In proof of the practicability of the plan now suggested, your committee have ascertained that in Great Britain a similar method has been attended with success, as will be seen in the eighteenth report of the British and Foreign School Society. And your committee have been furnished with a letter from Mr. Charles R. Webster, dated Albany, 25th of April, 1825, to Mr. Isaac Collins, of our city, from which they have his permission to make the following extracts: I have examined the minute-book of the Albany Lancaster school.in relation to the admission of pay scholars. We have but a single by-law on the subject, which requires that all children, on admittance into the school, shall pay in advance from twenty-five cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents per quarter, according to the ability of their parents or guardians, always excepting the children of such poor persons as are unable to pay; and those of this class have in all cases a preference, and are never refused on any account whatever. We have never met with any difficulty in the school in respect to the scholars paying, or not paying. Each child has equal rights and privileges; and though the government of the school requires order and submission, it is otherwise a perfect democracy. Each child rises or falls from his own merit or demerit, and no regard is ever paid to the standing of the parent or guardian. We have never found any difficulty on this subject. Your committee, with the utmost brevity, remark in addition, that the common school fund is appropriated in the other counties of the State with the greatest advantage to the support of common or public schools; and the prosperity and unrivalled eminence of some of the Eastern States in their elementary and public schools, and in the consequent dissemination of useful knowledge among all classes of their citizens, are matters of notoriety and sources of gratification to themselves and their fellow-citizens. And while, in other States, and in other parts of our own State, the advantages of literary and scientific instruction are scattered as far and as widely as possible, and the policy appears to be adopted that education should be as diffusive as civil liberty-that it should be made to expand with the increase of population as the surest guarantee of political happiness--and that, with the effort to extend the right of suffrage, and render it universal, the influences of an education as salutary and as universal should accompany this right as its correlative and best regulating power, your committee will respectfully suggest that the establishment of a similar policy as applicable to our city is deserving the efforts of this board, of our liberal institutions, and, indeed, of every citizen. The committee therefore recommend to the board the following resolutions : I. Resolved, That this board approves of the establishment of public schools in this city on the principles above suggested, instead of free schools. II. Resolved, That this board recommend that a memorial be submitted to the next Legislature by the said Free-School Society (as they propose), for effecting the above object, and for securing the lands and buildings now belonging to the Free-School Society and the African schools in this city as public or common schools, and also for securing the proportion of the common school fund, to which this city is or shall be entitled, to the general purposes of education, and for the support of public or common schools, subject to any future alterations which the Legislature may deem proper; Provided, that the details be first considered by the committee of this board, the Commissioners of the School Fund, and the Trustees of the Free-School Society, and that they report such details for the consideration of the board. Respectfully submitted, S. COWDREY, On the 2d of November, the Board of Trustees appointed Isaac Collins, Benjamin Clark, James I. Roosevelt, Jr., Robert C. Cornell, and Lindley Murray a committee to prepare a memorial, a draft of a law, and a detailed plan of operations, to correspond with the new scheme, if enacted by the Legislature. A special meeting of the Society was held on the 11th of November, to consider the measures proposed by the Board of Trustees, and resolutions were unanimously adopted in favor of their action, and directing that the board proceed with their appeal to the Legislature for a new charter. The committee acted with great diligence and intelligence in the matter, and all opposition being overcome, and the details of the law having been made complete, it was passed on the 28th of January, 1826. The law, being of unusual importance in the course of legislation on popular instruction in New York, is here inserted : AN ACT In relation to the Free-School Society of New York, passed January 28th, 1826. Whereas the trustees of said Society have presented to the Legislature a memorial requesting certain alterations in their act of incorporation, Therefore, Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, that the said Society shall hereafter be known by the name of the PUBLIC SCHOOL SOCIETY of New York. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of said Society to provide, so far as their means may extend, for the education of all children in the city of New York not otherwise provided for, whether such children be or be not the proper objects of gratuitous education, and without regard to the religious sect or denomination to which such children or their parents may belong. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the trustees to require of the pupils received into the schools under their charge a moderate compensation, adapted to the ability of the parents of such pupils, to be applied to the erection of school-houses, the payment of the teachers' salaries, and to the defraying of such other expenses as may be incident to the education of children; Provided, That such payment or compensation may be remitted by the trustees, in all cases in which they shall deem it proper to do so; and, Provided, further, That no child shall be denied the benefits of the said institution, merely on the ground of inability to pay for the same, but shall at all times be freely received and educated by the said trustees. