Page:Memoir of George B. Wood, M. D., LL.D.djvu/20

 and by all the good which I have intended for you and your children, I require of you by the obligation of an accepted trust, I conjure you by the terrors of a wounded conscience and a retributive judgment, to guard faithfully the sacred pledge which I have deposited with you. Should any one attempt to violate its sanctity, and abuse it for some unholy purpose, let him feel the weight of your indignant reproof. Should a public servant dare to propose a dishonorable application of it to your own wants or necessities, frown him into that contempt which every pander merits. If injury has accrued from former neglect, do all that you can to remedy the past and to guard the future."

In presenting this appeal to the public, after nine years had elapsed without any application of Stephen Girard's legacy to the education of orphans, it was understood that its author represented, although informally, the wishes of the Trustees of the College.

Shortly afterwards, Dr. Wood, as chairman of a committee of the same Board of Trustees, prepared a formal communication to the Select and Common Councils of Philadelphia, urging immediate action to carry out the provisions of Girard's will, by legal enactments and appropriations. The result of this conflict, however, between the Councils and the Board, was the dissolution of the latter, of which Nicholas Biddle was then President; and, also, the termination of the official connection with the College of its first President, Alexander Dallas Bache.