Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 5.djvu/405

389 THE FAILURE OF THE "TILDEN TRUST." 389 THE FAILURE OF THE "TILDEN TRUST." MELANCHOLY the spectacle must always be, when covet- ous relatives seek to convert to their own use the fortune which a testator has plainly devoted to a great public benefaction. But society is powerless, in a given case, so long as the forms of law are observed. When, however, charitable bequests have been repeatedly defeated, under cover of law, and that, too, although the beneficent purpose of the testator was unmistakably expressed in a will executed with all due formalities, and although the designated trustees were ready and anxious to perform the trust reposed in them, one cannot help wondering if there is not something wrong in a system of law which permits this deplorable disappointment of the testator's will and the consequent loss to the community. The prominence of the testator, and the magnitude of the "Tilden Trust," which has recently miscarried, have aroused so general an interest that this seems a peculiarly fit time to consider the legal reasons for the failure of that and similar charitable bequests in New York. Governor Tilden's will is summarized by the majority of the court in Tilden v. Green, 1 as follows : " I request you [the executors] to cause to be incorporated an institution to be called the ' Tilden Trust,' with capicity to maintain a free library and reading-room in the city of New York, and such other educational and scientific objects as you shall designate; and if you deem it expedient — that is, if you think it advisable and the fit and proper thing to do — convey to that institution all or such part of my residuary estate as you choose ; and if you do not think that course advisable, then apply it to such charitable, educational, and scientific purposes as, in your judgment, will most sub- stantially benefit mankind." 2 The trustees procured the incor- 1 28 N. E. R. 880, 887. 2 The writer is by no means convinced that this was a just interpretation of the will, but for the purposes of this article its accuracy is assumed.