Chapter VII: Part 7

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi in General Assembly convened, "That an Academy be, and is hereby established near the town of Washington, in the county of Adams, to be known by the name of the Elizabeth Female Academy, in honor of Mrs. Elizabeth Roach, the founder thereof, to be under the superintendence of John Menifee, Daniel Rawlings, Alexander Covington, John W. Briant, and Beverly R. Grayson, and their successors who are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, to be known by the name and style of 'The Trustees of the Elizabeth Female Academy' and they and their successors are hereby made capable of receiving real and personal estate, either by donation or purchase, for the benefit of the institution, _not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars_, of suing and being sued, and of doing and performing all other acts, and shall possess all other powers, incident to bodies corporate.

"Sec. 2.--And be it further enacted, That all vacancies that may happen in the said Board of Trustees, either by death, resignation, refusal to act, or removal from the State, shall be filled by the members of the Methodist Mississippi Annual Conference: provided however, that all such vacancies may be filled by the said Board of Trustees, to continue until the meeting of the said conference next ensuing such vacancy, or until they shall fill the same.

"Sec. 3.--And be it further enacted, That the said trustees and their successors shall have the power to appoint their president, vice-president, and other officers, to engage such teacher or teachers as may be necessary for conducting the literary concerns of the Academy, to hold stated meetings of the board and to make all by-laws and regulations for the government of the institution and promoting piety and virtue among the students, but no religious test or opinion shall be required by the by-laws of the institution of the pupils admitted or to be admitted into said Academy. The president, or in his absence, the vice-president, may at any time call special meetings of the board by giving to each member five days notice of such meeting: the ordinary meetings shall be held on their own adjournment; Three members shall constitute a quorum to do business: the president, or in his absence, the vice-president shall preside, or in case of the absence of both, any member chosen by a majority of the members present shall preside.

"E. TURNER,
"Speaker of the House of Representatives.

"D. STEWART,
"Lieut. Governor, President of the Senate.
"Approved the 17th day of Feb., 1918.

"DAVID HOLMES,
"Governor of the State of Mississippi."

The "_announcement_" for the initial term appeared in the Mississippi State Gazette, of Oct. 24th, 1818, a paper published in Natchez, and was signed by B. R. Grayson, Secretary of the Board of Trustees.

The Academy opened its doors to pupils November 12th, 1818, under the presidency of Chilion F. Stiles, and with Mrs. Jane B. Sanderson as "Governess." Of the first President, and the first Lady Principal of that first college for young ladies in all the Southwest, the distinguished Dr. William Winans thus writes most interestingly in his manuscript autobiography:

"Chilion F. Stiles was a man of high intellectual and moral character, and eminent for piety. The Governess was Mrs. Jane B. Sanderson, a Presbyterian lady of fine manners, and an excellent teacher, but subject to great and frequent depression of spirits. This resulted, no doubt, from the shock she had received from the murder of her husband a few years previously by a robber____Though a Presbyterian, and stanch to her sect, she acted her part with so much prudence and liberality as to give entire satisfaction to her Methodist employers and patrons. Some of the most improving, as well as most agreeable hours, of relaxation from my official duties were at the Academy in the society of Brother Stiles, who combined, in an eminent degree, sociability of disposition, good sense, extensive information on various subjects, and fervent piety, rendering him an agreeable and instructive companion. He was the only person I ever knew who owed his adoption of a religious course of life _to the instrumentality of Free Masonry_. He was awakened to a sense of his sinfulness in the process of initiation into that fraternity. Up to that time he had been a gay man of the world, and a skeptic, if not an infidel in regard to the Christian religion. But so powerful and effective was the influence upon him by somewhat in his initiation, that from that hour he turned to God with purpose of heart, soon entered into peace, and thenceforth walked before God in newness of life, till his pilgrimage terminated in a triumphant death."

