therein; and the parents, guardians, or other persons having the custody of care of such children shall not be liable to any tax, assessment, or imposition for the tuition of any such children, other than is herein before provided.

SEC. 13. The schools of the Public School Society, the New York Orphan Asylum School, the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum School, the schools of the two Half-Orphan Asylums, the school of the Mechanics' School Society, the Harlem School, the Yorkville Public School, the Manhattanville Free School, the Hamilton Free School, the Institution for the Blind, the school connected with the Almshouse of the said city, and the school of the association for the benefit of Colored Orphans, shall be subject to the general jurisdiction of the said commissioners of the respective wards in which any of the said schools now are, or hereafter may be, located, subject to the direction of the Board of Education, but under the immediate government and management of their respective trustees, managers, and directors, in the same manner and to the same extent as herein provided in respect to the district schools herein first before mentioned in said city and county; and, so far as relates to the distribution of the common school moneys, each of the said schools shall be district schools of the said city.

SEC. 14. No school above mentioned, or which shall be organized under this act, in which any religious sectarian doctrine or tenet shall be taught, inculcated, or practised, shall receive any portion of the school moneys to be distributed by this act, as hereinafter provided; and it shall be the duty of the trustees, inspectors, and commissioners of schools in each ward, and of the deputy Superintendent of Schools, from time to time, and as frequently as need be, to examine and ascertain and report to the said Board of Education whether any religious sectarian doctrine or tenet shall have been taught, inculcated, or practised in any of the schools in their respective wards; and it shall be the duty of the commissioners of schools in the several wards to transmit to the Board of Education all reports made to them by the trustees and inspectors of their respective wards. The Board of Education, and any member thereof, may at any time visit and examine any school subject to the provisions of this act, and individual commissioners shall report to the board the result of their examinations.

SEC. 15. It shall be the duty of the said Board of Education to apply for the use of the several districts such moneys as shall be raised to erect, purchase, or lease school-houses, or to procure the sites therefor; and also to apportion among the several schools and districts provided for by this act, the school money to be paid over to the commissioners of schools in each ward, by virtue of the tenth section of this act, and shall file with the chamberlain of said city and county, on or before the fifteenth day of April in each year, a copy of such apportionment, and stating the amount thereof to be paid to the commissioners of each ward; which apportionment shall be made among the said several schools and districts according to the average number of children over four and under sixteen years of age, who shall have actually attended such school the preceding year. But no such school shall be entitled to a portion of such moneys that has not been kept open at

least nine months in the year, or in which any religious sectarian doctrine or tenet shall have been taught, inculcated, or practised, or which shall refuse to permit the visits and examinations provided for by this act.

SEC. 16. The commissioners of schools of the respective wards, when they have received from the chamberlain of said city and county the money apportioned to the several schools and districts in their several wards, shall apply the same to the use of the schools and districts in their several wards, according to the apportionment thereof so made by the said Board of Education.

SEC. 17. The said commissioners of each ward shall, within fifteen days after their election, execute and deliver to the supervisors aforesaid a bond, with such sureties as said supervisors shall approve, in the penalty of double the amount of public money appropriated to the use of the common schools of their respective wards, conditional for the faithful performance of the duties of their office, and the proper application of all moneys coming in their hands for common school purposes; such bond shall be filed by the said supervisors in the office of the County Clerk.

SEC. 18. This act shall take effect immediately.

CHAPTER XIV.

HISTORY FROM 1840 TO 1853.

Position of the Society-Views of the Board of Trustees-Policy of the Board— Trustees' Hall Completed—Annual Exhibit-Powers of the Society under the Law of 1842-Erection of New Buildings-Amendments to the Law-High School-School for Italians-Change of Official Year-Public Schools Nos. 17 and 18-Josiah Holbrook-Natural History-Text-Books-Uniformity of System -Committee on Condition of the Schools-Corporal Punishment-Female Association-Death of Robert C. Cornell, President of the Society-Proceedings of the Society-Public School No. 18-Board of Education and Normal Schools— Controversy of the Board of Education with the Society, relative to New Buildings-Proceedings of both Boards-Speeches of Hiram Ketchum, John L. Mason, and Joseph S. Bosworth, Esqs.-Law of March 4, 1848-Death of Lindley Murray, President of the Society-Sale of Property in Oak Street-Deficiency— Application to the Board of Education-Transfer of Property Proposed Amendments to the School Law-Union of the Board of Education and the Society Proposed-Loan-Sale of Property in Twenty-Fifth Street-Sale of Public School No. 10.

