KENTUCKY. 



417 



8. We hold that the safety of our liberties and of 

 republican institutions depends upon the intelligence 

 of the people, and we therefore value and cherish 

 our common-school system, and favor its improve- 

 ment and extension ; and as a measure of justice, no 

 less than of wise statesmanship, we hold that the 

 provision now made for the education of colored 

 children should be increased until they are aiforded, 

 in their separate schools, facilities for obtaining in- 

 struction in every respect equal to those provided 

 for white children. 



9. We are in favor of a convention to amend the 

 constitution of the State, in order that the people 

 may resume that control over their own government 

 which has, since the establishment of American 

 liberty, been held to be their inalienable and inde- 

 feasible right, but which the present constitution 

 sought to take away that slavery might be made 

 permanent ; in order that provision may be made for 

 an equal and intelligent system of taxation ; in order 

 that the flood of partial and special legislation may 

 be checked, and that the stigma placed by the pres- 

 ent constitution on all the free colored citizens of 

 the State may be removed, and that such other 

 changes may be made as time and experience have 

 shown, and may show, to be necessary. . 



10. We are in favor of such appropriation and 

 other provisions by the next Legislature as will 

 secure the proper representation of the products and 

 industries of Kentucky in the Centennial Exposition, 

 to be held next year at Philadelphia, to celebrate the 

 completion of the first century of our national inde- 

 pendence. 



11. We are in favor of, and most cordially invite, 

 immigration to our State, and we call upon the next 

 Legislature to pass laws providing agencies, such as 

 the experience of other States lias shown to be ad- 

 vantageous, for attracting to us a fair proportion of 

 that crowd 'of immigrants who annually land upon 

 our shores, or leave the older States for new homes 

 in the West and South. 



12. We arraign the Democratic party of Kentucky 

 for failure to pass laws for the encouragement of im- 

 migration, by reason of which failure we see immi- 

 grants passing our State into other States having 

 fewer natural advantages than ours ; for that dilato- 

 riness in suppressing Ku-kluxism by which our 

 State acquired a reputation which deters immigrants ; , 

 for a long course of special legislation, creating mo- 

 nopolies and conferring valued privileges on favored 

 individuals at the expense of the-public ; for its mul- 

 tiplication of offices and its disregard for constitu- 

 tional restrictions ; for failing to make sufficient pro- 

 vision for the prompt payment of teachers of the 

 common schools ; for allowing restrictions to remain 

 upon the statute-books in the way of the acquisition 

 and holding of property in Kentucky by those 

 who wish to invest their capital here, and for an ex- 

 travagance of administration which has increased 

 the annual expenditures of our State government to 

 nearly three times what they were before the war. 



13. That the attempt of the Democratic leaders to 

 create the impression that our patriotic President 

 desires or seeks a reelection for a third term is an 

 absurd device to disrupt the Republican party and 

 produce a division between it and the President. 

 The charge has no foundation in fact, and cannot 

 mislead the people of the country into a restoration 

 of that party to power which came so near destroy- 

 ing the Union of our fathers. 



The canvass was conducted with a good deal 

 of spirit, chiefly on State issues, the opposing 

 candidates debating before the people the po- 

 litical questions of the day. 



The election occurred on the 2d of August, 



and resulted in the choice of the Democratic 



candidates. The total vote for Governor was 



217,771, of which McCreary received 126,976, 



VOL. xv. 27 A 



and Harlan 90,795, making the majority of the 

 former 36,181. The largest Democratic majority 

 was that of Henderson, for Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, which was 44,928; the small- 

 est was that of McCreary for Governor, Gen- 

 eral Harlan receiving more votes by over 6,000 

 than any other candidate on the Republican 

 ticket. The Legislature elected at the same 

 time consists of 32 Democrats and 6 Republi- 

 cans in the Senate, and 89 Democrats and 11 

 Republicans in the House, making the Demo- 

 cratic majority 26 in the Senate, 78 in the 

 House, and 104 on a joint ballot. The propo- 

 sition for holding a convention to revise the 

 constitution of the State, which was submitted 

 to a vote at this election, was defeated by a 

 large majority. 



Governor McCreary was inaugurated on the 

 31st of August, with a considerable military 

 and civic display. In his inaugural address he 

 promised to be Governor, " not of any particu- 

 lar class or section, but of all the people of our 

 Commonwealth," and pledged whatever ability 

 or energy he possessed to a " faithful mainten- 

 ance and support of the Constitution and laws, 

 both of the United States and the Common- 

 wealth of Kentucky." In the course of his re- 

 marks he said : 



A restoration of fraternal feeling should be the 

 earnest wish of every patriotic heart ; and we will 

 have accomplished our grandest national triumph 

 when, forgetful of the sorrow and strife of the past, 

 we resume in every section of the Union an onward 

 career as a free, prosperous, and united people. 1 

 desire an era of honesty, economy, and justice in the 

 administration both of our State and Federal' Gov- 

 ernments, and peace and prosperity and progress 

 not only in Kentucky but in every part of the Union. 

 I wish to see the records of secession, coercion, and 

 reconstruction filed away forever, and the people of 

 the whole country earnestly advocating peace and 

 reconciliation, and all looking to the Constitution as 

 the guarantee of our liberties and the safeguard of 

 every citizen. Northern and Southern men have 

 recently met in the shadow of Bunker Hill Monu- 

 ment, and there, animated by common memories and 

 common hopes, with clasped hands, have renewed 

 their friendship and rededicated their energies to the 

 advancement of the whole country and the restora- 

 tion of peace and good- will. 



An Educational Convention was held in Lex- 

 ington, on the 10th of November, for the pur- 

 pose of promoting a more general interest in 

 educational matters among the colored people 

 of the State; to procure such legislation as 

 will, if possible, provide equal educational ad- 

 vantages to every child in the State ; and, in 

 case the petition to the Legislature should fail, 

 to make efforts to secure the necessary means 

 from other sources. The following statement 

 was adopted, as expressive of the purposes of 

 the convention : 



The State Educational Convention, assembled at 

 Lexington, Ky., November 10, 1875, for the purpose 

 of promoting greater and more general interest in the 

 education 01 our colored population, and of institut- 

 ing measures to provide adequate common school ad- 

 vantages for them, do most earnestly invite the at- 

 tention of our fellow-citizens to the fact that the pre- 

 sent school law, doubtless contrary to the expectation. 



