Book II. and use for all causes, matters and affairs, of them and their successors; and the same seal to alter, break and 1745. make new, as they shall think fit.

IV. That the said Thomas Clap shall be, and he is hereby established the present president; and the said Samuel Whitman, Jared Elliot, Ebenezer Williams, Jonathan Marsh, Samuel Cooke, Samuel Whittelsey, Joseph Noyes, Anthony Stoddard, Benjamin Lord, and Daniel Wadsworth, shall be, and they are hereby established the present fellows of the said college and that they and their successors shall continue in their respective places during life, or until they or either of them shall resign, or be removed or displaced, as in this act is hereafter expressed.

V. That there shall be a general meeting of the president and fellows of said college, in the college library, on the second Wednesday of September annually, or at any other time and place which they shall see cause to appoint, to consult, advise and act in and about the affairs and business of the said college: and that on any emergency, the president and two of the fellows, or any four of the fellows, may appoint a meeting at the said college, provided they give notice thereof to the rest, by letters sent and left with them, or at the places of their respective abodes, five days before such meeting; and that the president and six fellows, or in case of the death, absence or incapacity of the president, seven fellows convened as aforesaid, (in which case the eldest fellow shall preside,) shall be deemed a meeting of the president and fellows of said college, and that in all the said meetings, the major vote of the members present, shall be deemed the act of the whole; and where an equi vote happens, the president shall have a casting vote.

VI. The president and fellows of the said college and their successors, in any of their meetings, assembled as aforesaid, shall and may from time to time, as occasion shall require, elect and appoint a president or fellow in the room and place of any president or fellow who shall die, resign, or be removed from office, place or trust; whom the said governor and company hereby declare, for any misdemeanor, unfaithfulness, default or incapacity, shall be removable by the president and fellows of the said college; six of them, at least, concurring in said act. And shall have power to appoint a scribe or register, a treasurer, tutors, professors, steward, and all such other officers and servants as are usually appointed in colleges or universities, as they shall find necessary and think fit to appoint; for the promoting of literature, and the well order

ing and managing of the affairs of said college; and them, Book II, or any of them, at their discretion, to remove; and to prescribe and administer such forms of oaths (not being con- 1745, trary to the laws of England, or of this colony) as they shall think proper to be administered to all those officers and instructors of the said college, or to such and so many of them as they shall think proper, for the faithful execu tion of their respective places, offices and trusts.

VII. That the present president and fellows of said college and their successors, and all such tutors and other officers as shall be appointed for the public instruction and government of said college, before they undertake the execution of their respective offices, and trusts, or within three months after, shall publicly, in the college hall, take the oaths and subscribe the declaration appointed by act of parliament, made in the first year of king George the first; entitled an act for the further security of his majesty's person and government, and the succession of the crown in the heirs of the late princess Sophia, being protestants; and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended prince of Wales, and his open and secret abettors; that is to say, the president before the governor, deputy governor, or any two of the assistants of this colony, for the time being; and the fellows, tutors and other officers, before the president for the time being; who is hereby empowered to administer the same. An entry of all which shall be made in the records of said college.

VIII. That the president and fellows shall have the government, care and management of the said college; and all the matters and affairs thereunto belonging; and shall have power, from time to time, as occasion shall require, to make, ordain and establish all such wholesome and reasonable laws, rules and ordinances, not repugnant to the laws of England, nor the laws of this colony, as they shall think fit and proper, for the instruction and education of the students, and ordering, governing, ruling and managing the said college, and all matters, affairs and things thereunto belonging, and the same repeal and alter, as they shall think fit; which shall be laid before this assembly, as often as required, and may also be repealed or disallowed by this assembly, when they shall think proper.

IX. That the president of said college, with the consent of the fellows, shall have power to give and confer all such honors, degrees or licenses as are usually given in colleges and universities, upon such as they shall think worthy thereof.

X. That all the lands and rateable estate belonging to

Book II. the said college, not exceeding the yearly value of five hundred pounds sterling, lying in this government, and 1746. the persons, families and estates of the president and professors, lying and being in the town of New-Haven, and the persons of the tutors, students, and such and so many of the servants of said college, as give their constant attendance on the business of it, shall be freed and exempted from all rates, taxes, military service, working at highways, and all other such like duties and services.

1746.

XI. And for the special encouragement and support of said college, this assembly do hereby grant unto the said president and fellows, and their successors, for the use of said college, in lieu of all former grants, one hundred pounds silver money, at the rate of six shillings and eight pence per ounce, to be paid in bills of public credit, or other currency equivalent to the said hundred pounds, (the rate or value thereof to be stated from time to time by the assembly,) in two equal payments, in October and May annually. This payment to continue during the pleasure of this assembly.

