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THE HOPKINS ACADEMY.

The Committee, as constituted by the town in 1664, generally known as the Donation Committee, continued to administer the funds for the uses designated by the donors by employing teachers of collegiate education, and maintaining a school of the grade known as a Grammar School, to which young persons resorted from Hadley and the neighboring towns until 1816. In that year the Legislature, in pursuance of an application from the Committee, with the concurrence of the town (by vote in legal town meeting held January 1, 1816), passed "an act to incorporate the Trustees of Hopkins Academy," by which it is provided that "there shall be established an Academy in the town of Hadley upon the foundation of Hopkins Donation School, and that the Committee of the town be incorporated into a body politic, by the name of the Trustees of Hopkins Academy; and that all the lands and moneys heretofore given or subscribed to the committee for the use of the school, or which shall be hereafter given, granted, and assigned to the trustees for the use of the Academy, shall be confirmed to the trustees for the use of the Academy, shall be confirmed to the trustees and their successors in that trust forever, for the uses designated by the donors, and that they shall be further capable of taking and holding estate, real and personal, provided the annual income of the same shall not exceed $5,000, and the rent and profits shall be applied in such manner as that the designs of the donors may be most effectually promoted." The Trustees, as successors of the Donation Committee, continued to maintain a school of the grade known as a Grammar School, "in which Latin, Greek, Astronomy, ancient and modern History, Logic, ancient and modern Geography, natural, moral, and intellectual Philosophy, Rhetoric, Geometry, Chemistry, Arithmetic, Composition, Reading, Declamation, and such other studies as are taught in academies," and to a course of instruction so extensive as this some of the inhabitants of the town of Hadley objected, as beyond their wants, especially as to obtain such instruction as their children needed they were obliged to pay tuition, the same as was demanded of persons not resident in the town, and who had the advantages of the higher studies. The inhabitants thus disaffected, in the year 1832-3, applied by bill in equity to the Supreme Judicial Court for relief, by enjoining such trustees from appropriating the annual avails of the property of the Hopkins School for the use and benefit of others not inhabitants of the town, and in exclusion of the children, provided they are not receiving the advanced studies of an academy. The trustees, in due form, admitted that they had to the best of their means and ability maintained a school of the grade known as a Grammar School, or an Academy, "and that to this school every person in Hadley, of proper age and qualifications to receive benefit from the school, could be admitted, and none such have ever been refused, that the trustees have supposed it to be their duty to have, at all times, a master capable to instruct children and fit them for our university or some of our colleges; that the expense of such instruction has at all times more than exhausted the whole annual income of the funds in the hands of the trustees, and the balance of the expenses has been assessed on the scholars as tuition fees; that it is true the school has been resorted to by youth from other towns, but this has not only in no way been detrimental, but, on the contrary, has been highly beneficial, inasmuch as the excess of expenses of instruction over the income of these funds, instead of being assessed wholly upon the scholars who are inhabitants of Hadley, has been apportioned among all the scholars, while the opportunities for instruction have been in no degree lessened."

The case was ably argued on both sides, and in Pickering's "Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts,"

(Vol. xiv. p. 241-267), the decision of the Court in the September term, 1833, in the case of the Inhabitants of Hadley versus The Trustees of Hopkins Academy,is given. The Court held "that the legal estate in the property given by Hopkins, did not, by his will and the instrument made by his trustees in 1664, vest in the town of Hadley; that the devise was not made for the purpose of founding a common town school for the exclusive benefit of the inhabitants of that town, but was designed for the encouragement of all persons in that (then) newly settled part of the country, who should desire to avail themselves of the benefit of a Grammar School adapted to instruct and qualify pupils for the university; that a long continued usage of admitting pupils from other towns than Hadley, to participate in the benefits of the Hopkins School, was of weight in establishing such construction of the devise; and that all the other donations above mentioned were to be held upon the same trusts and be appropriated to the same purposes, as the principal one from Hopkins.

Extracts from Decisions of Chief Justice Shaw.

It is a rule in equity, that a gift of real or personal estate, either inter vivos or by will, to promote education, is a charity. It is also considered as a settled rule, that such a gift to a charitable use is to receive a most liberal construction; and if the trustees pervert the fund to other uses, or even if they refuse to accept or execute the trusts, the charity itself shall not fail, nor will the property revert to the donor. But it will be competent for a court of chancery to direct, in the former case, that the trusts shall be executed, and in the latter, that now trustees shall be appointed, in whom the legal estate shall vest, to be holden in trust for the purposes of the charity. It is quite clear, therefore, that even if the donation committee, prior to the act of incorporation, had met with a technical difficulty in maintaining their legal title, no forfeiture and no reversionary interest therein could have been claimed by the heirs of the donors, could they still have been traced; and therefore, as the lands and estate must still have been holden for the purposes of the trust, it would have been very immaterial, whether the legal estate should be considered as vested in the particular individuals, composing the donation committee, or not. That technical difficulty, however, was removed by the act of incorporation, passed with the consent and indeed upon the application of the committee, whereby they were made capable in law of taking and holding the legal estate in succession.

