The character of a
school, as of any eleemosynary institution, is derived from the will of
the founder; and when the beneficial founder is an individual, or a
number of individuals less than the whole political organization of
which the individuals are a part, the institution is private, whatever
the rules for its enjoyment may be. To say that a school is a public
school because it receives pupils free of charge for tuition, or because
it receives them upon conditions that are applied alike to all, is to
deny that there are any private schools, for all come within the
definition thus laid down.
Nor is there any good reasoning in the statement that a school is public
because it receives pupils from a large extent of country. Dartmouth
College is a private school, though its pupils come from all the land or
all the world; while the Boston Latin School is a public school; though
it receives those pupils only whose homes are within the limits of the
city. The first is a private school, because it was founded by President
Wheelock, and has been controlled by him and his successors, holding and
governing and enjoying through him, from the first until now; while the
Boston Latin School is a public school, because it was established by
the city of Boston, through the votes of its inhabitants, under the laws
of the state, and is at all times subject, in its government and
existence, to the popular will which created it.
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