Mr. Stiles was succeeded in the presidency by Rev. John C. Burruss of Virginia, an elegant gentleman, a finished scholar and an eloquent preacher. The school greatly prospered under his administration, as it continued to do under his immediate successor, Rev. Dr. B. M. Drake, a name that will ever live among us as the synonym for consecrated scholarship, perfect propriety, unaffected piety, and singular sincerity. In 1833 Dr. Drake resigned the presidency in order to devote himself entirely to pastoral work, and was succeeded by Rev. J. P. Thomas; and in 1836 he gave way to Rev. Bradford Frazee of Louisville, Ky. Rev. R. D. Smith, well known throughout the Southwest for his rare devotion, was called to the president's chair in 1839.

Some of the by-laws adopted by the Board of Trustees for the government and regulation of the Academy, recall in a measure the rigid and elaborate rules prescribed by John Wesley for the school at Kingswood. A few of these by-laws I here reproduce.

"The President of the Academy____shall be reputed for piety and learning, and for order and economy in the government of his family. If married he shall not be less than thirty, and if unmarried, not less than fifty years of age____.

"The Governess____shall be pious, learned, and of grave and dignified deportment____She shall have charge of the school, its order, discipline, and instructions, and the general deportment and behavior of the pupils who board in or out of commons____.

OF PATRONESSES.

"On the last day of every academic year, the Board of Trustees shall choose three respectable Matrons, who shall be acting patronesses of the Academy.

"It shall be the duty of the patronesses to visit the school as often as they think necessary, and inspect the sleeping rooms, dress, and deportment of the pupils, and generally the economy and management of the Academy, and report the same in writing to the Board of Trustees for correction, if needed____.

ON APPROPRIATION OF TIME.

"All pupils boarding in commons shall convene in the large school-room at sunrise in the morning, and at eight o'clock in the evening for prayers.

"The hours of teaching shall be from nine o'clock in the morning until noon; and from two o'clock in the afternoon until five; but in May, June and July, they shall begin one hour sooner in the morning and continue until noon; and from three o'clock in the afternoon until six, Friday evenings excepted, when the school shall be dismissed at five ____.

DISCIPLINE AND DRESS.

"No pupil shall be permitted to receive ceremonious visits.

"All boarders in commons shall wear a plain dress and uniform bonnets.

"No pupil shall be permitted to wear beads, jewelry, artificial flowers, curls, feathers, or any superfluous decoration.

"No pupil shall be allowed to attend balls, dancing parties, theatrical performances, or festive entertainments ____.

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS--COURSE OF STUDY

"____The studies of the Senior Class are:

"_First Session._--Chemistry, natural philosophy, moral philosophy, botany; Latin, Aesop's Fables, Sacra Historia, Viri Romae illustres.

"_Second Session._--Intellectual philosophy, Evidences of Christianity, Mythology, general history, Latin, Cæsar's Bella Gallica.

"Students who have completed the full course above, shall be entitled to the honors of the institution, with a diploma on parchment, for the degree of _Domina Scientiarum_____Those who have pursued with honor the whole course of studies, shall be entitled to remain one academic year, free of charge for tuition, and be associated in an honorary class, to be engaged in the pursuit of science and polite literature, and ornamental studies. After which they shall be entitled to an honorary diploma ____."

The spiritual culture of the students was the supreme concern of the faculty. The Bible was systematically taught and revivals of religion were enjoyed. A notable one occurred in 1826.

The coming of Mrs. Caroline M. Thayer in the fall of 1825 was an epoch in the history of the Academy, and her administration marked an era. She was a remarkably accomplished woman with a genius for administration. Of her Dr. Winans, President of the Board of Trustees thus speaks:

"MONDAY, JAN. 16, 1826.

"In the evening I returned to Brother Burruss's, where I met Sister C. M. Thayer, who has come to take charge of Elizabeth Female Academy. She is a woman of middle size, coarse features, some of the stiffness of Yankee manners, but of an intelligent and pleasant expression of countenance; free in conversation and various and abundant in information. Rev. John C. Burruss, the President of the Academy, said: 'Mrs. Thayer is a most extraordinary woman; I have never seen such a teacher.'"

