History of the Public School Society of the City of New York

tion, dissertations, or criticisms. The various papers and reports of the Society contain all that need be said in its defence; while the speeches and debates of the learned controversialists, whose arguments are here collected, afford sufficient relief to the matter-of-fact style of the History. The large amount of material clamoring for preservation has excluded original discussion.

The plan of the work is simply chronological. The chapters are devoted to periods of longer or shorter duration, marked by some special event, which is made the occasion of a pause in the narrative. The controversy relative to the school fund, 1822-'25, the legislation and reorganization of the system in 1826, the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum controversy in 1831, and the great school controversies of 1840-'42, are made the subjects of special chapters, in which the facts relative thereto are collected without disturbing the narrative of the text.

During nearly twenty-five years, the Public School Society was compelled to become the defendant in the various discussions relative to the sectarian distribution of the Common School Fund. Having been organized for the express purpose of establishing schools "for the children of such parents as do not belong tɔ, or are not provided for by, any religious society," it bore the responsibility, in a special manner, of providing a common school education for the masses of the people. Hence, when the custodians of this broad trust witnessed the efforts made to obtain, for sectarian uses, the moneys secured by their agency, from a public which itself called upon the Legislature to be taxed for this special purpose, they felt that they would have been recreant to their duty, had they allowed these funds to be disturbed, without an emphatic protest. How earnestly and ably they carried on the defence, the pages of this volume will abundantly show.

In placing on record the several controversies, the author has preferred to preserve the memorials, speeches, and printed addresses in full, although some repetition thereby becomes unavoidable. He has chosen to do this, rather than by revisions

and abridgements to afford any reader grounds for surmise that he had excluded important passages from a desire to conceal on the one hand, or to magnify on the other. So far as the compass of the volume would permit, everything is given complete. Not one line has been omitted from a motive of partiality for the Society, or of antagonism to its opponents.

It has been deemed proper to insert the various papers and documents in their order in the text, rather than in the form of lengthened notes, or an appendix. It is believed that this arrangement will be found the most convenient for the reader.

In the hope that this work will be found valuable in connection with the interests of popular education, it is committed to the press.

W. O. B.

NOTE TO THE READER.

The reader of this volume may perhaps detect occasional errors in the names of persons introduced in the history. They are requested to communicate all corrections to the author.

All persons having documents, facts, and personal recollections relative to the Public School Society, or any of its officers in their official capacity, are requested to communicate them to the author, care of the publishers. All communications must be accompanied with the name and address of the writer.

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