VALEDICTORY LETTER TO THE TRUSTEES OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
[Hanover, NH]: np, October 27, 1835. First edition. Stitched sheets, 18.5 x 11 cm. 24 pp. Ink inscription on front cover: "Presented by Mellen Chamberlain." Chamberlain was a graduate of Dartmouth, a lawyer, historian and librarian. He was head librarian at Boston Public Library for over 10 years. Hale taught for eight years at Dartmouth until his job was abolished. This "letter" to the trustees, was composed by Hale upon his departure.
"One of the outstanding injustices in the history of American academic freedom had occurred in his unwarranted dismissal by the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees. In 1828 he had been ordained in the Episcopalian ministry, and two years later he began to hold services in his home at Hanover on Sunday evenings. This custom perturbed the Congregational ministers of the region, and they ultimately brought pressure to bear on the college administration to force Hale's removal. This the college fathers accomplished not by removing Hale from his job but by abolishing the job itself. Following his dismissal Hale addressed the trustees publicly in a pamphlet which in its vigor and clarity enhanced his reputation as a man of intellectual honesty and forthrightness. He reminded the trustees that: 'If your college is not sectarian, and by the charter it has no right to be—it was as much within the sphere of my duty to labor occasionally as an Episcopal clergyman, as for your academical professors to labor as Congregational clergymen. And I very much doubt, whether they have been as reserved in regard to points of difference in ecclesiastical matters, as I have. . . . The charter of the college forbids the exclusion 'of any person of whatever religious denomination, from free and equal advantage of education. . . .' I had fondly hoped that this was not the age or country for religious intolerance to flourish. I know the power of party spirit and that it exists or may be excited in religious, as well as in other matters, but you certainly must limit your influence and success, by throwing yourselves upon any party for support.' "- [see: F. Wilson Smith's article "Benjamin Hale -- Educator of Geneva College," New York History 32, no. 4 (1951): 414-24]. Item #65263
Price: $225.00