USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. II > Part 33
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At Philadelphia, about the 10th of January, 1774, there came from the press of Joseph Crukshank a 12mo. pamphlet of 124 pages, which attracted considerable attention in certain circles. It was entitled : " An Examination of the Connecticut Claim to Lands in Pennsylvania. With an Appendix, containing Extracts and Copies taken from Original Papers."* This important publication did not bear the name of its author, but it was an open secret among the Pennsylvania land claim- ants, as well as among the members of the Pennsylvania Assembly- all of whom were furnished with copies of the pamphlet as soon as it had left the press-that the Rev. William Smith, t D. D., Provost of the
* The whole of this pamphlet is reprinted in " Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 127.
t The Rev. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. (mentioned on page 505, Vol. I, and 690, Vol. II), was born near Aber- deen. Scotland. September 7. 1727, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Duncan) Smith and grandson of James Smith, a noted astronomer. He was graduated B. A. at the University of Aberdeen in March, 1747, and shortly thereafter became the master of a parochial school. In 1750 he was sent up to London, in pursu- ance of some plan for the better endowment of paro- chial schools. In May, 1751, he came to America as tutor to two sons of Governor Martin, who resided on Long Island, New York. In the latter part of 1758 Mr. Smith returned to England for the purpose of taking orders in the Established Church, and he was made a deacon in the palace at Fulham, by the Bishop of Lincoln, December 21, 1753. Two days later he was ordained a priest. Through a report made by him shortly after his return from America a society was organized in England for the education of the Ger- mans in America. On his return to America in May, 1754, the Rev. Mr. Smith was inducted into the office of Provost, and the chair of Natural Philosophy, of the College and Academy of Philadelphia, on the recommendation of Benjamin Franklin and the Rev. Richard Peters (mentioned on page 262).
In 1749 Benjamin Franklin had drawn up and pub- lished a plan for an academy and a charitable school, which went into operation the following year; but, looking forward to a more improved state of society, Franklin declared this academy to be "intended as a foundation for posterity to erect into a college, or semi- nary of learning, more extensive and suitable to future circumstances." Franklin, it may be said, laid REV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. After a portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart. the foundation of the College of Philadelphia, but " William Smith erected and adorned this temple of science." The institution had been chartered in June, 1753, as " The Academy and Charitable School of Phila- delphia," but in May, 1755, it was re-chartered by the Proprietaries as "The College, Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia," and it was vested with the power of conferring degrees. It has with truth been remarked that "Dr. Smith grew gray in literature and the advancement of letters in Pennsylvania." In October, 1757. he began the publication of The American Magazine, or Monthly Chronicle for the British Colonies, which was abruptly terminated in October, 1758. in conse- quence of an arbitrary proceeding on the part of the Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania. In 1757 and '58 Dr. Smith was also editing a German newspaper, as agent for the educational society established in England, as previously mentioned. Formal complaints having been made to the Assembly respecting the official conduct of William Moore, Esq .. of Moore Hall, Chester County, Pennsylvania, President of the Court of Common Pleas of that County, the Assembly applied to Governor Denny to remove him from office. Justice Moore, in his vindication, presented " an humble address " to the Governor, which was expressed in terms which gave great offense to the Assembly-then composed largely of Quakers -- and that august body resolved that " it was a libel." Dr. Smith translated the address into German and published it in his paper, and, refusing to make satisfactory acknowledgments to the Assembly for_the constructive offense, he, as well as Justice Moore, became the object of Quaker resentment. The offen- sive address had been published both by Franklin and Bradford in their respective newspapers, but neither of them was molested. January 6, 1758, Justice Moore and Dr. Smith were thrown into the City Jail, where they were detained till the lith of the next April. During that period the pupils of the Col- lege met daily in the jail and received their instruction from Provost Smith, so that the progress of the College might not be interfered with. Upon the reassembling of the House in September, 1758, Messrs. Moore and Smith were re-arrested and held until the Assembly adjourned in the following Winter. Without delay Dr. Smith then went to England, where he presented the case of himself and Justice
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Moore to King George II and petitioned for redress. The arbitrary proceedings of the Quaker law-mak- ers were fully exposed, and Dr. Smith was purged of libel.
