The following degrees were conferred:

A. B.

CHARLES H. HALL, N. C.

JOHN S. JACKSON, Va.

EMBRY MERRITT, Va.

HENRY D. MILAM, N. C.

JAMES D. PROCTOR, Va.

JAMES E. SEBRELL, Va.

RICHARD W. THURMAN, Va.

JAMES SANGSTER, Va.

A. M.

E. W. ADAMS, Va.

JOHN H. CLAIBORNE, Va.

RICHARD W. LEIGH, Va.

EDWIN E. PARHAM, Va.

GEORGE HOWARD, Va.

LEWIS MILLER, N. C.

ROBERT H. WINFIELD, Va.

Rev. JOHN E. EDWARDS, Va. (Honorary).

D. D.

Rev. HEZEKIAH G. LEIGH, North Carolina Conference.

Rev. CHARLES F. DEEMS, North Carolina Conference.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REV. CHAS. H. HALL, _Of the Virginia Conference._]

COLLEGE YEAR 1853-'54.

There were in attendance this year 111 students in College and 43 in the Preparatory School. Great gratification was expressed on account of the good order of the session. The financial condition, however, was still very embarra.s.sing. The scholarships sold had added something to the endowment fund, but the number of students paying tuition fees was reduced, and thus the current receipts were not increased. This embarra.s.sed the officers of the College, because, while they preferred to remain, higher salaries elsewhere invited them away. The President stated that he visited the Virginia Legislature and made strenuous efforts to induce the body to pa.s.s an act which would give all incorporated Colleges $20,000 in State bonds for every $30,000 invested by them in State bonds. Though the project seemed to meet with great favor, nevertheless it failed, as all efforts to get the State to aid denominational colleges have done.

Dr. Smith adds: "But if the hope of succeeding with this scheme be not sufficient to justify you in making better provision for your officers, and another should not present itself to your minds affording better grounds of hope for success, it is respectfully submitted whether it be not better to close your doors until such of the officers as you shall deem proper to employ shall succeed in raising from the public an endowment fund sufficient to meet the wants of the inst.i.tution."

The venerable Professor David Duncan resigned the Chair of Ancient Languages, September, 1853, to take effect June, 1854. So in June, after a continuous faithful service of twenty-one years, he bade farewell to Randolph-Macon, and went to Wofford, the scene of his labors to the end of a long life.

Professor O. H. P. Corprew, A. M., was transferred from the Chair of Natural Philosophy to fill the vacancy occasioned by Professor Duncan's resignation. Professor Corprew had been elected to the Professorship of Natural Philosophy in the previous December. H. G. Leigh, Jr., resigned as Tutor of Languages, and was succeeded by T. H. L. Young, A. B. Wm. H.

Ba.s.s resigned the place of Princ.i.p.al of the Preparatory School, and was succeeded by John W. Stuart.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THOMAS C. ELDER, A. M., _Of the Staunton, Va. Bar._]

John S. Moore, A. M., was elected to the Chair of Natural Philosophy, vacated by the transfer of Professor Corprew.

At the annual meeting in June, 1854, the following received degrees:

A. B.

JESSE P. BAGBY, Va.

JOHN G. S. BOYD, Va.

RICHARD BOYD, Va.

WILLIAM H. CHEEK, N. C.

THOMAS C. ELDER, Va.

GEORGE W. HAMLIN, Va.

GARLAND B. HANES, Va.

GEORGE W. MAGRUDER, N. C.

ADOLPHUS W. MANGUM, Va.

A. C. Ma.s.sENBURG, N. C.

SAMUEL MOORE, Va.

THOMAS C. THACKSTON, Va.

L. O. RIVES, Tenn.

LEROY M. WILSON, Va.

THADDEUS L. H. YOUNG, Va.

A. M.

WILLIAM M. CRENSHAW, Va.

BENJAMIN F. SIMMONS, N. C.

WILLIAM MCK. ROBBINS, N. C.

HEZEKIAH G. LEIGH, JR., Va.

EDWARD S. BROWN, Va.

ARMSTREAT E. FOWLKES, Va.

B., Eng. Lit. and Science.

ALEX. HOGG, Va.

J. KIRKPATRICK.

W. H. SHAY.

D. D.

REV. T. B. SARGENT, Balt. Conf.

REV. ALFRED T. MANN, Ga. Conf.

At a called meeting held July 26, 1854, which was well attended, a further effort was made to secure aid from the Legislature of Virginia.

At this session of the Board the following important action was taken:

Rev. Robert O. Burton offered the following resolutions:

1. That in view of still further elevating the inst.i.tution and securing its permanency we will endeavor to increase the endowment to $100,000.

2. That whenever the amount of $100,000 shall have been secured, or the interest on the endowment fund shall amount to $6,000, this Board will grant to the ministers of the Virginia and North Carolina Conferences the right to educate their sons free of tuition fees for thirty years.

3. That one or more agents be appointed to raise the money, and that we earnestly ask the co-operation of all the ministers of the Virginia and North Carolina Conferences.