Letter from
William W.
Polk to
Joseph
Caldwell May 16, 1803
Raleigh
16th May 1803
Sir,
Your letter of the 13th currt, informing of the present disgraceful and disorderly state of
our
University, was duly received; and I had
prepared accordingly and should have been with you tomorrow, accompanied by
those of
the Trustees who reside in this place, but for the
arrival here of Messrs
Learey,
Benton, and
Nunn:— from the
concurrent Report of these Gentlemen, we are led to believe, that the shameful
necessity which was about to drag forth
the Trustees, has been done away since the date of
your letter and no longer exists.
Bound as I am as a
Trustee, and additionally so as President of
the Board, to watch over the interests and prosperity of
the University; I have felt both pride and pleasure
in the very favorable Reports I have from time to time had, of the growing and
flourishing state of that Institution, and of the decent and orderly demeanor
and industrious habits of the students there: judge then of my disappointment,
surprize and astonishment, on reading your letter above mentioned! That native
Americans, Carolinians, young men possessing the advantages of Education and
therefore sensible of its indispensable necessity and high importance to their
Country, should be so unmindful of their standing in society, and so lost to
every proper sense of the duty they owed to themselves and to others, as to
unite in conspiring the destruction of thatSeminary, to which of all others they had been and were like to be most
indebted; is such a dark deed, such a matricide like act, such a crying sin
against themselves, and their Country, that I can scarcely prevail on myself to
allow it a place in the Catalogue or List of human Crimes; even when viewing
nature in its darkest shadow and most depraved habits. The Characters you
mention as the principals in this disgraceful and lawless business, as far as I
recollect, are well nigh grown, and therefore probably of lawful age or nearly
so: that those men therefore (for we will no longer consider them Boys) towards
whom their friends and acquaintances look forward with such high and flattering
expectation, and for whom they have heretofore indulged such fond predilection
and performance, should, at this late and inauspicious day, be guilty of the
deplorable madness and folly of rashly sacrificing their Characters and fame,
and laying in dust and ashes the fairest prospects of their Country, through
the destruction of her best anchor and hope, her University, is too much: it is
folly, in its most gigantic and hideous shape: insanity, replete with
consequences too direful and deleterious to be tolerated:— in fine, a
deed of the kind meditated would operate as the work of Treasons against the
State, and would prove instantly productive of such incalculable mischief, and
ultimately of such probable and dreadful evils, that the mind of the virtuous
and patriotic cannot find to be painfully affected and [bound] to shudder, even
at a distant contemplation of them:— and yet these young men are too
enlightened and informed to be in any-wise ignorant, that their late
reprehensible conduct had a direct tendency to, and was completely fraught
with, all these and manyother dreadful
evils:— upon the whole, there have been few occasions indeed, through
which my feelings have been more wounded or my indignation more roused and
excited, than by reading the dreadful account stated in your letter. But for
the arrival of the Gentlemen above mentioned, viz. Messrs
Learey,
Benton,
&
Nunn, I should have set
out to
the University fully & fixedly determined, to
expell, with the most marked ignominy and disgrace, every student who should be
found to have been guilty of giving, hearing, or receiving, or rather accepting
a Challenge, of the nature you mention: and in such sentiment and decision, I
am authorized to say, there would not have been a dissenting
Trustee.
If this disgraceful and unfortunate business is in fact settled
and done with, as we are told; or shall be immediately so settled and done
with, and that with proper deference and respect towards the Faculty; then and
in such case, I shall wish to forget and bury it in oblivion: but if it neither
has been nor shall be so settled, before the return of my Express; I have to
request, that, in such case, you inform me of it by his return; to the end I
may adopt the necessary measures for the trial and punishment of all concerned;
whether as principals, aiders or abettors; and this I will not fail to do,
however painful & disagreeable the task, on or before Sunday next. Fixed
and determined as I am, faithfully to discharge the duty I owe my Country, on
this and every other occasion, if called on to act: I could yet hope, the
unpleasant & ungracious task, the bitter Cupof blasting the fame and dimming the reputation of those whom I could
wish to respect I honor, might pass from me: and in the hope that it may so
pass, I hereby authorize and request you to read this my letter publickly and
aloud to all the students of
the University, including as well those mentioned by
name in your letter, as the others; and to detain my Express, if you shall
judge it proper and necessary, for the space of one day. If, unfortunately for
those students who shall be found concerned, and unhappily for the
Trustees (who would far rather have cause to amend
than to reproach or condemn) you shall find yourself, in the issue of this
distressing business, constrained to ask their attendance; then and in that
case, I would request of you to send Expresses to
Gov. Davie,
Mr Alves,
Mrr Bennehan and
Mr Cameron, desiring their attendance, in
my name, at
the University, on Sunday next; in order that this
disgraceful & unfortunate business may be taken up and acted on the
following day.
With respectful considerations,
I remain Sir,
Your
obt Serv.,
W. W.
Polk