Another question which has been alluded to may be considered, for the purpose of being laid out of the case. It was stated in the argument for the plaintiffs, that the defendants, by introducing the higher branches of science into the academy, have changed the character of the institution from that of a school to that of a college, whereby the inhabitants of Hadley are deprived of the benefits intended to be conferred on them by the maintenance of a grammar school. This complaint at first seemed plausible; but we think it has no place in the present inquiry. It was not set forth in the bill, as a breach of trust; it was advanced only in argument, and that argument was founded upon a statement in the defendant's answer, of the studies pursued at the academy. But as a distinct complaint of a breach of trust, it has not been made in the bill, nor have the defendants had opportunity to answer to it. The point might have some influence as an argument upon the other question which is afterwards to be considered, if it could be shown that such a school as the present is, was not the grammar school contemplated by the donor. For instance, if it were shown aliunde that the school was intended exclusively for the inhabitants of Hadley, it might perhaps be argued that the inhabitants had no need of an institution of so high a character, and therefore that such an institution was not intended. But till that question is settled, the argument bears with the same force the other way. If the donors, by a grammar school, contemplated an institution of higher character than is ordinarily required for the children of a single town, then it could not be intended by the donors that the benefits of such school should be confined to the children of the inhabitants of Hadley. It can therefore have no weight as an argument upon that question.

But the real question raised and discussed in the present case is whether the funds placed under the control of the defendants for the support of a school, are so to be administered as to confine the benefit of them exclusively to the inhabitants of the town of Hadley.

By the terms of the act of incorporation, St. 1815, c. 104, §2, all lands and moneys given to the committee for the use of said school, shall be confirmed to the trustees of Hopkins Academy, and their successors in said trust forever, for the uses designated by the donors.

The purpose of the pious donor was, as he modestly expressed it, "to give some encouragement, in these foreign plantations, for the breeding up of hopeful youth in a way of learning, both at the grammar school and college, for the public service of the country in future times." This looks not only to great objects and useful objects, but to public objects. The establishment of the grammar school is coupled immediately with that of the college, which, although it must necessarily be established in some place, and so is local in its existence, yet is necessarily public and general in its purposes. The end contemplated was "the public service of the country in future times." It was "to breed up hopeful youth in a way of learning." These expressions seem inconsistent with the purpose of establishing a local school for teaching the humblest rudiments of education to the children of both sexes, who usually resort to such a school. If it be said that these expressions are adapted to that part of the provision which points to the encouragement to be given to the college, the answer is obvious, that both are included in precisely the same terms. It seems much more like having regard to a course of liberal education and the fitting of men with that degree of learning which might qualify them for public service as professional men, especially for the service of the church. In that view the two leading objects are perfectly consistent, and calculated to advance each other; supposing a grammar school designed to fit young men for college, and the college to enable them to complete a liberal education, preparatory to public or professional life. He afterwards with much solemnity and earnestness speaks of the aforesaid public ends. This looks little like a design to found a local school, confined in its benefits to the children of a single settlement. And we are of opinion that the original trustees of Mr. Hopkins, who were specially charged with the execution of the liberal and beneficent designs of the donor, understood it in the same way, by the instrument which they executed.

In regard to the other donations set forth in the bill, it appears to us that they clearly follow the principal one, derived from Hopkins.

In looking at the evidence adduced as to the usage and practice of the trustees, or donation committee, the records do not show whether they did, or did not, confine the benefits of this grammar school to children of the inhabitants of Hadley. The evidence therefore must rest upon living memory, which extends back fifty or sixty years; and by this it appears most satisfactorily, that in point of fact, although practically it has enured principally to the use of the inhabitants, yet it has not been confined to them, but many boys from other towns have been fitted for college there; and those who have been longest conversant with the actual management of the school as trustees, testify that they have always considered it as a school, the benefits of which have not been confined, and of right were not to be confined, exclusively to children of the inhabitants of Hadley.

Upon the whole matter we are of opinion that the inhabitants of the town of Hadley are not exclusively entitled to the benefits of these ancient donations, that the defendants in their mode of a ministering them, and extending the benefit of them to children of other towns, have not been guilty of the breach of trust charged in the bill, and therefore that the suit must be dismissed.

Since the date of this decision no formal attempt has been made to localize the benefits of the Hopkins Academy-but from information received from one of the trustees in 1776, we judge the institution is practically merged in a Town High School. The Academy owns no building of its own, but since 1865 occupies the upper room of a building rented by the town of Hadley for the accommodation of the Town School required by statute. The trustees pay no rent, but furnish free instruction to pupils from the town who can enter on examination. The income of the fund ($2,621 from a capital in 1876 of $34,466) is sufficient to employ a principal at a salary of $1,000, and a female assistant at $500. The pupils-74 during the last year-are distributed in classes formed in reference to a course of three years, embracing a classical department preparatory for college, and an English department equivalent to the studies of an English High School.

