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REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AND THE REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL, D.D.

THE following brief statement, which appeared in the public papers immediately after the exercises it describes, was admitted by the friends of the institution to be a correct view of the state of things at Chapel Hill, and will form our introduction to the University of the State.

At half-past ten o'clock on Thursday morning, June 3d, 1842, the usual procession of students, faculty, trustees, and visitors, was formed in front of the South College, and moved through the beautiful grove of native forest trees, carefully preserved as an ornament of the University grounds, round the monument erected to the memory of the first President, the Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D.D., who cherished the infant university and presided over its destinies for some forty years, to the chapel, where the exercises of Commencement Day were opened with prayer by the Rev. Professor Mitchell, of the Presbyterian church, and closed with prayer by Professor Green, of the Episcopal church.

During the exercises, His Excellency Governor Morehead on the right of the President of the University, Ex-Governor Swain, occupied the centre of the stage, and the orators of the day, nine in number, in their rear; and the Trustees and Professors on the right and left, occupied the wings of the stage, leaving a space in front of the two presiding officers for the speakers' stand; immediately in front of the platform were the students of the University in a company.

The performances of the young gentlemen, candidates for the Baccalaureate, adorned each with the insignia of the literary society of which he was a member, were characterized by correctness of sentiment and chasteness of style and delivery; and an entire absence of the artificial action and pompous diction sometimes so prominent in academic exercises. Before the Bachelor's Degree was conferred, one of the Trustees read the report of the Faculty, giving individually, and by name, the rank of each of the candidates for the honor, from the time of entering the University