Thomas E. Bramlette, Message of Governor Thos. E. Bramlette, to the General Assembly of Kentucky, December Session, 1865

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KYR-0001-008-0002

Document Genre

Speech

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Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

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Office of the Governor, Thomas E. Bramlette: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Messages to the General Assembly, 1863-1867

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BR1-320 to BR1-333

Place of Creation

Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

Date of Creation

4 December 1865

Dates Mentioned

1865-12

1865

1865-12-04

1861

1863

1864

1861-12-23

1859

1865-11-23

1865-10-10

1859-10-10

1866-01-01

1865-03-04

1864-11-21

1865-02-22

1865-02-27

1861-10-10

1862-10-10

1863-10-10

1864-07-01

1864-02-18

1865-01-01

1965-07-01

1862

1865-11-15

1864-03-04

1865-11-21

1865-02-25

1865-11-16

1865-11-24

Thomas E. Bramlette, Message of Governor Thos. E. Bramlette, to the General Assembly of Kentucky, December Session, 1865, 4 December 1865, Office of the Governor, Thomas E. Bramlette: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Messages to the General Assembly, 1863-1867, BR1-320 to BR1-333, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, KY. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-008-0002, (accessed December 4, 2024).

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COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY.
{UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL}
GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.

December Session, 1865.

MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR THOS. E. BRAMLETTE, TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF KENTUCKY,
DECEMBER SESSION, 1865.

FRANKFORT, KY.:
PRINTED AT THE STATE PRINTING OFFICE.
GEO. D. PRENTICE, STATE PRINTER.
1865.

GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY,
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, FRANKFORT, KY.,
December 4th, 1865.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

Through the overrulings of a beneficent Providence, to whom we owe profound and reverent thankfulness, we are now blessed with the auspicious return of peace over a united country and a restored government. The dark clouds of rebellion and war, which lowered upon our country, obscuring with the smoke of terrific conflict and bloody battle the star-gems of sister States of the Union, have broken away, and, one by one, their light again appears in the galaxy of the Union, blending their radiance in united harmony, to illume the pathway of our great and free people in the grand progress of nationality.

Every prompting of patriotism commands us to give our united and indivdual aid to promote and forward that complete Union and harmony so requisite to our progression and happiness, which has been so unfortunately disturbed.

The passions and prejudices evoked by the conflict should be cast away, and dispassionate, prudent, and wise counsels be pursued. It is a time which demands discreet counsels and considerate statesmanship, and banishment from Executive Chambers and Legislative Halls of all partisan asperities, all temporizing expedients for party ends, and all captious opposition to inevitable and unavoidable conclusions.

Trusting that you come together with the patriotic determination to so shape your action as to promote the highest and best interests of our beloved State, it affords me pleasure to lay before you such facts bearing upon the state of the Commonwealth as are deemed of importance to your present assembly.

In giving a view of the state of the Commonwealth, it is necessary, in order to a proper appreciation of our present favorable condition, that you should have a synoptical statement of our connection with the great struggle for the maintenance of our national existence.

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Official returns from the various counties of the State show that at the commencement of the rebellion, and before our population was disturbed by the war, in the first year of 1861, the white males in the State above the age of 21 years numbered 191,391; and white males between the ages of 18 and 45 years, called "Enrolled Militia," numbered 137,211. The returns at the commencement of the present year -- 1865 -- show a considerable diminution since the commencement of the war. The returns for the present year give the number of males over 21 years at 169,749, and between the ages of 18 and 45 years, at 103,401. This diminishment is accounted for by the absence, at the time of taking the lists, of our soldiers in the armies; and by the fact that, according to the best and most reliable estimates, about 15,000 to 20,000 of our population left for the rebel armies.

The enrollment of 1863 by the United States authorities of white males between the ages of 20 and 45 years number 112,742; and in 1864 number 113,410. The enrollment of "colored" males between the ages of 20 and 45 for 1864 numbered 20,083. Making an aggregate within the military age, of white and "colored" males, of 133,493.

The muster rolls in the office of the Adjutant General show that we furnished to the Federal armies -- most of them three years' men -- 63,975 white soldiers, against an enrollment of 113,410. The rolls on file in the same office show the muster-in of 20,438 "colored" troops; and other evidences on file show that about 5,000 more were enlisted; but not yet reported to that office by muster rolls; making an aggregate of colored troops of 25,438.

The increase in the number of colored troops above the enrollment is attributable to the fact that regard was not had to age in their enlistment. "Color" was regarded as sufficient qualification.

It will thus be seen that, with a white and black male population between the ages of 20 and 45 years amounting 133,742, we contributed 89,413 to the armies. Besides the hundreds of Home Guards engaged in local defense thourghout the period of the rebellion, we also had in the State service, for various periods, 13,526 militia or State troops, paid and subsisted by the State.

These facts and figures amply vindicate the devoted loyalty of our people, and are sufficient answer to the stereotyped slanders so persistently urged in some quarters against our noble State. Holding, as we have, with steady and unfaltering hand, the dangerous and exposed position of a loyal border State during the rebellion, we have at the same time furnished our full proportion of the defenders of our

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Union faith, despite the allurings of sectional sympathy, and the unjust buffetings from those who professed to be friends.

Ours was not the loyalty which draws its subsistence from promised profit, and its courage from distant danger, but that unyielding devotion to principle which neither loss of property nor present danger could overcome. Steady and unshaken as our eternal hills in our fidelity to the Union -- onward and unchecked as our everlasting streams -- flowed the resistless current of Kentucky loyalty, crimsoned with the blood of her noble sons.

