268 



FLORIDA. 



give his personal service as well as the neces- 

 sary pecuniary aid. He left in his will a be- 

 quest of $100,000 to Dartmouth College. 



FLORIDA. The second regular session of 

 the Legislature, under the new constitution, was 

 convened on the 5th of January. The ques- 

 tion of the impeachment of Governor Reed 

 was still pending. A committee was appointed 

 by the Assembly, on the second day of the ses- 

 sion, to investigate the charges against the 

 Executive. On the 26th of January, this com- 

 mittee, having concluded their investigation, 

 submitted a report containing the testimony 

 taken before them. Having listened to the 

 reading of the testimony, the Assembly, on the 

 following day, made a final disposition of the 

 impeachment matter by passing the following 

 resolution by a vote of 43 to 5 : 



Whereas, The committee appointed on the 6th day 

 of January, to inquire into and investigate the con- 

 duct, acts, and doings of Harrison Keed, Governor 

 of Florida, have, pursuant to instructions, reported 

 the results of their investigations to this body, accom- 

 panied with the testimony taken in the said matter: 

 therefore, be it 



Resolved by the Assembly of Florida, That the said 

 Assembly finds nothing in said report or testimony 

 justifying an impeachment of Harrison Reed, Gov- 

 ernor of Florida. 



Prior, however, to the announcement of this 

 result, Lieutenant-Governor Gleason, who had 

 vacated the office during the impeachment 

 proceedings, on the 9th of January, formally 

 resigned his position as presiding officer of the 

 Senate. 



The question of the right of Mr. Mobley, who 

 had been elected a Senator from the Twenty- 

 second District, to retain his seat in the Senate, 

 came up in that body, and caused no little 

 discussion. This gentleman, after his election 

 and qualification as Senator, had accepted an 

 appointment as State Attorney. It was claimed 

 that no person could legally hold both of 

 these offices at the same time, and that who- 

 ever accepted one became for the time being 

 ineligible to the other. The question came 

 before the Senate on the 9th of January, when 

 it was decided, by a vote of 11 to 9, that Mr. 

 Mobley was ineligible as a Senator, and his 

 seat was declared vacant. The Senate then 

 passed a resolution calling upon the Executive 

 to issue a proclamation ordering a special elec- 

 tion in the Twenty-second District to fill the 

 vacancy. 



Efforts were made at this session of the 

 Legislature to unseat Senator Gilbert, who had 

 been elected to the United States Senate for 

 the term of six years from the 4th of March, 

 1869, by the Legislature which was in session 

 in the summer of 1868. Mr. Gilbert's election 

 at that time, it was claimed, was invalid, on the 

 ground that there was no vacancy in the office. 

 Failing to establish the illegality of Mr. Gil- 

 bert's election, efforts were then made to se- 

 cure the election of another Senator for the 

 same seat, and leave it to Congress to decide 

 the claims of the two contestants. This move- 



ment also failed, and Senator Gilbert was ad- 

 mitted to his seat in the United States Senate 

 on the 4th of March. 



The act passed at this session, " to establish 

 a uniform system of common schools and a 

 university," reflects great honor upon the 

 State, as being a liberal and comprehensive 

 system of instruction, adapted not only to the 

 present needs of the State but looking also to 

 its future growth and advancement. The bill 

 provides for the appointment of a State Super- 

 intendent, and a State Board of Education, 

 consisting of the State Superintendent, the 

 Secretary of State, and the Attorney-General, 

 and also a County Superintendent, and a Board 

 of Public Instruction in each county. All per- 

 sons between the ages of six and twenty-one 

 years are entitled to the advantages of free 

 instruction, in support of which provision is 

 made for the levying of a tax not to exceed 

 one per cent. The bill has in view the future 

 establishment of a State University on a broad 

 and liberal basis, the object of which will be 

 to afford instruction in the various professions, 

 sciences, and languages. 



Having provided for the establishment of a 

 Bureau of Immigration as a means for the dis- 

 semination of information intended to encour- 

 age immigration to the State, the Legislature 

 adjourned on the 1st of February. 



In the early part of January, the commis- 

 sioners (Messrs. J. L. Pennington, A. J. Walker, 

 and Charles A. Miller) who had been appoint- 

 ed by the Executive of Alabama, pursuant to 

 a resolution of the Legislature of that State, 

 passed in December, 1868, "to negotiate with 

 the State government of Florida for the an- 

 nexation to the State of Alabama of that por- 

 tion of Florida lying west of the Choctaw- 

 hatchie River," arrived at Tallahassee, for the 

 purpose of opening negotiations in reference 

 to the proposed transfer. In the communication 

 addressed to Governor Reed, of Florida, stat- 

 ing the object of their mission, the commis- 

 sioners took occasion to set forth some of the 

 motives that had induced the Legislature of 

 Alabama to make the proposition for the an- 

 nexation : 



" The idea of making "West Florida a part of 

 Alabama," they said, "has long been cher- 

 ished, and a glance at the map suggests it. 

 The regularity of geometrical figure which it 

 would give to Alabama; the improvement 

 which it would make in the outlines of Flor- 

 ida ; the fact that West Florida is traversed by 

 streams, some of them having their origin in 

 Alabama, and some of them their upward lim- 

 its of navigation in that State ; the facility and 

 frequency of communication and trade between 

 West Florida and Alabama, and the homoge- 

 neity of tastes, sentiment, and interests, between 

 their peoples, combine to afford arguments for 

 a political connection so obvious, that they 

 have long been generally recognized. We ven- 

 ture to say, and we do so with the utmost re- 

 spect, that the people of West Florida have 



