University of Virginia Library

XVII. The Mission to England

Such in general was the spirit and the quality of the
man who was selected to visit England in order to make
the necessary choice of foreign professors. Jefferson
offered him the mission by letter on November 23, 1823;
but it was not until April 5, 1824, that he received a
specific direction from the Board to leave for Europe to
engage "characters of due degree of science, and of
talents for instruction, and of correct habits and morals."
The persons to be sought for and contracted with were to
be the professors who were to occupy the chairs of mathematics,
the ancient languages, anatomy and physiology,—
which should take in the history of the main theories of

medicine also,—physics, with astronomy added, and
natural history, embracing botany, zoology, mineralogy,
chemistry, and geology.

Gilmer was impowered to offer to each a fixed salary
of a thousand dollars as the minimum, and fifteen hundred
as the maximum, and also the tuition fees belonging
to the chair to be filled. A guarantee was to be given
that, during the first five years, the remuneration of the
incumbent was not to be allowed to fall below twentyfive
hundred dollars. Two thousand dollars was to be
deposited in an English bank to enable Gilmer to make
an advance of money to such of the professors as should
need it before shutting up their homes in England; he
himself was to receive fifteen hundred dollars to cover the
expenses of his journey, and also to pay for his services
in carrying out the mission; while a sum of six thousand
dollars was to be appropriated for the purchase of apparatus
for the use of the mathematical, chemical, physical,
and astronomical classes. As the University was expected
to be in a condition to receive students by February
1, 1825, it was hoped that he would be able to engage
all the professors by the middle of November, 1824.
His power of attorney was dated April 26, 1824. A letter
of introduction from Jefferson to Richard Rush, the
American minister in London, which accompanied this
document, recommended him to Rush's good offices as
the "best educated subject we have raised since the Revolution,
highly qualified in all the important branches of
sciences, particularly that of law. ... His morals, his
amiable temper, and his discretion, will do justice to any
confidence you may place in him." Madison, in a supplementary
letter, was equally complimentary. "He
will quickly recommend himself," he said, "by his enlightened
and accomplished mind, his pleasing disposition

and manners." "It is a sufficient testimonial of
his merits," he added, "that he was selected for this
mission"; and Rush was asked to bring him into communication
with persons in England of the type of Sir James
Mackintosh, who would be able to point out the scholars
to be approached.

With numerous copies of the Rockfish Gap Report in
his baggage, as Jefferson's gifts to his English correspondents,
like Dugald Stewart and Major John Cartwright,
and fortified with bills of exchange on Gowan
and Marx of London, Gilmer set sail from New York on
May 8, in the packet Cortez, which steered straight for
Liverpool; but, buffeted by fierce headwinds in St.
George's Channel, turned into the harbor of Holyhead,
in Wales, from which town he travelled overland to the
original port of destination, where he arrived twentynine
days after dropping out of sight of Sandy Hook.
Stopping at Hatton, after his departure from Liverpool,
to talk with Dr. Parr, he was told that he was absent
from home. During the first eight days of his sojourn
in London, he was, against his will, left in a state of restive
idleness by the crush of Mr. Rush's engagements; but
at the end of that interval, was able to obtain from
Lord Teignmouth and Mr. Brougham the letters which
he needed for Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh. He
held personal interviews with these two distinguished
Englishmen, both of whom he discovered to be very much
interested in the objects of his mission; but Sir James
Mackintosh was either too indolent, or too much absorbed
in his political duties, to give any assistance.
Lord Teignmouth's four letters were addressed to the
highest dignitaries at Oxford and Cambridge,—among
them, Dr. Edward Coplestone, afterwards Bishop of
Llandaff,—while Brougham's three were to persons described

by him as "the fittest" at Cambridge and Edinburgh,
one of whom was Dr. Martin Davy, master of
Caius College, and a friend of Dr. Parr's. Brougham
offered to introduce Gilmer to Davy in London; and was
so solicitous for his success as to put him on "his guard
against the various deceptions or rather exaggerations"
which would be practiced upon him, should he let the
purpose of his mission "be known to any but a very
few."