During the pendency of the war our State expended, in aid of the Government in the prosecution of the war, and for which we hold vouchers against the Government of the United States, the sum of $3,268,224 98. Of this sum we have had refunded in Government securities, which answered the place of money, the sum of $1,051,000, and from other means $57,230 77; amounting in the aggregate to $1,109,230 77. This leaves in favor of the State against the United States a balance of $2,159,994 21. From this amount should be deducted the State's proportion of the $20,000,000 direct tax, which the Legislature, by resolution approved Dec. 23d, 1861, assumed to pay. This amount is $713,695 33¹/₃ less 15 per cent., making $606,641 03¹/₃, which the Federal Government reserves out of our military advancements in payment of our taxes. This sum should be credited to the Military Fund, and charged upon the civil list. The balance, after allowing all these credits in our favor against the United States, is $1,553,353 17²/₃, which we hope to have refunded soon.

In addition to these expenditures, the State expended nearly one million of dollars in maintaining home troops for local and State defense. This service, though local in its character, yet was for the general defense; and we have well-founded hope that the Government will, when prepared for presentation, assume the payment of this expenditure.

Notwithstanding these expenditures, our financial condition is of the most satisfactory character. The Auditor has furnished me a statement of our public debt from 1859 to November 23, 1865, which is hereto appended (A.)

From this statement it will be perceived that, at the close of the present fiscal year (10th October), our debt was less than at the close of the fiscal year 1859.

October 10, 1859, our debt was	$5,479,244 02
October 10, 1865, our debt was	5,254,346 80

To this sum must be added the sum of $360,000, borrowed since the

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10th October, and up to 23d November, to meet the payment of State troops and other military expenditures; making the total debt owing by the State for all purposes, up to the 23d November, the sum of $5,614,346 80. It is estimated that $250,000 additional will discharge all other outstanding war claims. To meet this indebtedness, according to the last annual report of the Auditor, the resources of the Sinking Fund are estimated at $7,510,487 17. If we add to this the amount which we may confidently expect to receive from the Federal Government in payment of our advancements, viz: $1,553,353 17²/₃, it gives $9,063,840 34²/₃ to meet an indebtedness of $5,864,346 80.

From a statement furnished by the Auditor, taken form the commissioner's returns for the years 1861 to 1865, inclusive, it will be seen that there is a reduction in the assessment of taxable property this year of $109,046,461 below that of 1861. This is accounted for by the destruction of slave property, and from the reduced rates at which property was held at the date of assessment, owing to the insecurity of person and property, as well as to the immense amount of property swept away by the wasting hand of war in the sweep of armies over our State. The statement (B) furnished by the Auditor is appended hereto for your information. The return of peace, with the consequent restoration of conifidence and security, and the revival of industrial pursuits, will, it is confidently believed, in less than two years, restore our taxable property to the highest figures of any former year.

The death of James H. Garrard, late Treasurer of Kentucky, devolved upon me the appointment of a successor to fill out his term. Mason Brown, jr., was appointed to fill out the term, and his report, herewith transmitted, bringing up the accounts of his predecessor to the time of his death, and his own to the close of the fiscal year, bears ample testimony to his efficiency as Treasurer. In the death of Col. Garrard the State lost an efficient and incorruptible officer, and the community a noble citizen, whose mental, moral, and social qualities endeared him to all. The term of the present incumbent will expire with the year, under the provisions of the Constitution. Col. Garrard was re-elected, a few days before his death, to the next term of two years, beginning with 1st January, 1866. It will devolve upon me at the proper time, according to the provisions of the Constitution, to fill the vacancy for the next term, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

From the report of the Inspector General, herewith transmitted, it

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will be perceived that only nine companies have been organized of the "National Legion," under an act, entitled "An act to organize the militia of Kentucky," approved March 4th, 1865.

The difficulty of diffusing a proper understanding as to the intent and character of this organization has been the obstacle to its successful progress. With the minutest detail of instructions, it has been in some cases impracticable to have the law understood. Instead of looking to the law and to the instructions thereunder, precedent is drawn from the late military organizations, and those who attempt an organization seem to consider it part of the plan that they should go into camp, and enter upon the life and duty of soldiers, instead of pursing the object and plan of the law or organizing as citizen soldiers, and holding themselves at all times in readiness to be placed upon active duty when required, to assist in the enforcement of civil law. These difficulties of a proper understanding of the law and its intended operations, result, in part, from the long neglect upon the part of the State to keep up a militia organization until its forms have been forgotten.

These obstacles, we trust, will soon be removed, and the militia organized as contemplated by the law. When this is done, and the State thoroughly organized as contemplated by the law, entire security will be given to every county in the State against the marauding bands, should such attempt to disturb any part of the State.

If each county will organize a company of good men, who will be ever ready to support the civil authorities, no better security can be had. Had this organization of the militia been effected two years ago, it would have saved our people from many vexations and great losses. It would have dispensed with any occasion for retaining other troops in the State after the close of the war, and in this would have been a great relief. A citizen soldiery organized in each county, of good men, who, pursuing their ordinary vocations, yet ever holding themselves in readiness to assemble and meet an emergency of danger or support the civil authorities of the county in the enforcement of the laws, is the surest safeguard to person and property of any military organization that can be given, and the only one compatible with a time of peace. To have a well-organized militia is the duty of every State.

I transmit herewith the report of the Inspectors of the Penitentiary, and invite your attention particularly to the suggestions therein contained. The new structures erected in place of those destroyed by

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'fire, and those ordered to be removed and replaced with suitable buildings, are now nearly completed. Inspection of those new buildlings will demonstrate that true economy in public buildings consists in having them of the best material, most substantial structure, fire-proof, and adapted to the uses intended. These new buildings meet these requirements.

