our mechanics; the increase and prosperity of our merchants; the social, moral and intellectual improvement of our society, which the institution will continue to bring, of as much value to us, as to either [sic] of those grasping cities?” He estimated that the officers and students of the University spent annually from $30,000 to $40,000 in the village and urged those who had profited to be the first to oppose removal by subscribing liberally to its endowment.
The Hamilton citizens committee submitted a report at an adjourned meeting held in the Baptist Church on December 6. Written by Professor Eaton, it was unanimously adopted and 3,000 copies ordered printed and distributed. The report, entitled A Candid Appeal of the Citizens of Hamilton, to the Friends and Patrons of Madison University throughout the State of New York, was designed to answer the Rochester Circular. One by one, Eaton attempted to refute the “grossly libellous”
objections to Hamilton, “the result of ignorance and overwrought zeal to get our noble University from us.”
He then contended that the advantages of a rural village as a site for a college or university greatly exceeded those of a populous community. He stressed the quiet and seclusion, greater healthfulness, absence of urban temptations and vices, cheapness of board and lodging, the inexpensive style of living for both faculty and students, and the beauty of the landscape. To reinforce his arguments he pointed out that many of the most flourishing colleges such as Dartmouth, Amherst, and Williams were in country villages.
Dr. Eaton next turned to specific considerations against a change of location. He cited the institution’s success in carrying out the purpose of the founders and the denomination and the “sacred associations”
of the campus, all of which he maintained, could not be transferred to “a great secular institution in another part of the state.”
The suggestion that non-Baptists be admitted to the management of the university after its transfer to Rochester he found especially distasteful. More important, however, was the legal barrier against removal in the form of the original contract made in 1819 between the Education Society and the citizens of Hamilton, whereby the Seminary had been located in the village on condition that a building worth $3,500 be erected and $2,500 paid in board. Eaton stated that as a last resort the Hamiltonians would defend their rights “to the utmost extreme of litigation.”
While agreeing with the Removalists that an endowment was urgently
