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lish the North Carolina Journal of Education, which was to present from time to time such decisions of the superintendent as seemed proper, and once in two years to make a digest of the school laws of the State. The association was further granted $600 per year from the State treasury for four years, beginning with 1859. With this small appropriation it would have been possible for the association to enter upon a new career of prosperity had it not been for the war.

The meeting for 1861 was held in Greensboro, November 19-21. The subjects of discussion were very much what they had been at earlier meetings-textbooks, normal and graded schools, and female teachers. Naturally the supply and character of the text-books formed a large part of the discussions of the meeting, and there was a long address to the State convention, then in session, asking for their continued favor and support to the common schools.

The session of the association for 1862 was held in Lincolnton, October 13, where the supply of Southern text-books was the main topic. I have been able to find no record of any meetings in 1863 or 1864. I find that the question of a meeting was discussed in the fall of 1865, but of its results I know nothing.

IX. THE CIVIL WAR AND THE END OF THE OLD RÉGIME.

Having traced the history of the common schools in North Carolina from the earliest times down to the beginning of the civil war, we must now trace their struggle for bare existence through that momentous epoch. In the meantime it may be desirable to review their condition in 1860-61, in order to see the powers at their command to meet the strain that was now to be put upon them. This can not be done better than in the language of Dr. Wiley himself.

"The first superintendent went into office in January, 1852 [1853], and nine years afterwards, to wit, in January, 1861, the system of common schools was an established interest, respected and cherished by all parties and classes. It had fought its way against strong antagonisms, it had cleared its path of formidable obstructions, and now its character and capabilities were understood and appreciated, and it had arrived at that point whence more rapid advancement and higher development were reasonable expectations. The machinery committed to subordinate officials was worked smoothly and efficiently by men trained to their duties. The number of local officers was over 10,000, and the great majority of these had become familiar with the management of the system, understood its laws, and were in sympathy with each other and with their head; public opinion had been enlightened by all possible means, and the whole educational force of the State had been welded together. The cause of education in all departments had made rapid progress, and North Carolina was acknowledged to be the banner State of the South, not only for her common schools, but in academic and collegiate prog

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"Our progress excited attention and interest in every part of the Union. The

superintendent was applied to from various Southern States for copies of our common-school laws, and for suggestions and plans, and was invited to visit the legislature of Georgia, with offers of expenses, and, being unable to go, was asked for an essay, which the chairman of one of the committees on education in that body incorporated into an elaborate report to it. The means for the regular and systematic improvement of teachers had been carefully matured, and were werking their accomplishment; the body of teachers, as a whole, had been completely revolutionized, and the superintendent's persistent efforts had infused into it a large element, constantly increasing, of refining fining and elevating female influence.

"The State Educational Association, and the appliances for its usefulness, and especially its journal, had been firmly established at the cost of much exertion, and of considerable pecuniary outlay..

"The continued efforts of the superintendent were also ripening into systematic efforts to save and make available that vast, long-neglected, and somewhat mythical resource of the literary board called theswamplands; and through his means a beginning was made to ascertain the location, titles, and qualities of these. and to protect them from squatters and timber getters. In the meantime all legislation on the subject of education of every kind and on the literary fund had become systematic. Through the influence of the superintendent the policy of making loans of the funds to individuals and to private institutions was discontinued, and for important reasons, the speaker of the two houses of the legislature, without solicitation from the superintendent, had adopted the habit of consulting him about the committees on education, and these committees sat jointly, inviting the superintendent to attend' as a consulting or corresponding member, and every bill relative to education in any of its branches, and to the school fund or school taxes, was submitted to him.

"The State Educational Association was ramifying into county societies, the superintendent was organizing, without public aid, teachers' institutes, and under his influence county superintendents were visiting their districts, in some instances making resurveys of their counties, and were making out maps for their use and that of the superintendent.