March 27, 1759, while in England, Provost Smith received from Oxford University the honorary de- gree of D. D., on the recommendation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Durham, Salisbury. Oxford, and St. Asaph. About the same time he received a similar degree from Aberdeen I'niversity. Returning to America shortly afterwards, and taking up his duties at the College of Phila- delphia, Dr. Smith presided in April, 1760, over the first convention of the American Church in Pennsyl- vania. In 1761, the Trustees of the College finding that the income of the institution was insufficient to defray the expenses-and having exhausted the sources in the Province from which money could be obtained-determined to make application to the mother country for assistance. With this view they proposed to Dr. Smith that he should proceed to England, where his personal endeavors might be useful in promoting their design. He cheerfully acquiesced, and, being provided with the proper credentials, left his family and embarked for England. The amount which he collected during that visit was more than £6.000 sterling. Concerning Dr. Smith's labors in behalf of the College of Philadelphia at that period Nicholas Murray Butler, LL. D., President of Columbia University, New York, made the following statement in an address delivered before the University of Pennsylvania June 18, 1902 :
"The movement to found a college began in New York and in Philadelphia at about the same time. The motives were in each case substantially the same, and representative men in each Colony were inter- ested. Actual instruction seems to have begun in the same year in the institutions that we now know as Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. [Samuel] Johnson, the distinguished scholar who became Columbia's first President [see page 178, Vol. I], had declined a little earlier a call to take the headship of the Academy in Philadelphia, partly on the ground that the distance from his home in Stratford, Connecticut, was too great. On the other hand, Dr. William Smith, who was the first Provost of the College of Philadelphia, had previously lived in New York and had been much concerned with the movement to found a college there.
"Both King's College, afterward Columbia, and the College of Philadelphia, afterward the University of Pennsylvania, sought support from legislative grants, from private gifts, and, as was the custom at the time, from public lotteries. But the funds obtained from these sources did not suffice, and early in 1762 both institutions though apparently without consultation-dispatched accredited representatives to England to seek aid for the colonial colleges in the mother country." William Smith, Doctor of Divinity, was the agent of the 'College, Academy, and Charitable School of Philadelphia in the Province of Penn- sylvania,' and James Jay, Doctor of Physics, was the agent of the 'College of the Province of New York, in the City of New York.' It is noteworthy that both gentlemen, the one a divine and the other a phys- ician, with a business sagacity that we falsely suppose to be peculiar to the very modern captain of industry, hit upon the idea of community of interest. Instead of competing with each other, they agreed to make a joint appeal and to divide the proceeds equally. So it appears that early academic pooling was the forerunner of modern academic reciprocity and co-operation. That the plan worked well may be seen from Dr. Smith's subsequent statement that 'taking the cause of New York along with us, rather than acting in opposition, by which each of us has got double of what we could in that case have hoped for singly.'
"King George Iff issued a royal brief which was printed and sent in advance to the incumbent of every parish in England that the agents were to visit, in which the two institutions were referred to as two seminaries, distant about 100 miles from each other, begun in two of the most important and populous trading cities in his American dominions, nearly at the same time, and with the same view. The royal brief went on to say that the object in founding the two seminaries had been ' not so much to aim at high improvement in knowledge as to guard against total ignorance, to instil into the minds of youths just principles of religion, loyalty, and a love of our excellent constitution ; to instruct them in such branches of knowledge and useful arts as are necessary to trade, agriculture, and a due improve- ment of our valuable Colonies, and to assist in raising up a succession of faithful instructors to be sent forth not only among our subjects there, but also among the Indians in alliance with us.' The original of this document is to be seen in the library of Lambeth Palace, indorsed by the Archbishop of Canter- bury in his own hand-' Brief for New York and Philadelphia Colleges, 19 Aug., 1762.'"
