such. The safety of the people,
the supreme law, may demand, in a crisis of extreme danger, the
appointment of an officer charged with extraordinary powers, (but who,
nevertheless, would be as much the creature of law as any ordinary judge
or deputy-sheriff,) "to take care that the Republic shall receive no
detriment."

A year or two before the rupture with the mother country, the Presbytery
of Hanover established a seminary in Augusta, beyond the Blue Ridge. The
Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, who had been a teacher of languages in the
College of New Jersey, was at this time a missionary in Virginia, and
the school was founded upon his recommendation. The superintendent was
John Brown, and the tutor William Graham. From this seminary Washington
College, at Lexington, arose. By the advice of Rev. S. S. Smith it was
determined to found another seminary east of the Blue Ridge, and the
funds were raised by subscription; and although it was a period of
apprehension and alarm, yet the enterprise was urged with energy and
success.[677:A] This work was accomplished in 1775, amid the throes of
revolution, and Prince Edward Academy, the original foundation of
Hampden Sidney College, was opened in January, 1776.[678:A]

Increased educational means were much needed, all communication with
Great Britain being cut off; and educated youth would be wanting to fill
the places of such as would soon fall victims of the war. The College of
William and Mary was indeed old and tolerably well endowed; but it was
near the scene of war and surrounded by noisy camps. In a short time
more than a hundred students flocked to the Prince Edward Academy, and
their number exceeded the means of accommodation. During the year a
military company of the students was organized, Mr. John Blair Smith,
Jr., a tutor, being captain. The uniform was a purple hunting-shirt.
This company, upon a requisition of the governor for militia from Prince
Edward during the following year, marched to Williamsburg, where,
however, their services were not required. Some of them became officers
in the army, and others enlisted as common soldiers.

In 1775 the convention of Virginia had directed the committee of safety
to procure armed vessels, for the better defence of the colony; and the
control and management were entrusted to them. The few small vessels and
barges in their service were useful in restraining the tories, in
protecting property, and in recapturing fugitive slav