Mr. Morrill's bill became a law July 2nd, 1862, and during the Legislative session of 1863, there were presented the serious questions of the acceptance of the Act by Massachusetts, and of the incorporation of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Mr. Erastus O. Haven was chairman of the joint committee to whom these questions were submitted. The committee entered upon a most thorough and candid inquiry, and it is due to that committee that it should be stated that a more faithful, and fair investigation was never had. Early in the session Gov: Andrew had assembled at his house a levee of the leading men upon both sides of the question, and advocated with all his power the association of the college with the Bussey institution which was or was to be a part of Harvard College, but had not then been opened as a school. Prof. Agassiz was there urging the annexation of the Agricultural College to Harvard, but no members of the corporation were present, and there was no evidence that its authorities took any interest in the question, except that its president, Rev. Thomas Hill, who had acceded to the office in October, 1862, expressed a desire to have the college so located in the act of incorporation. The disposition of a large majority of the gentlemen present may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted: That the grant of land and land scrip hereby authorized shall be made on the following conditions, to which, as well as to the provisions hereinbefore contained, the previous assent of the several States shall be signified by legislat ive acts:

FIRST. If any portion of the fund invested, as provided by the foregoing section, or any portion of the interest thereon, shall, by any action or contingency, be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by the State to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund shall remain forever undiminished; and the annual interest shall be regularly applied without diminution to the purposes named in the fourth section of this act, except that a sum not exceeding ten per centum upon the amount received by any State under the provisions of this act, may be expended for the purchase of lands for sites or experimental farms, whenever authorized by the respective legislatures of said States.

SECOND. No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon, shall be applied, directly or indirectly, under any pretence whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or buildings.

THIRD. Any State which may take and claim the benefit of the provisions of this act shall provide within five years, at least not less than one college, as described in the fourth section of this act, or the grant to such State shall cease; and said State shall be bound to pay the United States the amount received of any lands previously sold, and that the title to purchasers under the State shall be valid.

FOURTH. An annual report is to be made regarding the progress of each college, recording any improvements and experiments made, with their cost and results, and such other matters, including State industrial and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful; one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free, by each, to all the other colleges which may be endowed under the provisions of this act, and also one copy to the Secretary of the Interior. SIXTH. No State while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the government of the United States shall be entitled to the benefit of this act.

Approved July 2, 1862.

was with Gov. Andrew, whilst the smaller number, more particularly in sympathy and alliance with farmers of the Commonwealth, said little, but concluded to "bide their time."

The whole subject was finally before the committee, which had many hearings, including evening sessions. Mr. Wilder, Mr. Flint and I were attached to the Board of Agriculture, and were appointed a committee to express the views of the Board, that the Agricultural College for farmers' sons should be located in the country, and not in nor near a great city. We feared its temptations, we asked for pure country air, we painted a scene which would be purely rustic, and where the time and attention of the students would not be diverted by the attractions of a city. We felt that we represented the opinion of the farmers; and surely never did men plead for a cause in which they had no personal interest with an earnestness, and confidence, it would be unbecoming to say an eloquence, more effective than we prayed the committee not to decide the location in their bill. knew that the first impression of the committee, from the position of Gov. Andrew, and the pressure of leading men, city men, not particularly interested in farming, was in favor of Harvard College. But we satisfied them that it was a mistake that Harvard College, as a corporation, took any interest in the subject. It had made no effort to launch the Bussey Institution. It is now open with one to three students, and never I think more than nine.

We

The committee were fully converted, and reported the act of incorporation, which became a law April 29, 1863, whilst the acceptance of the congressional grant of 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress was declared eleven days before. Massachusetts claims to be the first state to accept the act. Fourteen gentlemen, one from each county in the state, were named in the charter. These names were inserted by the committee without the knowledge of, and without consultation with any man named therein. These names furnish striking proof how thoroughly the committee were convinced that the college should not be located near the city, because so many of the incorporators had committed themselves before the committee against the Harvard College connection, including the corporators who resided in the counties which included the locations of Harvard and the Bussey farm!

The Joint Special Committee consisted of the following members:

Stephen H. Williams, Roxbury, Thomas White, Randolph,
J. L. S. Thompson, Lancaster, Samuel Smith, Jr., Granby,
P. Francis Wells, Cambridge.