In 1768 Dr. Smith paid another visit to England, where he was the guest of Thomas Penn (see page 886, Vol. I); during which time he received the degree of D. D. from Trinity College, Dublin, and also had private audiences with King George III-who had ascended the throne some three years previously. Dr. Smith's position in the Established Church, and his frequent visits to England and audiences with the King, made him the object of criticism by both Quakers and Presbyterians, and strong efforts were made to destroy his popularity with the Trustees of the College. He gained the ill-will of Benjamin Franklin, firstly, by opposing the latter's application to Oxford University for the degree of LL. D., and secondly, by advocating the claims of Ebenezer Kinnersly to the discovery of the principles of elec- tricity-which discovery Professor Kinnersly claimed to have communicated to Benjamin Franklin, who had appropriated the same and failed to give due credit for the discovery.
Dr. Smith drew up the charter and fundamental rules for the American Philosophical Society, Phila- delphia, was Secretary of the Society for many years, and was a member of the committee appointed by that body to observe the transit of Venus in June, 1760, and the eclipse of the sun in 1777. About 1764 or `65 Dr. Smith began to interest himself in land speculations in the unsettled parts of Pennsylvania. In 1767 he laid out the present town of Huntingdon upon a tract of land which he owned in what was then Cumberland, and is now Huntingdon, County. He named the town in honor of the Countess of Hunt- ingdon, a lady of remarkable piety and liberality, who, at the solicitation of Dr. Smith during his so- journ in England in 1762, had made a handsome donation to the funds of the College of Philadelphia.
About 1771 or '72 Dr. Smith was sent by the Board of Trustees of the College to South Carolina to collect funds for the institution, and he succeeded in securing more than £1,000 sterling.
There are many strong evidences in William Barton's "Life of David Rittenhouse" (see page 792) of the interest which Dr. Smith took in the advancement of that self-taught philosopher, and Galt, in his " Life of Benjamin West" (see page 189, Vol. I), also makes honorable mention of Dr. Smith. He was the means of drawing West from obscurity, and he bestowed upon him, while yet a youth, instruction which corrected his taste and enlarged his imagination. Dr. Smith's writings were multifarious, for he lived during an eventful period and touched upon most of the important subjects which then agitated the public mind. His writings were generally popular, and his discourses from the pulpit unusually so. He delivered several military sermons, of which that preached in Christ Church, Philadelphia, June 23, 1775, at the request of the officers of Col. John Cadwalader's battalion (the 3d) of Volunteer Militia, occasioned an unusual sensation, both here and in England. In a few weeks it ran through several American editions, and the Chamberlain of London ordered 10,000 copies to be printed at his expense, in so cheap a form as to be sold at two pence each. The sermon was violently condemned by the Tories, and as liberally eulogized by the Whigs. Dr. Joseph Priestley praised it in The Monthly Review of August, 1776, and the venerable John Wesley. with one foot in the grave, attempted to reply to it, but in a manner which proved that his faculties had " fallen in the sear."
July 20, 1775-the occasion being the observance of the first "solemn day of fasting and prayer" recommended by the American Congress-Dr. Smith preached a sermon at All Saints' Church, Philadel- phia, which caused much criticism, inasmuch as, in praying for the King, he used a modified form of his own composition instead of the words contained in the Book of Common Prayer.
June 18, 1774, Dr. Smith became a member of the Philadelphia Committee of Correspondence, and a month later he was a Deputy in the Provincial Convention of Pennsylvania. During the War for American Independence he delivered various patriotic addresses and sermons before the Pennsylvania Assembly and the Continental Congress, and to the American troops at Valley Forge and elsewhere.
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College of Philadelphia, had prepared and published the document in refutation of the claim of Connecticut. Under the date of January 18, 1774, Dr. Smith sent a copy of the abovementioned pamphlet to Dr. William Samuel Johnson, at Stratford, Connecticut, and at the same time wrote to him as follows : * * "The author [of the pamphlet] you may possibly guess. He says that he is not conscious of having strained a single point, or used a single argument which reason and candour will not justify. * * Whatever some people of little knowledge or influ- ence may have told Colonel Dyer, you may depend that this Province, I may say even unanimously, is convinced that Connecticut has not any right to lands within our Charter, nor will it ever obtain any countenance from the Crown for the present intrusions. Some time is requisite to rouse and unite Pennsylvanians in one cause ; but when this is once done, no People can be more firm or determined !
