The New England Magazine, Volume 1, No. 1, January 1886 | Page 4

in the
language of the records, "President of the College, Professor of
Languages and other branches of learning, with full power to act in
these capacities at Warren or elsewhere." On that same day, as appears
from an original paper, now on file in the archives of the library, the
president matriculated his first student, William Rogers,[C] a lad of
fourteen, the son of Captain William Rogers of Newport. Not only was
this lad the first student, but he was also the first freshman class. Indeed,
for a period of nine months and seventeen days, as appears from the
paper already referred to, he constituted the entire body of students.
From such feeble beginnings has the university sprung.
The first commencement of the college was held in the meeting-house
at Warren on the seventh day of September, 1769, at which seven
students took their Bachelor's degree. They were all of them young men
of promise. Some of them afterwards filled conspicuous places in the
struggle for national independence, while others became leaders in the
church, and distinguished educators of youth. Probably no class that
has gone forth from the college or university in her palmiest days of
prosperity has exerted so widely extended and so beneficial an
influence, the times and circumstances taken into account, as this first
class that graduated at Warren. The occasion drew together a large
concourse of people from all parts of the Colony, inaugurating, says
Arnold, the earliest State holiday in the history of Rhode Island. A
contemporary account preserves the interesting facts that both the
President and the candidates for degrees were dressed in clothing of
American manufacture, and that the audience, composed of many of
the first ladies and gentlemen of the Colony, "behaved with great
decorum."
Up to this date, "the Seminary," says Morgan Edwards, "was, for the
most part, friendless and moneyless, and therefore forlorn, insomuch
that a college edifice was hardly thought of." But the interest
manifested in the exercises of Commencement, and the frequent
remittances from England, "led some to hope, and many to fear, that
the Institution would come to something and stand. Then a building and

the place of it were talked of, which well-nigh ruined all. Warren was at
first agreed on as a proper situation, where a small wing was to be
erected, in the spring of 1770, and about eight hundred pounds, lawful
money, was raised towards erecting it. But soon afterwards, some who
were unwilling it should be there, and some who were unwilling it
should be anywhere, did so far agree as to lay aside the said location,
and propose that the county which should raise the most money should
have the college." Subscriptions were immediately set on foot in four
counties, but the claimants for the honor were finally reduced to two,
viz., Providence and Newport. The question was finally settled, at a
special meeting of the Corporation held in Warren, February 7, 1770.
"The people of Newport had raised," says Manning, in his account of
this meeting, "four thousand pounds, lawful money, taking in their
unconditional subscription. But Providence presented four thousand,
two hundred and eighty pounds, lawful money, and advantages
superior to Newport in other respects." The dispute, he adds, lasted
from ten o'clock Wednesday morning until the same hour Thursday
night, and was decided, in the presence of a large congregation, in favor
of Providence, by a vote of twenty-one to fourteen.
Soon after this decision, the President and Professor Howell, with their
pupils, removed to Providence, occupying for a time the upper part of
the brick school-house on Meeting Street, for prayers and recitations.
On the fourteenth day of May, 1770, the foundations of the first college
building, now called University Hall, were laid; John Brown, one of the
"Four Brothers," and the famous leader in the destruction of the Gaspee
two years later, placing the corner stone. It was modelled after "Nassau
Hall" in Princeton, where President Manning and Professor Howell
were graduated. The spot selected for it was the crest of a hill, which
then commanded a view of the bay, the river, with the town on its
banks, and a broad reach of country on all sides. The land comprised
about eight acres, and included a portion of the original "home lot" of
Chadd Brown, the associate and friend of Roger Williams, and the
"first Baptist Elder in Rhode Island." Now that the buildings of the city
have crept up the hill, and, gathering round the college grounds, have
stretched out far beyond them, thus shutting out the nearer prospect, the
eye can still take in from the top of the building the same varied and

beautiful landscape, which once constituted one of the chief attractions
of the site.
On Saturday, December 7, 1776, Sir Peter