ALFONSO X., KING OF CASTILE AND LEON-1252-1284.

ALFONSO, Tenth of that name, who wore the crown of Castile and Leon from 1252 to 1284, and by his devotion to literature and science, won a higher distinction of The Wise (El Sabio) among men, than the canonization conferred by Clement VII., in 1672, on his father, Ferdinand III., for his efforts to expel the Moors from Spain, and extirpate heresy from the church, was born in 1221. His mother was Beatrice, daughter of Philip I., Duke of Suabia and Emperor of Germany, in whose right he claimed the Duchy which was not allowed, and aspired to the dignity of the Imperial Throne of Germany, but his claims were set aside in favor of Rodolph of Hapsburg in 1257. While engaged in these fruitless efforts to extend his dominion abroad, his own nobles conspired to nullify his authority at home, and the Moors regained for a time their ascendancy in provinces where they had been subdued by his father. But he was for a time successful over both-treating his rebellious nobility with a leniency which they subsequently abused, but extending the rule of Castile over Murcia and part of Algarvia. But the chronic turbulence of the nobles revived at a later period, and under the lead of his own son, successfully deprived him of his crown in 1284, the year of his death.

The personal history of this monarch is full of poetic interest; and without being able to form any clear conception of his character, as drawn by different historians, we can not but sympathize with his determination to possess the estate of his mother, the Lady Beatrice of Suabia, and his aspirations to become the Emperor of Germany, after the example of his wife's father Francis of Suabia, although his efforts to secure the first, and realize the last, cost him his crown. And when his rebellious nobles and unnatural son conspire to expel him from his throne, we are touched by the letter addressed in 1282 to one of the Guzmans, who was then in great favor at the court of the King of Fez, whose aid he invoked :—

Cousin Don Alonzo Perez de Guzman: My affliction 'is great, because it has fallen from such a height that it will be seen afar; and as it has fallen on me, who am the friend of all the world, so in all the world will men know this my misfortune, and its sharpness, which I suffer unjustly from my son, assisted by my friends and by my prelates, who, instead of setting peace between us, have put mischief, not under secret pretenses or covertly, but with bold openness. And thus I find no protection in mine own land, neither defender nor champion and yet have I not deserved it at their hands, unless it were for the good I have done them. And now, since in mine own land they deceive, who should have served and assisted me, needful is it that I should seek abroad those who will kindly care for me; and since they of Castile have been false to me, none can think it ill that I ask help among those of Benamarin. For if my sons are mine enemies, it will not then be wrong that I take mine enemies to be my

sons; enemies according to the law, but not of free choice. And such is the good king, Aben Jusaf; for I love and value him much, and he will not despise me or fail me; for we are at truce. I know also how much you are his, and how much he loves you, and with good cause, and how much he will do through your good counsel. Therefore look not at the things past, but at the things present. Consider of what lineage you are come, and that at some time hereafter I may dổ you good; and if I do it not, that your own good deed shall be its own good reward. Therefore, my cousin, Alonzo Perez de Guzman, do so much for me with my lord and your friend, that, on pledge of the most precious crown that I have, and the jewels thereof, he should lend me so much as he may hold to be just. And if you can obtain his aid, let it not be hindered of coming quickly; but rather think how the good friendship that may come to me from your lord will be through your hands. And so may God's friendship be with you. Done in Seville, my only loyal city, in the thirtieth year of my reign, and in the first of these my troubles. Signed, THE KING.

The Guzman, to whom this letter was addressed, went over to Africa in 1276, with many knights, to serve Aben Jusaf against his rebellious subjects. In which service they were successful. Alfonso survived the date of this letter only two years, and died in 1284his son Sancho at that time being in possession of the throne.

Alfonso was the most learned prince of his time, and is credited by Mr. Ticknor, in his history of Spanish Literature, with having improved the Castilian language by his own compositions in prose and verse, and advanced the science of astronomy.

To Alfonso X. belongs the credit of establishing a uniform system of legislation for all the provinces and cities of his dominions, to which he gave the name of 'El Setenario,' but known as 'Las Siete Partidas,' or the Seven Parts, from the seven divisions of the work itself. It was begun in 1256 and finished in 1263. Although assisted by others in the work of compilation out of the Decretals, and the Digest and Code of Justinian, and out of the Forum Judicum, a collection of the Visigoths laws made in 1241 by his father Ferdinand II. -Alfonso is generally credited with its authorship on account of its resemblance, in style and literary execution, to his known productions. It is by far the most important legislative monument of its age, and for its recognition and provision of public schools, places its author amongst the earliest and most liberal educators of Europe.

The Partidas did not come at once into operation. Its provisions were obstructed and defied by the great nobles, and cities with their special privileges; and it was not till 1348, sixty years after the death of their author, that the great code of Alfonso was established as of binding authority in all the territories held by the kings of Castile and Leon. Since that date it became the common law of the whole country, and the basis of Spanish jurisprudence in all Spanish colonies-and recognized as such in this country in acts relating to Florida and Louisiana in their colonial state.

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