"You may have heard that our Assembly were not unanimous in their Resolves. It is true that an alteration was contended for in one of them, lest it might be construed as engaging the Province to bear all the expence-but this being clearly neither intended nor desired, the Resolve passed as you see it, without amendment. In all things else there was a perfect agreement. No tongue was lifted even to suggest a possibility of a right on the part of your Colony, and last night an Address was sent to the Governor from the Assembly, without a dissenting voice, containing expressions even stronger than any in the Resolves. This I told you beforehand would be the case. How far your people will venture their Charter in the prosecution of this matter I cannot tell-but no giving way is now to be expected from us, for we think we stand on firm ground, and no delay will be made in bringing the matter before His Majesty. In the meantime it should be the wish and endeavour of every good man to prevent bloodshed ; and this can only be done by keeping back your people from further intrusions, if you are really in earnest to support and prosecute your claim."
In reply to the foregoing letter Dr. Johnson wrote from Stratford to Dr. Smith, in part as follows :
"I am extremely obliged for your favor of the 18th January and the pamphlet
which accompanied it. * * From the very cursory reading I gave it I think it is well done, and states the Proprietary arguments in support of their title or rather those in derogation of the Connecticut title-in a very advantageous point of light. * * * I shall not, I assure you, take up the gauntlet, unless it should be enjoined upon me. I have an infinity of affairs, of much more importance to me to attend to, which I cannot neglect. And of what good are these appeals to the people? The appeal must finally be to Cæsar-or to a greater than Cæsar !" * * *
November 27, 1779, a law was passed by the Legislature abrogating the Proprietary charters of the Col- lege of Philadelphia, and removing from office the Provost, Vice-Provost, professors and all others con- nected with the College; and it was provided that the institution and the corporation should thereafter be known as " The University of the State of Pennsylvania." In the office of Provost Dr. John Ewing. a native of Maryland, succeeded Dr. Smith, and the latter removed to the parish of Chester, Maryland, where he served as rector from 1780 till 1789, and as President of Washington College (founded by him) from 1782 till 1789. In June, 1788, he was elected Bishop of Maryland, but the convention of 1786 refused to sanction the election, and he was not consecrated. In 1789 he was restored to the office of Provost of the University, and he continued to exercise its duties until 1791, when he retired finally.
Dr Smith was prominent as a Free Mason, having been a member of the Craft for some fifty years. June 24, 1755. he preached in Christ Church, Philadelphia, before a large number of the Brethren of the Craft-assembled in " Grand Communication," with Benjamin Franklin at their head-the first of his many Masonic sermons, which afterwards became historic. This sermon was an earnest exhortation to religion, brotherly love and public spirit. For some time-at least from 1778 till 1782-Dr. Smith was Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. In December, 1778. Congress being in session in Philadelphia, General Washington visited that city, and on Monday, the 28th of December, St. John the Evangelist's Day was celebrated there by the Free Masons. Some 300 of them, properly clothed and wearing their jewels and regalia, assembled at the College of Philadelphia (on Fourth Street below Arch) and proceeded thence to Christ Church. Washington, as a member of the Craft. marched in the procession, near its head, supported by the Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master. At the church prayers were read by the Rev. William White (then the Rector of Christ Church, and afterwards Bishop of Pennsylvania), and a sermon was preached by Dr. Smith, which was subsequently published in pamphlet form, dedicated to Washington. (For a further reference to this sermon see Chapter XVIII.) Following the sermon nearly £400 were collected for the relief of the poor. After the service the procession returned to the College, "the musical bells belonging to the church, and the band of music attached to Colonel Procter's regiment, playing proper Masonic tunes." The " Ahiman Rezon " of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania having been abridged and digested by Dr. Smith, it was adopted by the Grand Lodge November 22, 1781, and in 1783 was published, containing a dedication to General Washington written and signed by Dr. Smith. In December, 1791, Dr. Smith and the officers of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania were appointed a committee to prepare and present an address to their "illustrious Brother, George Washington. President of the United States." "This address was written by Dr. Smith, and, having been approved by the Grand Lodge, was formally presented to Washington.
