USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4 > Part 26
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The old tactics were pursued, of soliciting signatures, by sending copies of the document to public places. It
1 Records, liber iii., folios 383 and 421.
" This summary is taken from a document, numbered 18, in Trinity Church Pamphlets, General Theological Seminary Library. The names of the committee are Hon. Luther Bradish, Frederic de Peyster, R. B. Minturn, F. S. Winston, P. : M. Wetmore.
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would seem that party rancor and personal interest had been influenced by disappointed expectation.
On the 11th of February, 1847, the Vestry adopted a form of remonstrance, on the subject of this fresh attempt upon the rights of the Parish, and sent it to the Legisla- ture, duly signed and sealed. Recalling the memorial sent by them a year before, they added that "the appli- cants for the repeal of the act were largely the same as in that year." The argument of the Church was substan- tially unchanged. It was added that the assailants were chiefly " members of a few, and not exceeding five or six, religious corporations of the City of New York, some of which have been largely endowed, and made rich and in- dependent by and out of the property of your Memorial- ists, such aids in money as relieved them from debt and embarrassment, and to such amounts as must preclude all just expectations of having future contributions volun- tarily made from the same sources." No church organ- ization in its . corporate capacity had joined in the memorial, while ten of the religious corporations in the City of New York, in the communion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, had joined in a petition that there should be no change in the Act of 1814, or the status of Trinity Church ; and there were also petitions against the repeal signed by members of various parishes amounting in all to eight hundred and twenty-five. These facts were cited on the part of the Church ; while attention was further called to the fact that another election for War- dens and Vestrymen had taken place while the proceed- ings in the Legislature were pending, and that no re- monstrance or objection was made to the requirements of the Act of 1814 during the said election. In conclu- sion, the memorialists "pray that they may not be dis- turbed in those rights, which they have now so long
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beneficently exercised, but if there is any doubt of the validity or construction of the said law the decision may be left to the rightful jurisdiction of the courts of our country."1 This remonstrance was presented in the Assem- bly by Mr. Newman, on February 10, 1847, and promptly referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, of which the members were Mr. Burrell, Chairman ; Messrs. Shumway, J. R. Flanders, Mr. Balcom, John Develin, E. P. Pottle, and Francis Upton Fenno. With it went also various petitions and memorials for the repeal of the Act of 1814. A brief memorial was also sent, signed by forty-five per- sons who had previously favored the repeal of the Act. These memorialists perceive with regret that another at- tempt at repeal is to be made, and think that any inter- ference of the Legislature with such law would have been and is inexpedient ; they deprecate the disturbance of Trin- ity Church in " the rights they have enjoyed for a century and a half," not only on account " of the peace and quiet of the Church, but for various other reasons."
There was a long and thorough hearing before the Judiciary Committee. The Parish and the petitioners were represented by learned counsel, and every point was fully contested. On March 30, 1847, the Judiciary Committee presented its report to the Assembly, in which the facts are recited and the conclusion reached "that further legislative action is inexpedient." The reasons for this conclusion, which was unanimous, are clearly and fully stated. The committee fails to see any incongruity between the charter of 1697 and the colonial act of 1704, giving to the Corporation in the original charter the power to choose Vestrymen from its own members, instead of being under the control of a vestry
1 Memorial and Remonstrance, Trinity Church Pamphlets, General Theological Seminary.
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chosen by all the inhabitants of the city. The acts of 1784 and 1788 were only confirmations of the chartered rights of a corporation which for nearly a century had enjoyed a legal existence, as modified by the altered civil · relations. The act in dispute, that of January 25, 1814, was framed on the same lines, imposing still further " modifications, which were rendered necessary by changed conditions." Trinity Church was "no longer the only Episcopal Parish in the City," and it was only fair and just that, as it claimed no right to interfere in the affairs of other Parishes, those other Parishes, either in bodies corporate or through their individual members, had no legal or equitable right to interfere with its affairs. Ac- cordingly the right to vote for " Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church was restricted to the Communicants, and contributors of that particular parish." This had " been the actual practice for many years, and was legally confirmed with the full acquiescence of other Parishes and of all their individual members," with the exception of a very few malcontents. It is a matter of contemporary evidence that the act was not prepared hastily, and with- out opportunity for the members of the churches in New York City to make such remonstrance as they saw fit. It had the cordial approbation of a jurist of great and varied knowledge, the Attorney General, Abraham Van Vechten.1
As the law had been in force for thirty-two years without any remonstrance, "it would be contrary to pub- lic policy to repeal it, and absolutely destroy unquestioned vested rights of twenty years' standing, even if there were hypothetical rights involved, which the committee does
1 See Part II. of this History, pp. 231-235 ; also, Mr. Stephen P. Nash's monograph : "Note on the use of the Term . Chapel,'" in A Narrative of Events con- nected with the Bi-Centennial of Trinity Church, pp. 74-77.
