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THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH-DESTRUCTION OF THE CORNER STONE--MEETING OF THE TRUSTEES--DETERMINATION TO GO ON WITH THE WORK--THE LOTS TO BE LEASED.
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Correspondence Union and American.]
An interesting meeting of the Trustees of the University of the South, was held last week at Sewanee, convened by order of Bishop ELLIOTT, of Georgia, the present Chancellor. When the late war commenced, this great enterprise, inaugurated by the distinguished Bishop POLK, of Louisiana, had so far progressed that preparations had been made for the erection of the permanent buildings. The corner stone of the central building, an immense block of variegated Tennessee marble, beautifully wrought, was laid on the 10th of October, 1860, in the presence of thousands of spectators, the interesting services of the occasion being participated in by some ten Bispops and a large number of the clergy of the Episcopal Church. Among the documents deposited in the corner stone was a copy of the Constitution of the United States, which as laid in the box by Bishop ELLIOTT with an emphatic esta perpetua.
In the progress of the 'war the temporary buildings of the University, as well as some private residences, were destroyed by the federal troops. The vault attached to the office of the Engineer was forced open and its contents carried off, and the beautiful corner-stone which had been laid with such impressive ceremonies, was forced from its bed, the Constitution of the United States torn from its place of deposit within it, and the corner-stone itself shattered into thousands of fragments by a brutal soldiery, and carried off as mementoes of its destruction.
By the death of Bishops OTEY and CABBS
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By the death of Bishops OTEY and CABBS the University has lost two of its most thorough and earnest supporters, but in the death of Bishop POLK it lost its great founder and originator, to whom it owed almost wholly the progress it had already attained. He had laid the foundation of a great work, which is, we trust, to be carried out to a successful completion. The princely domain of eight thousand acres, secured to the University upon the Sewanee plateau of the Cumberland mountains, remains in itself a magnificent endowment--and of the liberal subscriptions made before the war to the enterprise, amounting to near half a million of dollars--it is believed the larger part will be eventually secured.
The Trustees, at their recent meeting, decided unanimously to go on with the work, and to carry out if possible this great enterprise upon the scale originally designed, and to the end originally contemplated, of establishing a University complete in all the departments of human science.
In the meantime, however, in view of the pressing need of the means of education for the thousands of youths who have necessarily been deprived of such advantages during the war, it was deemed advisable, instead of awaiting the organization of the departments, and the erection of the permanent buildings, that an effort should be made to raise a sufficient fund to put up at once comfortable buildings for the immediate use of the students and faculty, and place the Institution in operation in the course of the ensuing year. The energetic and respected Bishop QUINTARD, of Tennessee, was appointed a Commissioner to solicit funds, and it is to be hoped that this effort will be warmly responded to, not only in Tennessee, but throughout the whole country. It is an ascertained fact that we can educate our sons at Sewanee at little more than half what it would cost in most Northern and Southern schools, and it will therefore, be true economy, to place the University in operation as soon as possible.
A gratifying report of the operations of the Sewanee Collegiate School at Winchester, under the management of Rev. Dr. KNIGHT, and now numbering one hundred and thirty students, was made, and elicited much interest.
The Executive Committee decided to lease out lots for residences on very favorable terms, and to any parties who will put up a good hotel or boarding house, lands will be granted at a mere nominal rent. It is to be regretted that accommodations could not have been provided there during the past summer, for the thousands who had left their homes in Nashville and Memphis. Persons desirous of procuring lots, can obtain full information from, and make their arrangements with GEO. R. FAIRBANKS, Esq., the General Agent of the University, Box 106, Nashville.