Ohio History Journal

ADDRESS OF JOSEPH F. TUTTLE, D.D.

 

PRESIDENT CHAPIN represents Wisconsin and the Con-

gregational Church. He brings a commission from Gover-

nor Rusk. I don't know whom I represent.

One of the chief elements of success in Manasseh Cut-

ler as a negotiator was not mentioned yesterday in the very

beautiful and exhaustive discussion which was given by

the gentleman who made the address. He was spoken of as a

brave man, as a man of learning, a man of courtesy; but

I think that one great element was his power of administering

very elegant and sweet taffy to the people of that day, and

I rather think I can augur great success for my youthful

brother, General Eaton, from his prominence and great

excellence in the same department.¹

I have listened to what has been presented here, with

great interest. I have heard that there is, or was, or is to

come, an Ordinance of 1787. I have heard, also, that there

is a place called Massachusetts; that seems to be a pretty

well fixed fact. And Colonel Tucker, yesterday, made it

clear that there is also a place called Virginia.  I was

delighted with this fresh information.   But really, my

friends, when you come to think of it, this Ordinance of

1787-practically carried into operation in 1788, and about

which our friends, the descendants of Dr. Manasseh Cutler,

make so much, and the descendants of General Rufus Put-

nam make so much, about which indeed all the descend-

ants of these great men come here and make so much-and

none too much-when you come to think of it, I repeat,

how youthful you are in comparison with Indiana; and

1General Eaton, the presiding officer of the evening, had introduced

Dr. Tuttle in the following words: "Many of you have been greeting

during these meetings an old friend, formerly a student and instructor

here, long prominent as the very able, successful and scholarly Presi-

dent of Wabash College. I have the pleasure of introducing to you Dr.

Tuttle, of Wabash College."

132

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Address of Dr. Joseph F. Tuttle.        133

 

still more so in comparison with the great State which lies

right west of it!

Why, when the Ordinance of 1787 was passed, there had

been a settlement in Illinois-a Christian people of Christian

lands and with Christian institutions-about a hundred years,

founded in 1682. There was also a still larger planting of

Christian institutions and civil laws in the State of Indiana in

1702. Why, that is venerable! That is something of age!

But 1787 and 1788-what are they?

But really there is a difference when you come to think

of these Christian settlements which they made in Illinois

and in Indiana, the one in 1682 and the other in 1702.

There didn't seem to come out anything for some reason

or other; that is the matter, as Mr. Cutler once said

with regard to Kentucky; that is the matter; something

didn't seem to come of it. But when the forty-eight men

stepped off of the Mayflower, here at the Point, and Mr.

Jarvis Cutler cut down the first twig, or first branch, or

first tree, or whatever it was, and they had established

their tents to go to work, it seemed as though a power

had reached here-a power that was bent upon doing

something. They began immediately to survey, to put up

their tents, to build their cabins, to get their institutions

at work. They came here to do something, and they did

it. That is the difference between the French civilization

which reached Indiana and Illinois and the civilization

which reached Marietta, Ohio. The whole difference was

that there was an idea, a great idea in the one case,

and in the other there seemed to be no very great

idea.

Now I wish to speak for a few moments with regard to

one feature, which I think has not been made as promi-

nent as it deserves. When I look at the history of the great

emigration which took place from England and Holland

and Plymouth to Massachusetts and New England, I find

it was not money that was at the bottom of it; it was

not political power that seemed to be at the bottom of it.

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134   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

 

The moving power was religion; the moving force was

piety, reverence towards God, and the determination to

find somewhere in the world a place where they might

worship God according to the dictates of their consciences.

It is religion that has done this work; it was in the

name of the God of Israel that this emigration took place.

It came to Plymouth; it went from New England to New

Jersey; it came from New England to Pennsylvania; it came

from the north of Ireland to Pennsylvania and to North

Carolina. It came as a great religious idea. It was a great

power, because it was a power which had God in it;

they were seeking a place in which they might worship

God.

And so, when I look at these scenes which have been

portrayed here before us with such great faithfulness, as

connected with the 7th of April, 1788, I am moved with this

fact, that the controlling power there was religion; it was

piety-that kind of piety which led them when they organized

their Government in proper form and opened their courts-led

them to observe the forms of religion, and to have their work,

as it were, baptized in that power and under those in-

fluences.  It was religion that did this; and so when

you look at the work which was begun in the same way

at Cincinnati, at the mouth of the Miami, you will find

that Judge Symmes was a religious man; it was a power

which was upon him too, and was with all the men that

settled further up towards Dayton, and the men who went

to Granville, and the men who spread over the Western

Reserve. They were religious men; they were the men that

pioneered this country, and when we look at it in this light, it

seems to me we need to bring into prominent notice a power

of which I will speak presently.

