organized in this Institution and that no student hereafter shall connect himself with such societies in other colleges.”
The Society for Inquiry aroused particular interest by inviting the Rev. Richard Fuller of Baltimore to preach the anniversary sermon at its annual meeting in August 1847. Fuller was well-known for his Scriptural defense of slavery in a series of letters written in the mid-’40’s to Francis Wayland, President of Brown University, and published in the Christian Reflector. Local anti-slavery sympathizers had hoped to engage Fuller in a debate. While refusing to accept their challenge, he stated that he did not advocate slavery but only maintained that it was not necessarily a sin. He won general acclaim in Hamilton for his discourse in which he stressed the equality of all men; he wished freedom for the slaves but saw great difficulties in bringing it about.
In the correspondence between the Society for Inquiry and similar organizations at other colleges the Removal Controversy was discussed. The secretary for the organization at Lewisburg (Bucknell) expressed particular sympathy for Madison University in its days of tribulation because it had furnished so many denominational leaders “now sounding the gospel message under almost every sky”
and because “all our teachers [Stephen W. Taylor and George R. Bliss among them] have gazed upon its walls and trodden its grounds and have brought to us the spirit they imbibed under its fostering care…..”
The secretary of the Society at Brown wrote, “We regret that you have suffered so much…and though the result is not what we could have wished…our earnest prayers shall arise that the scepter of the Lord may not depart from Hamilton and that the light of His countenance may beam upon Rochester.”
For students, faculty, alumni, and all who had been in any way connected with the University, the Removal years had been filled with unrest, deep concern, heart-searching and often bitterness. The relief which came once the issue was finally settled was to be followed by forgiveness when time should heal old wounds. In 1861 Professor Eaton, in a letter filled with affectionate regard, urged his erstwhile opponent, John H. Raymond, and Mrs. Raymond to be the Eatons’ guests at commencement when old friends, ready to forget the unpleasant past, could live over the happy memories they shared. The