This committee acted also under the following resolve:
RESOLVE AUTHORIZING CERTAIN EXPENDITURES BY THE COMMITTEE ON

AN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

Resolved, That the joint special committee to whom was referred so much of the governor's address as relates to an agricultural college, the society of natural history and the institute of technology, have authority to invite conference with parties interested, or who may impart valuable information, and also may visit any localities or institutions, and incur other needful expenditures to an amount not exceeding three hundred dollars. Approved February 17, 1863. Chap. 166.-An Act to provide for the reception of a grant of Congress, and to create a fund for the promotion of education in agriculture and the mechanic arts. Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts hereby accepts the grant offered to it by the United States, as set forth and defined in the act of congress entitled "An Act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," said act being chapter one hundred and thirty of the statutes of the United States, passed at the second session of the thirty-sev enth congress, and approved by the president July second, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two, upon the terms and conditions contained and set forth in said act of congress; and the governor of the Commonwealth is hereby authorized and instructed to give due notice thereof, to the government of the United States.

SECTION 2. The governor is hereby authorized and instructed to receive, by himself or his order, from the secretary of the interior, or any other person authorized to issue the same, all the land scrip to which this Commonwealth may be entitled by the provisions of the before-mentioned act of congress.

SECTION 3. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, is hereby authorized and instructed to appoint a commissioner, whose duty it shall be to locate, without unnecessary delay, all the land scrip which may come into the possession of the Commonwealth by virtue of this act, and to sell the same from time to time, on such terms as the governor and council shall determine. Said commissioner shall give a bond, with sufficient sureties, in the penal sum of fifty thousand dollars, to be approved by the governor and council, that he will faithfully perform the duties of his office, and shall render full and accurate returns to them, at the end of every six months, or oftener if required to do so by them, of his proceedings under this act. The compensation of said commissioner shall be fixed by the governor and council, and shall be paid out of the treasury of the Commonwealth, and the governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrants therefor. SECTION 4. All moneys received by virtue of this act, for the sale of land scrip, shall be immediately deposited with the treasurer of the Commonwealth, who shall invest and hold the same in accordance with the fourth section of the afore-mentioned act of congress. The moneys so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, to be entitled the Fund for the Promotion of Education in Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, which shall be appropriated and used in such manner as the legislature shall prescribe, and in accordance with the said act of congress.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved April 18, 1863.

Of the incorporators since we last met here, Marshall P. Wilder, the father of agricultural education in New England, the enthusiastic, generous, persistent, mild mannered, peace making, patriotic gentleman, whose love of nature and nature's God enlarged his whole being,

"Having won

The bounds of man's appointed years, at last,
Life's blessings all enjoyed, life's labors done,
Serenely to his final rest has passed.
And we are glad that he has lived thus long,
And glad that he has gone to his reward;
Nor can we deem that Nature did him wrong
Softly to disengage the vital cord,

For ere his hand grew palsied, and his eye

Dim with mists of age, it was his time to die."

ACT OF INCORPORATION. (1863. Chap. 220). AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TRUSTEES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Marshall P. Wilder, of Dorchester; Charles G. Davis, of Plymouth; Nathan Durfee, of Fall River; John Brooks, of Princeton; Henry Colt, of Pittsfield; William S. Southworth, of Lowell; Charles C. Sewall, of Medfield; Paoli Lathrop, of South Hadley; Phineas Stedman, of Chicopee; Allen W. Dodge, of Hamilton; George Marston, of Barnstable; William B. Washburn, of Greenfield; Henry L. Whiting, of Tisbury; John B. King, of Nantucket, their associates and successors, are hereby constituted a body corporate, by the name of *[the Trustees of] the Massachusetts Agricultural College, the leading object of which shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life; to be located as hereinafter provided; and they and their successors, and such as shall be duly elected members of said corporation, shall be and remain a body corporate by that name forever. And for the orderly conducting of the business of said corporation, the said trustees shall have power and authority from time to time, as occasion may require, to elect a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer, and such other officers of said corporation as may be found necessary, and to declare the duties and tenures of their respective offices; [and also to remove any trustee from the same corporation, when, in their judgment, he shall be rendered incapable, by age, or otherwise, of discharging the duties of his office, or shall neglect or refuse to perform the same; and, whenever vacancies shall occur in the board of trustees, the legislature shall fill the same]: provided, nevertheless, that the number of members shall never be greater than fourteen, exclusive of the governor of the Commonwealth, the secretary of the board of education, the secretary of the board of agriculture, and the president of the faculty, each of whom shall be, ex officio, a member of said corporation.

