To James Madison from Nicholas P. Trist, [3 April 1827]
From Nicholas P. Trist
[3 April 1827]
Dr Sir
Stepping into the post-office to put my letter in, I am pleased to find the enclosed1 left here for distribution. It so happened that it was my intention to say Something in my letter, on this very subject, in connexion with one of the transactions at the last meeting, and an account I have since heard of Mr Maxwell’s Speech at Hampden Sydney,2 in which he triumphantly foretold that they (the Presbyterians) would some day or other have the management of the University in their hands. My distrust of the present ruling generation is such that I am not free from apprehension on the subject of this prophecy.
RC (ViHi: Nicholas P. Trist Album Book). Undated; conjectural date assigned based on JM’s docket.
1. Enclosure not identified.
2. William Maxwell, An Oration on the Improvement of the People: Spoken before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Hampden Sydney College […] (Norfolk, Va., 1826; 25285). Maxwell’s discourse in support of education in Virginia took a swipe at the University of Virginia: “Do the gentlemen visitors seriously and gravely imagine, in the face of all experience, that such an institution can ever flourish without the quickening grace, and preserving spirit of religion?” In addition, he noted that the visitors would eventually have to “invite and invoke the spirit of Religion—of Christianity, which is the religion of our state—to come and preside in their halls” (ibid., 21–22). Maxwell (1784–1857), a graduate of Yale College, was a Richmond lawyer noted for his oratory and literary efforts. A militant Presbyterian, he served as president of Hampden-Sydney College from 1838 to 1844 (W. H. T. Squires, William Maxwell: A Virginian of Ante-Bellum Days [Richmond, (1918)], 1–3, 12).