erty and administer its affairs, and that the power and rights of visitation and supervision, so far as to see that the trust is fulfilled, be vested in the commonwealth of California."

The subject, as presented in this letter, was discussed among us, by correspondence and otherwise, during the summer of 1849; but nothing could really be done in the matter at that time. For, although we were under the United States flag, we were still under Mexican law. The proclamation, however, had been made, calling a convention to form a State constitution. This convention was to meet in Monterey, in the following September, and would bring together, as we knew, many gentlemen from all parts of the country, and among them might be found, as we thought, those who would take an interest in the college plan.

At the proposed time the convention met, and brought together a large number of able men, mostly young, and nearly all entire strangers one to another. All who came from the mines were in great haste to do their work and get back to the placers, for then was their harvest season, and days were precious. But in the hurry and rush of things, some friends were made to the college enterprise. It was easy to get attention to the matter of a foundation for common schools, and secure a generous provision for their support by the setting apart for that purpose, through the constitution, the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of public land; but, in that hurrying time, to awaken an interest in the remoter idea of building a college, was not so easy. It is not wonderful that this was so. Indeed it is surprising that there were any disposed to enlist in the work. There was not a single school then, in the whole of California. There had been a school in San Francisco, and perhaps in one or two other places, temporarily, but at this time there was none. There were very few children, very few certainly, except those of the native Californians, using the Spanish language. And there was no near prospect of a youthful population to need a college. But there were some who foresaw that this country would soon attract hither a population, and hold it, and

become a thriving State. To be sure, its great resources, as they have since been developed, were not then known or dreamed of; but the most discerning people felt assured of a prosperous future for the country. And in that future, they knew that a college would be a necessity. And they knew, at the same time, that a college could not be built in a day; and therefore deemed it wise to lay the foundation, so far as possible, then, in order to have it somewhere near to readiness when it should be wanted.

The State constitution, which was formed in September, 1849, and adopted by vote of the people, in November, made San José the capital, and appointed the meeting of the first Legislature there on the fifteenth day of the following December. At that session it was believed a law for the incorporation of colleges could be passed, under which, if it should be desired, a charter in pursuance of our plan could be obtained. Meanwhile, efforts looking towards location and the beginning of endowment were being made.

James Stokes and Kimball H. Dimmick owned land situated on the Guadaloupe River, in San José. Rev. S. V. Blakeslee obtained from them the promise of a gift of a generous portion of that land as a site, and for the use and benefit of the proposed college as soon as a charter should be obtained, and a Board of Trustees organized. The persons named in the writing, as those who should be members of the Board at the beginning, were: Forrest Shepard, Chester S. Lyman, John W. Douglass, Benjamin Corey, Samuel H. Willey, T. Dwight Hunt, Thomas Douglass, and S. V. Blakeslee. The next movement was for a law providing for college incorporations. When the time for the assembling of the first Legislature came, a few friends of this college project met at San José. To attend that meeting, I remember riding to San José on horseback from Monterey, with the party of officers who accompanied General Riley, when he went to turn over the civil government into the hands of the recently chosen State officials. In the interviews that followed, touching the college matter, it was understood that a bill would be

introduced for a law under which colleges could be chartered, and that one provision of the law should be, that the proposed college should possess property to the amount of at least twenty thousand dollars. It was found, at this meeting, that some of the gentlemen who had been previously named as Trustees, had, even so soon, left the country, and others had gone where they could not act. Therefore a somewhat different list of names was agreed upon for the first Trustees, as appears by a memorandum dated San José, December 18 1849. It reads as follows:

"It is the understanding that Chester S. Lyman, Sherman Day, Forrest Shepard, Frederick Billings, and S. H. Willey, become a corporate body according to the laws of this State, as soon as the Legislature shall have passed the necessary acts, to hold property for the foundation of California University or College, and to be part of a Board of Trustees of such university or college. That as soon as convenient after they have obtained the charter, they will meet and fill the Board of Trustees, to the number stated in the instrument of incorporation. That the Governor, and the Superintendent of Schools of the State of California, be ex officio members of the Board. That, at the same meeting, measures be devised for raising funds for the endowment of the University. That the proposed plans be stated in a circular, and sent to such persons in the State, as may be expected to cooperate in founding such an institution."

The plan thus outlined was brought to the attention of the Presbytery of San Francisco. The Presbytery consisted of Rev. T. D. Hunt, Rev. J. W. Douglass, and Rev. S. H. Willey. Acting with them at this time, were, Rev. J. A. Benton, Rev. S. V. Blakeslee, and Hon. Sherman Day. At the meeting of May 15, 1850, the following minute was adopted:—

The members of the Presbytery, deeply impressed with the need of common schools and higher institutions of learning being early established among us, for the purpose of cultivating the intellect and developing the genius, and securing moral worth of the community, look with particular favor

upon every effort made to advance the interests of schools, and will, as individuals, heartily co-operate with such as may undertake to found a college or University on broad and liberal principles, and would earnestly commend any such enterprise to the favor and support of their fellow-citizens."

In due time the bill providing for college charters was passed, and became a law. It required that application should be made to the Supreme Court, which was to determine whether the property possessed by the proposed college, was equal to the required twenty thousand dollars, and whether in other respects it ought to be chartered. Not long after this law went into effect, Frederick Billings, on behalf of the proposed Trustees, applied to the Supreme Court for a charter. He placed before that body the agreements which had been entered into by parties, to give land and other property for the foundation and endowment of the institution.

When the matter was considered by the court, the majority of the judges chose to give so strict a construction to the requirements of the statute, as to the property, that they could not be complied with. There had then been no surveys of land, or determination of titles, such as the court held to be necessary to meet the requirements of the law under which a charter must be granted, and for that reason they declined to give it. The case is recorded in California Reports, I, page 330.

It may throw some light on the prospects of the college plans to indicate the Protestant Churches at this time existing in the principal towns of California. There were, in San Francisco, two Episcopal Churches, one Methodist, one Congregational, one Baptist, and one Presbyterian, each having a chapel built of boards, and cloth lined; in Sacramento, one Methodist Church, with a similarly constructed chapel, one Congregational Church, with a chapel in process of construction; also small Baptist and Episcopal congregations; in Stockton, a Presbyterian and a Methodist Church; in San José, a Presbyterian and a Baptist Church; in Benicia, a Presbyterian Church, with a convenient chapel. There was

a Presbyterian minister preaching in Napa Valley. There may have been a few other Protestant clergymen in the State, but a very few.

Another branch of educational work called for attention at this time. It was that of organizing common schools, and getting them into operation according to the laws which the Legislature had enacted for that purpose. This was a work of no little difficulty. It required a great deal of time, and there were very few who had time to give. In San Francisco the City Council hesitated to assess a tax for the support of schools. Business men, in their hurry, said, "Schools are not needed." To show that they were needed, the pupils of three or four private schools that had been started, were got together, and marched in a procession through Montgomery Street. There were about one hundred in all. Men saw the little procession, and said, “There are more children needing schools in San Francisco, than we thought, after all." Thereupon, the city government, in 1851, adopted the schools and provided for their support. But the question of their continuance, and the adoption in the State of the commonschool system as it existed in the Northern States, was an open one for several years. It had its advocates, and it had warm opponents. Its friends were very earnest in its behalf, and only carried their point against sharp opposition. It was not possible for them to give attention to the founding of institutions for higher education until the question of popular education was settled. Some of them, however, in the meantime, undertook the establishment of the Young Ladies' Seminary, at Benicia, which was commenced and was well under way in 1852, and continued to be, for more than thirty years, an honor to learning in the State.