Again, under date of March 2d, 1826, in a letter to Rev. John Lane, Dr. Winans says: "The Academy is in a very flourishing condition--Sister Thayer is a tutoress of superior abilities, both as teacher and governess. We are very sanguine of the future usefulness and respectability of the Academy."

Mrs. Thayer was a niece of Gen. Warren, the hero of Bunker Hill, educated in Boston, warmly recommended by Dr. Wilbur Fisk, and before coming to Mississippi had made great reputation as an author and teacher. She had taught for a while with Rev. Valentine Cook on Green River, Kentucky, and had published a volume of essays and poems that attracted wide attention.

The editor of the _Southern Galaxy_, a paper published in Natchez, attended the semi-annual examinations at Elizabeth Female Academy in the Spring of 1829, and highly commended the institution, especially "the unquestioned capacity and superior accomplishments of the Governess," Mrs. Caroline M. Thayer. The eloquent address delivered on the occasion by Duncan S. Walker Esq., is published in full. In the list of young ladies receiving special mention for scholarship is found the name of "Miss Martha D. Richardson of Washita, La." That fair daughter of the first college for young ladies in the South still lives in California as the widow of the late Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh.

In that same issue of the paper, March 26th, 1829, is this communication:

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE SOUTHERN GALAXY."

"Sir: The following lines are the production of a pupil in the Elizabeth Female Academy at Washington. If you think them worthy of a place in your paper, their insertion may aid the cause of female literature, by awakening emulation among your young readers, though their youthful author only intended them for the eyes of her preceptress.

"C. M. T."

WHAT IS BEAUTY?

'Tis not the finest form, the fairest face
That loveliness imply:
'Tis not the witching smile, the pleasing grace,
That charms just Reason's eye.

No, 'tis the sunshine of the spotless mind,
The warmest, truest heart,
That leaves all lower, grosser things behind,
And acts the noblest part--

That sunshine, beaming o'er the radiant face,
With virtue's purest glow,
Will give the plainest lineaments a grace
That beauty cannot show.

This face, this heart alone can boast a charm
To please just Reason's eye,
And this can stern Adversity disarm
And even Time defy.

--Margaret.

The annual commencement in the early summer was a great occasion. An elaborate notice of the same, which embraced Aug. 21st, 1829, was published in the papers of the young state--"_the first detailed account_ of such an event in Mississippi." The essay of Miss Anna W. Boyd, who graduated with the honors of her class, appears in full. It will be interesting to many yet living for me to give the names of the graduates, and those distinguished in the several classes:

Miss Anna W. Boyd Ireland.
Miss Susan Smith Adams County
Miss Mary C. Hewett Washington, Miss.
Miss Mary J. Patterson Port Gibson, Miss.
Miss Sarah R. Chew Adams County
Miss Eliza A. Fox Natchez, Miss.

Honorary distinctions were conferred on the following pupils for proficiency in study and correct moral deportment:

_First Class._

Miss Ellen V. Keavy Pinckneyville, La.
Miss Martha D. Richardson Washita, La.
Miss Mary A. Fretwell Natchez, Miss.
Miss Maria L. Newman Washington, Miss.

_Second Class._

Miss Martha Cosby Wilkinson County
Miss Sarah M. Forman Washington, Miss.
Miss Catharine O. Newman Washington, Miss.
Miss Susan C. Robertson Port Gibson, Miss.

_Third Class._

Miss Mary Scott Alexandria, La.
Miss Charlotte C. Scott Alexandria, La.
Miss Mary E. Gordon Alexandria, La.
Miss Emily Vick Vicksburg, Miss.
Miss Emily Smith Adams County

_Fourth Class._

Miss Charlotte Walcott Vicksburg, Miss.
Miss Mary A. B. Chandler Pinckneyville, La.

_Fifth Class._

Miss Mary E. Roberts Washington, Miss.
Miss Matilda J. Nevett Adams County

_Sixth Class._

Miss Laura J. A. King Adams County
Miss Martha B. Brabston Washington, Miss.

In that list of young ladies will be recognized a few honored matrons in the Southwest yet living, and many others will recall their grandmothers who have long been among the redeemed in heaven.