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not believe." The argument of the petitioners "that membership in another city parish does not impair their rights in Trinity Parish " is considered by the committee "false both in law and in equity." As this is the most material point of the petitioners, the committee devote several paragraphs to its refutation, citing many examples to show its fallacy.
" No one can vote in one town, and then claim the right to vote in another, even if he be a taxpayer in the second town. The laws relating to religious corporations expressly recognized this incompatibility." The com- mittee in conclusion quote from a legal opinion attached to one of the memorials, in which it is stated "that it is doubtful whether the church to which the significant sec- tion of the Act of 1784 refers, is the Protestant Episco- pal Church in general, or Trinity Church in particular." When thus the memorialists concede their main conten- tion and reliance for favorable action, the committee cannot do otherwise than reject their prayer.
With the adoption of this report by the Assembly, the Parish had rest from any public agitation concerning its legal rights, property or policy for seven years.1
The growth of the city northward is indicated by an application received February 8, 1847, from the Rev. Richard M. Abercrombie, of St. Andrews, Harlem, re- questing the Corporation to build a chapel in Trinity Cemetery, which should be in connection with Harlem Par- ish.2 . A report from the Committee on Church Extension
1 The summary of the committee's report is taken from the copy in the Trinity Pamphlets in the General Theological Seminary, where it is numbered 22; the full title is: " Unanimous Report of the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly of the State of New York, March 30th, 1847. Against the Petition for the repeal or modification of the Act of 25th of January, 1814, entitled ' An Act to alter the name of the Corporation of Trinity Church, and for other purposes.'" 8 vo., pp. 20. Albany : C. Van Benthuysen & Co., Public Printers, 1847. On the first page : " State of New York, No. 14, In Assembly, March, 1847." * Records, liber iii., folio 431.
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was presented and read by Mr. Verplanck. The popula- tion of the city had been increasing upon the west side. Hudson Street and its vicinity were improving, and new houses were constantly being built. To provide for the spiritual needs of this new population, a plan was pro- posed to reserve "the whole or a part of the ground between Clarkson and Le Roy Streets on the east side of Hudson Street, for a church and Cemetery." It was also recommended that a committee should examine the ground, and report as to the quantity of land to be re- served, and the plan of a church, and that a church should be built as soon as the funds of the Corporation would permit. The report was laid on the table for future deliberation.
In March, the Committee on Church Extension made a further report upon the subject. They urged that no part of the Hudson Street front should be sold for any private purpose, lest stores or shops might be built in a manner unsuitable to the close neighbor- hood of a church, and recommended "that the whole of the Cemetery grounds between Clarkson and Le Roy Streets be set apart for a church and cemetery, and that the portion fronting on Hudson St., where inter- ments have not been made, be designated as the intended site for a church or chapel." 1 The recommendation was approved.
