They abandoned
it very soon. But before the Union soldiers had got back
in force some stragglers set fire to the building. It was
totally destroyed.
William and Mary was the oldest college in the country, except
Harvard. It numbered among its children many famous statesmen,
including Jefferson, Marshall, Peyton Randolph, and Monroe.
Washington was its Chancellor for twelve years. Its graduates
loved it ardently. I came to the conclusion that it would
tend very much to restore the old affectionate feeling between
the States to rebuild this College without inquiring too strictly
into the merits of the case, as tested by any strict principle
of law. I accordingly reported and advocated a bill for appropriating
sixty or seventy thousand dollars to rebuild the College.
Afterward, when on the Committee of Claims in the Senate,
I advocated extending the same principle to all colleges,
schools and other institutions of education and charity destroyed
by the operations of the War without regard to the question
who was in fault. This policy was, after a good deal of opposition
and resistance, successfully carried out.
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