A Board of Visitors, consisting of such distinguished men as Robert L. Walker, J. F. H. Caliborne and Dr. J. W. Monette, attended that commencement, and made report as follow:

"____The most unqualified praise would be no more than justice for the splendid evidence of their close attention and assiduity, as exhibited on this occasion; and we take pleasure in giving it as our opinion, that such honorable proof of female literary and scientific acquirements has seldom been exhibited in this or any other country. And while it proves the order and discipline with which science and literature are pursued by the pupils, it proves no less the flourishing condition and the merited patronage the institution enjoys. Nothing reflects more honor upon the present age than the liberality displayed in the education of females; nor can anything evince more clearly the justness with which female education is appreciated in the South than this exhibition, and the interest manifested by the large and respectable audience during the whole of the exercises. The literary and scientific character of the Governess, Mrs. Thayer, is too well known to admit of commendation from us ____."

On account of the removal of the Capitol to Jackson, the shifting of the center of population, several epidemics of yellow fever and other causes, after varying fortunes, the Academy suspended. Ex-Chancellor Edward Mayes says of this institution: "In the decade from 1819 to 1829 its boarders amounted in number annually from 28 to 63." Mrs. John Lane, Mrs. C. K. Marshall, Mrs. H. H. Kavanaugh, Mrs. B. M. Drake, the mother of the late Col. W. L. Nugent, the mother of the Rev. T. L. Mellen, and many other elect ladies were educated at that mother of female colleges.

The noble school continued its splendid work for more than twenty-five years, and laid broad and deep the foundations on which others have wisely builded.

EARLY HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COLLEGE.

BY MR. J. K. MORRISON

Jefferson College was incorporated by the Legislature of the Mississippi Territory on the thirteenth of May, 1802. The act of incorporation was entitled: "An act to establish a College in Mississippi Territory." The following named gentlemen attended a meeting of the Trustees of this institution, held January 3, 1803, viz: Wm. C. C. Claiborne, John Ellis, Wm. Dunbar, Anthony Hutchins, David Lattimore, Sulton Banks, Alexander Montgomery, Daniel Burnet, David Kerr, D. W. Breazeale, Abner Green, Cato West, Thos. Calvit and Felix Hughes.

John Ellis was appointed President _pro tempore_ and Felix Hughes, secretary.

The Board then proceeded to elect their officers by ballot. His Excellency, Wm. C. C. Caliborne, was elected President, Sir Wm. Dunbar, Vice-President, Felix Hughes, Secretary, and Cato West, Treasurer. For some reason the last named officer declined to serve.

It was next moved that the following address be submitted to the National Government:

"To the Honourable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:

"We, the Trustees of Jefferson College assembled, agreeable to a law of this Territory, at our first meeting, beg leave to address the Honourable Legislature of the United States. The duty we owe to our Infant Institution, to the community of the Mississippi Territory, and to the United States calls on us to lay before you our wants and our prospects.

"Education in every state of the union has required, and we believe, met in some degree the fostering hand of public support. Every enlightened society, has been willing to contribute in some way to the cultivation of the minds of their rising generation, from whence so many public as well as private benefits have been found to flow.

"This society has laboured under peculiar Impediments to the pursuit of this object; lately emerged from the lethargic influence of an arbitrary government, averse from principle to general information our citizens have hardly as individuals yet become sensible of the necessity, and usefulness of Education; unaccustomed to act in concert their individual efforts have never aimed at more than private schools.

"The first attempt to institute a place of general education for the youth of this territory, has by a law of our Legislature, devolved on us. We are sensible of the usefulness of the design to ourselves and to our children. We are aware of the peculiar necessity of Public Education and general information, to enable us to maintain that Character we are called on to support, the Character of citizens of a Republic. Our insulated situation demands the means of education at home, and the infancy of our community and the circumstances already mentioned demand Patronage from our parent government.