THE importance of the controversy relative to the school fund, and the uncertainty which hung over the result, served as an obstacle to any marked change in the system, while the demand upon its resources had already reached a point at which the Society found itself encumbered with about $103,000 of indebtedness. The long-cherished plans of the trustees were therefore compelled to await the issue of the contest before any further considerable outlay could be made for the expansion and elevation of the system.

The decision was, however, obtained in 1842, by the passage of the act creating the Board of Education, and the alternative, which had been impending so long, had fallen upon the Society. It was, to wait patiently until the structure they had reared should become remodelled and made to harmonize with the new scheme, or to continue under the restrictions it imposed, as long as might be, and then surrender its trust to the city. The light in which the new law was regarded may be seen from the following observations contained in the annual report for 1842:

After a successful career of thirty-seven years, during which it has been their lot, under the blessing of Divine Providence, to be the humble instruments of conveying the benefits of moral and literary instruction to many, very many thousands of the children of their fellow-citizens, both nativeborn and of foreign origin, it has pleased the Legislature of our State to enact a statute which, the trustees fear, will result in subjecting their noble institution to the blighting influence of party strife and sectarian animosity.

The glory of their system-its uniformity, its equality of privilege and action, its freedom from all that could justly offend, its peculiar adaptation to a floating population embracing an immense operative mass, unable, from their circumstances, to devote many years to educational pursuits—is dimmed, they fear, forever.

The boast of our city, that in her public schools the children of the rich and the poor, of the American and the foreigner, all mingled as a band of brothers, imbibing feelings and acquiring sentiments of an equality of rights and privileges, both as citizens of this great republic and children of our common Father, in whose sight all the people of the earth are as one, is overthrown.

How far and how long the board may be able to continue their schools under the intricate provisions of the "act," they are, at this time, unable to ascertain. It may be sufficient to say, that the simple, comprehensive, and compact system matured through so many years of assiduous examination and careful adaptation to its object, is about to be impaired, if not destroyed, by the introduction of another of complex character-a system which, if not impracticable, is, in their judgment, ill-suited to a city population.

Some of the fears entertained by the trustees were not long after realized, by the changes gradually introduced, and the impediments which arose in the way of their success. The history of the "district system" in New York City has yet to be written, and its progress and development will exhibit the operation. of one of the grandest educational experiments ever made.

The trustees of the Public School Society, although prevented, by a prudent caution, from entering upon any plans for increasing the number of their schools, or advancing the grade of studies, improved the time by a jealous and careful scrutiny of the schools, and the endeavor to remove every thing that could impair their usefulness, or diminish the confidence of the community in the system. It was their constant aim to preserve, in all its integrity, a scheme of popular education rendered eminently honorable by the names of distinguished men who had been interested in it from its inception, and to hand it down to their successors in a form massive and enduring, and as

faultless as practical wisdom, enlightened philanthropy, and liberal endowment could make it.

During the year 1840, the building erected for the use of the Society as a Trustees' Hall was completed, and furnished in a plain but appropriate style. Apartments were assigned for the offices, depository, and two primary schools. A portion of the building was also adapted for the use of a clerk, who had charge of the house, and assisted in the general business of the Society.

In 1842, Samuel F. Mott resigned his office as treasurer, and, at a meeting of the Board held July 14th, Anthony P. Halsey, the secretary, was elected to fill the vacancy; and, at the same meeting, Joseph B. Collins was chosen to fill the post vacated by Mr. Halsey.

The average number of pupils in the schools, as appears by the annual exhibit, was 24,671, of which 1,329 were colored children.

The question of power soon arose as to the right of the Society to erect new buildings under the law of 1842, and to appropriate moneys for certain purposes which were specially provided for under the supervision of the Board of Education. The system had been brought to such uniformity and harmony, that a scholar could leave one school and go into a class in another, and there continue the same lessons, in the same books, as though he had only changed the teacher; but the new law entrusted the schools to the independent government of the local boards of school officers of the wards. The trustees were anxious to prevent this system from becoming established, and authorized the Executive Committee to secure, if possible, the repeal of the law, or, at least, such declaratory amendments as should continue the power of the Society to erect buildings, and to do all the other acts contemplated by its charter. The committee pressed the matter upon the attention of the Legislature, and that body, at its next session, adopted such amendments as seemed to meet the wants of the Society.

One of the measures which had long been contemplated by the trustees, was the establishment of a High School, or Normal School, of elevated character, for the preparation of teachers; and, during the year 1843, the proposition was renewed, and received the attention of the board.

In the early part of the same year, a proposition was made