The Rev. Dr. Smith was married June 8, 1758, at Moore Hall, to Rebecca, daughter of Justice William Moore, previously mentioned-an attachment having sprung up between the minister and the maid as a result of the repeated visits of the latter to the City Jail during the confinement of her father and Dr. Smith. William Moore Smith, born June 1. 1759, was the son of the Rev. William and Rebecca (Moore) Smith He was graduated at the College of Philadelphia in 1775, and later practised law in that city. In 1788 and 1797 he was R. W. Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Penn- sylvania. He died at Philadelphia March 12, 1821. The Rev. William Smith died there May 14. 1808. About the time of his death there was published at Philadelphia, in two 8vo. volumes, a collection of his sermons and addresses compiled and edited by himself.
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About the time Dr. Johnson wrote to Dr. Smith, as aforemen- tioned, the following extract, from a letter written by a gentleman in Philadelphia to a friend in Connecticut, was published in The Con- necticut Courant.
"We have nothing more new among us except Dr. Smith's piece on the Connecti- cut Claim. This is considered by the Doctor himself, and the Government connections, as full and satisfactory on that side of the case, and no one among us can be so hardy as to attempt an answer. The Proprietaries' friends are not pleased to hear any objections or doubts hinted concerning their claim. There is great reason to believe that, during the sitting of our House of Assembly, those members who objected to the propriety of any legislative proceedings on a matter of private proprietary right, thought themselves unreasonably treated within, but more especially out of, doors. The fact is, the Doctor hurried his book, and even had some copies struck off incomplete, for the Members of the House, and they had them two or three days, and made their Resolves, before it was known abroad or the public had the ' Examination of the Case' before them. I believe the generality of our people think the Assembly were imprudent in taking up the mat- ter ; but the connection between our great men and great parties is too powerful to be withstood."
According to the Rev. Benjamin Trumbull's "History of Connecti- cut" (II : 479) the Rev. Dr. Smith's "Examination of the Connecticut Claim" was "officiously spread in the Colony [of Connecticut]. The people were thrown into a great ferment. The malcontents were for turning out the gentlemen of the Upper House and forming a new Assembly." In The Connecticut Courant of January 18th "proposals" for printing and publishing a pamphlet by subscription were adver- tised in the following words :
"OBSERVATIONS on a pamphlet entitled ' The Right of the Governor & Company, of the Colony of Connecticut, to Claim and Hold the Lands lying West of the Province of New York ' *- with Critical Notes and Crotchical Remarks, dedicated to The Susque- hanna Company. To which will be annexed some modest observations ou the propri- etors of the Susquehanna Purchase who are Members of the General Assembly sitting and voting in matters in which they are immediately concerned ; in consequence of which a vote has been obtained to send certain queries to Old England, to the great lawyers there, and also Plenipotentiaries to Philadelphia to treat with Governor Penn relative to those matters-all at the cost and charge of this Colony.
"Price, 9d. to subscribers, with a great allowance to those who purchase numbers to give away ; and also to. Hawkers and Peddlers.
"Very necessary to be read in all families that pay taxes in this Colony.
"The author proposes the same shall be delivered to subscribers before 1st April next."
According to adjournment the General Assembly of Connecticut met at Hartford on Wednesday, January 12, 1774, and continued in session until Saturday, January 29th. Early in the session the report of Commissioners Dyer, Johnson and Strong, relative to their negotia- tions with Governer Penn, was presented, and the Assembly ordered that £171, 19s. 11d., lawful money, be paid to the Commissioners for their services and expenses. It was also voted that the salary of Thomas Life, Esq., the Colony's Agent in England, be increased from £50 to £100 per annum, and that he be empowered "to plead, pursue, answer and defend" in behalf of the Colony in all Courts and in all causes and matters relative to the title and claim of Connecticut to the lands granted in the Charter to the Colony from King Charles II. At the same time the Assembly authorized and instructed Governor Trumbull to transmit to Agent Life "all such papers, documents, intelligence, &c., relative to the lands claimed west of the Delaware, as the Governor and the Committee appointed by the Assemblyt should be able to collect."
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