"At a time when the true principles of Republicanism are more generally than ever diffused over the United States, when philosophy and Patriotism are so happily united in promoting the public good, we hope we shall not ask in vain. Our citizens may be tardy in learning the necessity of affording effectual support by voluntary contributions; our local government has no lands to bestow on us. But we trust the Legislature of the United States, in whom the right of our soil is vested, will give aid to an institution which will establish republicanism in the minds of the youth of this territory, and be the firmest bond of an attachment to the Union.

"In the Northwestern Territory, the general government acting on the ordinance of Congress has been attentive to the support of public instruction.

"Having a similar claim from a similitude of constitution, and such pressing inducements peculiar to ourselves, we rely with confident hope on your Honourable Body for such aid as you may judge proper."

The following resolution was also adopted:

"That a committee of the following members, viz: Messrs. Wm. Dunbar, Cato West, David Kerr, John Ellis, and Daniel Burnet be appointed to make inquiry as to the most convenient site for Jefferson College; to receive proposals from individuals of any donations of lands for that purpose and to report to the Board at their next meeting."

On motion the following address to the citizens of the Territory was adopted:

"To the People of the Mississippi Territory:

"The Trustees of Jefferson College assembled at their first meeting embrace the opportunity of addressing you, our fellow-citizens of the Mississippi Territory, we are sensible of the difficulty of the Task to which we have been called by your representatives. A place of public education is to be created at a considerable expense without any public funds. The economy of our Legislature has not as yet suffered them to lay a tax on the community, to aid an Institution, which we hope will ultimately conduce to our public as well as private happiness. We are called on, therefore to supply the want of public funds by the liberality of private patriotism.

"Indeed when we look forward to the consequence of a successful attempt to raise a respectable school for the education of the youth of this Territory, we trust the enlightened citizens will not be wanting in furnishing the means essentially necessary.

"Our situation far remote from foreign schools, where a liberal education may be procured prevents our young fellow citizens generally from acquiring the advantages which a good school affords. If in a few instances parents send their children far from the inspection of their parental eye, great sacrifice must be made of parental solicitude and great hazard of the morals of the youth, and when these difficulties shall be overcome, young men having finished their education return among their fellow citizens perhaps with the power and inclination to serve them, but too much strangers for some time to gain their confidence. Having procured a distant education, they will enjoy little advantages over strangers who may emigrate to this territory from foreign countries or from some parts of the United States. Our citizens will not enjoy the advantage of a long personal acquaintance, to enable them to choose with judgement those whom they ought to encourage, as teachers of youth and preachers of religion and morality, as physicians, as lawyers, or as law-givers.

"But should the liberality of the public enable the patrons of Jefferson College to establish it as a public school for the Territory these evils would be succeeded by important Benefits. We should see our youth growing up under our own observation in habits of virtue and improvement. Those who should acquire public approbation by early talents and good behavior would be rewarded with the merited confidence of their fellow citizens on the entrance to public life, while strangers of merit would obtain a just share of public favors, our citizens would not be forced to employ persons unknown to them, to conduct their most important interests. Our young men living together while the social affections are yet untarnished by selfish views or party spirit would contract such firm attachments as would conduce gradually to obliterate that party rage which is the bane of our community too small to make divisions tolerable.

"From Jefferson College as a central school would emanate the taste and the knowledge necessary to make even a common education more reputable and more useful. In fine, our children being educated in the knowledge and Love of Republican Liberty would grow up to be the firm supporters of our Republican government.

"We do not pretend to undertake an enumeration of all the advantage, either public or private which the success of the present undertaking promises; but being deeply interested as well as yourselves in the event, we beg leave to offer you one more observation.

"Bountiful Providence has given to the citizens of this territory the means of procuring a Superabundance of wealth. It is an awful Truth, that it will depend on the education of the growing generation, whether a sudden increase of wealth will be the cause of a rapid increase in knowledge and rational refinement, or of luxury and unmeaning expense. As your growing riches then will furnish you with the happy means of forming the growing minds of your children to a rational love of good learning and virtue.

"So the danger of leaving your property to those who might not know how to use it usefully and innocently, shows the necessity of devoting a part of it to their Education.