It is a pleasure to indorse the commendation of the present keeper, Captain H. I. Todd, given by the Inspectors. The State has been fortunate in securing the services of a keeper so richly endowed with those qualities which enable him in efficiently conducting the affairs of the prison, and executing the punitive justice of the State, to ever represent the generous humanities of our people and State.

In this connection your attention is invited to the practicability of improving our plan of prison discipline. A system of rewards for good conduct should be established by law, under whidh convicts may obtain a release of a portion of their term for good conduct. If a plan could be adopted, by which the convicts could be separated into classes, having reference to age, character of offense, and to conduct, much good might be effected. To hold out the hope of advancement to a more favored class, and the shortening of the term for good conduct, would greatly promote prison discipline and encourage reform in the convicts. Sufficient attention has not been given to the subject of reforming those upon whom the punishments of law are inflicted. It may well be questioned whether the prevailing systems reform as much as they demoralize. The punitive justice of a State should have regard to the reclamation of those upon whom its penalties are imposed, and should be adapted to reform rather than harden in crime.

Our system does not provide for proper classification of convicts, nor is there any reward held out for good conduct, save the hope of Executive clemency. It is suggested that the appropriate committee give consideration to this subject.

To large amount of vouchers for unsettled claims which the State holds against the United States Government, which are kept in the office of the Quartermaster General of the State, and the invaluable records of the Adjutant General's office, embracing the muster-in and muster-out rolls of our Kentucky soldiers, and in which every soldier and soldier's family has a direct personal interest, made it necessary to have some suitable and safe place in which to keep and preserve them. The offices heretofore used by those officers have been rented from time to

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time, and have never been adapted to the business of those offices, and wholly insecure for those records. Having at my disposal a fund sufficient to construct suitable offices, with fire-proof vaults in which to preserve those valuable and important records, I determined upon erecting them for the benefit of the State. In selecting the plan, I found that for comparatively a small additional cost office rooms for the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Board of Internal Improvement, and Chambers for the Appellate Judges, could be included, as also store-rooms for the public books and stationery. The rents heretofore paid for offices and store-rooms have been equal to over six per cent. upon the cost of the entire structure, which, in addition to the offices and store-rooms heretofore rented, furnishes the office rooms and chambers mentioned and not heretofore provided. As these buildings were about being completed, and were partly occupied as offices, a fire, originating in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Appeals on the night of Tuesday, the 21st November, entirely consumed that office, with all the books and records then in the office, and communicating to the office of the Secretary of State, soon invested that office and the Executive office in flames; but was fortunately arrested after it had made some progress upon the new buildings, but before any serious damage was done to them. The archives and all the papers of value were saved from the office of the Secretary of State; also most of the laws, journals, and judicial decisions of sister States, kept in that office, were saved. There were still on hand in that office some 357 copies of Stanton's Revised Statutes of Kentucky. The greater portion of them were consumed. An account has not yet been taken of the number saved from the burning building. All the papers and furniture of the Exeuctive office were saved. The Clerk of the Court of Appeals has filed with me a written report in relation to the destruction of his office, &c., with some valuable suggestions, to which your attention is invited, and which is herewith transmitted.

I would recommend to your consideration the propriety of providing by law for keeping insurance upon the public buidings; and also to provide by law for the employment of a night watchman, who, having pass-keys, may pass through all the rooms during the night, and see that they are in safe condition. The Auditor would be the proper officer to be charged with this duty. The buildings destroyed can be replaced, if you so direct, in a short time; and may be better arranged for the purposes to which they were set apart than they were. Temporary offices for the Secretary of State and Executive have been taken in the new office building.

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Your attention will be directed to making suitable provision to sustain our public charities. Reports from the Eastern and Western Lunatic Asylums have not yet been received at this office; when received, they will be laid before you.

Provision should be made more ample for the support of the "Feeble-minded Institute" at Frankfort, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Danville, and the Institution for the Blind at Louisville. These noble and deserving charities have been somewhat overlooked during the war; yet they have been kept in a highly favorable condition by their respective superintendents.

It is recommended that you make suitable provision to meet the just demand upon the public bounty which the silent, but ever-appealing afflictions of those stricken ones, makes upon the charity of the State.

Your attention is invited to the consideration of our common school system. A radical defect in our system is the want of a school for the education of teachers. No system of public schools, which fails to provide for the education of teachers, can ever be successful but to a very limited extent. The experiment of a normal school adopted in Kentucky, which was so soon abandoned, failed because of its incompleteness. The Kentucky University and Transylvania University having organized under the provisions of "An act to establish an Agricultural College in Kentucky," approved February 22, 1865, and to be hereafter known as "The Kentucky University," presents a most favorable opportunity for supplying the defect in our school system. The united endowments of those Universities, with the addition of the "agricultural" fund arising from a sale of the land scrip donated to the State by the General Government to found an Agricultural and Mechanical College, affords the opportunity for founding a permanent and thorough system of common school education, embracing instruction in agriculture and mechanics. A system which shall secure to each county the perpetual scholarship for at least one pupil in the Kentucky University, and such scholars be required, upon completion of their course, to take charge of a county school for teachers, and instruct teachers in their respective counties, to be selected from each school district by the trustees of the school districts, who, in their turn, shall be required to take charge of the district schools of their respective districts, will secure to every child of the Commonwealth fair and equal advantages of uniform instruction, embracing agricultural and mechanical education. This is an outline only of a system which you

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now have the opportunity to perfect, and which, if done, will yield the richest returns of blessing to our noble Commonwealth. I shall not urge upon your enlightened body the importance to the future of our country of having an educated population. To those who do not already see and appreciate this necessity, no light can possibly be given. "Thick darkness" veils the reason of such, and no ray of intelligence can be expected to penetrate the settled gloom of such minds.

