These are full of information, give many facts of great interest, and prove that the old Parish was thoroughly alive. A summary of them has already been given.

An edition of fifteen hundred copies was printed and speedily distributed.1

1 Report to the Vestry of Trinity Church on the State of the Parish, by William Berrian, D.D., Rector of the same.

CHAPTER XXI.

ATTACKS ON THE CORPORATION.

Meeting of the Senate Committee on the Property of Trinity Corporation-Examination of Witnesses-Testimony of Various Clergy against Trinity Corporation-Report of the Senate Committee - Hearing before the Senate-Committee Amends its Report-Substitute Bill Offered-And Passed-Opening of St. John's Chapel after its Restoration-Memorial to the Revolutionary Soldiers in Trinity Churchyard-Address by Dr. Vinton on the Opening of Albany Street.

WE

E have now to resume the story of the aggressions on the venerable Corporation during the years 1856 and 1857.

A resolution was adopted, in the Senate of the State of New York, on motion of Mr. Brooks, a member of that body, that the Vestry of Trinity Church be requested to answer without delay the questions propounded in the resolutions adopted on the 10th of April, 1855, requiring certain information therein specified to be laid before the Senate on the 7th day of January, 1856.1

On Wednesday, January 30th, the following letter of the Comptroller was presented to the Senate:

"NEW YORK, January 28, 1856.

"TO THE HON., THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK:

"The undersigned, the Comptroller of Trinity Church in the City of New York, has received a copy of the resolution of your honorable body requesting the Vestry to answer by the first day of February next, certain questions propounded by previous resolutions of the Senate. A report in response to such questions is now in the course of preparation by the undersigned by direction of the Vestry. But owing to the fact that a part of the information asked for is required to be brought down to the first of November last, to the complication 1 See Journal of the Senate, 1856, pp. 17, 73, 83, 112, 219, 226, 248, 386, 626.

and difficulty attending the task of estimating the value of the real estate of this Corporation, and of each lot and parcel thereof, irrespective of the leases thereon, and to the great labor required to answer that, and the other heads of inquiry and to the circumstance that shortly after said first of November last the principal clerk in the office of the undersigned, who was familiar with the subject, was incapacitated by sickness to attend to his duties and still remains so, the undersigned fears that the report cannot be ready by the time indicated. Its preparation is proceeding with diligence, and the respect of the Vestry for the Honorable Senate will induce them not to delay its presentation to the Senate one day longer than is absolutely necessary.

They pray that in order that there may not be any seeming disrespect shown by a failure to give the desired information at the time fixed by the Senate, that the time for a response may be extended by the Senate until the 15th day of February next.

"Respectfully,

"I am your obedient servant,

"WM. E. DUNSCOMB,
"Comptroller."

The request for extension of time having been granted, the report was presented, February 20, 1856. It was full in every particular required and gave the information asked for. The Vestry, however, mindful of their rights and dignity, asserted their independence of legislative control, in the following words :

"But before entering upon the statements hereinafter contained, the Vestry beg leave respectfully to aver that they furnish the information requested by the Senate, not acknowledging the power of the Senate to exact such information, but in order that they may not be deemed wanting in respect for your honorable body, or unwilling to display to the public the statement of this Corporation, its financial condition, and management by this Vestry of its property. They feel satisfied that the facts presented in this paper will remove any unfavorable impressions detrimental to the interest of Trinity Church, which have been occasioned by representations which it is conjectured have inclined your honorable body to pass the resolutions above contained. But being charged with the guardianship of a large property

and important rights, they beg leave respectfully to represent that the requiring of such reports as that asked for by the resolutions of the Honorable Senate is not justified by any legal principle, and is oppressive to this Corporation.' If there should be at any time any cause for complaint against this Corporation, the Courts are open, and are adequate to afford a remedy; and the entering by the Legislature upon an investigation into the affairs of any single Corporation, which investigation if it has any materiality, properly belongs to such Courts, is an assumption of their powers, and is burdensome upon the Corporation affected, by calling upon it to justify itself, by laborious statements or productions of evidence to a tribunal which has no power to decide.

"This Corporation has within a few years past made answer to two similar calls for information from the houses of the Legislature, the one contained in the resolutions of your honorable body of the 9th day of March, 1846, and the other contained in the resolutions of the honorable the House of Assembly, of March 4, 1854.

"There is no provision in the Charter of this Corporation, and the general statute requiring it to report to the Legislature, and because this Vestry have found the answers to those repeated requirements expensive and onerous, and believed them to be an infringement of the chartered rights of Trinity Church, they humbly protest against the right of the Legislature, or either branch of it, to call for reports from this Vestry, relative to the condition of affairs of this Corporation."

The Report, when received, was referred to a Special Committee Consisting of Messrs. Mark Spencer, of New York City, James Noxon, of Onondaga, and J. H. Ramsey, of Schoharie. Agitation on the subject ceased for a space, it being understood that the Committee would make investigation into the matter of reference, and visit the city for that purpose before presenting a report to the Senate. 3

3

1 Records, liber iv., folio 244.

Report of Trinity Church, pp. 3, 4.

* See Memorial of the Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestrymen of Trinity Church, in the City of New York, to the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State of New York, 8 vo, p. II. In Trinity Church Collection, State Library, Albany. Also Senate Documents, No. 45. In Senate, February 20, 1856, communication of the Vestry of Trinity Church in the City of New York, to the Honourable the Senate of the State of New York, in reply to resolutions of the Senate passed April 13, 1855.

It was announced to the Vestry, at their stated meeting on the 10th of November, 1856, that the Committee of the Senate was about to visit the city for the purpose of examining the Report made to the Senate at its last session by the Corporation. The Committee arrived in due time, and held meetings on Tuesday, December 3d, Wednesday, December 4th, and Thursday and Friday, December 19th and 20th. Many witnesses were summoned to appear, eleven of them being clergymen, of whom only three were Assistant Ministers of the Parish. Among the laymen summoned was the Comptroller of the Corporation. A summary of the testimony taken at that time shows that the Committee was following a preconceived plan, as only answers to questions already prepared by them were allowed, and no voluntary statements were admitted. The sessions were held with closed doors, and there appears to have been no effort to call friends and members of Trinity Church.

The Committee, having completed their investigation, presented a report, with the testimony, and the draft of a proposed act amending the Act of 1814. This report, dated January 29, 1857, was ordered to be printed.' The Committee gave it as their opinion that the property of the Corporation was held in trust for all the inhabitants of the City of New York; they also charged the Corporation with partiality in grants and extravagant expenditure within the Parish, and arraigned it for not building free churches for the general use of the citizens of the metropolis.

The report, upon its face, was so partial, that even those Senators who cared little or nothing for Trinity Church thought that it needed further consideration, and it was recommitted. The representatives of the Parish See Journal of the Senate, p. 142.

VOL. IV.-28.