University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER IV

THE ROCKFISH COMMISSION

Mr. Cabell believed that if the Commission should
decide upon Charlottesville as the location for the
University of Virginia, the defeated aspirants,
Staunton and Lexington, would renew the contest
in the House of Delegates; and in that event he
had grave doubts as to the issue. In the Senate he
felt safe, but in the House the membership impressed
him unfavorably.

Washington Academy at Lexington was a dangerous
rival. Its plant was already worth $25,000,
and a wealthy old gentleman, a Mr. Robinson, of
Rockbridge County, whose estate was valued at
$100,000, had indicated a willingness to give his
property at his death to the University provided it
was located at Lexington. Private subscription was
expected to yield $25,000, so the cash bid was $150,000
as against the sum, about one-third as large,
offered by the Central College, and "a certain class
of members" was disposed to put the institution up
to the highest bidder. The clause in the law establishing
the University which required the committee
not only to accept gifts but to report them to the
legislature, paved the way to bidding, and opened
an avenue for an appeal from the decision of the

commissioners to the legislature by providing for
a final consideration of the bids or "gifts" in the
General Assembly.

In this situation Cabell was disposed to prepare
for the struggle in an effective way. He wrote to
Mr. Jefferson: "It is very important to have an
inter-mixture of true friends and liberal spirits from
the middle country. I turned my eyes toward Randolph
Harrison. He is precisely such a man as
would have the most effect on such an occasion. He
would be a host on our side. I wrote to General
Cocke pressing him to come forward, and urging
him to endeavor to prevail on Washington Trueheart,
of Louisa, and Randolph Harrison to offer
for their respective counties. * * * Mr. Harris
will offer in Louisa, and he will do very well.
Probably no one has as much influence with Mr.
Carey and Mr. Harrison as you have. The crisis
is great and extraordinary means are necessary to
accomplish the great object in view. I take the liberty
to suggest to you the idea of your writing immediately
to those gentlemen by special messenger.
Mr. Eppes could awake his friends to the support of
Mr. Harrison. Perhaps you may not approve this
suggestion. If you should not, I hope you will
ascribe it to an anxiety for the welfare of the Central
College, and the cause of science, that arises
above that which I feel for my domestic concerns."

Mr. Cabell was very uneasy, too, about the membership
of the Commission. "I am discussing the
question among our friends here," he wrote February
21, 1818, "whether it would be proper to name
you as a commissioner. The duties of the board
will be various and important. It is of great consequence
that I should be forthwith informed whether

you would serve if elected. In your answer, if possible,
leave me a discretionary power. I see no objection
to Mr. Madison's serving—and should he
be appointed, I entreat that you will lay before him
the high considerations that should induce him to
accept the appointment. Be pleased to do this without
delay. All I want in this business is fair play—
to put this subject on a footing of just reciprocity
between the two sides of the mountain."

Mr. Jefferson's reply shows the unselfish nature
of his connection with this important matter:

"I congratulate you, sincerely, on having something
begun on the subject of education. Whatever
be its faults, they will lead to correction. You seem
to doubt whether Mr. Madison would serve if
named a commissioner for the location, etc., of the
University? but there can be no doubt that he
would, and it is most important that he should. As
to myself I should be ready to do anything in my
power for the institution; but that is not the exact
question. Would it promote the success of the institution
most for me to be in or out of it? Out of
it, I believe. It is still to depend ultimately on the
will of the legislature; and that has its uncertainties.
There are fanatics both in religion and politics,
who, without knowing me personally, have long
been taught to consider me a raw head and bloody
bones, and as we can afford to lose no votes in that
body, I do think it would be better that you should
be named for our district. Do not consider this as
mock-modesty; it is the cool and deliberate act of
my judgment. I believe the institution would be
more popular without me than with me; and this is
the most important consideration—and I am confident

you would be a more efficient member of that
body than I should. Do then, dear sir, act on this
subject without any scruples as to me or yourself.
Regard nothing but the good of the cause."[1]

Mr. Cabell declined to serve as the commissioner
from his district, which was Mr. Jefferson's also,
and left to four or five of the ex-President's friends
the question whether his reasons for not going on
the board should be held as conclusive. When the
Governor announced the commissioners Jefferson
and Madison were found to be of the number—a
fortunate circumstance. The other members were
Creed Taylor, Peter Randolph, James Breckinridge,
Archibald Rutherford, Archibald Stuart, William
Brockenbrough, Henry E. Watkins, A. T. Mason,
Hugh Holmes, Phil C. Pendleton, Spencer Roane,
John M. C. Taylor, J. G. Jackson, Phil Slaughter,
William H. Cabell, Nathaniel H. Claiborne, William
A. C. Dade, William Jones, Thomas Wilson,
Nicholas Faulcon, Peter Johnson, and Littleton W.
Tazewell.