Under the provisions of "An act empowering the Governor to appoint agents to visit and aid sick and wounded soldiers of Kentucky," approved February 27, 1865, Col. J. W. Gault and Col. W. De B. Morrell were appointed. Their labors have been of incalculable service to our suffering soldiery. Their reports will, when received, be laid before you.

The number of disabled and homeless soldiers, who are poor, and, from disability, prevented from making a subsistence, demands that some provision should be made for them, so as to secure them against want and suffering. I would suggest that proper steps be taken to obtain from the Government of the United States the "Soldier's Home" at Harrodsburg, to be set apart as a home for disabled Kentucky soldiers who are homeless and poor. Doubtless this property can be had for that purpose on most liberal conditions. It is a sacred duty imposed upon the patriotic bounty of our country to provide for the poor and homeless soldier whose maimed condition disqualifies him from earning a subsistence. Every State should look well and diligently to this subject.

The reports of the Quartermaster General and Adjutant General will be laid before you. During the past year theses offices have been over-crowded with press of business, resulting from the muster-out of our soldiers, and the necessary settlements of accounts and claims.

The Adjutant General has prepared, so far as our soldiers have been mustered out, the muster-out rolls and historical sketch of the regiments. Specimen sheets will be laid before you. If these records were ordered to be printed, and a copy furnished to each county, it would be of great service to the soldier and his family having claims arising under any laws of the United States. In addition to which, should the original records, by any chance, be destroyed, the means would remain in each county of supplying the loss. The act requiring this report to be gotten up did not provide for its publication. Whether it shall be published, therefore, rests with you to determine by law.

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The termination of our civil war has thrown upon up some important questions for adjustment. It is gratifying to know that those who have taken active part in the war of rebellion, as a class, now cheerfully accept the new order of things. What shall be done with those who have resumed their peaceful relations with the Government, and manifest an earnest purpose of future loyalty? Are they to be crushed -- humiliated -- debased by continued punishment? or shall they be forgiven -- trusted -- restored? Though secession is heterodox and suicidal, yet there were many able, intelligent, and conscientious men who honestly held and taught the right. The result of the war has been to forever banish this heresy. Those who held to it, and fought for it, have given it up and abandoned the claim. Forgiveness -- trust -- restoration -- is the corollary of the problem solved by the war. Those who stood aloof from the conflict, but bade it rage, and who drew personal profit from the calamities of the times, may continue vengeful and unforgiving. Civil war ever calls forth from obscurity many whom peace will return their wonted insignificance. Such will naturally oppose the return of that state which deprives them of their consequence, and remits them to their proper level. There are others who, upon the restoration of civil rule, riot in their enlarged security, and provoke disquiet by the turbulence of a captious spirit. The just, considerate, and patriotic will discountenance such extremes, and seek to cover the past with forgiving charity, and promote the harmony and union so essential to our happiness and progress. Those who fought the battles are for peace. Those who nursed their courage at a distance from danger, "to keep it warm," only ask time to cool. The war has determined the impracticabilty of secession, and it only remains for the judiciary to decide that secession is treason, to have the subject forever and finally adjusted. This adjudication should properly be had in the case of the chief of rebellion, to make it a precedent for all time to come. It is understood to have been wisely determined to hand Mr. Davis over to the civil tribunals, where a decision will settle the legal estimate of secession, and determine whether it be treason or a right. This will end the trial of questions by military courts which are properly for civil adjudication, and leave nothing for military courts to determine but questions of military jurisdiction arising under the laws of civilized warfare. That we may contribute to the general harmony and restoration of good fellowship, I would suggest the expediency of amending our laws of expatriation, so that all who have accepted the terms of amnesty, or received pardon from the Presi-

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dent of the United States, may each go before the county or circuit court of his county, and, upon production of his oath of amnesty or pardon from the President of the United States, and satisfactory evidence to such court that he has conformed to the conditions of such oath or pardon, such court, by order reciting those facts, shall restore such person to all the privileges of citizenship. This mode of restoration will at once open the door to all who, in good faith, have returned to their allegiance and their homes; and will still exclude those who refuse to give evidence of their abandonment of their hostility to the Government. The process is convenient and facile to all who would be entitled thereto, and the discrimination just and proper. To forgive a man who does not ask it, nor crave it, and restore him to rights which he had forfeited, would be to offer a bounty to wrong; but to forgive those who seek it, and who give assurance of future allegiance, is the humanity of patriotism.

The government of the Union is founded upon the existence of States. The existence of States presupposes State rights. Without the States there could be no United States formed upon the basis of republican government. At the foundation of that Union is this distinctive, well-marked feature of a united republican government -- that each State shall form its own organism, with the single restraining right of the general government to guarantee a republican form. This is the feature which, being preserved, will forever prevent the only remaining danger to our republican government -- centralization. The Federal or united sorvereignty can only require that a State shall have a republican form of government; and can only interpose to prevent a State of the Union from adopting a monarchy, or other form of government than a republican or people's government. If the State Government be republican in form, the right to direct its details is exclusively with the State, and wholly without the powers of the Federal Government. One of the rights sacred to this form of government, and which is panoplied by constitutional guaranties, is the right of each State to determine for itself who shall be eligible to office, and who shall exercise the elective franchise. So carefully guarded is this fundamental feature of our govenment, that those to be elected to Federal offices by the people are remitted to the respective State regulations. Members of the House of Representatives to Congress are to be chosen by those in the respective States who are entitled to vote for the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. Senators are chosen by the Legislatures of the respective States. Electors for President and Vice President are