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"Hitherto the system, in machinery, was horizontal, though often it cropped upward by voluntary effort into higher developments. The superintendent had pointed out its availabilities in this respect, and he had legislative provision made to enable parties wishing higher grades to secure them in a way just to all. One or several individuals, for instance, contributing means equal to or greater than the fund coming to the district, were authorized to make bargains with the school 1.1 committee whereby these parties could select the teacher from among those regularly licensed, and manage the school, always in a way not to prejudice the rights of any of the children. This was in accordance with the genius of common schools-people whose children were to receive only an English education were not taxed to promote special studies useful only to a class, and those desiring to pursue such studies could do so economically and under the moral restraints of home, through the working of the common schools. Arrangements of this kind were becoming common, there were a number of admirable schools of the kind in the State, and cases could be mentioned of ladies thus highly educated and of men afterwards distinguished who were thus prepared for college.

"But a different machinery was needed in the cities and larger towns paying - heavy sums of school taxes, and the beginning of the late war found the superintendent just preparing to launch a carefully matured system of graded schools.

To this review may be added the following statistics for 1840 and 1860, taken from Governor Ellis's message to the general assembly of 1860–61 (p. 17):

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The movement of North Carolina toward the cause of secession was slow and ☐ deliberate. The State legislature of 1860-61 had refused at first to consider the question; then provision was made for calling a convention. This was defeated by popular vote in February, 1861. Then all the surrounding States seceded, and President Lincoln made his call on her for troops. It was not until then that the secession sentiment became predominant. The State seceded May 20, 1861. There was then danger that the people, having been slow and deliberate in making up their minds to enter the Confederacy, would now, with that fixed purpose before them, sacrifice all other interests to the war. It became obvious to a calm observer that there was danger of uprooting State institutions, and with them those ideas of local self-government and independence which are necessary for freedom.

1 Dr. Wiley virtually dictated these committees.

These new perils to the school system, just now coming to maturity, "filled the superintendent with unspeakable concern, and the anxiety lest the result of years of toil and prayer should be suddenly blasted in the very dawn of triumph will never be known on earth outside of his own mind and heart. But his duty was to stand by his trust, to continue at his post, and there to serve his Divine Master and his generation."

It was evident that efforts would be made to exploit the school fund for war purposes, and against this effort Dr. Wiley tried to fortify himself. On May 4, 1861, he addressed a circular to the county superintendents, in which he recited the necessity the State was under to borrow money for war needs; that some persons, without due reflection, might propose to take the proceeds of the commonschool fund. This action would create a panic and produce the impression that the people of the State were not patriotic enough to pay a moderate tax for war purposes. He was anxious to aid the State and at the same time to save the school fund. To do this he proposed that the unexpended balances of the school fund which remained over in the various counties from year to year should be invested in Stato bonds taken at par. This investment would amount to something like the interest on a loan of a million of dollars.

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"This would enhance our sense of our own resources, and would be a most useful and most gratifying achievement. Of course the market value of State bonds is now below par, but if we secure our independence and the State does not repudiate, these bonds will soon be valuable, and can be converted into cash when needed. If we are subjected or the State repudiates her bonds we will be so hopelessly ruined that it will make little difference how our county funds are invested. By such an investment the counties will get interest on money not now needed, and they may savo themselves from a much worse resort."

It does not appear that this suggestion was ever put into operation. In fact, it is not probable that it would have saved, under any circumstances, the fund from the attacks that were made on it.

The first legislature to assemble after the beginning of the war had to make provisions necessary for carrying it on. It was then that Dr. Wiley feared an attack on the literary fund. Before the meeting of the legislature he

