Hopkins

of that year Hopkins was summoned to appear
before the Continental Congress to explain why
he had failed to carry out his instructions. He
duly reported himself to that body and was warm-
ly upheld by John Adams but, nevertheless, re-
ceived a formal vote of censure (Journals of the
Continental Congress, vol. V, 1906, p. 662).
Later orders of Congress also proved impossible
of fulfillment. Although two vessels of the fleet,
one of them commanded by John Paul Jones
[#.z>.], made excursions against the enemy the
navy as a whole remained idle, and in December
of 1776 it was blockaded in Narragansett Bay by
the British fleet. Hopkins was now beset on
every side by criticism, disappointment, and in-
subordination. To whip the infant navy into ef-
fective shape would have required the genius of
a Washington, but though Hopkins was a capa-
ble seaman, he had no such genius. He was not
by nature a patient man or fitted to meet adver-
sity with equanimity. There were, no doubt,
grounds for the reports sent to Congress by some
of his disgruntled officers that he was acting un-
wisely and speaking slightingly of the authori-
ties in Philadelphia. Finally an officer appeared
before Congress with definite accusations (Ibid.,
vol. VII, 1907, p. 202; Field, post, pp. 187-88),
and as a result Esek Hopkins was suspended
from command on Mar. 26, 1777. Formal dis-
missal from service was declared Jan. 2, 1778.

It is to be said in defense of Hopkins that this
unfortunate incident did not in the least change
his devotion to the American cause, nor did it
seriously affect the esteem in which he was held
by his fellow citizens, many of whom believed he
had been unjustly treated. He served as deputy
to the General Assembly from 1777 to 1786, and
in 1783 he was collector of imposts. He was a
trustee of Rhode Island College (now Brown
University) from 1782 until his death, which
occurred when he was eighty-four years old.
The family cemetery where he is buried is now
a public park bearing his name, and a bronze
figure of him in the uniform of a naval officer is
erected over his grave. His old home was deeded
to the city by a descendant in 1907 and is pre-
served as an historic landmark.

[Four volumes of Hopkins MSS. in the possession
of the R. I. Hist. Soc.; Edward Field, Esek Hopkins
(1898); G. H. Preble. in United Service, Feb. and
Mar. 1885; S. S. Rider, in Book Notes, July 7, 21,
Aug. 4, Sept 15, 1900; G. W. Allen. A Naval Hist, of
the Am. Revolution (2 vols., 1913) ; The Works of
John Adams, ed. by C. F. Adams, vol. Ill (1851); S.
G. Arnold, Hist, of the State of R. /., vol. II (1860) ;
Albert Holbrook, Cental, of One Line of the Hopkins
Family (1881); Essex Institute Hist. Colls., voL II
(1860); The Providence Gazette, Mar. 6, 1802.]

E.R.B.

Hopkins

HOPKINS, ISAAC STILES (June 20, 1841-
Feb. 3, 1914), Methodist clergyman, educator,
was born in Augusta, Ga,, the son of Thomas
Hopkins, a native of Ireland, and Rebecca (Lam-
bert) Hopkins. He graduated from Emory Col-
lege in 1859 and in 1861 received the degree of
M.D. from the Medical College of Georgia.
Feeling called to the ministry, he joined the
Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, in the fall of 1861 and served
pastorates for eight years, preaching to both
white and negro congregations. During a part
of 1864 he was a member of a company of scouts
in the Confederate service. From 1869 to 1875
he was professor of natural science in Emory
College, and for the next two years, professor of
physics in Southern University, Greensboro, Ala.
Returning to Emory College, he served from
1877 to 1882 as professor of Latin and from 1882
to 1885 as professor of English. In December
1884 he succeeded his classmate, Atticus G. Hay-
good [#.#.], as president and became by virtue
of his new position professor of mental and
moral science.

He was naturally skilful in handling tools and
machines, and as a lad he was frequently called
on by the neighbors to repair sewing machines
and clocks. For his own recreation he had while
at Emory a workshop in the rear of his home.
Several students, he said, "pleaded to share the
labors of that little shop and in order that they
might do so I purchased a few sets of plain car-
penter's tools, and set them to work." Interest
on the part of students and parents grew and in
1884 the college catalogue announced that a
School of Tool Craft and Design would be opened
in the fall. In 1886 the name was changed to
School of Technology. Hopkins advocated tech-
nological education not only because of its prac-
tical applications but because "mechanical sci-
ence has in itself an educative value in the
development of the perceptive powers, the taste,
the judgment, the reason/' According to his plan
the product of the school was to compete in "the
market with other products of skilled labor and
must stand or fall by its excellence." A twenty-
horsepower Corliss engine made in the Emory
shops was used by the Atlanta Constitution in
its job-printing department. In October 1885 the
Georgia legislature authorized the establishment
of the Georgia School of Technology as a branch
of the state university, and in April 1888 Hop-
kins was elected as its first president and profes-
sor of physics, resigning his position at Emory
in July to assume the new office. The institution,
established at Atlanta, was opened for students
in the fall, and has become the largest school of

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