Before leaving London, Gilmer signed a contract with
Dr. Blaettermann, who, not expecting the appointment,
had recently rented and furnished a large house.[24] It is
to be noted that he was not guaranteed the salary of
twenty-five hundred dollars which Gilmer had been authorized
to offer; and it was even intimated to him that
the fifteen hundred dollars which he was to receive at
the outset, might, during the second year, be reduced to
one thousand. No real ground of objection to Blaettermann
seems to have been discovered; but as the terms
extended to him were less liberal than those granted to
the other professors, we can only infer that Gilmer's
impression of the man was not of the most favorable
nature in the beginning. He spoke with a distinct foreign
accent, which may have aroused a feeling of prejudice
against him. His salary was to begin to accrue
from the day of his sailing; he was to receive, in addition,
fifty dollars from every pupil who studied his courses
only; thirty, if the pupil attended one other school; and
twenty-five, if he attended two other schools. He bound

himself to follow no additional calling during the period
of his engagement.

Gilmer set out from London for Cambridge on June
22, carrying with him such letters of introduction as he
had been successful in obtaining; and on arriving there,
found that the long vacation had begun, and that Dr.
Davy was absent. He filled up the interval before the
latter's return with an endeavor to decide whether it
would be wise to engage the scientific professors among
the fellows of this University; and he finally concluded
that only incumbents for the chairs of mathematics and
natural philosophy should be selected there, as small attention
was paid in that institution to natural history.
While busy pushing this vital inquiry, he was the recipient
of the warmest hospitality from the masters of the
colleges and the undergraduates alike, to whom he was
recommended, not only by his scholar's mission, but also
by his handsome presence, pleasant manners, varied information,
and cultivated mind. He was invited to
occupy rooms in Trinity College, and dined almost daily
in its hall. The original letters of Sir Isaac Newton, the
manuscript of a portion of Milton's Paradise Lost, the
mulberry tree planted by the poet, his noble bust, and
other memorials of literary interest, were shown him
by the Bishop of Bristol in person. It was with a pleasant
emotion of surprise that he noted among people of
all ranks a genuine feeling of kindness for his own
country.

Before leaving Cambridge, he visited several famous
spots in its vicinity,—among them, the stately cathedral
at Boston, standing on an eminence that rose to a greater
height than the capitol at Richmond from a wide plain
recently rescued from the fens; and also the church at
Grand Chester, which was then thought to be the scene

of Gray's Elegy, from the belfry of which he heard, at
nine o'clock, the curfew tolling across the fields "the
knell of parting day." A little later, he was writing a
letter to William Wirt from the room at Stratford in
which Shakespeare was born. The lower floor of the
house was, at that time, used as a butcher's stall; and so
neglected was the great poet's fame in his native town
that Gilmer had to inquire of half a dozen passers-by before
he was able to find the grave.

From Stratford, he continued his journey to Oxford,
which was now deserted, for professors and students
alike had dispersed for the summer vacation. "I have
seen enough of England and learned enough of the two
Universities," he wrote from that place, "to see that the
difficulties we have to encounter are greater than we supposed,
—not so much from the variety of the applications,
as from the difficulty of inducing men of real abilities
to accept our offer. ... Education at the Universities
has become so expensive that it is almost exclusively
confined to the nobility and the opulent gentry, no
one of whom could we expect to engage. Of the few
persons at Oxford or Cambridge who have any extraordinary
talent, I believe ninety-nine out of a hundred are
designed for the profession of law or the gown, or aspire
to political distinction; and it would be difficult to persuade
one of these, even if poor, to repress so far the
impulse of youthful ambition as to accept a professorship
in a college in an unknown country. They who are
less aspiring who have learning, are caught up at an
early period in their several colleges; soon become fellows
and hope to be masters; which, with the apartments,
garden, and 4, 5 or 600 pounds sterling a year, comprises
all they can imagine of comfort or happiness."

