The religious aspects of President Wheelock's character, are worthy of special notice. He was the dutiful, in some sense the favorite son of an honored father. The former president, although sound in the faith, had more catholic views and broader sympathies than many of the leading divines of his day. The son was no less liberal than the father. This liberality was doubtless the real cause of difference between the second president and his associates in office. His first decided opponent was Nathaniel Niles, who entered the Board in 1793, a man of rare ability, and in early life a pupil of Dr. Bellamy, whose religious views on some points were materially different from those of his contemporary and neighbor, the first president. The first important point gained by Mr. Niles was the election of his friend, Mr. Shurtleff, to the chair of Divinity, in 1804. For ten years the breach was constantly widening between the president and his opponents. We now find the following official records: "At a meeting of the Trustees, November 11, 1814, the following preamble and resolutions, introduced by Charles Marsh, Esq., were adopted. "Whereas, the duties of the president of this university have become very multiplied and arduous; and, whereas, it is necessary that he should continue to attend to the concerns of this institution, and the various officers and departments thereof, and should have time to prepare and lay before this Board the business to which its attention should be directed; therefore, resolved, that, in order to relieve the president from some portion of the burdens which unavoidably devolve on him, he be excused in future from hearing the recitations of the Senior Class, in Locke, Edwards, and Stewart. "Resolved, that the Professors, Shurtleff and Moore, jointly supply the pulpit, in such manner as may be agreed between them. That Professor Shurtleff hear the recitation of the Senior class in Edwards on the Will; that Professor Adams hear the recitation of the Senior class in Locke on the Human Understanding, and that Professor Moore hear the recitation of the Senior class in Stewart's Philosophy of the Mind, and that he hear them in both volumes of that work." This action of the Board was followed by the publication of the "Sketches," and, in June, 1815, the presentation of the following Petition to the New Hampshire Legislature: * * * * *