The trustees of the New York Protestant Episcopal Public School at this time applied for a grant in fee simple of the lots on Varick and Grand Streets which, in 1832, had been leased to them at a nominal rental; the matter was placed in the hands of the Standing Com- mittee for consideration. 2
The parish of Calvary, one of the earliest formed
1 Records, liber iii., folio 438.
2 Ibid., folio 437.
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uptown,1 after passing through various vicissitudes, was at that time completing a handsome Gothic church. To this building the Vestry presented the marble altar de- signed by Ball Hughes, which had been in the second Trinity Church.2
On the morning of Easter Day, April 4, 1847, Mrs. Mary Goodin (Chandler) Hobart, the widow of the great Bishop of New York, departed this life in her seventy- second year. All who knew her agree in ascribing to her the graces of a noble and Christian womanhood.3 At a Vestry meeting held April 12, 1847, a preamble and reso- lutions were introduced by Mr. Harison and unanimously adopted. The Vestry offered to the family of Mrs. Hobart "their heart-felt sympathy in this afflicting bereavement, and the condolence of this body, and every member of it individually upon the loss of their mother, who was truly a help-meet for our late revered father and Rector." It was resolved to continue the annuity which had been paid to Mrs. Hobart to May, 1848, and after that date to pay to Miss Mary Goodin Hobart, "the only unmarried daughter of Bishop Hobart, an annuity of six hundred dollars," so long as she shall remain unmarried.4
In closing this chapter, mention may be made of Dr. Berrian's work, entitled A Historical Sketch of Trinity Church. The first attempt at a history of the Parish, it was a production of the agitation for the repeal of the Act of 1814. The book, a handsome octavo embellished with steel engravings, was published in 1847, by the veteran
1 Calvary Church was organized in 1835 and incorporated October 4, 1836 ; the first Rector was the Rev. Thomas C. Dupont, 1835-1837. The corner stone of the present church, corner of Fourth Avenue and 21st St., was laid on March 10, 1846.
2 Records, liber iii, folio 438.
3 For a sketch of Mrs. Hobart, see Dr. Berrian's Recollections of Departed Friends, pp. 94-100.
# Records, liber iii., folio 439.
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churchmen Messrs. Stanford & Swords. Long since out of print, it may occasionally be picked up in one of those shops where they deal with antiquities. It contains a large amount of information, which it was deemed desira- ble and important to give to the public, that they may know how to form a correct judgment of the nature of the attacks on the Parish and the misrepresentation of its ene- mies. The fault of the work is defective arrangement and confusion of material ; but these facts should be borne in mind : that it was partly compiled for a definite object ; that the writer had neither time nor means for extensive research among the documents preserved in our State ar- chives and in England ; and that much of the historical material which can now be used was then inaccessible ; for the early history of the province of New York, during both the Dutch and English periods, was in 1847 under investigation, nor were the papers relating to those days printed until many years after its publication. Notwith- standing these drawbacks, however, the book has its value ; and the author of the present history has drawn upon it for much that deserves preservation in our ar- chives, and might, but for the timely and praiseworthy act of Dr. Berrian under great difficulties, have been lost or forgotten. It may be added, that 250 copies of the work were purchased by the Vestry for distribution to clergy- men, vestries, and parish libraries, with a view to diffuse information about the Parish where little or nothing was known of its history and its magnificent benefactions to the Church in the City and State of New York.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PARISH, THE CITY, AND THE STATE.
Danger Threatening the Parish-Application from Geneva College-Withdrawal of State Aid-Application from St. George the Martyr for Sanction to Exchange Certain Lots on Reade Street for Plot on Fifth Avenue-Application of Dr. McVickar for Aid in Erection of Chapel on Governor's Island-Annual Appropriation Granted- Loan to Congregations of Holy Evangelists and Church of the Epiphany Saves These Churches-Right of Congregations to Erect Separate Parishes Examined into by Dr. Berrian-His Report-Albany Street Extension Brought Up Again-Letter of Thanks to Vestry from Mrs. Lawrence for Completion of Monument to Memory of Her Hus- band-First Anniversary of Consecration of New Church-The Choral School of St. John's Chapel-Bogardus Suit Decided in Favor of Trinity Corporation-Commun- ion Plate Belonging to Parish-Establishment of Parish of The Intercession, near Trinity Cemetery-General Convention of 1847-Sermon by Bishop Hopkins-Dis- continuance of Mission Chapel in Tea Salesrooms-Appointment of the Rev. Sullivan H. Weston as Deacon-Financial Condition of Parish-Report of Rector on Strength of Parish-Resolution Presented by General Dix.