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to be chosen in such manner as the respective States may prescribe, with only the power in the General Government to prescribe the time for holding such elections. How well and carefully guarded are the rights of States upon the elective franchise. The whole power over the elective franchise is with each State -- no part of it is left to the United States. This is the security against centralization. To destroy this safeguard would be to centralize. To centralize would be to destroy republican government. The attempt to destroy our republican government is treason. The effort to centralize is treasonable to our republican government, is but the counterpart of the rebellion, which sought to destroy by disintegration, and which has been so successfully repressed. The counterpart must also be crushed ere rebellion will be effectively crushed. The Federal Government is a government of United States, "ordained and established" by "the people of the United States," "in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

To preserve the rights of the States, without surrendering the just rights of the people in their national authority, is the wise and statesmanlike policy of the present Chief Executive of the United Statees. Every true friend of repulican government must feel himself constrained to the support of such an Administration. Under his prudent care order emerges from the chaos of revolution; harmony supersedes the babel of recent conflict; good fellowship arrests the course of passion and prejudice; and Union firmly binds the elements of State and nation. It is a source of gratification to all lovers of civil liberty to witness the steadiness of purpose with which he pursues, with unbending will, the accomplishment of the desired end, the entire restoration of civil government.

An important question is still open for your consideration, thrown upon us as one of the unavoidable rulings of the rebellion. Though the proper solution of all the details connected therewith is difficult, yet, at this day, it must be apparent to every man, whatever may have been his previous hopes and former convictions, that the extinction of slavery within the United States and its dependencies is one of the inexorable and irreversible conclusions of the logic of rebellion. It rests not in human power to reinstate or longer preserve slavery. How shall we dispose of this question? Shall we fold our hands and refuse to act, and content ourselves with sullen submission to unavoid-

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able results; or shall we manifest our just appreciation of existing facts by timely and appropriate action?

The time for partisan disputaiton upon this question has passed, and we should think and act with a wise and prudent regard to our present interests and future good, regardless of the passions of the hour and the prejudices of the moment. I therefore invoke your calm and patriotic consideration to this question, that you may take such action as will redound to the honor and good of our State.

There are but two means of settling this question -- one through separate State action; the other by the action of the people of the States through an amendment to the Federal Constituion. Our State has but two modes of reaching the subject by separate State action. First, by legislative emancipation, with just compensation; and, second, by an amendment to the State Constitution in the appointed mode. The former is deemed impracticable, unless the Legislature shall assume the fact that slave property is now of no value. Although this may be true in fact, yet has the Legislature the right to assume it? The latter mode, by amendment of the State Constitution, is expensive, besides being too slow to meet the necessities of our present condition. On the other hand, the adoption of the proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution is without expense; is immediate; is effective; and just as lawful as the other modes. If it be objected that this is an inroad upon State rights, due consideration will demonstrate the error of such objection. Slavery being local, the regulation and government of it, as property, does of right belong to the State where it exists. But freedom is national, and, when it is a settled question that slavery shall no longer exist in the United States, what State right can possibly be invaded by declaring this determination through the National Constitution? To provide for the regulation and government of slave property is the right of the State, because slavery is local and limited to the State; but freedom is national, and is, therefore, more appropriately declared so to be through the Federal Constitution than by local or State action.

The power to enforce the freedom so secured by the first section of the proposed amendment, is aptly limited in the second section to appropriate legislation for its enforcement. The only power conferred is to enforce the right to freedom -- the right to life, liberty, and property. There is no power to confer other franchises than freedom, and the consequent power to protect that freedom from hostile legislation of States. Hence any laws enacted by a State hostile to the freedom

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guaranteed by the Constitution, would be in conflict therewith, and null and void; and an appropriate remedy may be given through the judicial tribunals to set aside such hostile legislation.

Should any of the recent slave States, for any purpose, attempt to nullify the freedom secured by the Constitution; or should any of the former free States attempt, by hostile constitutions or legislation, to abridge the right of freedom, by prohibiting the migration of the freedmen to such States, all such action will be in conflict with the Constitution, and will be declared null and void. In a word, any State, wishing to add to the immunities of freedom, will have the reserved right to do so for itself, but will be inhibitied from abridging the natural right of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Franchises other than freedom are political, not natural, and are left to the States respectively to regulate each for itself. The Federal Constitution will bear equally upon every State and alike upon all; and so much all laws for its enforcement. The law which bears upon South Carolina will with equal force bear upon Massachusetts. We shall thus be secured from divisions among ourselves in the recent slave States, which would inevitably and unavoidably result from separate State action; and the former free States will be as effectively debarred from hostile legislation to confine the freedmen within former limits. Were the subject left to separate State action, the certain and inevitable result would follow, that some State, in order to force the freedmen from its limits, and prevent others from immigrating thereto, would adopt laws so hostile as to amount to worse than enslavement; others would, in self-defense, pursue similar and more stringent enactments; and the former free States would adopt like policy to exclude them from their limits; and thus this unfortunate race would be driven by persecuting laws, with no place of refuge and no means of defense, until the voice of the civilized world would be raised against the inquiry of our proceedings.

Nay, further: this hostile legislation, which would inevitably result, if left to separate State action, as a logical sequence, would give overwhelming force to the demand for additional guarantees to freedom through another amendment, securing to the freedmen the power of self-protection through the ballot-box. We of heretofore slave States, knowing the incapacity of the negro population for self-government, and much less for the government of others, will be secured against the follies, evils, and dangers of separate State action, by adopting the proposed amendment, and will avoid the evil most

< 17 >
dreaded by our people, of having the negro placed upon political equality. To leave the power of hostile legislation in the several States, after slavery has ceased to exist, and universal emancipation has made freedom thoroughly national, would be to invite the evils we most dread, and incur dangers greater than any through which we have passed.