In full testimony and confirmation of this grant, and all the articles and matters therein contained, the said company do hereby order, that this act shall be signed by the governor and secretary, and sealed by the public seal of this colony; and that the same, or duplicate exemplification thereof, shall be a sufficient warrant to the said presi dent and fellows to hold, use, and exercise all the powers and privileges therein mentioned and contained.

By order of said governor

and company, in general

court assembled.

JONTH. LAW, Governor.

GEORGE WYLLYS, Secretary.

Sigillum appendens.

This ample charter, placed the college in a much more perfect and honorable state than it was in before, and laid the foundation for its advancement to a very useful and honorable university. The grant of an hundred pounds, or an equivalent in bills of credit, was punctually paid for ten years, until the commencement of the French war, and the heavy taxes and burdens which it occasioned. With this salary, president Clap, with his singular economy, lived with dignity.

Some years since, Mr. Samuel Lambert, a Scotch merMr. Lam- chant, of New-Haven, died, and by his will, dated Febnation. ruary 19th, 1718, gave the principal part of his estate for the benefit of the college. He directed that ten pounds

bert's do

should be paid for the building of the college, and the rest Book II. to be paid, three pounds sterling to each person graduated at New-Haven, who should settle in the ministry, and em- 1746 powered his executors to sell the lands for that purpose. But the executors finding the estate involved, by reason of a large debt due from the estate in England, paid only the ten pounds to the trustees, and neglected all payments to the graduated ministers. These, living at a great distance, and some difficulties intervening, did nothing relative to the affair for many years. In the mean time, several of the young ministers grew uneasy, and ventured upon the sale of some of the lands, though they had no right to sell them, and some who undertook it, had no right even to the money; because as the lands were appraised in the inventory, the money would all be run out before it came to them. Some other persons, who had no pretence of any right, got into possession of some other parts of the lands, so as to claim them by possession. With respect to some other parcels of the land, Mr. Lambert had been defrauded by the persons of whom he purchased, as they had no right to the lands which they sold to him.

As the president was unwilling that the estate should be lost, as to the end for which it was given, he set up a notification in the hall, at the commencement of 1744, desiring those ministers who were interested in the affair, to meet and consult upon it. They accordingly met and appointed a committee, to act in the affair. They soon found it attended with so many difficulties, that they agreed to resign the whole into the hands of the president and fellows. They conceived that they were under a much better capacity of managing it than themselves.

Most of the clergy, who were supposed to have any interest in the affair, freely resigned it up to the president and fellows, to be improved for the benefit of college, in such a manner as they should judge best. The rest of the rights were purchased. In consequence of this, the executors gave to the president and fellows a deed of all the lands of which Mr. Lambert was seized at the time of his death. After very considerable pains and expense, they became finally possessed of one hundred acres of land in Wallingford, and sixty-two acres, lying in five parcels, in New-Haven, exclusive of those sold by the young minis

ters.

Donation

This year, the honorable Philip Livingston, Esq. one of his majesty's council for the province of New-York, made from Mr. a donation of twenty-eight pounds ten shillings sterling, to Livingston be put out at interest, and the interest to be appropriated

BOOK II. to the support of a professor of divinity in Yale College, or to any other use the president and fellows should judge 1746. most for the advantage of the college. The president and fellows were of the opinion, that a professor of divinity would be of the greatest advantage to the college, and appropriated the donation to that purpose. In consequence of this donation, and in honor of Mr. Livingston, the professor of divinity in Yale College, was called the Livingstonian professor of divinity. Four sons of the honorable Mr. Livingston had been educated at this college, which was probably an occasion of his making this donation.

From this time, the president and fellows, it seems, were wishing for, and looking forward to, the settlement of a professor of divinity in the college, and they were concerting measures for its accomplishment, as soon as might be.

The college was now, under the instruction and government of president Clap, flourishing and honourable. His great mind and extensive literature, made it reputable at home and abroad. Its numbers were increased to an hundred and twenty students. More than half this number were obliged, for want of room in college, to live out in private houses. This, on many accounts, was very inconvenient. The president, therefore, projected the plan of erecting a new college house. Upon consultation with several of the fellows, in 1747, he obtained liberty for a lottery, to assist him in the enterprise. By this, five hundred pounds sterling were raised, clear of all charges and deductions.

The president took the whole affair of constructing and building the house, upon himself. He laid the foundation on the 17th of April, 1750, and the outside was completely finished in September, 1752. It was 100 feet long, 40 feet wide, and three stories high, besides the garrets, and a cellar under the whole. It contained thirty-two chambers, and sixty-four studies. It was set back in the yard, that there might be a large and handsome area before it, and toward the north side of the yard, with a view, that, when the old college should come down, another college or chapel, or both, should be set, on a line, to the south of it. Additional lands were also purchased on the north, and on the west, for its better accommodation. It was built of brick, and made a very beautiful appearance. It was, at that time, the best building in the colony. The whole was performed with great economy and good judgment.

*

It took about 230,000 brick, and the cost of the outside was about £1180 sterling.