I N the appendix to Dr. Berrian's Historical Sketch of Trinity Church is a "list of the gifts, grants, and loans of the Corporation to churches, institutions, and individuals from the year 1745 to 1846." Prior to 1745 the Church had little or nothing to give away; after that date its benefactions were lavish and incessant ; the aggregate value of those donations is estimated at upwards of $2,000,000, a sum representing more than two thirds of the value of that part of the Church property which remained in 1846. While these statistics furnish an ample defence against the charges of illiberality and selfishness, made from time to time by adversaries of Trinity, they can hardly be regarded with entire complacency by the friends of the Parish. It was to the credit of the earlier managers
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of the estate that they considered themselves as, in a measure, trustees for the whole of our communion in the City and State of New York, and bound to act as an Ad- vancement or Propagation Society, so building up the Church far beyond parochial limits ; but it is equally clear that the policy of a bounty so lavish could not continue in- definitely, and that the time must come when it would be necessary to put on the brakes and check the speed at which the Corporation, impelled by generous impulse, was running towards bankruptcy. If modern valuations should be substituted for those of fifty years ago, the amount of the grants, gifts, and donations would vastly exceed that which was reported by the Rector in 1846. And still, at that time, the open-hand policy was continued, with no appa- rent regard to changes which had already come and still greater changes which were coming. It reminds us of the well-known comment on the charge at Balaclava, when the Light Brigade were galloping into the jaws of certain destruction ; a French officer, watching the same, exclaimed, "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre !" Without reflecting on the acts of our venerable predeces- sors, one might with justice make a similar criticism of the course of the Vestry at the date which we have reached in our history, while reading the details of the rate at which the endowment of the Parish was melting away : it was grand from the standpoint of altruistic benevolence ; but were trustees justified in steady elimination of the Church's estate? One thing is clear, that they lacked the pro- phetic instinct ; they did not see that the time was to come, and soon, when the wealth of Trinity Church would be the only means of providing for the spiritual wants of a vast section of the city, and when, but for that resource, it would have presented, for miles, below Tenth Street and from river to river, a scene of religious desolation
الأحد
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without a parallel in the great cities of the world. If a financial policy, or, to speak more plainly, a habit of spending, which had become by that time unjustifiable and dangerous, had not been checked, our churches of Trinity, St. Paul's, and St. John's must have been aban- doned for lack of funds to maintain them, and business structures would have taken the place of the ancient churchyards and the vanished houses of God, in the dis- tricts down in town. The tide, however, was about to turn. In this chapter, I shall note certain additional grants and donations, to Geneva College, the Church of St. George the Martyr, a chapel on Governor's Island, the congrega- tion of the Holy Evangelists, and the Church of the Epiphany, made just before the time when a halt was called and a movement began on the line of prudence and economy, which saved what remained of the Royal Grant to the Church in the reign of Queen Anne.
To speak, first, of Geneva College. It was the result of the efforts of Bishop Hobart to found and maintain a school of high grade under the auspices of the Church in the Dio- cese of New York. In 1802 the Rev. Davenport Phelps became the pioneer missionary in western New York.1 He soon founded a parish in Geneva, on Seneca Lake. The Rev. Orin Clark became his assistant in 1812. Upon the death of Mr. Phelps, in 1813, he succeeded to the rectorship of Trinity Church, Geneva. Both were deeply interested in Christian education. They fostered and aided the recently founded Geneva Academy, serving, it is understood, both as trustees and instructors.
In 1821 the Rev. Dr. Daniel McDonald, a born edu- cator, removed with his theological class which he had instructed in the Academy to Geneva. It was at the