On the other hand, the adoption of the proposed amendment will give to us perpetual indemnity against the attempt to control the question of suffrage through the Federal power. Each State being inhibited from hostile legislation abridging the right of freedom, but left at liberty to enlarge the privileges of freedmen, the moment any State shall confer upon that class the right of suffrage, it will be followed by a tide of "colored" migration to such State, and by the best class of the white population of such State, in return, coming to those States where the government is reserved to the white man. The certainty of this result will be a perpetual guaranty against the agitation of the negro-suffrage question. Each State being secured, as it is, in the right to regulate its own institutions of government, with the single restriction that it shall be republican in form, no State can insist on another adopting negro suffrage, except by setting the example. The certainty of being flooded with "colored" voters, and of losing their own better population, will be the surest guaranty that such examples will not be very far extended. The adoption of the proposed amendment will give the quietus to the question of negro suffrage. The loyal record of Kentucky will be complete in all honor by its adoption. In addition to which, it will insure a more favorable hearing of our claims for indemnity for those slaves taken into the United States service and freed by congressional enactments. The rejection can accomplish no good; for it is now reduced to a certainty that, during the present winter, the requisite number of States to make it part of the Constitution will ratify it.

What is to become of the negro? This will be solved by time and the natural laws governing population and labor. The question, if let alone, will solve itself; or, rather, the future will suggest the proper solution. The question of what shall become of him, constitutes neither an objection nor an argument against the proposed amendment. He will be free -- what more, the future must develop. What shall become of us? Shall we refuse to make wise provision for our present, because we cannot see or determine our future? The question is as apt in the one case as the other.

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< 18 >

Having been compelled by my position to investigate the question, in order to determine what course a just and prudent statesmanship demanded, I have given you the sincere convictions of my mind, and only ask that you will, with like integrity of purpose, consider the important bearing which your action is to have upon the present and future good of our State.

The entire breaking up of our labor system, and the necessity of adopting a new system upon the free basis, suggests the propriety of adopting measures to invite to our fields of labor a superior class of laboreres, who have, by reason of slavery, heretofore been kept from our State. Your attention is particularly invited to the subject of adopting suitable encouragements to induce immigration to our State. The vast extent of our mineral wealth to be developed, and which is now attracting much attention, and drawing capital to our State for investment, demands a superior class of laborers to those we have heretofore employed. Our fertile lands and genial cllimate will likewise present strong inducement to agricultural industry.

If, in addition to these measures, proper encouragement be given, by suitable internal improvements, to afford facilities to industry and capital, by opening up our natural thoroughfares to navigation, and making suitable roads for transportation of the products of the country to market, and for receiving supplies of merchandise and other com-modities in return, we shall soon make our State the pride of the Union, as it has ever been the pride of her sons.

Trusting that your counsels may be characterized by wisdom and blessed with the harmony of patriotism, you will find me ever ready to co-operate with you in every thing which tends to the honor, the welfare, and happiness of our people.

THOS. E. BRAMLETTE,
Governor of Kentucky.

< 19 >

ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS TO GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE

(A.)
A STATEMENTof the State Debt from 10th October, 1859, to10th October, 1865,inclusive:

Amount of State debt 10th October, 1859		$5,479,244 03
Amount redeemed from 10th October, 1859, to 10th October, 1861		750,010 00
State debt 10th October, 1861		$4,729,234 03
Banks of Kentucky, for military loans, for which certificates have been issued, bearing 6 per cent. interest		1,795,000 00
		$6,524,234 03
Amount of military loand redeemed in 1861	$310,000 00
Amount of original debt redeemed in 1861	9,000 00
		319,000 00
State debt 10th October, 1862		$6,205,234 03
Amount of military loand redeemed in 1863	$355,000 00
Amount of original debt redeemed in 1863	35,000 00
		390,000 00
State debt 10th October, 1863		$5,815,234 03
Amount of unexpended county distribution 1st July, 1864, and held by Board of Education in bond of $240,865 74	$183,803 72
Amount of military loan under act approved 18th February, 1864	415,000 00
		598,803 72
		$6,414,037 75
Amount of military loan redeemed in 1864		1,130,000 00
State debt 1st January, 1865		$5,284,037 75
Amount of unexpended county distribution 1st July, 1865, and held by Board of Education in bond of $276,174 79	$35,309 05
Amount of military loan under act approved 18th February, 1864	2,000 00
		37,309 05
		$5,321,346 80
Amount of original debt redeemed in 1865		67,000 00
State debt 10th October, 1865		$5,254,346 80

RECAPITULATION.

Amount of original State debt		$5,698,356 80
Amount of military debt		2,212,000 00
Making		$7,910,356 80
Amount of original State debt redeemed as above	$861,010 00
Amount of military debt redeemed as above	1,795,000 00
Making		2,656,010 00
Leaving State debt outstanding and unpaid 10th October, 1865		$5,254,346 80
Of this there is military debt	$417,000 00
Original State debt	4,837,346 80
		5,254,346 80
Military debt as above	$417,000 00
Military loan from Sinking Fund	200,000 00
Military loan from Enrolled Militia	20,000 00
Military loan from Farmers' and Bank of Kentucky	140,000 00
Total military debt 23d November, 1865		$777,000 00

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(B.)
A STATEMENT of the amount of taxable property of the State of Kentucky, taken from Commissioners' book returned to the Auditor's Office for the years1861to1865,inclusive:

