3295 DISCOURSE, DELIVERED BY HENRY P. TAPPAN, D. D. At Ann Arbor, Mich,, on the occasion of his INAUGURATION AS CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, DECEMBER 21ST, 1852. DETROIT: ADVERTISER POWER PRESSES. 1852 gift A DISCOURSE. Gentlemen of the Board of Regents : You have appointed me to a station of dignity and responsibility. I acknowledge the trust you have reposed in me: I am sensible of the distinction you have conferred. It is the more honorable to both parties, in that, on my part, it was unsought for; and on your part, was a free and deliberate determination. We have come together to-day to recognise each other in our new relation. You have publicly sealed my appointment, and inducted me into office as the Chancellor of the University of Michigan; and I acknowledge you as that "Body Corporate" which, having "the general supervision of the University," must henceforth, while I retain this office, exercise over me, likewise, the supervision designed by the Constitution of the State. The career of the Young State of Michigan has, thus far, been remarkable and distinguished. Nature had done much for this region: Almost surrounded by mighty lakes, and in fact a peninsula, and even leaping beyond its northern waters to the shores of Superior to embrace the fields of copper and the mountains of iron; diversified with inland lakes, and rolling prairies, and park-like groves of oak with "Flowers which not nice art In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon endowed with a soil of exhaustless fertility, and adapted to the growth of grains and esculent plants, and the choicest t fruits; and with transparent and genial skies above-did it not seem a region inviting man to prosperity and greatness, to high thoughts and noble deeds? In a quarter of a century, it presents us an intelligent and thriving population counted by hundreds of thousands-the stock of New England and New York mingled with some of the best emigrants from the Old world; through large districts of country are found farms and dwellings which appear more like the heritage of centuries than the improvements of the recent settler; on the banks of that broad and beautiful river through which the clear waters of the upper lakes pour into Erie to feed the sounding cataract of Niagara, an old French Village has grown up to a Commercial Emporium, and is hastening on to a splendid Metropolis; substantial railroads in every direction have obliterated the trail of the ancient Son of the Forest, and lead the astonished traveller through villages, towns and cities, which have sprung up by the magic of that industry whose divine mission it is to change the wilderness into fruitful fields, and build the habitations of happy families where was once the lair of the savage and of beasts of prey. We who have just come to this State, meet every day with the old settlers who are not yet old men; and we can hardly believe their stories of the wilderness of log-huts, and stern toils, and the hunter's life-told amid scenes where cultivation reigns, and where Taste with rosy fingers has scattered so many embellishments. But the State of Michigan has not advanced in material prosperity only. A mere material growth is not the noblest growth of society. Productive farms, substantial dwellings, merchandise, manufactures, steamboats, villages and citiesmarking industrial activity and increase of wealth, stand directly connected with the outward sensuous life of man, and may only indicate a population well fed and clothed and warmed-a population enriched with utilities and comforts, fattened only to die; like the golden fruits of autumn most full and luscious when on the verge of decay. |