There were no better men in Virginia, and the
State quite safely committed to their hands its interest
in this matter of paramount importance.

The commissioners met at the tavern in Rockfish
Gap, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, on Saturday,
August 1, 1818, twenty-one of the twenty-four
members present. Mr. Jefferson was unanimously
elected chairman, and Thomas W. Maury, secretary.
The first business taken up was the selection
of a site for the University. Mr. Jefferson, it is
said, submitted a long list of octogenarians then
living in Albemarle as proof of the healthfulness of

that section, and exhibited a model of the State,
made of cardboard, which ingeniously demonstrated
that Charlottesville was more really the geographical
centre of the State than either Staunton or Lexington,
and that it was nearer than either of these
towns to the centre of white population. Much of
the first day's session was taken up with the discussion,
and decision was finally deferred on the motion
of Mr. Rutherford.

The question of visiting the various sites offered
for the University was disposed of by the motion of
Judge Dale to adjourn to Lexington—a proposition
made, as he said, to test the sense of the board. The
motion was unanimously negatived; the commissioners
also refused to adjourn to Staunton.

At the meeting on Monday, the 3d of August,
Judge Roane called up the matter of deciding upon
the site, and the vote being taken, Breckinridge,
Pendleton and J. M. C. Taylor voted for Lexington,
Stuart and Wilson for Staunton, and Taylor, Randolph,
Brockenbrough, Rutherford, Watkins, Madison,
Mason, Holmes, Roane, Jackson, Slaughter,
Cabell, Claiborne, Jefferson, Dade and Jones for
the Central College. The significance of Joseph C.
Cabell's remark to Jefferson, "We have fifteen districts
on this side of the Ridge" (as against nine on
the other) was prophetic. The fifteen voted for
Mr. Jefferson's site.

A select committee consisting of Jefferson, Madison,
Roane, Stuart, Dade and Breckinridge had
been appointed by ballot on Saturday to consider
and report on all matters before the Commission except
the site for the University. This report was
now submitted, amended, and unanimously adopted.

The document as passed by the committee was in

Mr. Jefferson's hand. The copies presented to the
Speakers of the two Houses were made by several
hands, dividing the work in order to expedite the
departure of the commissioners, and were, as Mr.
Jefferson thought, very imperfectly legible. As it
was important that it should be printed correctly, he
sent the original draft along with the copies for the
use of the printers.[2]

Mr. Cabell was in Richmond when the legislature
convened, going about the business of the University
persuasively and tactfully. He conferred
with Samuel Carr and William F. Gordon, members
of the House of Delegates from Albemarle, and
they agreed to get Samuel F. Taylor of Chesterfield
to bring forward the subject of the University in
the House, because his location in the State gave
him less appearance of local interest and prejudice.
Of course, he keeps Mr. Jefferson informed; tells
him that the clouds seem to be scattering. True,
some votes about William and Mary will be lost,
but nothing like a serious diversion in favor of a
western site is to be apprehended. Indeed, Philip
R. Thompson of Kanawha, and the delegates from
that western quarter, had decided to support Charlottesville.
A portion of the Assembly was, it was
known, opposed to the whole question, and it was
impossible to say to what extent these could unite
with the Lexington interests to jeopardize the measure.
But the prospect was cheerful. Even the
Speaker was frankly favorable to Mr. Cabell's interests.

But when a week later Speaker Banks of Madison
County had appointed the select committee to consider