1 See pp. 95, 96, Part III., of this History for the instructions from Bishop Moore to Mr. Phelps.
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request of the Bishop who caused his appointment as the chief professor in the Interior Theological School, which was located at Geneva by the New York Education So- ciety. Dr. McDonald, in addition to his duties as theo- logical professor, became the Principal of the Geneva Academy. 1 So vigorous and effective was his admin- istration that the Academy was chartered as a college, un- der the name of Geneva College, in 1825. A State annuity was granted to it by the Legislature, and continued for many years. Bishop Hobart, deeply interested, aided it, by influence with men of means, suggestions as to the course of study, and personal interest in its professors and the youth under their charge. In 1846, the College re- ceived a heavy blow. The new constitution forbade per- manent endowment by the State, and the annual stipend ceased. The College, in great financial difficulties, turned, of course, to Trinity Church Corporation in its dark hour. The appeal was full, precise, and pathetic ; it set forth the needs of the College, showed the results already attained with scanty resources, and invoked the name of Bishop Hobart, former Rector of Trinity, who had been its foster- ing father and practically its founder. The Bishop of Western New York, the Convention of the Diocese, and men of the highest character, both in Church and State, added their solicitations to the formal application from the authorities of the College. The Vestry listened with much interest to the appeal, and referred it to a special com- mittee for consideration .? On the 10th of January, 1848, they reported, recommending that the College should be endowed with one entire block of the Astor lease, but action on the report was deferred.3
1 See pp. 184, 185, 195, 196, 197, 199, 201, 202, Part III., of this History for the relations of Dr. McDonald and Dr. Clark to Geneva College.
, 2 Records, liber iii., folio 444. VOL. IV .- 20.
8 Ibid., folio 472.
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Next came an application from the " Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of the Emigrant Strangers Free Church of St. George the Martyr," praying that the Cor- poration of Trinity Church release its claim to the land at the foot of Duane Street granted in 1800 to the city for a market. The application stated that the City Corpora- tion had agreed with the authorities of the Church of St. George the Martyr to grant to that organization, "as an equivalent for the claim of the City to the piece of land bounded by Reade, West, Washington, and Duane Streets, a part of a block marked 73 on a map in the City Comp- troller's office, of the public lands in the twelfth Ward of this City, viz, 200 feet by 300 feet of said block containing twenty-four building lots, and lying on the West side of the Fifth Avenue, between 53rd. and 54th. Streets." 1
The parish whose project for a church and free hospi- tal thus came before the Vestry had been organized in 1845, by the Rev. Moses Marcus, an English clergyman of great benevolence and unwearied energy, whose work among the emigrants, and especially those of his own nation, had shown him, in those days of lax methods by the State and National authorities, the impositions they endured, and the sufferings they encountered. He seems to have been the first person in the City of New York to have conceived and formulated a plan for a free hospital under church auspices. He had interested his colleagues of the St. George's Society, of which he was Chaplain, in the scheme, and they aided both with advice and money. He had, it is understood, applied informally for a plot of ground for the church and hospital, to the Cor- poration of Trinity Church, but there was none large enough for the purpose available. Having learned that Trinity Church had the right of re-entry upon the plot at
1 Records, liber iii., folio 445.
الصوا
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the foot of Duane Street, he entered into negotiations with representatives of the city, finally obtaining from them a promise to grant the Fifth Avenue plot as an endow- ment for St. George the Martyr, and the work it con- templated among the poor emigrants if he could obtain from Trinity Church a release of its claim to the Duane Street plot.
The application of the Church of St. George the Martyr was referred to the Standing Committee,1 with power, and " the Comptroller and clerk were authorized to affix the seal of this Corporation to any proper deeds or in- struments, and to carry any arrangements or order directed by the Committee into effect." 2
The agreement with the city was soon made, and the plot on "the Fifth Avenue" was granted to the Church of St. George the Martyr, for a church and free hospital, provided it be occupied within three years. There, in after years, stood St. Luke's Hospital, and thence was it removed to its present position on Cathedral Heights.
We come next to the story of the church on Gover- nor's Island known as St. Cornelius's Chapel. In 1844, the Rev. John McVickar, D.D., Professor in Columbia College, was appointed Post Chaplain to the U. S. Army post at Fort Columbus. Dr. McVickar became deeply interested in his duties, which he discharged with constancy and regularity, at all seasons of the year, passing to and from Governor's Island in an open barge, even in the bitterest days of winter, for, at this time, there was no steam vessel in use at the post. It was then the custom to send all new recruits to Fort Columbus; the Chaplain found among them many cases of pressing need and great spir- itual destitution. With an energy and devotion character- istic of him, he set about building a chapel; sought the
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