distinct understanding at the time, that this arrangement was to be
only a temporary one, and to be given up as soon as a suitable
appointment could be made. It so happened, however, that I continued
to instruct in the French language during the whole year.

At the commencement of the present academical year, I proposed the
name of a French gentleman, and this nomination was laid by the
President before your honorable body. No appointment, however, was
made; but on the contrary a vote was passed, requiring the Smith
Professor to instruct all the French classes for the future.

I do not, of course, Gentlemen, call in question your right to
modify the duties of my Professorship; and I have proceeded to
organize the classes, and commence the instruction in the Elements
of the French language, agreeably to your vote. But I still
entertain the [hope] that a different arrangement, and one more in
harmony with the intent of a Professorship of Belles Lettres, and
more advantageous to the University, may yet be made. The symmetry
and completeness of the Department are at present destroyed. The
organization introduced by Mr. Ticknor, and continued successfully
to the great honor of the University is broken up. The French
language has no native teacher. And I submit to you, Gentlemen,
whether depriving the Department of the services of such a teacher
will not justly be regarded by the public as lessening the
advantages of a residence at the University.

I have now under my charge 115 students in French, and 30 in German.
Of course, with so many pupils my time is fully occupied. I can
exercise but little superintendence over the Department; and have no
leisure for the prosecution of those studies, which are absolutely
requisite for the proper discharge of the duties originally
prescribed to me. When the labor of mastering the Literature of even
a single nation is considered,--the utter impossibility of my
accomplishing anything, under the present arrangement,--in the
various fields of Foreign Literature, over which my Professorship
ranges, will be at once apparent. An object of greater importance is
clearly sacrificed to one of less. I am required to withdraw from
those literary studies and instructions, which had been originally
marked out for me, and to devote my time to Elementary Instru