Francis H. Smith

“ In my opinion, just in proportion as these fundamental principles have been adhered to, the Institute has prospered; if at any time they have been departed from, weakening more or less serious has been the consequence.
“The Institute has, in its history, vindicated the practical value of its training. Energy, Efficiency, Reliability have been characteristics of its graduates in every pursuit of life, practical and professional, in peace and in war. ”

“ Alfred Leyburn, did the author of ‘Civis’ the honor of applying to him for a name of the proposed school. The present name, Virginia Military Institute, was furnished and adopted; it seemed appropriately significant: Virginia — as a State institution, neither sectional nor denominational. Military—indicating its characteristic feature — Institute — as something different from either college or university. ”

“ This made necessary an education of which the intensity diminished as the comprehensiveness enlarged. The result when obtained is nobler, but to many young men the prospect is not so attractive as that of a military career. And hence less pressure of restraint is practicable. The military feature, though essential to its discipline, is not primary in its scheme of education.
“Therefore, to take West Point as a model, and yet to provide for necessary variations, was a problem of difficult solution. ”

“ Let us say that the number of young men should be that of our Senatorial Districts, and that each Senator have the privilege of nominating a candidate for admission, subject, of course, to the decision of the Faculty when he should present himself. A Board of Examination should likewise be appointed, whose duty it should be to visit and examine the Institution, and to report annually upon its condition to the Governor. ”

“ I would be untrue to my convictions of the Providences connected with the history of the Institute did I omit to mention the fact known to me personally and specially, that one thing that largely commended him to those who proposed his name for appointment, was that he possessed a qualification for the position, more rarely then than now found in West Point graduates. He was known to be an earnest Christian man. ”

“ John Thomas Lewis Preston, a member of the first Board of Visitors, but elected on the 11th of November, 1839, as Professor, alone remains of that Board, and we have been most signally spared to work together through this long period, in building up an Institution which he has the distinguished honor of having originated. ”

“ A Tutor to teach the classics, and the higher branches of an English education.
“ ‘2. A Professor to teach sciences generally.
“ ‘3. A Captain to discharge his present duties as an officer, and, in addition, those of an instructor in the Military Art.
“ ‘For the first four years, all these instructors might not find classes ready for them, but they might be fully occupied to advantage in assisting in the inferior departments, and in maturing their system of instruction and discipline, and in preparing themselves for their respective duties. ”

“ As the education, though of a high grade, was limited in range, greater proficiency within the range could be demanded of graduates. As the entire support of the cadet was assumed by the government, and a coveted position secured to the graduate, to forfeit this advantage would be a much more serious loss than to be obliged to leave a school where much less was offered, and hence discipline could be enforced with a minuteness and rigor impossible under other conditions.
“Compared in these particulars with West Point, the Virginia Military Institute:
“1. ”

“ By this act the school was ‘To be regarded and taken as a part and branch of Washington College.’ This Act was amended at the session of 1837-38, and at the session of 1838-39 was repealed as assuming an illegal control over Washington College, and thus interfering with its incorporate rights. The final Act organizing the school was passed March, 1839, giving to it an independent organization, but providing for such arrangements with Washington College as might be agreed upon by the two institutions. ”

“ Must begin with a very meager endowment, which it could hope to increase only by proving itself worthy of fuller support from the State, and larger patronage from the public.
“2. The object was not to fit the graduate for a single profession exacting in its demands, and not comprehensive in its scope, but to prepare young men for the varied work of civil life. ”