University of Virginia Library

XII. Fight for Appropriations, Continued

There is an amusing side to the almost nervous eagerness with which Cabell started in at once to discourage his persistant co-worker at Monticello from looking upon this second loan as simply a spur to another application to the General Assembly for money. Jefferson's attitude towards appropriations for the University was very much in the spirit of the Frenchman's definition of gratitude: he was never satisfied with what he was able to drag out of the reluctant Legislature, -it was always the favors to come, and not those already received, which he kept in view. No one understood better than he how much expenditure was required to complete the University in the grand manner which he thought indispensable; and his eye, therefore, was never withdrawn from the future appropriation, however much he might be pleased with the past one.

"It is the anxious wish of our best friends," wrote Cabell, who was uneasily conscious of this peculiarity of his correspondent, "and of no one more than myself, that the money now granted may he sufficient to finish the buildings. We must not come here again on that subject. These successive applications for money to finish the buildings give grounds of reproach to our enemies, and draw our friends into difficulties with their constituents." On March 10, he wrote again in the same strain. The Legislature, he now hints, may indirectly force the Board of Visitors to throw open the doors before the University is completed, by requiring the unencumbered part of the annuity to be reserved for the payment of the

salaries of the professors. "The popular cry," he adds, "is that there is too much finery, too much extravagance." In April, he was convinced that the University had lost ground of late among the great body of the people. How was the public confidence in the institution to be restored and strengthened? "By a call upon all the friends of literature and science in the State to see that their influence was directed to the choice of the very best men in each community for the next Assembly." He repeated with alarm the censorious utterances of the Presbyterians at Hampden-Sidney College, and of the Episcopalians at the College of William and Mary. "I learn that the former sect, or rather the clergy of that sect, in their synods and presbyteries talk much of the University. They believe, I am informed, that the Socinians are to be installed at the University for the purpose of overthrowing the prevailing religious opinions of the country." It is quite possible that this preposterous suggestion had its fountain-head, not so much with the denomination to which it was attributed by rumor, as with the opponents of further loans to the University within the ranks of the General Assembly itself. Not long after the session of 1821-22 began, Mr. Griffin, of the House of Delegates, endeavored, in a private interview with Cabell, to ascertain whether the University would desist from asking for more appropriations, should the Legislature consent to cancel its bonds. On that condition alone would the debt be released. Cabell declined emphatically to give the pledge, and his supporters in the Assembly, anticipating Jefferson's indignation at such a proposition, heartily approved his reply.

Whilst this tortuous and ceaseless struggle for State assistance was going on, Jefferson was threatened with disability in the use of the only weapon which he had at

his immediate disposal. When, during the session of I821-22, Cabell asked him to write to numerous influential members of the Assembly in support of the University, he replied, "You do not know, my dear sir, how great is my physical inability to write. The joints of my right wrist and fingers, in consequence of an ancient dislocation, are become so stiffened that I can write but at the pace of a snail. The copying of our report and my letter lately sent to the Governor, being seven pages, employed me laboriously a whole week. The letter I am writing has taken me two days. A letter of a page or two costs me a day of labor, and of painful labor." But this fact did not permanently curb his industry, or diminish his assiduity in pushing the cause which he had so closely at heart. Estimating in January, 1822, the amount still required for the completion of the buildings at $5,564, he started in to secure the release of the annuities for the years 1822 and 1823 from the interest charges imposed by the Legislature; and he even had the quiet hardihood to ask for a substantial increase in the allotted fifteen thousand dollars. In the meanwhile, the obstacles which Cabell as spokesman had to overcome grew more numerous and alarming. He still ascribed many of the stones in his way to the influence of the clergy. "William and Mary," he wrote in January, 1822, "has conciliated them. It is represented that they are to be excluded from the University . . . . I have made overtures of free communication with Mr. Rice, and shall take occasion to call on Bishop Moore. I do not know that I shall touch on this delicate point with either of them. But I wish to consult these heads of the church and ask their opinions."

While Cabell, in this state of perplexity, was turning from one group of opponents to another, in the hope of

bending them all to his purpose, he received a suggestion from Jefferson which, for a short interval, shifted his attention elsewhere. It appears that, during the war of 1812-15, when the British, having landed on the Patuxent, were threatening to invade the Northern Neck, the State, not having time to obtain pecuniary assistance from the National Government, borrowed a large amount from the Richmond banks, upon which it had since been compelled to pay a high rate of interest. After the war, a claim was entered at Washington for the reimbursement, not only of the principal, but of this interest also. The principal was promptly paid, but not the interest. It was the State's claim to the latter which Jefferson hoped would be transferred in part at least to the University. The accumulated interest due amounted to several hundred thousand dollars; but so small was the prospect of its being paid that Cabell said that an effort to secure it was "like working for a dead horse." Nevertheless, he was convinced that a petition for the appropriation of this prospective fund was the only one which the Assembly, at that time, would consider with favor. "The members," he wrote in January (1822), "seem liberal in giving lands in the moon . . . . Some of our friends are much dissatisfied with what is called the intended Dead Horse bill; but all estimate it is better than nothing."