"asked and received permission to attend the meeting of the governor's council, at which were matured the first executive recommendations for the impending crisis. The governor was in feeble health, wasting with consumption and the weight of public cares, and the meeting was at his residence. The superintendent was kindly received and patiently listened to on that memorable occasion, and then and there was fixed a policy which will ever be honorable to the State. It was suggested that the school fund of over $2,000,000 would seem large to some, and a ready means for the prosecution of the war and to save taxation, and that under these plausible pretexts the slumbering opposition to the schools would unite short-sighted friends, and by a temporary suspension aim to destroy them forever. And it was argued that though the fund was indeed a large one, in one sense, it was but an inconsiderable item in the expenses about to be incurred, and that if we were able to engage in hostilities at all we were able to do without it; that if it was desired to popularize the war it would be most injudicious to begin it by the suspension of a system which was the poor man's life, and which would be so essential to the orphans of the soldiers called to surrender their lives for the common good; and that now when it was aimed to vindicate Southern civilization before the world it would surely be an unwise step to begin by the voluntary destruction of an efficient system of popular instruction; that no people could or would be free who were unable or unwilling to educate their children. True independence must be based on moral character and on popular intelligence and industrial development, and thus in the momentous struggle about to begin it would impart confidence to the public mind to see the State enter the contest with the apparent assurance that her interior interests were not endangered by her course; that war under any circumstances was destructive for the time, and that the pending contest might be long and exhausting; and that it was the part of wisdom and patriotism so to act that the end should find the fewest possible desolations to be repaired, and no permanent weakening of the elements of social elevation. These considerations prevailed, and the executive power of the State, represented by the governor and his council, entered into an informal but solemn agreement with the superintendent of common schools to oppose, with him, all attempts to seize the fund for war purposes, or to suspend the schools; and the compact was faithfully observed by Governor Ellis and his three [two] successors during the war, and by their constitutional advisers."

The North Carolina Educational Association also added its pleadings for the integrity of the school fund, and in a memorial to the State convention in November, 1861, asked that "by an amendment to the constitution the proceeds of the common-school fund be sacredly and permanently secured to their original purpose." The memorial recites that while

"The proceeds of the school fund would be barely sufficient to equip and keep in the field for military operations about 100 men, as now applied they give life to some 4,000 schools and are furnishing an elementary education to over 150.000 children. This much they now directly accomplish, and their certain tendency is to widen and deepen among the masses the spirit of education, and thus to sustain that vast superstructure of classical schools, seminaries, and colleges which constitutes the present glory of North Carolina and the great hope of the future of the State."

It was well that Dr. Wiley and the educational association had thus prepared themselves against the day of attack, for it came soon after the legislature met.1 The measure was introduced into the senate and was backed by parties of the highest standing. The superintendent in the meantime had sent circulars to the school boards of the counties, apprising them of and warning them against the effort. These local school officers were usually men of position and influence in their respective communities, and their answers were generally in favor of the school fund. Governor John M. Morehead was then a member of the State senate, and led the defense of the fund. The attempt was defeated, but it reappeared again and again in new forms and in both branches. It was protracted and strong, and closed only with the adjournment. With the end of this legislature the fight was practically won. Succeeding governors followed in the steps of Governor Ellis, and succeeding legislatures respected the action of the earlier body.

The distribution of funds to the schools during the war period was about as follows: In May, 1861, the local school authorities were assured that there would be no permanent falling off in the school fund, but during this year only one-half of the dividend due was paid out, and this was not made payable until April 1, 1862. This delay was due to the great and inevitable pressure brought to bear upon the treasury at the outbreak of the war and under which the literary fund, like the school fund of 1754, was temporarily diverted. This pressure was finally relieved. In October, 1862, $100,000 was distributed. This was the largest semiannual dividend ever paid, but it was intended to cover a dividend and a half formerly withheld.

This irregularity brought down wrath upon the head of the system. Jonathan Worth, of Randolph County, one of the earliest and most steadfast friends of the schools, and afterwards governor, writes to Dr. Wiley under date of June 6, 1862:

"It seems to be the pleasure of the literary board to assume legislative power over the literary fund and to disregard the will of the legislature and of the convention. Neither the board nor the treasurer, even with your assent, has any

1 The first extra session of the assembly met May 1, 1861, and adjourned May 13 until June 25. In the meantime an ordinance of the State convention changed the date of reassembling. The second extra session began August 15, 1861, and adjourned September 23, 1861. On September 9 Mr. Candler introduced a bill "to prevent the collection of tax for common-school purposes during the war." (Senate J., 36, 104.) This act became a law on September 21. (Laws of 1861, 2d extra, ch. 31.) It repealed that section of the code which required the county courts to levy and collect a tax for school purposes, but provided that the act was not to apply "to those counties where the justices, a majority being present, shall elect to lay such tax."