Year.	Land.	Value of Land.	Town Lots.	Value of Town Lots.	Slaves over 16 years.	Total Slaves.	Value of Slaves.	Horses and Mares.	Value of Horses & Mares.	Mules	Value of Mules.	Jennies.
1861	21,709,358	$224,656,910	47,471	$51,508,004	99,483	213,724	$88,704,682	388,227	$22,037,713	95,582	$5,681,521	5,181
1862	21,145,221	174,187,963	45,721	41,142,738	98,605	213,247	57,998,498	369,120	17,948,088	93,840	4,342,408	5,125
1863	20,919,139	185,151,296	46,744	47,087,010	98,545	203,715	57,511,770	355,989	16,842,503	82,638	4,098,815	5,364
1864	18,129,109	196,145,226	45,481	56,145,757	92,658	203,987	34,179,246	328,165	17,024,345	71,851	4,409,908	4,482
1865	17,778,146	197,676,721	48,560	61,883,478	63,552	153,514	7,224,851	299,160	16,641,815	58,273	4,176,248	3,933

STATEMENT -- Continued.

Year.	Value of Jennies.	Cattle.	Value of Cattle over $50.	Stores.	Value of Stores.	Value under the Equalization Law.	Value of Pleasure Carriages, Barouches, Buggies, Stage Coaches, Gigs, Omnibuses, and other vehicles for passengers.	Value of Gold, Silver, orther metallic Watches and Clocks.	Value of Gold and Silver Plates.	Value of Pianos.	Total value at 45 cents per $100.	White Males over 21 years of age.	Enrolled Militia.
1861	$506,791	692,797	$4,510,666	4,812	$10,547,876	$56,317,873	$1,958,568	$1,211,283	$587,416	$634,319	$468,863,622	191,391	137,211
1862	309,351	670,777	3,432,621	4,109	6,642,301	45,558,382	1,420,771	921,415	504,386	500,228	354,917,150	182,246	120,853
1863	274,610	661,863	3,349,618	3,705	8,058,397	47,201,524	1,381,113	974,528	512,050	524,815	372,968,049	177,374	119,889
1864	233,382	568,797	3,840,288	4,538	12,457,231	47,217,147	1,383,198	976,635	515,803	601,590	375,129,756	169,130	106,125
1865	167,528	520,798	6,267,247	4,280	16,527,915	45,409,895	1,509,182	1,023,719	500,303	708,259	359,717,161	169,749	103,401

< 21 >

Letter from the Inspector General.

HEADQUARTERS KENTUCKY NATIONAL LEGION,
INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE,
FRANKFORT, KY., NOV. 15, 1865.
Hon. Thos. E. Bramlette, Governor of Kentucky:

GOVERNOR: At your request, I herewith furnish you with a list of the companies that have been organized under the militia law of March 4th, 1865, and mustered into the Kentucky National Legion, together with the number of men belonging to each, as appears from the muster-in roles on file in this office:

Lieut. W. H. McDonald, Ballard county	40 men.
Lieut. Jas. Johnson, Breathitt county	70 "
Capt. Greenberry Reid, Bourbon county	85 "
Lieut. Stephen Nethercutt, Carter county	40 "
Capt. H. H. Johnson, Fayette county	82 "
Capt. W. P. Ballard, Madison county	91 "
Lieut Bennet Spear, Monroe county	42 "
Capt. S. G. Rogers, Nicholas county	92 "
Capt. Daniel Campbell, Perry county	101 "

Of these companies, five have drawn arms -- Lieuts. McDonald, Nethercutt, Jas. Johnson, and Capts. G. Reid, and H. H. Johnson -- while only two have been on active duty in the field -- those of Capts. Reid and Johnson.

There have been several other companies in the process of formation in other counties, but the great drawback upon their being filled was the length of the term of enlistment -- five years.

I am in daily receipt of letters from different parts of the State, requesting that military aid be given the civil authorities in enforcing the laws of the State. This law, if properly carried out, would render all the assistance that is necessary; and I am satisfied, that, if the law was so amended as to make the term of service in the Kentucky National Legion one year instead of five, there would be no difficulty in raising a company of forty men in each county in the State, who, being armed, and subject to the call of the civil authorities, upon your approval, would soon put down all of the thieving bands that are now infesting the State.

Yours, respectfully,
J. T. BRAMLETTE,
Inspector General of Kentucky.

Report of Inspectors of Kentucky Penitentiary.
FRANKFORT, November 21st, 1865.
Hon. Thos. E. Bramlette, Governor of Kentucky:

SIR: We were directed by a resolution of the last General Assembly (approved February 25, 1865) to sell the old buildings, old iron, and damaged machinery in the Penitentiary, pay the amount into the Treasury, and report the fact to you. This resolution has been complied with, and the nett amount, after deducting expenses for adver-

< 22 >
tising and drayage, and barrelling the iron, is six hundred and sixty-three dollars ninety four cents (663 94). A duplicate statement and receipt of the Auditor are herewith inclosed. The buildings were sold according to an estimate of three architects, and the iron was valued at the market price of one cent per pound, we engaging to deliver it at the depot for shipment.

The new buildings erected in the yard are almost entirely completed, are very substantial in character, and creditable to the State. The chief reason why the institution has not been a source of revenue to the Commonwealth, is on account of the old dilapidated tenements that have been removed, and which required incessant repairs to make them even partially fit for the various trades and manufactures carried on. If one keeper was careless about keeping up repairs, his successor suffered on account of neglect, and thus the concern was transmitted from hand to hand, and deductions from the lease would be claimed, because so much was required for essential repairs and improvements. The true economy was, to a certain extent, adopted by the last Legislature, and buildings are now within the walls which will not be out of order for quite a number of years to come.