But Jefferson and himself did not allow so precarious a hope as this to keep them from pressing for some substantial advantage from the General Assembly. In February (1822), a bill was submitted which provided for the suspension of interest on the loans during five years, and also arranged for the final extinguishment of principal and interest by means of the amount to be collected from the Central Government. There was now a faction

in the Assembly which was urging the transfer to the State treasury of the entire Literary Fund, on the ground that the sum annually granted for the education of the poor had been loosely spent; and this wing, combining with those members who were opposed to giving aid to the University, was successful in defeating, not only the bill which would have liquidated the University's debt, should the Government pay the interest claim, but also the bill suggested by Jefferson, which, had it been enacted, would have authorized the interest charge on the University annuity to be temporarily suspended. Perhaps, the Legislature was not so niggard as it appears to have been from this action, for there was still a widely dispersed report that economy had not been shown so far in the erection of buildings; and that this wastefulness was likely to continue.

Were the two co-workers disheartened? If so, only for a very short period, for hardly had a new session begun in December (1822) when Cabell decided to obtain the General Assembly's consent to a loan of fifty thousand dollars for the building of the Rotunda, and at the same time to secure the passage of an Act that would place the University's obligations on the footing of the other debts of the Commonwealth, which would bring about their ultimate extinction along with those debts. "Let us have nothing to do with the old balances, or dead horses, or escheated lands," he said to Jefferson, "but ask boldly to he exonerated from our debts by the powerful sinking fund of the State. This is manly and dignified legislation, and if we fail, the blame will not be ours."

William C. Rives, it seems, had already put the interrogatory to Jefferson: "Which would you prefer, the remission of the principal debt or an advance for the erection

of the Library?" Very emphatically and characteristically, and shrewdly too, Jefferson replied, "Without ,question, the latter. Of all things the most important is the completion of the buildings. The remission of the debt will come of itself. It is already remitted in the minds of every man, even of the enemies of the institution . . . . The great object of our aim from the beginning has been to make the establishment the most eminent in the United States, in order to draw to it the youth of every State, but especially of the South and West . . . . The opening of the institution in a half state of readiness would be the most fatal step which could be adopted. It would be an impatience defeating its own object by putting on a subordinate character in the outset, which never would be shaken off, instead of opening largely and in full system. Taking our stand on commanding ground at once will beckon everything to it, and a reputation once established will maintain itself for ages. To secure this, a single sum of fifty or sixty thousand dollars is wanting. If we cannot get it now, we will at another trial. Courage and patience is the watchword."

This sagacious advice, accompanied by words so convincing and so inspiriting, prevailed. Cabell wrote on the 30th of the same month that the University's friends in the General Assembly had agreed almost unanimously to solicit a loan of sixty thousand dollars, and, for the present, to cease all agitation in favor of the State's assumption of the debt. "We propose," he said with a politician's astuteness, "to move for one object at a time in order not to unite the enemies of both measures against one bill. Should we succeed in getting the loan, we may afterwards try to get rid of the debt." The bill authorizing the loan having passed the House, was

adopted by the Senate on February 5 (1823). During the discussion in the House, William F. Gordon highly distinguished himself in his advocacy of the measure; and on February to, he submitted a resolution calling upon the Committee of Finance to report "the best means of paying off the debts of the University"; but, the members being of the opinion that enough assistance for the present had been extended to the institution, it was rejected by a large majority; and that majority was still larger when a similar resolution, offered by George Loyall, was voted upon the ensuing day. There was an impression in the Assembly that the friends of the University were asking for too much at one session, and this soon created a disposition to censure and obstruct them; but, in self defense, they urged, that, as they had found both the House and the Senate more kindly disposed towards the University than they had been during several years, it seemed to be only the part of common sense to take the utmost advantage of the prevailing and, perhaps, evanescent, feeling.

Two days before the final passage of the bill, Cabell had written to Jefferson, "We must never come here again for money to erect buildings . . . . Should the funds fall short, I would rather ask for money hereafter to pay off old debts than to finish the Library." [50] Cocke advised that all these debts should be liquidated first, and that, afterwards, the cost of the Rotunda should be made to conform to such surplus as remained. Already by March 24, -barely a month after the authority was given to borrow sixty thousand dollars for the completion of the buildings, -both Cabell and Cocke were apprehensive lest the "old sachem" should be contemplating another call upon the Legislature for financial aid.

" It appears to me," Cabell wrote to him, "that the plan you have adopted of engaging for the hull of the Library is a prudent one. I earnestly hope that the house may be got in a condition to be used with the proceeds of the last loan, and that we may be able to make this assurance to the next Assembly when we apply for the remission. Mr. Doddridge requested me to state that he had supported this third loan, but that his patience was worn out, and that another application could not and would not be received . . . . There is a powerful party in this State with whom it is almost a passport to reputation to condemn the plan and management of the University . . . . Perhaps, this may be the result of old political conflicts."

