nge in social conditions, or by reason of
adequate and equitable public provision for education, or by
any other sufficient reason, there is no further serious
need of this Fund in the form in which it is at first
instituted, I authorize the corporation to apply the capital
of the Fund to the establishment of foundations subsidiary
to then already existing institutions of higher education,
in such wise as to make the educational advantages of such
institutions more freely accessible to poor students of the
colored race.

It is my wish that this trust be administered in no
partisan, sectional, or sectarian spirit, but in the
interest of a generous patriotism and an enlightened
Christian faith; and that the corporation about to be
formed, may continue to be constituted of men distinguished
either by honorable success in business, or by services to
literature, education, religion, or the State.

I am encouraged to the execution in this charitable
foundation of a long-cherished purpose, by the eminent
wisdom and success that has marked the conduct of the
Peabody Education Fund in a field of operation not remote
from that contemplated by this trust. I shall commit it to
your hands, deeply conscious how insufficient is our best
forecast to provide for the future that is known only to
God; but humbly hoping that the administration of it may be
so guided by divine wisdom, as to be, in its turn, an
encouragement to philanthropic enterprise on the part of
others, and an enduring means of good to our beloved country
and to our fellow-men.

I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, your friend and
fellow-citizen,
JOHN F. SLATER.

NORWICH, CONN., March 4, 1882.

_And whereas_, said memorialists have further represented that
they are ready to accept said trust and receive and administer
said Fund, provided a charter of incorporation is granted by this
State, as indicated in said letter;

_Now, therefore_, for the purpose of giving full effect to the
charitable intentions declared in said letter;

_The people of the State of New York, repre