expedient to establish in the city of New York a university on a liberal foundation, which shall correspond with the spirit and wants of our age and country, which shall be commensurate with our great and growing population, and which shall enlarge the opportunities of education for such of our youth as shall be found qualified and inclined to improve them.

On motion of Rev. Dr. Cox, it was resolved that a committee of three be appointed to publish the communication which had been submitted to the meeting, whereupon Rev. Dr. Mathews, Rev. Dr. Wainwright, Mr. John Delafield, were appointed by the chairman.

On motion of Mr. Thos. R. Mercein, it was resolved that a committee be appointed, with power to add to their number, to make proper application to the legislature for a charter, and to apply to the corporation of the city of New York for the privilege of occupying the building in the rear of the City Hall. On motion,

Resolved, That a standing committee be appointed, with power to add to their number, to take measures in relation to the establishment of the proposed university, and at their discretion to call meetings of the citizens present, and of others, in reference to the main object; whereupon the chairman, Genl. Lewis, was appointed chairman of the committee, and the following gentlemen were named: N. Dean, M. Van Schaick, O. M. Lownds, John Delafield, James Lennox, G. P. Disosway, Dr. Broadhead, Dr. Mathews, Dr. Wainwright.

On motion,

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to confer with the trustees of Columbia College in relation to the proposed university.

This standing committee accepted its appointment and began to meet the 8th of January, with Hon. Morgan Lewis as chairman, John Delafield as secretary, and Myndert Van Schaick as treasurer. They added to their numbers from time to time, and finally came to include a majority of the thirty-two gentlemen who constituted the first corporation of the university more than a year afterwards. On the 14th of January they issued a public address to citizens, over the name of their chairman, Morgan Lewis. This address unfolded their plan, the more important features of which are stated in the first three paragraphs of this printed paper, as follows:

The great object of the university shall be to extend the benefits of education in greater abundance and variety and at a cheaper rate than at present they are enjoyed, for which purpose such colleges and professorships shall be established in the university as shall hereafter be found practicable and expedient.

It shall be a fundamental principle that persons of every religious denomination shall be eligible to all offices and appointments, to the intent that the university shall not at any time be under the control or influence of any particular sect.

Every person attending the university shall be at liberty to pursue the acquisition of knowledge in the various departments of literature and science according to his own preference or that of his parent or guardian, having an unlimited choice of the branches taught in the institution.

A fortnight later an expanded statement was published, which said of the university:

It is to be a seminary of learning, concentrating within itself means of instruction, ample and well arranged, in every department of human knowledge. In process of time, and progressively, as subscriptions and donations, public and private, shall be obtained, it must have libraries of useful books for study and for

reference; apparatus for illustrating natural and experimental philosophy, including chemistry, astronomy, and the mechanical arts; cabinets for natural history; a garden for botany and experiments in horticulture and agriculture; and in the department of fine arts books, models, casts for drawing in architecture, engi. neering, surveying, machinery, and natural history. Able professors and teachers will also be required in languages, ancient and modern; mathematics, pure and applied; philosophy, natural, intellectual, and moral; history and geography, ancient and modern; political economy; politics; commerce; the law of nations and constitutional law; geology and mineralogy; botany and zoology; physiology and comparative anatomy; civil engineering and architecture; agricultural chemistry and chemistry applied to the arts; the laws of perspective and the principles of drawing and designing.

We do not anticipate the possibility of carrying out into detailed operation the whole of the above suggestions in a year, and perhaps not in a generation, but we do look forward with sanguine expectation to a successful beginning.

The committee on conference with the city government applied at once for the use of the building in the rear of the city hall which was known as the almshouse. They found, however, within thirty days, February 1, 1830, a competitor for the use of this building in Columbia College. The latter submitted a paper to the mayor which is of interest as showing the value at that time of the property held for college work in New York City:

Propositions to the corporation of the city of New York which have received the approbation of all the trustees of Columbia College: That if the corporation of the city should patronage Columbia College as the city college, the trustees pledge themselves to ordain that the mayor and recorder shall be ex officio members of the board of trustees of the college, and that for every $20,000 in money or in real estate granted or conveyed to the said trustees for the use of the college by any individuals or any society or body corporate in the said city the corporation shall have the right to appoint one trustee of the said college until the number of trustees so appointed shall equal, with the mayor and recorder, the present number of the trustees.

The present number of trustees, agreeably to the charter, is...

Value of the property of the college obtained from Trinity Church, at least.