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive the said Society of any revenues, or of any rights to which they are now, or, if this act had not been passed, would have been by law entitled, and that the receipts of small payments from the scholars shall not preclude the trustees from drawing from the common school fund for all the children educated by them. And be it further enacted, That the trustees shall have power from time to time to establish in the said city such additional schools as they may deem expedient. And be it further enacted, That any person paying to the treasurer of said Society, for the use of said Society, the sum of ten dollars, shall become a member thereof for life. And be it further enacted, That the annual meetings of the said Society shall hereafter be held on the second Monday in May in each year. And be it further enacted, That the number of trustees to be chosen by the Society, at and after the next annual meeting, shall be increased to fifty, who at any legal meeting of the board may add to their number, but so as not in the whole to exceed one hundred, exclusive of the Mayor and Recorder of the city, who are hereby declared to be ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees. And be it further enacted, That the stated meetings of the board shall be held quarterly, that is to say, on the first Fridays of February, May, August, and November in each year; Provided, That an extra stated meeting shall be held on the Friday next following the annual meeting in each year, for the purpose of organizing the new board, and transacting any other necessary business. And be it further enacted, That one fourth of the whole number of trustees for the time being shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any legal meeting of the board. And be it further enacted, That the said Society is hereby authorized to convey their school edifices, and other real estate, to the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city of New York, upon such terms and conditions, and in such forms, as shall be agreed upon between the parties, taking back from the said Corporation a perpetual lease thereof, upon condition that the same shall be exclusively and perpetually applied to the purposes of education. State of New York, Secretary's Office. I certify the preceding to be a true copy of an original act of the Legislature of this State, on file in this office. ALBANY, January 28th, 1826. (Signed) ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, Dep. Secretary." The announcement of the passage of the act was received with great satisfaction by the board, and the following resolutions were adopted: Resolved, 1st. That the Committee on Public Schools be discharged, and that the thanks of the board be presented to Isaac Collins, one of their number, for his active and efficient agency at Albany in procuring the passage of the law amending our charter, and that the treasurer be directed to pay his bill of expenses. 2d. That the law be accepted, and that, in accordance therewith, this Society forthwith assume the name of the PUBLIC SCHOOL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 3d. That a committee of five be appointed to prepare and report a revised copy of by-laws founded on the new law, and with such alterations and additions as may appear expedient. 4th. That a committee of three be appointed to look out for suitable lots for two additional school-houses within the following districts, viz., in the rear of the Hospital, between Anthony and Reade streets, and near the junction of Spring and Macdougal streets. 5th. That a committee of three be appointed on the subject. of the transfer of our real estate to the Corporation, and that they report their views of the terms on which a conveyance. should be made. 6th. That, until after the next annual election, the board will continue to meet monthly, as heretofore, for the transaction of their usual business. The committees were appointed to the several duties named in the resolutions, as follows: To Revise the By-Laws-Lindley Murray, R. C. Cornell, J. E. Hyde, Isaac Collins, and James I. Roosevelt, Jr. To Select Locations for New Schools-Robert C. Cornell, William W. Fox, and Isaac Collins. On Transfer of Real Estate-James I. Roosevelt, Jr., Benjamin Clarke, and George T. Trimble. The long-continued efforts of the Society to secure a just distribution of the school money, irrespective of sectarian institutions, and to reorganize the system, were thus rewarded with the seal of legislative approval and authority. The development of new plans and measures commence the history of a new year. CHAPTER V. HISTORY FROM 1826 TO 1831. New Schools-No. 7 Opened-School No. 8-Schools at Harlem, Manhattanville, and Bloomingdale-School No. 9—Columbia College-New Locations--School No. 10 organized-School No. 11-Finances and Attendance-High School-The Pay System-Lotteries-Sunday Scholars-Infant Schools-Death of the President, DE WITT CLINTON-New Measures-Additional Tax-Address to the PublicVagrancy-Visitor-Samuel W. Seton-Memorials-Power to Mortgage and Convey Property-The New Tax Obtained-The Schools of New York City-School No. 12-School No. 13-The School Fund-Application of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. THE important proceedings during the year 1825, relative to the reorganization of the system and the prosecution of the steps necessary to ensure the requisite legislation, did not divert the attention of the board from those measures which related to the healthful and immediate expansion of the sphere of labor of the Society, by the selection of additional sites for school buildings, and the erection of substantial and commodious edifices thereon. At the meeting of the board in May, a committee of five, consisting of J. I. Roosevelt, Jr., James F. Depeyster, George T. Trimble, R. C. Cornell, and Stephen Allen, was appointed, to select locations for schools, and to report on the expediency of hiring premises or erecting buildings, to meet the wants of the city. The committee, having examined several locations, reported, in September, in favor of establishing a school on the east side of Chrystie street, between Hester and Pump (afterward called Walker) streets, where three lots could be procured for fifteen hundred dollars each. A location in the rear of Trinity Church was also recommended, if the premises could be procured from the corporation of the church by a permanent lease, and, if possible, a purchase of the property. The committee reported resolutions authorizing the purchase of the lots in Chrystie street, and the appointment of a building committee to |