In this connection we would call your atteniton to a matter that certainly requires a remedy. We allude to the facility with which prisoners effect their escape over the walls. Attempts of this character are frequent, and success too often attends them. The walls are too low. The prisoners know it, and hesitate not to try the experiment of throwing over the rope, which, once accomplished, escape is quickly effected. This can easily be prevented by raising the walls and placing some sort of barricade on the top. The details we do not suggest, as these could be arranged after proper examination as to the mode; but as to the necessity of the matter, we think there can be no question.

Another improvement is recommended in the way of an addition to the hospital. This addition is needed as a kitchen and water-closet. As at present arranged, the kitchen is a part of the hospital room, separated from the beds by a plank partition, with only one window, and has to be used also as a room for laying out the dead and for bathing purposes, which is a part of the medical treatment of the patients. The only arrangement for a water-closet and going to stool is a large tub in one corner of the bed-room, which, when filled, has to be lifted out and carried to the sewer in the yard, and then returned to its place. Cleansed as often as may be, the stench is never fully removed, and it is at best an unsuitable and inconvenient affair. In the proposed addition, a water-closet could be place with a sewer leading to the main one, and supplied with a water tank in order to keep it clean. The kitchen could be conveninetly arranged so that the diet for the sick would be properly prepared, and the room now used for that purpose could be legitimately applied. When the hospital was first erected, the defect was seen at once. The commissioners had failed to have a kitchen attached, and being too far off from the one connected to the dining-room, the resort was partitioning off one corner for this purpose. A plan was laid before us, at our

< 23 >
request, for this improvement, and the estimated cost was fifteen hundred dollars. The plan we herewith transmit.

In closing this report, we deem it not improper to bear testimony to the efficiency of the present keeper. Of course we do not speak of the business management of the prison, but the general discipline; the clothing and feeding of prisoners, the humane treatment extended to them; the liberal supply of the hospital with medicines, and comfortable beds; all indicate commendable qualities in Captain Todd.

The attending physician, Dr. Phythian, discharges his duties with zeal and success, and exhibits more than ordinary interest in his department. He fills his position in a highly creditable manner.

Very respectfully,
J. M. MILLS,
JOHN S. HAYS,
Inspectors Kentucky Penitentiary.

STATEMENT -- DUPLICATE.

Amount received from sale of old buildings		$300 00
Amount received from sale of old iron		472 31
		$772 31
Deduct as follows:
Amount paide for advertising	$37 87
Amount paid H. I. Todd, for boxing and barreling iron and draying same to depot	70 50
		108 37
Balance to be paid into treasury		$663 94

FRANKFORT, KY., November 16th, 1865.

Received of J. M. Mills and John S. Hays, Inspectors of the Kentucky Penitentiary, the sum of six hundred and sixty-three dollars and ninety-four cents ($663 94), as per statement above, being the amount realized from the sale of old buildings and old iron in the Penitentiary, as directed by a resolution of the last General Assembly of Kentucky, approved February 25th, 1865.

W. T. SAMUELS, Auditor.

Letter from the Clerk of the Court of Appeals.
COURT OF APPEALS OFFICE,
FRANKFORT, NOV. 24, 1865
His Excellency Thos. E. Bramlette, Governor of Kentucky:

DEAR SIR: I consider it my duty to make to you, as the Executive head of the State, this report in reference to the destruction of my office, last Tuesday night, by fire.

Ever since I have been in office, I felt the rooms I occupied were in imminent danger of the terrible calamity which has just befallen us, and have therefore repeatedly called the attention of the Legislature to the subject; but my warnings were disregarded. I have usually been the first officer on the State House lot in the morning and the last in the evening, with a careful person employed, and paid by myself, to open and close my office, make fires when needed, and keep it in

< 24 >
good order. There were but two keys to it -- one in possession of my 1st deputy (Mr. R. R. Bolling), the other in possession of my hired attendant, in whose care and fidelity I had every confidence. It was almost as combustible as a powder magazine, with every part full of papers and books -- all round the fire-place, as well as elsewhere, in open cases and on shelves, some in bundles, and some necessarily loose in pigeon holes. No safety anywhere against even a spark of fire. The afternoon before the fire I left about 4¹/₂ o'clock with a friend and went to my sleeping room, one-third of a mile distant, near the court-house, where I remained till next morning. Mr. Bolling and Mr. Chesnutt remained till nearly five o'clock, and until the old colored man came to shut up the office. Then there was but little fire in the grate, with a wide brick hearth in front, and no apprehension of danger -- just as it had been left thousands of times before.

I knew nothing of the fire till aroused by Messrs. Tole and Franklin, out of my bed, about 4 o'clock in the morning. How it originated God only knows -- I certainly do not; no one slept in any of the ten rooms destroyed; but it was diastrous in the extreme. All the books, records, and papers in the building, public and private, were burnt. The loss to the State is incalculable -- to me most ruinous.

Fortunately, in order to give more light to Messrs. Bolling and Chesnutt's tables, a press containing the oldest deed books -- 26 in number -- had been removed, about ten days previously, to the back court room in the Capitol. The indexes were also carried there for convenient examination, and are safe.

There are about seventy cases under submission, and the records and briefs in possession of the court.

I think I shall be able to supply eighty or ninety other records, by copies given out to attorneys. Many of those used by the reporter (Judge Duvall) were removed to the court room named, for his convenience, some weeks since, and are safe.

I hope this terrible disaster will induce the Legislature to make immediate provision for the office of our supreme court, as well as for that of the Governor and Secretary of State. If fire-proof rooms are not provided, certainly watchmen ought to be employed to be on duty at night.

I respectfully ask the Governor to transmit a copy of this letter to the Legislature on the 1st Monday in December.

Your most obedient servant,
LESLIE COMBS, C. C. A.

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