We are college men; this gentleman [indicating Presi-

dent Eaton] is my foster-father; he is at the head of

Marietta College; I am one of its sons. Will you allow

me to say, my friends, that I am proud of this parentage?

I would rather be a son of that institution that lies so

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Address of Dr. Joseph F. Tuttle.      135

sweetly up there on the hill than of Yale or Harvard or

Princeton.  In the words of Mr. Webster-pardon those

who are smaller for saying them -we love it. If you wish

that institution to grow in the confidence of the people as

well as in endowments, it must be in the filial affection of

its sons, and-presently I hope--in that of its daughters

also.

The question as to this education, I asked myself as I was

looking at the public schools here-these public schools,

how finely they look. Those public schools in Cincinnati!

Those public schools in Cleveland! Those millions of

children, for aught I know-they told large stories about

them yesterday, here, but not too large-not more than

they deserve.  I asked myself--how did these public

schools, these libraries get here?  Where did they come

from? Does the Legislature give them?

Do not forget it my friends. Let history have its proper

respect; give it due regard; it was because Manasseh Cut-

ler put into the fundamental ordinance about which we

have heard so much, the elements, the seed corn which

brought this glorious grain, this wonderful harvest of pub-

lic schools.

Who was Manasseh Cutler? A man that feared God, a

just man, a religious man.  The very development of this

great system of education is the development of the piety

of the pioneers.  There were no colleges here in 1788.

Was there a college west of the Alleghanies? Was there

one north of the Ohio? Could you find one from Pitts-

burg to where San Francisco now stands? You might

have gone from New Orleans up to the Lakes and searched

carefully, and you could not find a college or an academy.

But now, when you come to Ohio, you may find an

institution at Athens, and, in fact, all over this State you

may find them, founded by these men. They were relig-

ious men; they founded these institutions. You will find

them everywhere. They come from the very heart of

this movement-from the heart of the pioneers.  The

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136   Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

 

college has been the institution of religion, as well as of edu-

cation, in this great and goodly heritage.

Sometimes I look at this thing with a degree of respect

and delight which I cannot express, when I come to trace

the history of these enterprises, these institutions for learn-

ing, and these for the unfortunate. Somehow, when you

go to trace them back, you will bring them back to the

heart and mind that loves God, to this great and wonder-

ful development of the higher education in this country,

as the child of the Church; it is the child of piety. I

have great joy in feeling that there is, underlying this

wonderful movement, a great power, which is the power

of Godliness, power of religion, love to God, and love to

man.

But when we come to look at what has been accom-

plished in a hundred years in other respects-in the way

of manufactories-in developing the soil-in one word,

in the development of the entire country in such gigantic

proportions as we have in the six States covered by the

great ordinance, we see the same change-the same re-

sults, which are perfectly stupendous--wonderful in their

extent.

I have asked myself what is the cause of this stupend-

ous development. How did it come to pass? Where is

the great underlying cause which has produced it? Was

it the Ordinance of 1787? Did it grow out of the gener-

osity of Connecticut in relinquishing her almost fabulous

title to lands in Ohio? Did it grow out of that stupendous

claim which Virginia made, which seemed to cover about

all the territory west of her? It was generous, magnan-

imous of Virginia to yield that claim. I will say nothing

to her discredit. She has done great things in the past,

and I hope she will do great things in the future. But

was that the cause--was that the cause that led to these

stupendous results? My friends, I will give you the cause

as I believe it to be. I think the true explanation of this

whole business is found in the explanation which the

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Address of Dr. Joseph F. Tuttle.       137

 

Queen of England gave the Shah of Persia. He asked

her how England became so great, and she laid her queenly

right hand on an open English Bible-King James version

- not the revised edition - the King James' version so

wonderfully praised by men, and which runs its roots into

hearts of men of every age, and especially in this country.

She laid her hand on that Bible and said: "Here is the

explanation of England's greatness."

And, my friends, I, too, will lay my hand upon the Eng-

lish Bible, and looking at the stupendous developments

--the results which we have in the Northwest-in the

great country which is covered by the Ordinance of 1787,

and I will say, and you will not contradict me, that the

underlying power of the public school--the underlying

power of the college-the underlying power which armed

so many hundreds of thousands of brave men to defend

their flag, to vindicate the country-the underlying power

which has made these States what they are-is the English

Bible.

And I hope that when the great monument is raised

here which shall perpetuate that which was begun in 1787,

you will not forget this great thing, and will somehow

symbolize this great fact, that the underlying power which

has produced all this is the English Bible. And may God

bless it and bless you also.

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