are settling with the Agents, and preparing to complete our contract. There will be from 50 to 100 shares delinquent, but think we shall be able to obtain a deed for the whole purchase, should we succeed with Congress agreeably to our wishes. If Congress should be disposed to favor the establishment of the University, I am confident it will have no inconsiderable influence on the spirit of migration from this part of the country. I hope by the time your eldest son has completed his scholastic studies the University will be in a condition to admit him a member. I have the honor of inclosing a Certificate of your being elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which I had the pleasure of announcing to you in a former letter. So great is the vis inertia that reigns in the Secretaries of that Society, that it has been some years before members have been notified of their election. I have been induced in several instances, from this unpardonable delay, to take the Certificates and forward them to my friends. I have the honor to be, with great esteem, dear sir, WINTHROP SARGENT, ESQ. Dear Sir: [From General Putnam.] M. CUTLER. RUTLAND, MASS., December 20, 1789. I have made a plan of the ancient works in the best manner I can, and hope the description will be satisfactory. If I have an opportunity, I will forward it to you before I come to Boston; but, if not, will bring it with me, and hope you will call on me at Mr. Bracket's the second Thursday of January, where we may have an opportunity to consult further on the measures to be taken with Congress. But, if any thing prevents your coming there, I shall leave the plan with Mr. Bracket, to be forwarded you by the first opportunity; or, perhaps, send it by your Representative, if I don't see you in Boston, nor hear from you. As soon as I can dispatch my business there, I shall set off for New York, on the business I was to have been upon this month, and shall give you the earliest information of every thing that turns up. I have letters from General Parsons and Major Sargent on the' subject you mention that they wrote to you upon, which I will communicate when we meet, for they are too long to transcribe. I have had no letters from any other person since I came home, except Mr. Matthews, giving account of his disaster in the woods, of which, I conclude, you are well informed. I am told that final settlements are rising, and, if so, we shall never be able to collect the whole sum necessary to complete the payment according to contract, and, of course, shall be under the necessity of compromising with Congress somehow or other. In this view of the matter, it is my opinion that no more divisions should take place till we know the result of our applications to Congrsss on that subject, and that we ought to write to the agents at Muskingum our sentiments on this subject as soon as may be. General Parsons, in his letter, is very urgent for a settlement with Congress, and the obtaining a title, even though a considerable sacrifice is made. So am I. But, at present, if we could get a title by giving Bond for the payment of the money due, I should be loath to involve myself and the little property I have in such a business. The only way that I conceive eligible is by giving a part of the land to obtain a title for the rest, and this might be done in one of these two ways: Either take off the quantity not paid for in one tract, or that the several shares not paid for should be given up to Congress throughout the whole tract, in the divisions made or to be made by the Company, and to be sold for the benefit of Congress, in such manner as they shall direct. The latter method would, no doubt, be most advantageous to Congress. But in both cases they will be gainers by us, as the value of the lands must be enhanced by the surveys and settlements we have already made, and should continue to make, in the country. Such a proposal, I think, they will not refuse, for they must know that if people can not obtain a title to the lands they have paid for, there will be an end to any rapid settlement in the country, and all prospects of future sale and settlement in the Western Country will be nearly at an end. I have not yet sent my letter to Mr. Ames. I want you should first inspect it. And for all these purposes, most earn estly request that you will meet me at Boston on the day before mentioned. Believe me, my dear sir, Your friend and humble servant, [From General Putnam.] RUFUS PUTNAM. BOSTON, January 16, 1790. Dear Sir-I wrote you some time since, requesting you to meet me here last Thursday, and am very sorry at the disappointment. I shall leave your pamphlet, with my plan of the ancient works and a dozen of Dr. Drown's Oration, with Mr. Crocket, for him to forward, if an opportunity presents, or deliver to your order. Mr. Thomas sells these at 18. 6d. each, but to me they come at 19d. You know, I suppose, that General Parsons is dead, and that the Agents are pushing on a division of all the land as fast as possible. This, if not prevented, may throw us into the greatest confusion, as we know not on what terms we can settle with Congress. I shall leave this town on Monday, and in the stage that leaves Boston on the next Monday, I shall take my passage to New York; shall go on board Tuesday at Spencer, and most earnestly request you will be my company, or, if not, that you will come on as soon as possible; for, the state of our affairs at Marietta, the President's speech respecting education and other matters, as well as the matters contained in our commission, in my opinion, require the immediate attendance of us both at New York. I am, sir, with much respect, Your most obedient and humble servant, REV. MANASSEH CUTLER, AT IPSWICH. P. S.-I shall lodge at Mrs. Wheaton's, by the English Chapel. [General Putnam probably referred to the following extracts from President Washington's Address to the House of Representatives and to the Senate, Jan. 8, 1790: "Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge in every country is the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of Government receive their impression so immediately from the the sense of the community, as in ours, it is proportionably essential. To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways. By convincing those who are intrusted with the public administration, that every valuable end of Government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people, and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights, to discern and provide against invasions of them, to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; between burdens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience, and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness, cherishing the first, avoiding the last, and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws. "Whether this desirable object will be best promoted by affording aids to seminaries of learning already established, by the institution of a national University, or by any other expedients, will be well worthy of a place in the deliberations of the Legislature." While there may be no proof of any direct understanding as between Washington and the projectors of the Ohio Company, in regard to this important subject of "knowledge as a basis of public happiness," and as a foundation of "good government," and also in regard to a "national university," yet the coincidence of sentiment can be clearly traced. The Ohio Company, through their Agent, had already marked out the line of public policy that the President here recommends.] Wed., January 6, 1790. News of the death of my sister Lee. Neither brother nor sister left. Mon., Jan. 11. The Committee of the Parish, consisting of nine, appointed for the purpose of visiting the four schools in the parish (agreeable to an Act of the General Court, passed in their last session), accompanied me to three of the schools. We began at the East School, at nine in the morning. Visited the South School at eleven and the North School in the afternoon. Several of the Committee dined with me. Tues., Jan. 12. This afternoon we visited the West School, and were pleased to find them all in a very good state. The scholars having been lately pretty well supplied with Webster's last edition of the 1st part of his Graml. Institute, we promise ourselves that much greater progress will be made than heretofore. The several Masters and the Committee spent the evening and supped with me. [Dr. Cutler had, from his first settlement at Ipswich Hamlet, taken a deep interest in the schools, and often visited them for the purpose of giving moral and religious instruction. Temple Cutler, Esq., mentions in his reminiscences that even before the law required so strict inquiry respecting the qualifications of schoolmasters, as chairman of the school committee, Dr. Cutler instituted a critical examination as to to their acquirements and ability to teach, not hesitating to reject such as were found wanting. He looked carefully into the character of the books used in the schools, and exacted of the teachers particular attention to the rudiments, and thorough teaching in the foundation studies. He personally examined the scholars, whose interest in their studies was thus greatly stimulated, and the co-operation of parents, who were invited to be present, was also secured. So much were his methods approved, that he was often requested to visit other towns for the purpose of introducing his mode of examination. These semi-annual school visitations, which occupied two days, became quite a social event; each committeeman, in turn, entertaining the members of the school board at his house, and at the close the committee and all the teachers were usually invited to take supper and spend the evening with Dr. Cutler, who knew well how to make it a season of delightful and profitable social intercourse.] Mon., Feb. 8. Preparing for New York. Lord's Day, Feb. 14. (In Boston.) Preached A. M. for Mr. Everett; P. M. for Mr. Belknap. Mon., Feb. 15. Left Boston for New York in the stage, Mr. Pease in company. |