*[1. Amended by Chap. 223, Sec. 1, Acts of 1864.

The corporate name of "The Trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural College" shall hereafter be "The Massachusetts Agricultural College."

[2. Amended by Chap. 50, Resolves of 1884.

* * * the power of appointment of members of said board of trustees, and the powers of removal defined in section one of chapter two hundred and twenty, of the acts of eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be hereafter exercised by the governor with the advice and consent of the council, instead of said board; and said board during the cur

Hon: John Brooks of Princeton was a farmer, enthusiastic in his calling, who had long been a member of the Board of Agriculture. He died before the college was organized. Paoli Lathrop of South Hadley, was also a successful farmer who died in 1872. Allen W. Dodge of Hamilton, who died in 1878, was long connected officially with the Essex society, and was treasurer of the county. Rev.

rent year shall, by lot, divide the elected members thereof into seven classes of two mem. bers each, of whom one class shall vacate their office January first, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and one class on the first day of January in each year thereafter; and such action shall be certified by the board to the governor and council; and appointments to fill the vacancies so created shall be made for the term of seven years.

SEC. 2. The said corporation shall have full power and authority to determine at what times and places their meetings shall be holden, and the manner of notifying the trustees to convene at such meetings; and also, from time to time, to elect a president of said college, and such professors, tutors, instructors and other officers of said college as they shall judge most for the interest thereof, and to determine the duties, salaries, emoluments, responsibilities and tenures of their several offices.

And the said corporation are further empowered to purchase or erect, and keep in repair, such houses and other buildings as they shall judge necessary for the said college; and also, to make and ordain as occasion may require, reasonable rules, orders and bylaws not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth, with reasonable penalties, for the good government of the said college and for the regulation of their own body, and also to determine and regulate the course of instruction in said college, and to confer such appropriate degrees as they may determine and prescribe: provided, nevertheless, that no corporate business shall be transacted at any meeting unless one-half, at least, of the trustees are present.

SEC. 3. The said corporation may have a common seal, which they may alter or renew at their pleasure, and all deeds sealed with the seal of said corporation, and signed by their order, shall, when made in their corporate name, be considered in law as the deeds of said corporation; and said corporation may sue and be sued in all actions, real, personal or mixed, and may prosecute the same to final judgment and execution, by the name of the Trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural College; and said corporation shall be capable of taking and holding in fee simple, or any less estate, by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise, any lands, tenements, or other estate, real or personal: provided, that the clear annual income of the same shall not exceed thirty thousand dollars.

SEC. 4. The clear rents and profits of all the estate, real and personal, of which the said corporation shall be seized and possessed, shall be appropriated to the uses of said college in such manner as shall most effectually promote the objects declared in the first section of this act, and as may be recommended from time to time by the said corporation, they conforming to the will of any donor or donors, in the application of any estate which may be given, devised or bequeathed, for any particular object connected with the college.

SEC. 5. The legislature of this Commonwealth may grant any further powers to, or alter, limit, annul or restrain, any of the powers vested by this act in the said corporation, as shall be found necessary to promote the best interests of the said college; and more especially may appoint and establish overseers or visitors of the said college, with all necessary powers for the better aid, preservation and government thereof. *[The said corporation shall make an annual report of its condition, financial and otherwise, to the legislature at the commencement of its session].

*[1. Amended by Chap. 378, Acts of 1871.

"The college shall furnish to the governor and council a copy of the annual report of its operations."

SEC. 6. The board of trustees shall determine the location of said college in some suitable place within the limits of this Commonwealth, and shall purchase, or obtain, by gift, grant, or otherwise, in connection therewith, a tract of land containing at least one hun