424 



KENTUCKY. 



The system of public schools in Kentucky is 

 not at present very efficient, but is attracting a 

 commendable degree of attention from the Gov- 

 ernor and from the Legislature now in session. 

 The Kentucky University has been founded on 

 a liberal and comprehensive plan, and is just 

 starting on its career of usefulness under the 

 happiest auspices. The successful foundation 

 of this institution is mainly due to the untiring 

 efforts of John B. Bowman, its present Kegent. 

 Mr. Bowmau began in 1855 his labors for the 

 establishment of an institution of learning for 

 the young men of the State, precisely adapted 

 to their wants. For ten years he labored as- 

 siduously to collect the funds for an adequate 

 endowment, and to secure an appropriate site 

 for the buildings. In 1865 the university 

 which he had planned was united with the 

 Transylvania University and the State Agricul- 

 tural College, and the whole has been located 

 at Lexington, and reorganized so as to form six 

 different colleges. These various departments 

 are denominated, the College of Science, Litera- 

 ture, and Arts ; the Agricultural and Mechani- 

 cal College of Kentucky ; the College of the 

 Bible ; the Normal College ; the College of Law ; 

 and the College of Medicine. There is also, at 

 present, a preparatory academy for pupils who 

 are not ready to enter upon the regular collegi- 

 ate course. A thorough and systematic course 

 of instruction has been laid down in each of 

 these departments, adapted to the purposes of 

 schools of their several characters. A Military 

 Department is attached to the Agricultural and 

 Mechanical School, an'd the peculiar industrial 

 features of that college are in process of rapid 

 development and systematic organization. The 

 homestead of the late Hon. Henry Clay, known 

 by the name of " Ashland," together with the 

 neighboring estate of " Woodlands," 443 acres 

 in all, have been purchased within the past 

 year, and are now the seat of the young and 

 promising institution. The number of students, 

 at present matriculated is above 500. The en- 

 tire endowment fund of the university is $433,- 

 700. 



The Eastern Lunatic Asylum at Lexington 

 has been in successful operation more than 

 forty years. On the 1st of October the num- 

 ber of inmates was reported at 258, for whom 

 the expenses of the year, then ended, reached 

 the sum of $52,706.31. The Legislature, at 

 its last session, appropriated $100,000 for the 

 erection of new buildings for the use of the 

 asylum. These were completed before the 

 end of the year, and consist of a main building 

 with a front of 440 feet and a depth varying 

 from 36 to 78 feet, four stories high. A sepa- 

 rate building for the treatment of colored 

 patients has also been erected in accordance 

 with the directions of the act of Assembly 

 making the appropriation. This building is 

 85 feet long by 44 feet wide, and is three 

 stories in height. The whole institution is now 

 capable of providing for 300 inmates more than 

 it could accommodate in the old buildings alone. 



An appropriation of upward of $110,000 

 was made by the last Legislature for the pur- 

 pose of extending and enlarging the State 

 Penitentiary buildings. The commissioners to 

 whom this work was intrusted have nearly 

 completed the improvements for which pro- 

 vision was made, but still further appropria- 

 tions will be necessary to bring the institution 

 to a capacity equal to the wants of the State. 

 In 1863 the number of prisoners confined in 

 the penitentiary was 247; on the 25th of No- 

 vember last there were 550, while all the cells,- 

 including those of the new structure, numbered 

 but 540. The want of reformatory institutions 

 for the proper treatment of youthful delin- 

 quents is seriously felt, no provision for such 

 institutions having yet been made. 



The Legislature of Kentucky met on the 2d 

 of December, 1867. The political parties were 

 represented in each branch as follows : 



Senate. House. 



Democrats 28 85 



Republicans 7 10 



Third Party 3 5 



Democratic majority 18 60 



Among the resolutions which have been re- 

 ferred to the Committee on Federal Eelations, 

 the following are to be found: 



2. Resolved, That we recognize it as a fact, demon- 

 strated by recent events, that a State cannot withdraw 

 from the Fedral Union, nor can it remain therein and 

 annul a Federal law, enacted in pursuance of consti- 

 tutional authority, nor can the Federal Government 

 expel a State from the Union, nor deny or refuse it 

 representation in Congress ; that taxation and repre- 

 sentation go hand in hand, and under our system of 

 government, to impose the one, and refuse the other, 

 is at war with the spirit and genius of our republican 

 institutions, and would be practising an example of 

 tyranny against which our ancestors made war, and 

 gloriously and justly achieved their independence. 



3. Resolved, That the scheme of reconstruction 

 adopted by Congress, and sought to be consummated 

 through the agency of force and fraud, is fraught 

 with 'incalculable mischief it will have the prac- 

 tical effect, if carried out, to place the liberty, for- 

 tunes, and destiny of the Southern people at the 

 mercy, and in the hands, of malignant white men and 

 ignorant negroes, whose vice, stupidity, and wretched 

 degradation render them, unfitted for the duties of 

 official station. We regard the whole scheme as a 

 shameless usurpation, planned and conceived by dis- 

 honest politicians, prompted by no higher motives 

 than to perpetuate a political organization unfriendly 

 to free institutions. 



5. Resolved, That we hold to the patriotic declara- 

 tion, with unalterable devotion, " that this is a white 

 man's government," made by white men for white 

 men, and we are unalterably opposed to extending 

 any political right, power, or authority to any other 

 race. 



6. Resolved, That the public debt, created and in- 

 curred by the Federal Government in suppressing the 

 rebellion, should be paid off as speedily as possible, 

 in legal-tender treasury notes, except such bonds only 

 which contain an express stipulation for payment in 

 coin. "We hold that it does not involve a breach of 

 good faith on the part of the Federal Government to 

 so discharge her public indebtedness ; that if " treas- 

 ury notes" maybe usedbythe Government to pay off 

 the laborer and ordinary creditor, there is no good 

 reason why the same should not be used to pay off 

 the untaxed debts of the bondholders. 