Value of a trusteeship (400,000 divided by 24), say

Value of the almshouse and the ground on which it stands

24

$400,000

20,000

200,000

Number of trustees to which the corporation of the city will be entitled in case of the grant of the almshouse or an equivalent thereto ($200,000 divided by 20,000), say

Add mayor and recorder.

Total trustees under the above arrangement

10

2

12

If other funds be contributed by the corporation or the citizens, the number of trustees so appointed by the corporation will be increased.

The university, failing to obtain the temporary use of the city's building, took up its first abode in its "own hired house." This was "Clinton Hall," situated in Bleecker street, not far from Broadway. This independence of the city government which the university was

obliged to assume against its own preference is now seen to have been a blessing in disguise.

The committee on conference with Columbia College appointed by the invited meeting accepted their office. They reported the 5th of February to the standing committee that—

They have held a meeting with a committee from the college, and that after an interchange of views in reference to some distinguishing features of the two institutions nothing transpired which in the opinion of the undersigned can lead to a belief that under present circumstances there is any prospect of bringing the university and the college into such an immediate union with each other as would form them into one institution, under a common head and government; although it is hoped they may both proceed with mutual good will and honorable emulation in promoting the common cause of education and literature.1

The writer [Chancellor MacCracken], in a speech before the Nineteenth Century Club, of New York City, Monday, April 12, 1892, discussed by special invitation the subject of "A Metropolitan University," and in the introduction spoke of the genesis of the two universities in the one city. He said:

"I have suggested that the explanation of the two foundations is found in two diverging tendencies of thought. I shall prove this from a very brief glance at the genesis of the two corporations.

"The first allusion in standard history to the university movement in New York City is in the fourth volume of Bancroft's United States. He says of New York province that although it was settled chiefly by Calvinists yet the English Church was favored by law, though not established. Then he adds, under the date 1754, the following: 'An act of the prerogative which limited the selection of the president of the provincial college to those in communion with the Church of England agitated the public mind and united the Presbyterians in distrust of the royal authority.' Come down exactly one hundred years to the year 1854, and the following view of the transaction of 1754 is from the pen of a prominent trustee of Columbia College, Mr. S. B. Ruggles, published in a pamphlet entitled The Duty of Columbia College to the Community. He is arguing for a larger liberality, especially in the admission of a certain candidate to a professorship in spite of his Unitarianism. He states the case as to the denominational restrictions placed upon Columbia College by her charter, which restrictions were removed as far as possible by the amended charter of 1787, but which nevertheless he regarded as perpetual by reason of the conditions in the deed of lands from the Trinity corporation. He says: The Episcopalianism of the president and the form of prayer in the college had, however, been secured not only by the charter, but by express conditions contained in the conveyance by Trinity Church of the college site. The State had, therefore, (that is, in making the new charter of 1787) neither legal right nor constitutional authority to dispense with these conditions; and for one I trust that the college will always respect, not only their legal, but their fair moral obligation, and will honestly perform them in their true intent and purpose without diminution or evasion. I hope that the president will always be an Episcopalian, and that the prescribed form of prayer may always be retained. But beyond that I contend that neither the legal nor the moral rights of Trinity Church, nor any other church, extend an inch.'

“I name, therefore, as indicating the historic position and tendency of Columbia, the charter of 1754, Bancroft's History, the deed of gift from Trinity Church, and the statement of Mr. Ruggles in 1854.

"I turn now to the genesis of the New York University. After the Revolution some effort was made at a modification of the government of Columbia, as appears from the following statement of a trustee of Columbia College published in 1830. 3176-17

reference; apparatus for illustrating natural and experimental philosophy, including chemistry, astronomy, and the mechanical arts; cabinets for natural history; a garden for botany and experiments in horticulture and agriculture; and in the department of fine arts books, models, casts for drawing in architecture, engi. neering, surveying, machinery, and natural history. Able professors and teachers will also be required in languages, ancient and modern; mathematics, pure and applied; philosophy, natural, intellectual, and moral; history and geography, ancient and modern; political economy; politics; commerce; the law of nations and constitutional law; geology and mineralogy; botany and zoology; physiology and comparative anatomy; civil engineering and architecture; agricultural chemistry and chemistry applied to the arts; the laws of perspective and the principles of drawing and designing.

We do not anticipate the possibility of carrying out into detailed operation the whole of the above suggestions in a year, and perhaps not in a generation, but we do look forward with sanguine expectation to a successful beginning.