An additional obstacle which Gilmer had to overcome

in securing competent men was the necessity, created by
poverty, which forced the University of Virginia to
assign several subjects to the same professor,—chemistry
and astronomy, for instance, to the already laborious
chair of natural philosophy. A second obstacle was
the shortness of the vacation in that institution; and
above all, the season at which it fell. In Oxford and
Cambridge, all study ceased between July 1 and October
10. "If the heat is insufferable in England," he exclaims,
"what must it be in our July, August, and September,
when there is to be no vacation!" He admitted
that, at this hour, he felt discouraged and depressed.
"Whether I can find professors elsewhere in England
is most doubtful; in the time (fixed by the Board of Visitors),
I fear not. I shall not return without engaging
them, if they are to be had in Great Britain or Germany.
I have serious thoughts of trying Göttingen."

Leaving Oxford in this mood, Gilmer visited Dr.
Parr in his home at Hatton. Parr was too infirm to be
of service to him in securing the professors sought for,
but was of assistance in preparing a catalogue of classical
books for the library. From Hatton, Gilmer travelled
on to Edinburgh, the city where his father had matriculated
fifty years before, and where a brother had died
from over-exertion in the prosecution of his studies. On
the day of his arrival, he obtained his first glimpse of a
tangible success in carrying out his mission. During his
sojourn in Cambridge, he had been introduced in the
rooms of the poet, William Mackworth Praed, to
Thomas Hewett Key, who, at that time, was a student
of medicine, after winning distinction in the academic
courses of that University. Gilmer, subsequent to their
parting there, invited him by letter to accept the professorship
of mathematics. It was the favorable reply to

this letter which reached Gilmer in Edinburgh, and gave
him a feeling of encouragement in place of the dejection
which had so harassed him. Key confessed that, at the
request of his father,—himself a physician in large practice,
—he had determined to withdraw from the pursuit
of pure science and literature. "Indeed," he added,
"nothing but your liberal proposition would have in–
duced me once more to turn my thought to that quarter.
... I shall be happy, should I find it in my power to
agree to your offer. The manners, habits, and sentiments
of the country, will, of course, be congenial with
my own. ... Nor would it at all grieve me, in a political
point of view, to become, if I may be allowed that honor,
a citizen of the United States."

Although Key suggests in this letter that the final arrangement
should be delayed until they should have the
opportunity to talk fully and intimately together at his
father's in town, he now submits a number of practical
questions for definite answers which would assist him in
deciding. What branch of science was he expected to
teach? What duties to perform? Would he be entirely
under his own or others' directions? How far should
he have the right to control his own time? What was
the existing state of the University as to government?
What were the number, age, and pursuits of its students?
Had Gilmer the authority to make a private arrangement?
And would the expense of the journey to the
University be partly met at his own charge? To these
numerous and searching interrogations, Gilmer was able
to return a prompt and satisfactory reply by letter. Key
would be expected to teach the mathematical sciences by
lessons or lectures, as he himself should prefer; he could
only be dismissed by a vote of two-thirds of the Board;
he could dispose of his time as he liked, provided that he

should follow no other calling that would be a source of
emolument to himself; and he was entitled to such an
advance of funds as would defray the expense of his passage
to Charlottesville.

An interesting paragraph of this letter related to the
number of students that would probably be in attendance
the first year. The estimate of that number which Gilmer
now gave was scrupulously honest, but it was so
exaggerated, in the light of the reality disclosed within
a few months, that it must have left a painful impression
on Key in recalling it after his arrival in Virginia.
Repeating Jefferson's sanguine prediction, Gilmer asserted
that not less than five hundred would matriculate
so soon as the doors of the University were opened to
receive them; and he was confident that at least two
hundred of these young men would enter the mathematical
course. As each pupil would be required to pay a
fee of twenty-five dollars at least, the amount that would
accrue to Key from students alone would be five thousand
dollars, and when the sum due from the University as a
fixed salary, namely, fifteen hundred dollars, was added,
the total would rise to the imposing figure of six thousand,
five hundred dollars. As no rent was to be asked for the
occupation of a pavilion,—which would have reduced
this figure,—the prospect was well calculated to dazzle
a young medical student like Key, who had been looking
forward in England to a protracted period of impecunious
probation.

