Portland Gazette, And Maine Advertiser

EXETER, SEPT.
Dartmouth College and University.
Each of these rival institutions at Hanover held its commencement last Wednesday, and one or the other of them will certainly never hold another. To which of them this will be the last, remains to be decided by the " glorious uncertainty of the law." Far be it from us to anticipate or conjecture this important decision While the question is before our judicial tribunals, it would be equally indecorous and arrogant to make it a subject of newspaper speculation. We have only to hope that the result of this controversy will not trespass upon justice in its immediate consequences, nor endanger the interests of education by the precedent it may establish.
From respectable gentlemen who attended the two commencements last week, we have been politely furnished with the following particulars. The " College" exercises were held in the meeting-house (where they have always been performed.)The performances were highly honourable, and reflected peculiar honour upon the instructors. They were attended by an unusually large collection of literary strangers, and were not unworthy of any seminary in New-England. President Brown presided with great dignity, and the whole character of the exercises evinced that the literary industry of this respectable institution has not been disturbed by the external agitations which have so long afflicted it.
Thirty-Nine young gentlemen received their first, and a considerable number their second degree : twelve received a degree in medicine. Professor Hildreth of P. E. Academy, received the degree of Master of Arts. Dr. Spalding of Amherst, and Dr. Pierpont of Portsmouth, received the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
We have received no particular information of the exercises at the "University." except that they were performed in the chapel. that the audience was very small, and that the Boards did not form a quorum. We are informed that the popular feeling of the moment was so much in favour of the College, as to leave to the University no materials for a procession, and not spectators enough to fill the chapel. We give this account just as we have received it, and do not express any opinion on such delicate points of rivalry. The number of graduates at the University was seven.
The following was the order of the exercises at the College :
1. Salutatory oration in latin ;"the effects of the study of the Roman Classics on the Morals."- By Jacob Scales.
2. English oration; The origin, characteristics, and proper use of satire.'By Leonard Wilcox
3. Forensic disputation ; ' Did the introduction of Christianity hasten the downfall of the Roman Empire ?-By Henry W. F. Davis and Abel Caldwell.
4. English oration; Some of the deficiencies and errors of the scholar.?-By Nathan Fisk.
5. Philosophical oration " On the production and propagation of sound."-By Carlton Chase.
6. Conference; " A Comparison of the reigns of Queen Ann and Louis XIV"-By James Howe & Ebenezer Woodward.
7. Greek oration ; The state of Grecian Literature in the age of Plato.'-By William Goodell.
8. English oration; The genius and dramatic character of Shakspeare'-By John Adams.
9. Dialogue · On the comparative improvement which American Literature will probably receive from the pulpit and the bar.'-By Benjamin Huntington & Benjamin Woodbury.
10 Conference; ' Italy, Palestine, and Greece, as interesting to the American Traveller.-By David Page, Adam Gordon, & Charles F. Grove.
11. English oration; ·The ultimate effects of the writings of David Hume on Religion and Philosophy.'--By Daniel Temple.
12. Dialogue ' On the probability, that America will rise, in literature and the liberal arts, to the eminence of ancient Greece.'--By Lemuel Smith & Benjamin Dorr.
13. English oration; The partialities and prejudices of great minds.'--By Marshall Shedd.
14. English oration 'On National Character.' --By Mr. George Kent, candidate for the degreeof Master of Arts.
15. Valedictory address; The effects of literary retirement on intellectual character.-By James Marsh.
Exeter Watchman.