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King's College and the
American Revolution

DAVID  C. HUMPHREY

COLU.MBIA UNIVERSITY has often honored its sons
who performed so nobly in the nation's service during
the American Revolution: Alexander Hamilton, John
Jay, Gouverneur Morris and Robert R. Livingston, Jr. The Bi¬
centennial of the American Revolution is stimulating a new round
of tributes, and well-deserved rhey are. It may come as a shock,
however, to realize that the men who educated these heroic figures
might regard them more as symbols of failure than as sources of
pride. Had rhe leaders of King's College (as Columbia was called
before the Revolution) selected those alumni wdio best embodied
the ideals for which the college stood, they would probably have
chosen Sanmel Auchmuty and Thomas Barclay. AMiile Hamilton
and his associates regrettably joined the rebels of 1776 and be¬
trayed the British monarchy, Auchmuty and Barclay fought for
the Empire and then devoted their lives to its service. Auchmuty
rose to the rank of general in the British army, fought in India,
Egypt, and South America, and was knighred for his accomplish¬
ments. Barclay became a distinguished lawyer and political leader
in Nova Scotia and then served thirty years in the British diplo¬
matic corps.