"Such are our views, Fellow Citizens, of the importance of our present undertaking. We call on you then to lend your aid to an Institution, which will be devoted to increase the common happiness. All are interested, let all contribute something to the public stock, let the rich give liberally and all others show their public spirit according to their abilities, Parents will meet their reward in possessing the means of promoting the real happiness of their children. Those who are not parents will enjoy the Benefit of living, in a society increasing in civilization and those arts and pursuits which are the ornaments of human nature."

A committee consisting of the following members, Messrs. Sulton Banks, David Lattimore and Wm. Dunbar was appointed to prepare the plan of a lottery for raising a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars and to make a report to the next meeting of the Board of Trustees. This meeting was held at Selsertown. The committee appointed for the purpose of preparing a lottery scheme reported as follows:

That 2,000 tickets at $5.00 a piece be sold, $10,000.

No. of prizes:

1 of $2,000 is $2,000

2 of 500 each $1,000

10 of 100 each $1,000

20 of 50 each $1,000

200 of 25 each $5,000

The above prizes to be paid deducting 15% for the College.

A committee appointed to select a suitable location recommended one on the lands of Mordecai Throckmorton near old Greenville, in Jefferson county. The Board at its meeting agreed on this site recommended, and ordered their next meeting to be held at old Greenville, on the 11th of April following.

At this meeting the resolution proposing a site for the location of the college was repealed. The next meeting was held at Selsertown. At this meeting the Board on the 25th of July, 1803, accepted a donation of lands offered by John and James Foster, and Randall Gibson, adjoining the town of Washington, and embracing Ellicott's Springs.

The appeal to the public for aid was unproductive; that to Congress was responded to by a grant of a township of land and some lots of ground in and adjoining the city of Natchez.

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees was held in Natchez, on the 28th of January, 1804. Colonel Cato West, at that time the acting governor of the Territory, reported "that the lots in the city of Natchez, and an out-lot adjoining the same, granted to the college by Congress, had been only located, and that upon these lots were several valuable buildings." But a private individual and the city of Natchez laid claim to these buildings and an act was passed in Congress regranting them to Natchez.

Appeals were made to the public but were not responded to. A loan from the Legislature was prayed for but all the efforts on the part of the trustees amounted to nothing.

The Trustees were reassembled in April, 1810, having had no meeting since December 21, 1805.

In the meantime the Washington Academy had been established and conducted by Rev. Jas. Smylie. Subscriptions were raised and frame buildings erected on the college grounds.

A meeting of the two Boards was held and the building of the Academy and the subscriptions which had been raised for its support were transferred to the Board of Trustees of the prospective College.

The Board of the Washington Academy also had lottery tickets on sale, but found great difficulty in disposing of them.

Few of the tickets were sold, and fortunately for the institution the tickets calling for the largest prizes remained unsold. There was nothing gained from this and the next year the Board directed suits against some of the purchasers of tickets who had failed to pay for them.

The Academy buildings were placed in order and it was published that "an academy under the superintendence of Dr. Edwin Reese, assisted by Mr. Sam'l Graham would open on the first of January."

Nine years after the chartering of Jefferson College, it started as an academy, and as an academy it continued several years.

Soon afterwards the Trustees resumed their efforts to secure an endowment for the proposed College. The titles to the lots in Natchez were examined. In order to adjust the claims between the corporation of Natchez and Jefferson College, the matter was carried to law. In 1812 commissioners were appointed for the recovery of such escheated property as belonged to the College, the Legislature having granted to it all escheated property for ten years. The authority of the Legislature was questioned in this matter, and it was carried before Congress. The Legislature was upheld in this and the College realized five or six thousand dollars, but lost heavily prosecuting their claims.

The Secretary of the Treasury, under the authority of an act of Congress passed the 20th of February, 1812, located on the 5th of June the township of land granted in 1803. The land selected was situated on both sides of the Tombigbee River. But nothing was realized from this until 1818.

In 1816, six thousand dollars to be paid in annual installments was granted by the Legislature. This money was for the purpose of hiring an instructor.