the commissioners' report, the result was not
pleasing to Mr. Cabell. "There is a decided majority
in favor of the Central College; but the eastern
members are less attentive than the western. I have
urged the importance of having a full meeting before
the final question is taken. Mr. Taylor is
aware of the danger. The committee has had two
meetings; at the first, it was decided to report by
bill. Mr. Taylor has copied your bill, and at the
second meeting offered it to the committee. The
friends of Lexington wish to have the clause of
location reported with a blank. I think it will ultimately
be decided to fill the blank with the Central
College. At the second meeting, this morning, the
Valley members called for time to consider the provisions
of the bill; the real object was to have time
to manœuvre. The motion was resisted but carried;
some of the friends of Charlottesville voting with
them. The members from Rockbridge called for a
calculation to prove the assertion in the report that
Charlottesville is nearer to the centre of population
than Staunton or Lexington. The object seemed to
be to draw out your calculations exhibited to the
commissioners. The answer given by an eastern
member was, that each member might satisfy himself,
by reference to the census of 1810. The point
was left unsettled. It will come on again at the next
meeting on a motion to strike out Charlottesville
from the bill. The Valley members will be strongly
opposed to the Central College. The members from
beyond the Allegheny will divide. Those south of
Kanawha will generally vote with us, as Mr.
Thompson informs me. The prospect is still favorable;
but the effect of intrigue and management is
beyond the reach of calculation."[3]

At the third meeting of the select committee the
enemies of the Central College came within one
vote of winning a tactical victory. The motion was
to report the bill with a blank as to the site, and it
was lost only by the casting vote of the chairman.
It was then reported to the House with the Central
College as the site of the proposed University of
Virginia.

"I am really fearful for the ultimate fate of the
bill. Since the date of my last I have discovered
that the delegation from the west are forming a
combination among themselves to vote against the
bill on its passage. Finding themselves in a minority
on the question of the site, they will endeavor
to defeat the measure altogether for the present.
There is a party in the east in favor of putting down
the Literary Fund. Should these parties unite on
the question of the passage of the bill it will be lost;
and this result is much to be apprehended."[4]

To add to the adverse circumstances, Mr. Cabell's
health was so delicate as to cause great uneasiness
among his friends. He was urged to leave Richmond
to insure its recovery. "I will not stir from
the seat of government," he answered, "till this business
is settled. Even if the dangers to my life existed
which they apprehend I could not risk it for a
better cause."

Mr. Jefferson urged that the matter be brought
to a vote in the House, and the bill got up to the
Senate before Christmas. But the Senate was without
a quorum and the House so nearly so that it was

not prudent to risk a vote at the time. In the meantime
the hostile interests were daily gaining force
by intrigue and management, while the party altogether
opposed to the University, wherever located,
was growing so rapidly as to afford grounds for
fearing a total failure of the measure. "I this morning
counted up twenty-six votes of this description
on this side of the Ridge; and there are doubtless
many others. Many of the western members will
take the same course, particularly if they lose the
site. * * * The party hostile to the University
come chiefly from the lower country, and are within
convenient distance of William and Mary. The
better educated part of them, whilst they, their sons,
connexions, or friends, have been educated at William
and Mary, quote Smith, the Edinburgh Review,
and Dugald Stewart, to prove that education
should be left to individual enterprise."

In spite of his illness, Cabell seemed tireless. All
day and most of the night the best energies of his
mind and body were freely dedicated to the cause
he had so much at heart, and it was due to him that
success was achieved.

The bill was discussed elaborately and warmly in
the committee of the whole House on the 18th day
of January, 1819, and its fate was decided by a vote
on a motion to amend by striking the Central College
from the bill. The motion was defeated decisively,
only sixty-nine favoring it while one hundred
and fourteen voted for the Central College.
The victory was so decisive that Mr. Cabell dispatched
a jubilant letter to his venerable correspondent
at Monticello.

Judge Briscoe G. Baldwin of Augusta, as soon as
the vote was announced, made an eloquent and generous

appeal to the western delegation, of which he
was a member, to dismiss local feeling and unite
with the friends of the measure in making it a law.
It was evidently a subject of regret to Mr. Cabell
that he did not hear Judge Baldwin, but this staunch
friend of the University was so wrought up by his
long struggle and by his fears that he left the House
of Delegates to avoid witnessing the decisive vote—
`to escape the shock of feeling." Judge Baldwin's
magnanimity excited general admiration. The bill
was advanced to a third reading, and the next day
passed the House with only twenty-eight votes
against it. On the 20th Senator Cabell secured its
commitment. The committee promptly disposed of
several hostile amendments proposed by Mr. Johnson,
and adjourned to give him time to prepare
others. The Senate disposed of all opposition by
passing the bill, January 25, 1819, as it had come
from the House, the vote being ayes sixteen, nays
seven.

The bill passed none too soon, for Mr. Cabell's
physical condition was grave. He attempted to take
part in the debate in the Senate, but at the beginning
of his effort a hemorrhage forced him to abstain,
and as soon as the bill was a law he retired to the
home of his friend Judge Walter, at last seriously
alarmed by his condition.