So soon as Gilmer arrived in Edinburgh, he personally
interviewed a number of persons who had been recommended
to him in London. Among the first of these
was Professor John Leslie, who had, at one time, been a
tutor in the Randolph family, in Virginia. If Leslie had
not since become a scientist of indisputable acquirements,

his letter to Gilmer would appear to be distinctly presumptuous
and condescending: "I stated to you," he
wrote, "that it appeared to me that even the temporary
superintendence of a person of name from Europe might
contribute to give éclat and consistency to your infant
university. On reflecting since on this matter, I feel not
averse, under certain circumstances, to offer my own services.
I am prompted to engage in such a scheme, partly
from a wish to revisit some old friends, and partly from
an ardent desire to promote the interests of learning and
liberality. I could consent to leave Edinburgh for half
a year. I could sail from Liverpool by the middle of
April, visit the colleges in the New England States, New
York, and Philadelphia, and spend a month or six weeks
at Charlottesville. I should then bestow my whole
thoughts in digesting the best plans of education, etc.;
give all the preliminary lectures in mathematics, natural
philosophy, and chemistry; and besides, go through a
course comprising all my original views and discoveries in
meteorology, heat, and electricity. Having put the
great machine in motion, I should then take my leave to
visit other parts of the Continent. But I should continue
to exercise a parental care over the future of the university,
and urge forward the business by my correspondence.
To make such a sacrifice as this, I should expect
a donation of at least one thousand pounds, which would
include all my expenses on the voyage."

Leslie's expansive offer, which was reported to the
Board by letter, discloses upon its face that he was too
costly a luxury to be in the reach of a poorly endowed
university, still in its swaddling clothes. Gilmer, for
some days, cherished the hope that he would be able to
secure the talents of Professor Buchanan for the chair
of natural philosophy and chemistry, two courses which

he soon found it necessary to unite under one instructor.
Buchanan objected to a session prolonged through the
entire summer, on account both of the heat and the obstacle
which it would create to his revisiting his native
country at the only season when it would be convenient
for his British friends to entertain him. He finally declined
the invitation; and so did Dr. Craigie, who was offered
the chair of anatomy, for which he was extraordinarily
well equipped. It is not a cause for surprise to find
that Gilmer was disposed to feel somewhat bitter over
his failures. "When I saw needy young men," he wrote
Jefferson afterwards, "living miserably up ten or twelve
stories, in that wretched climate of Edinbrough, reluctant
to join us, I did not know where we could expect to
raise recruits."

It seems, however, that not all the scholars were so impoverished.
The pedagogic calling in Scotland had become
lucrative. "Even the Greek professor at Glasgow,
Leslie tells me," Gilmer wrote in the letter just quoted,
"receives fifteen hundred guineas a year. Some of the
lecturers here receive above four thousand pounds sterling.
Besides this, we have united branches which seem
never to be combined in the same person in Europe.
... I have, moreover, well satisfied myself that, taking
all the departments of natural history, we shall, at Philadelphia
and New York, procure persons more fit for our
purpose than anywhere in Great Britain. The same may
be said of anatomy. ... As at present advised, I cannot
say positively that I may not be condemned to the
humiliation of going back with Dr. Blaettermann only."

Socially, he found the city of the North quite as attractive
as Cambridge or Oxford. While there, he was
entertained by the distinguished advocate, Murray, a
kinsman of Lord Mansfield; and was also kindly received

by Lord Forbes, a retired officer of the army.
The numerous acquaintances made by him were, he said,
astonished to discover that he had been in Great Britain
only six weeks or seven weeks, "and yet spoke English
quite as well as they, to say the least. I believe many
of them, on both sides the Tweed, would give a good deal
for my accent and articulation, which, I assure you, are
nothing improved by this raw climate, which makes every
one hoarse." Gilmer had an opportunity to be introduced
to Jeffrey, and so pleasing was the impression which
he made upon that celebrated critic, his wife, and the
members of their particular coterie, that he was pronounced
by them to be the most winning and popular
American who had ever visited Edinburgh.