From the account prepared by Dr. Wiley and printed in the North Carolina Educational Journal, 1881-1883. The Journals of the legislature of 1861 fail to mention this fight.

right to withhold or direct the fund as they have been doing. They had no right to declare a dividend last fall and postpone its payment till this spring. It was a legislative usurpation, and I think a reprehensible usurpation, after the repeated refusals of the general assembly to allow any encroachment on this fund. I believe the convention also refused to interfere with it. If the board had previously made illegitimate dividends, so that there was no money in the treasurer's hands, then they made dividends they ought not to have made and they were culpably negligent of the treasurer's accounts. The uncertainty which their illegal action occasions is about as pernicious to the school system as would be a diversion of the income of the fund to the ordinary or war expenses of the State by an act of the general assembly."

From this time on, so far as I have been able to learn, this fund was paid regularly. But the counties were not always as faithful to their educational trust as was the State. As has been said, a law of 1861 released them from the requirement to levy taxes to support the schools. Some counties, as Edgecombe in 1862, and Mecklenburg, voted to use the school money for war purposes. Others, as Granville, refused to levy taxes for the support of schools and said that they must stop until the war was over. Others seem to have let them fall into abeyance and die. They did not think their death even a matter of sufficient importance to be reported to the superintendent But such cases were the exception, not the rule. In his ninth annual report, for 1861-62 (Doc. 9, sess. 1862–63), Dr. Wiley discusses the situation as it then appeared.

The legislature of 1860-61 (chap. 19) changed the school year to make it more convenient and uniform. The county chairmen, under the new law, were required to report on or before the third Monday in April, at the end of the school term instead of the middle. The labor of adjustment to the new requirements and to pressure of war made these reports more irregular than usual, but official reports were received from 65 counties. The receipts reported in 60 counties, including balances, was $220,312.99; disbursements, $117,924.50; on hand, $104,336.46. The number of children reported in 46 counties was, boys, 57,157; girls, 54,890; sex not stated, 6,755; total, 118,802. The number of districts in 58 counties was 2,621; the children attending school in 59 counties, 52,018, or 29,122 boys, 22,838 girls, and 58 sex not given; number of licenses granted and reported, 1,233-962 to men, 271 to women; schools reported, 1,556; average length of schools, 2.8 months.

The superintendent felt authorized to say that more children were taught in the counties officially heard from than were actually reported, that this discrepancy was due to the nature of the schools, and that as many as 60,000 children had been in school in the State.

"Let it be borne in mind, in connection with these facts, that our common-school system had to encounter during the past year not only the difficulties naturally incident to revolution and war, but trials which, in times of peace, would greatly impair the energies of any enterprise. The novelty and the all-absorbing interest of the tremendous struggle in which our country is engaged necessarily distracted the minds of all classes of the community, and until we became used to revolution in our political relations and to a state of war a great many would naturally feel indisposed to devote much attention to the usual avocations of life. There were also some who supposed that our contest for independence would be of brief duration, and that all the agencies of society could be suspended during the struggle without injury, and others, still more shortsighted, seemed to think that a war for political, commercial, social, and intellectual independence could be waged with better results by arresting or destroying all those springs of life on which national wealth and greatness are founded."

Another difficulty was that of procuring text-books. This became so pronounced that the writing and publication of text-books grew into an important business interest in the Confederate States.

"The cheerful radiance of letters has not been for a moment extinguished even during the deepest gloom and the most terrible throes of this great crisis; and in the midst of a shock with which the whole continent trembles, our public schools

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