Washington, DC, 1999.
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MEMORIAL.
To the Honorable the
Senate and House of Representatives
of the Congress of the United States, now in session in the City of Washington, the Petition of the Board of Trustees of
“
The Protestant University of the United States,
”
humbly showeth:
That
an Act was passed by the Legislature of the State of Ohio, at its last session, incorporating a Literary Institution, under the name of “The Protestant University of the United States,” which is to “be located in or near to the city of Cincinnati”:—
That “the object and purpose of said University are declared”—in its Charter—“to be the promotion and advancement of education, the cultivation and diffusion of literature, science, and arts, in all their departments and faculties:”—
That “in the rules and regulations, governing the admission of students, there shall be no preference on account of religious sects, or any other cause, except good moral character, and the promise of superior scholarship and usefulness,” in said University:—
That the name
Protestant
was given to it, on account of the provision in one of the sections of its charter, “that said corporation shall have no power at any time to establish a
sectarian
religious test, as a condition of enjoying the honors and privileges of the University; provided that it shall always be conducted in subserviency to the True, Reformed, Protestant Christian Religion, as taught in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament”:—
That the obvious intention of this provision is, not to exclude any of our fellow-citizens, who ought to be admitted, and who would desire admission upon proper and reasonable terms; but, as religion ought never to be separated from education, by those who would cultivate, elicit and regulate the powers of the human mind, in the best manner and in the highest degree; as religion and morality in alliance with knowledge and learning, are essential to the welfare and prosperity of our favored and happy Republic; and as ours is, and has been from its settlement, a Christian Protestant Nation; so the Protestant University of the United States will direct its attention to the education of the
hearts
as well as the
heads,
of the youth of our country; and, in doing so, employ those text-books which are usually found in Protestant Institutions, although condemned by the “Index Expurgatorius” of Rome, together with the Holy Bible, in the commonly received Protestant translation, without note or comment, which is not sectarian, in the devotions of the Chapel, and as the general rule of its instruction and government: in order to the formation and fostering of an enlightened, virtuous, free, manly, Protestant, or, in other words, Republican, spirit, among its pupils, and, through them, among the community at large:—
And that, in its administration, it will be conducted upon those principles which are not peculiar to any sect, but in accordance with the genius of universal Protestantism, as tested, not by any human creed, but by the Word of God.
The
Protest
entered by the several States of our glorious Union, and by the whole, as united under the Federal Constitution, against civil and ecclesiastical tyranny, and in favor of rational liberty, occupies a high place among the most important and distinguished movements, in the same holy cause, recorded in the history of man: and, while it agrees with it in its spirit, and in its principle, stands in the relation of an effect to its cause, to that memorable
Protest
handed in, upwards of three hundred years ago, by so many renowned leaders of the Reformation of the sixteenth century, against the dark and despotic decisions of the Diet of Spires, and on behalf of liberty of conscience, and the inalienable right of responsible agents to think for themselves, according to the measure of capacity, of light, and of opportunity, conferred upon them by Almighty God; from which the name Protestant was given to them, and to all their adherents, who rejected the domination and the superstitious dogmas and observances of the Roman Pontiff; and is still applied to such a large portion of the Christian world. The stupendous and salutary effects of these, the future ages of time will be little enough to develop; and they will be nothing less than the complete renovation of our world. In the American Republic, the Protestant University ought to find itself at home—a genial soil—ample support from its enlightened citizens—and every reasonable encouragement for diffusing abroad, far and wide, its advantages. It springs into existence, in correspondence with the wishes, not only of the enlightened friends of education in this city and the surrounding country, but also of many in remote parts of the land, who consider this as a central and, in other respects, an eligible place for such an Institution: and it has assumed the name of “
the United States,
” chiefly because its originators would pay a merited compliment to our common country, and desire the integrity, the extension and the perpetuity of the Union; as well as found it for the benefit of its various sections, whether lying East, West, North or South.
The endowment of such an Institution, in a manner corresponding to its name and objects, however liberal private munificence may be, is no easy matter. And your Memorialists, believing it to be entirely constitutional, and most worthy of our enlightened National Legislature, humbly petition
this Honorable Congress
to endow
the Protestant University of the United States,
by a grant to it of a portion of the
Public Lands.
Such an endowment, as it is within the power of Congress, would be a great Public benefit; and, from the peculiarity of the case, need not give offense to any, nor hereafter be plead as a precedent. The
United States,
we trust, will not fail to acknowledge her own NAMESAKE.
It may be proper here to state to your Honorable Bodies, that the Committee on Public Lands would have reported in favor of the endowment of this Institution, to the Thirtieth Congress, but for the opposition of the Hon. A. H. Stephens. He, as the sequel shows, HATED the name
United States,
and was even then plotting the overthrow of our Nation. But the most attrocious Rebellion has been crushed out. Our redeemed country needs, and now more than ever deserves, the highest education. The Protestant University will be a bond of union to its various sections, in its glorious future. Grant the endowment, and we shall ever pray, etc.
By Order of the Board.
WILLIAM WILSON,
Chancellor.
Cincinnati,
January
27
th,
1868.