The committee on conference with the city government applied at once for the use of the building in the rear of the city hall which was known as the almshouse. They found, however, within thirty days, February 1, 1830, a competitor for the use of this building in Columbia College. The latter submitted a paper to the mayor which is of interest as showing the value at that time of the property held for college work in New York City:

Propositions to the corporation of the city of New York which have received the approbation of all the trustees of Columbia College: That if the corporation of the city should patronage Columbia College as the city college, the trustees pledge themselves to ordain that the mayor and recorder shall be ex officio members of the board of trustees of the college, and that for every $20,000 in money or in real estate granted or conveyed to the said trustees for the use of the college by any individuals or any society or body corporate in the said city the corporation shall have the right to appoint one trustee of the said college until the number of trustees so appointed shall equal, with the mayor and recorder, the present number of the trustees.

The present number of trustees, agreeably to the charter, is.

Value of the property of the college obtained from Trinity Church, at least

Value of a trusteeship (400,000 divided by 24), say.

24

$400,000

20,000

Value of the almshouse and the ground on which it stands

200,000

Number of trustees to which the corporation of the city will be entitled in case of the grant of the almshouse or an equivalent thereto ($200,000 divided by 20,000), say

10

2

Total trustees under the above arrangement

12

Add mayor and recorder.

If other funds be contributed by the corporation or the citizens, the number of trustees so appointed by the corporation will be increased.

The university, failing to obtain the temporary use of the city's building, took up its first abode in its " own hired house." This was "Clinton Hall," situated in Bleecker street, not far from Broadway. This independence of the city government which the university was

obliged to assume against its own preference is now seen to have been a blessing in disguise.

The committee on conference with Columbia College appointed by the invited meeting accepted their office. They reported the 5th of February to the standing committee that

They have held a meeting with a committee from the college, and that after an interchange of views in reference to some distinguishing features of the two institutions nothing transpired which in the opinion of the undersigned can lead to a belief that under present circumstances there is any prospect of bringing the university and the college into such an immediate union with each other as would form them into one institution, under a common head and government; although it is hoped they may both proceed with mutual good will and honorable emulation in promoting the common cause of education and literature.1

1 The writer [Chancellor MacCracken], in a speech before the Nineteenth Century Club, of New York City, Monday, April 12, 1892, discussed by special invitation the subject of "A Metropolitan University," and in the introduction spoke of the genesis of the two universities in the one city. He said:

"I have suggested that the explanation of the two foundations is found in two diverging tendencies of thought. I shall prove this from a very brief glance at the genesis of the two corporations.

"The first allusion in standard history to the university movement in New York City is in the fourth volume of Bancroft's United States. He says of New York province that although it was settled chiefly by Calvinists yet the English Church was favored by law, though not established. Then he adds, under the date 1754, the following: 'An act of the prerogative which limited the selection of the president of the provincial college to those in communion with the Church of England agitated the public mind and united the Presbyterians in distrust of the royal authority.' Come down exactly one hundred years to the year 1854, and the following view of the transaction of 1754 is from the pen of a prominent trustee of Columbia College, Mr. S. B. Ruggles, published in a pamphlet entitled The Duty of Columbia College to the Community. He is arguing for a larger liberality, especially in the admission of a certain candidate to a professorship in spite of his Unitarianism. He states the case as to the denominational restrictions placed upon Columbia College by her charter, which restrictions were removed as far as possible by the amended charter of 1787, but which nevertheless he regarded as perpetual by reason of the conditions in the deed of lands from the Trinity corporation. He says: The Episcopalianism of the president and the form of prayer in the college had, however, been secured not only by the charter, but by express conditions contained in the conveyance by Trinity Church of the college site. The State had, therefore, (that is, in making the new charter of 1787) neither legal right nor constitutional authority to dispense with these conditions; and for one I trust that the college will always respect, not only their legal, but their fair moral obligation, and will honestly perform them in their true intent and purpose without diminution or evasion. I hope that the president will always be an Episcopalian, and that the prescribed form of prayer may always be retained. But beyond that I contend that neither the legal nor the moral rights of Trinity Church, nor any other church, extend an inch.'

"I name, therefore, as indicating the historic position and tendency of Columbia, the charter of 1754, Bancroft's History, the deed of gift from Trinity Church, and the statement of Mr. Ruggles in 1854.

"I turn now to the genesis of the New York University. After the Revolution some effort was made at a modification of the government of Columbia, as appears from the following statement of a trustee of Columbia College published in 1830. 3176-17