Some impression seems to have been made on Jefferson by these half unreserved, half hinted remonstrances, for his next step was to apply for the remission of the interest on the loans. In the report for October 6, 1823, he informed the General Assembly that the University could be opened at the end of 1824, should the annuity, in the meanwhile, be released from the burden of its incumbrances. He intimated that, should this be refused, no just reason for complaint would exist if the doors were to continue tightly closed indefinitely. The charge for interest on $180,000, the amount of the loans, would be $10,800, and two or three thousand dollars more would be required to keep the finished buildings in repair. As this would leave a surplus of only about two thousand dollars for the redemption of $180,000, it would be necessary for an interval of twenty-five years to go by before the principal could be expected even to approximate liquidation. "This," Jefferson remarked, with dry sarcasm, "is a time two distant for the education of any person

already born, or to be born for some time to come; and in that period, a great expense will be incurred in the mere preservation of the buildings and the apparatus."

In December (1823), Cabell was able to say with confidence that there was a rising sentiment in the State favorable to the remission, not simply of the interest, but of the entire debt. This new feeling was to be attributed either to impatience with Jefferson's patent determination to keep the University shut up until it was fully completed, or to admiration for his stubborn and disinterested zeal in its behalf. Prematurely it would appear, Cabell wrote, on the 29th, that the National Government had finally passed affirmatively on the State's claim to interest on the advances made during the war of 1812-15. Had this been really so, there would have been added at once to the principal of the Literary Fund an amount so large as to produce a surplus in interest sufficient to supply the University's needs in the way of books for the library and apparatus for the laboratories. There was, during the session of 1823-24, no prospect of obtaining a further sum for building; but as the purchase of books, and apparatus would indicate an intention to throw open the lecture-rooms at an early date, the General Assembly, Cabell thought, might be willing to make an appropriation for that purpose out of the surplus of the Literary Fund. "Am I right in supposing," he inquired of Jefferson in February, 1824, "that fifty thousand dollars, payable in ten annual instalments, for the purchase of books and apparatus, with a power to the Visitors to anticipate the money for those purposes only, would be a good measure next to he adopted? I am thinking of it." "Perhaps," he writes three days later, "forty thousand dollars would be more apt to succeed." Jefferson was confident that not a cent less than the latter sum

would be required. While the two friends were debating as to the exact amount to be asked of the General Assembly, that body became so impatient for the University to begin its career that, in January, 1824, it relieved the Board of the obligation to pay interest on its bonds and imposed the whole amount of that charge upon the surplus revenue of the Literary Fund. This proved that Jefferson had whirled his club with success; but how was the fifty thousand dollars needed for the purchase of books and apparatus to be obtained?

Cabell now sprang a stratagem on the Assembly, which kindled an angry flame both without and within the walls of the capitol. The Farmers' Bank, at this time, was petitioning the General Assembly for the renewal of its charter. Here was an opportunity to be pounced upon; and this he promptly did with a glee which he was unable to repress in his report to Jefferson. "I kept my secret even from the Visitors, and my brother, and most intimate friends," he said. The House of Delegates passed the bill without requiring any proviso, but when it came up in the Senate, he moved that the charter should only be renewed on condition that the bank should pay the University a bonus of fifty thousand dollars. Seventeen of the Senators went over to his side; the rest bitterly opposed him. Elsewhere also, as he expressed it, he stirred up "a hornet's nest." The whole number of the stockholders, debtors, directors, and officers combined, "in the midst of a prodigious ferment," to combat and defeat the proposition; and the majority in the Senate, under this pressure from the outside, quickly fell away. In spite of this fact, Cabell kept up the fight, but without success. He found a dubious compensation for his failure in the action of the General Assembly, on March 6, 1824, in empowering the Board of Visitors to receive, for the

University's benefit, fifty thousand dollars of the money which the National Government was expected to pay.

Before this sum could be collected it would be necessary for him to concentrate on Congress the full force of his extraordinary powers of persuasion. A bill, introduced in the House of Representatives by James Barbour, authorizing the payment of the interest as legally due, had failed. Cabell endeavored in vain to prevail on Jefferson to draft a memorial to that body to show how this interest, should it he recovered, was to be spent. The claim offered the only prospect of obtaining the funds needed, for Cabell admitted that the General Assembly's liberality was exhausted. He visited Washington in April to press it, and on his arrival there, found that it was in a state of suspension. A meeting of the Virginia delegation was held, and Barbour was instructed to bring the claim before the War Department, which quickly recommended that Congress should settle it. Monroe was now President, and Cabell wrote to him on the subject, with full knowledge of his interest in the University, and his willingness to assist it by every influence that he could legitimately employ. Monroe was now told that, so soon as Congress should recognize the claim as just, the General Assembly would order an equal amount to he advanced out of the Literary Fund, in anticipation of its reimbursement by the Government.