, Dr. Smith left London for the north. The following is the account he gives of his journey:---

'I have traveled more than twelve hundred miles in seven weeks, and twothirds of that through the most dismal rains I ever saw, and on two hackney horses which I bought to save money for the design. I set out for Edinburgh, and from thence went one hundred miles further north to see my aged and good father, with whom I remained but a few days. At Edinburgh, I waited on Dr. Robertson, Dr. Wishart, Dr. Cumming, and others. They are well disposed to serve us, but think that their joint interest, though at the head of the Church of Scotland, will not be able, till next Assembly at least, to procure us a national collection. At Glasgow I found the same encouragement as at Edinburgh among the clergy, who professed themselves pleased with the Catholic plan of having professors of different persuasions, and told me that the party in the Church of Scotland to whom that would be an objection were not many. On my return, I visited all the clergy on or near the great road, and wrote letters to others. In places where it was thought my presence would assist the collection, we agreed to delay it till March, when I promised to go down again, especially to Yorkshire. Thus, in about six weeks I got back to London to meet Dr. Jay, who had taken a like tour to the southward, on the same plan. After two or three days in London, we set out again for Oxford, thinking it a compliment due to them to be both there. From Oxford we went to Glouces ter, and to the manufacturing towns in that county: Dr. Jay taking part of them, and myself the other part, so as to meet at Bath, which we did a day or two before Christmas, and then proceeded to London.'

The various Colleges of the University of Oxford gave £163, although Dr. Smith complains in his diary 'that at St. John's and Baliol, Dr. Franklin's friends were very averse.' At the University of Cambridge he collected £166. Liverpool gave £211; Halifax, £52; Birmingham, £127; Bristol, £112; Gloucester and the neighboring towns, £85. These amounts are made up of small sums, far the larger portion of them not exceeding a guinea cach, contributed by several hundred different persons, and the labor attending such a collection can only be estimated by those who have had experience in such undertakings. In this way were gathered for the two Colleges about £2,400.

Every means was resorted to of attracting the attention and securing the donations of charitably disposed persons. Every Sunday, from March to June, 1763, the London pulpits were occupied by the most popular preachers of the day who had been induced by Dr. Smith to preach in favor of the design, and he himself preached

* Possibly, Dr. Smith, being conscious that he had acted with the spirit of Academic exclusiveness (if it does not deserve the name of meanness) in entering a written protest to the authorities of Oxford to a proposal to confer the Degree of Doctor of Laws on Dr. Franklin, may have fancied opposition to himself or his scheme from Dr. Franklin's friends, who naturally felt indignant at Dr. Smith's presumption in the matter, especially as Dr. Smith owed his position in the College of Philadelphia to Dr. Franklin.

twice every Sunday on the same subject. Nor were other means of a more worldly character neglected. Dr. Smith writes:- We are to have a benefit oratorio at Drury Lane, and Mr. Beard leaves his own house to perform for us at the other. Mr. Garrick has been exceedingly kind in the matter. The principal performers, vocal and instrumental, serve gratis, and we are favored with the boys from the Chapel Royal, and every other mark of distinction. Mr. Tyer even put off the opening of Vauxhall, which was fixed for Wednesday night, in order to favor us."

The money collected by Dr. Smith in England came from the following sources :

Proprietaries of Pennsylvania,.

Collections before the Scheme for New York was united with that of Phila.,

Total,.........

£ 8. d. 4,800 0 0

1,136 10 6

200 0 0

500 00

284 17 0

6,921 7 6

It was estimated by Dr. Smith, that more than eleven thousand persons contributed to the collection made under the authority of the 'Brief,' and more than eight hundred to that undertaken by Dr. Jay and himself, the best proof of the wide-spread public interest felt in the object.

On Dr. Smith's return in June, 1764, the Trustees voted him 'their unanimous thanks in the warmest and most effectionate manner for the great zeal, diligence, ability, and address which he had shown in the management of this collection, for which all the friends of this Institution, as well as of learning in general are under the greatest obligations to him.' He brought with him letters from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Mr. Penn, Dr. Chandler, and others, to the Trustees, speaking in the warmest terms of his devotion to the interests of the College while in England. The following extract from a letter of the Rev. Dr. Llewellen, an eminent Baptist Clergyman in London, will show what enthusiasm his success had caused among those who were not of the Church of England. . . . 'I congratulate you on the extrordinary success of our common friend Dr. Smith; you ought to welcome him home with ringing of bells, illuminations, and bonfires. The Professors of the College ought to meet him at least half way from New York, and from thence usher him into Philadelphia with all the magnificence and pomp in their power. The scholars, students, and fellows should all attend in their proper order and habits, and the procession should march to the Hall, where verses and orations in various languages should be delivered in praise of the liberality and gener