apprehend a collision upon ground which they had for some time regarded with interest as a good location for a school-that part of the city north of Walker street and between Broadway and the Bowery. A committee was accordingly appointed, in March, 1822, to select and negotiate for a site for a school building in the vicinity of the cathedral in Mott street.

The estimates, obtained by careful inquiries throughout the city, showed the unwelcome fact that many thousands of children were still vagrants, and unprovided with the means of instruction. This condition of things arose partly from the disabilities of the industrial classes in large cities, partially from the fact that the number of schools was small, and insufficient to accommodate the pupils; while the great distances which many of the children were obliged to walk in order to reach them, offered a serious impediment to the attendance of the majority of younger pupils. A considerable addition to the number of schools was deemed, therefore, to be a prime necessity, and the board took into consideration the means by which this could be accomplished. At the meeting held on the 13th of March, propositions were submitted and discussed, which were substantially as follows:

To erect five new school-houses, at a cost of $10,000 each, would require an annual sum of $5,000 for ten years, and would provide for a new building every second year.

The population of the city at the time was 130,000, which, at four cents per capita, would yield a tax of $5,200.

The real estate at the assessed valuation of the year amounted to $50,619,720, the personal estate being assessed at $17,666,350, making a total of $68,285,070. The sum derived -$5,000-would be only of one per cent., or one cent on $136 of the taxable property of the city.

The amount of taxes for 1821 was $299,225, which would be increased only one sixtieth by the imposition of the proposed tax. In the words of the proposition:

A person that now pays $1 tax would pay in addition 13 cents.

Or, assessed upon real and personal estate, as follows:

The above estimates are interesting as historical facts in reference to the city and its wealth, while the modest estimate of $10,000 as making a man "independent," or ranking the owner of $20,000 as a "man of fortune," is a genuine expression of the social characteristics of that period.

To secure these additional resources, the following plans were recommended: 1. To circulate petitions among the people, until several thousand names should be obtained; 2. When the petitions were signed, to apply to the Corporation for its influence and aid before the Legislature; 3. To vest the title of all purchases of property and school buildings erected by the Society in the city, and to take a perpetual lease for the same; 4. When the mortgage upon the property of No. 3 should be paid by the proceeds of the tax, to convey the title of the land to the city; 5. That the Mayor, Recorder, and First Judge of the city and county should be ex-officio members of the Society; 6. That incorporated religious societies should not draw school moneys for any other schools except those immediately connected with their respective churches; 7. That no religious society should establish a free school, except for the children of their respective churches who were unable to pay for education.

Without adopting definitely the measures proposed, the board appointed a committee to take the whole subject in charge, and for that purpose selected Robert C. Cornell, John E. Hyde, Rensselaer Havens, Benjamin Clark, John Adams, Najah Taylor, and Lindley Murray.

The committee gave prompt attention to the measures referred to them, and had interviews with the Mayor and several members of the Corporation. It was decided to postpone the movement until a later period in the year, and the committee, at their own request, were discharged, the secretary being directed, however, to lay the matter before the board two months previous to the next session of the Legislature.

The committee appointed to purchase lots for a new school near the cathedral, reported that they had selected three lots in

Mott street, near Prince, 25 by 94 feet each, the price of which was $2,250, and interest from the 1st of January preceding. The lots were approved, and the necessary steps to have the deeds executed were ordered to be taken, and the treasurer directed to borrow the money for the payment.

At the meeting of the board held on the 5th of April, a letter was received from the trustees of the Bethel Baptist Church, complaining of the conduct of the Society in purchasing the property for the erection of a school-house in Mott street, and charging the board with an improper interference with their plans. The secretary was directed to reply to this communication, and furnish the complainants with a copy of the original resolution passed in 1821, appointing a committee to procure suitable lots for a school site, and also to inform them of the proceedings already taken by the board.

It was further resolved that a committee, consisting of John E. Hyde, James Collins, and Lindley Murray, be appointed to prepare a remonstrance to the Legislature on the subject of the law giving exclusive privileges to the Bethel Church in the distribution of the school fund.

The collision of interests which had been anticipated between these two boards had now assumed a positive form. The discussion gave rise to important subsequent legislation, and is made the subject of review in the following chapter.

CHAPTER III.

THE BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH CONTROVERSY.

Sectarian Influence-Church Schools-The School Fund-The Bethel Baptist Church -Privileges Granted-School No. 5-Memorial to the Legislature-Memorial to the Corporation-Proceedings in the Legislature-Hiram Ketchum Elected a Trustee, and requested to proceed to Albany-Negotiations Between the Two Boards of Trustees-The Bill Laid Over by the Legislature-The Bethel Schools-The "Trustees of the Fire-Department Fund "-Certificate of Mr. Andrews-Certificate of Mr. Buyce-Certificate of Mr. Farden-New Church Schools-Proceedings in the Common Council-Memorial Adopted-New Memorials to the Legislature-Proceedings of the Legislature-Report of the Committee on Colleges, &c. -Adjournment of the Legislature-The Extra Session-The Bill Amended-The Common Council to Apportion the School Fund-The Bill Becomes a Law-The Controversy Closed.

THE Free-School Society had been in successful operation for fifteen years, and had encountered no other obstacles than those incident to the progress and development of a system of farreaching benevolence and philanthropy. A movement of a disturbing character, however, arose from the rivalry and jealousy of other institutions, but particularly in the efforts made to obtain peculiar privileges for the benefit of the schools connected with the Bethel Baptist Church. The controversy and the legislation growing out of these attempts form an interesting feature in the records of the Society.

By the law of March 12, 1813, it was directed that the portion of the school fund received by the city and county of New York should be apportioned and paid to the trustees of the FreeSchool Society of New York, the trustees or treasurers of the Orphan Asylum Society, the Society of the Economical School, the African Free School, and of such incorporated religious societies in the city as supported, or should establish, charity schools, who might apply for the same. In 1822, the institutions which drew from the school fund in addition to the Free-School

Society, and those already named, were the Female Association, the Hamilton Free School, the Mechanics' Society, and the Roman Catholic Benevolent Society. By the sixth section of the law, the several societies therein named were prohibited from using the school fund for any other purpose than the payment of teachers.

The privilege of participating in the fund granted by the law to religious societies was peculiar to the city of New York, no religious society in any other part of the State being allowed such participation. This privilege was probably granted them at the time, because the number of schools under the charge of these societies was small, and, with a single exception, confined to the education of the poor of the respective churches to which they were attached.

The Lancasterian system of education having been successfully practised for a number of years in the schools of the Society, the number of pupils increased to such an extent, that the amount drawn from the common school fund was more than sufficient for the payment of teachers employed. Application was therefore made to the Legislature, which, in 1817, passed an act containing, among other things, a provision allowing the Free-School Society to appropriate the surplus of the school fund, after the payment of teachers, to the erection of buildings for schools, the education of schoolmasters upon the Lancasterian plan, and to all the needful purposes of a common school education. This peculiar privilege was granted the Society because it was organized for the sole and exclusive purpose of educating the poor; and, consequently, all the buildings which it should erect would forever be devoted to this object.

In 1820, the trustees of the Bethel Baptist Church in the city of New York opened a school in the basement of their church, in Delancey street, for the reception of poor children of every denomination; and, the next year, received an apportionment from the common school fund, under the provision of the law of 1813, granting that privilege to religious societies. In 1822, the trustees of the Bethel Church obtained the passage of a law granting them permission to appropriate the surplus

* An Act for the Relief of the Trustees of the Bethel Baptist Church, in the city of New York.

I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in Senate