Mr. M'Allister, who was teaching at the time in Kentucky, was employed, and took charge of the Institution in 1817. In the August following the contract for the last building was let out.

In 1818, the rapid immigration to Alabama caused an increase in the value of the Tombigbee lands. An agent was sent to Alabama, who leased the lands owned by the College for ninety-nine years. About eight thousand dollars was received as the first payment, and the remaining installments amounting to more than twenty-five thousand dollars were to be paid in two, four and six years. With such an improved state of affairs the Board deemed it wise to borrow money to hasten the completion of the buildings then in progress. Nine thousand dollars was obtained from the bank and four thousand from the state.

The trustees were disappointed, however, in the expected revenues from the Tombigbee lands. The government in 1820 found it necessary to adopt measures for the reduction of the enormous debts of those who had contracted for lands in more prosperous times.

Liberal discounts were offered to its debtors, also the privilege of giving up the lands they had purchased. There was a great depreciation in the value of the lands at this time, and the purchasers were glad to surrender them to the government.

The trustees offered an abatement of one-half. But all, with one exception, gave the land to the government, as the greater portion of it was found to be of no value. This source of revenue to which the trustees had looked forward with such sanguine expectations had been destroyed, heavy debts had been contracted, and there were no means of discharging them. So the trustees and friends of the Institution assumed the debts individually.

The college had a difficulty from another source. In 1818 there was an assembly of the clergy of all denominations in Washington. Some of the clergy, believing Mr. M'Allister's opinion to be unorthodox, publicly denounced the Institution.

This did the College an injury that the trustees could not repair. Rev. R. F. N. Smith, an associate of Mr. M'Allister, was placed at the head of the Institution, but this helped matters very little.

The source of revenue having been exhausted, Mr. Smith resigned. From 1821, an academy was kept up under various instructors on a small scale.

In 1825, a measure was introduced into the Legislature to institute suit for the recovery of the money loaned, but the majority voted against it.

To afford the Legislature an opportunity of placing the institution more immediately under its control and management and to give to it that patronage and support to which it would be entitled as a State Institution, the Trustees voted to give the power of filling vacancies in their body to the Legislature. The act was passed in January, 1826. This right was exercised for many years.

In May, 1826, the Trustees were notified that the selectmen of the city of Natchez were going to make an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States in the suit commenced in 1813, for the property given by Congress and claimed by the city of Natchez. The Trustees not being able to bear the expenses of a suit appointed a committee to compromise with the city, which they succeeded in doing.

About this time the Legislature was considering the idea of establishing a State Institution, and its executive committee at its session in Feb. 1829, was ordered to appoint three agents to inquire into all the means and resources in the state applicable to the purposes of general education; to confer with the Trustees of Jefferson College and ascertain the condition and prospects of the Institution and whether it was practicable for the Trustees to surrender the charter to the State, and on what terms it would be done.

A meeting of the two committees was held on the 27th of October, 1829. Questions were asked the committee from Jefferson College concerning the college buildings; the endowment; the number and character of its Professors; its future prospects; the expediency of surrendering the charter; and concerning the money loaned to the Institution by the Legislature.

It was found that the charter could not be surrendered to another Institution erected in its stead.

This agreement was not made with the Legislature, so it was decided to put forth greater energies than ever to build up the Institution.

It was decided to adopt a system of Education similar to that of West Point and a contract was made with E. B. Williston and Major Halbrook.

They assumed all responsibilities, and hired a number of competent instructors, and depended upon their success to pay the salaries of each.

The College under this management opened on the first Monday of December, 1829. This plan was eminently successful and for the first time since the establishment of the Institution it was a success. A large number of students was attracted to it and it was viewed with pride and gratification.

THE RISE AND FALL OF NEGRO RULE IN MISSISSIPPI.

BY DUNBAR ROWLAND, ESQ.

Twenty-three years have passed into history since Adelbert Ames, the last of the "Carpet Baggers," was driven from his high position as governor of Mississippi by the representatives of an outraged and indignant people. A new generation has grown to manhood and womanhood since those stirring times that led up to and culminated in the exposure and condemnation of the most reckless and profligate political combination and blighting curse that has ever burdened a free people. As we have just passed the twenty-third anniversary of that great event it is fitting that its memories be revived in the minds of those who took part in it, that its lessons may be impressed upon those who are to complete and affirm its results. The uprising of the people of Mississippi against Negro rule was a most magnificent example of that spirit of Southern patriotism that animated the hearts; first of such men as Walthall, Lamar, George, Featherston, Stone, Lowry and Harris, and then spread to the hearts of every true man in Mississippi. The young men of the State, the rising generation, have the greatest reverence and love for the brave men who fought such a gallant fight for the preservation of white supremacy in Mississippi.

The social, industrial and political conditions existing in Mississippi two years after the close of the civil war can only be properly appreciated by taking a backward view of what had gone before. From 1817 to 1860 Mississippi was a garden for the cultivation of all that was grand in oratory, true in science, and enlightened and profound in law and statesmanship. Those were years of a golden age, an age of chivalry in which she vied with her sister States in the lists of that grand tournament that was to decide the fate of a nation. That period of the State's history produced a roll too tedious to read of noble spirits, bright wits, and elegant scholars, whose names and deeds are preserved in the records of an admiring people. Mississippi takes special pride in the character of Jefferson Davis, whose name will be forever enshrined in fame's proudest niche, as the representative of Southern honor, chivalry and manhood.

"And he will live on history's page,
While cycling years shall onward move,
A victim of a senseless rage,
Now idol of his people's love;
When hate is buried in the dust,
When party strife shall break its spear,
When truth is free and men are just,
Then will his epitaph appear."

Mississippi was enriched by the power and ability of George Poindexter, her brilliant governor and United States senator; she points with pride to the executive ability and constructive statesmanship of Robert J. Walker, Polk's great minister of finance, and author of the Walker Tariff Bill; she looks back with wondering admiration to that king of orators and eccentric genius, S. S. Prentiss, who thrilled the American heart with his god-like eloquence; she holds sacred the memory of the gifted and peerless Lamar, who stood, unawed and alone, as defender and protector, in her darkest and most trying hour; and no stone that marks the last resting place of the great of earth can be worthier of the Roman legend:

"_Clarus et vir fortissimus._"

The year 1861 brought ruin and desolation upon the State. The signal gun fired from Fort Sumter was the beginning of a bloody fratricidal strife, and was the first act in the greatest drama of political and social revolution known to history. That revolution brought political, industrial and financial ruin upon Mississippi. When peace came, it found a race of ignorant slaves, masters of her political destiny. Then came the days of reconstruction, and of devilish animosity and hate; days when ignorance and vice reigned supreme, and the law of brute force was terribly triumphant. During that time a brave people were condemned to all the suffering and oppression which crime and corruption could invent, and tyranny inflict.

The political party then in power stands before the bar of an intelligent public sentiment of today a confessed and convicted author of the greatest and most criminal mistake of all time. The experiment of negro suffrage was a most stupendous blunder. Under that vicious system society was depressed to a greater degree than could be borne. For ten long years was Mississippi ruled by the adventurer, who filled the mind of the negroes with a spirit of misrule, prejudice and hatred against their former masters. He found a people impoverished by the loss of millions in slave property, and made penniless by a long and protracted war.

The State was turned over as so much prey to the hungriest and cruelest flock of human vultures that ever cursed mankind and the pathway towards better things was stained with the life blood of her best and noblest. Under such a reign property was insecure. There was open and notorious plunder without the hope of redress. Ignorance, crime and hatred had enthralled the white people of the state. No greater burden has ever been put upon a suffering people, and while it lasted in Mississippi the state was overwhelmed by a horde of ignorant, immoral and degraded vagabonds.

The blighting curse of negro rule was patiently borne by the people of Mississippi until 1875, when a halt was called, and every white man in the State took a solemn oath before high heaven that he would free himself and his posterity from such a disgrace, or die in the attempt. That idea was the battle-cry under which the campaign of 1875 was fought. That campaign was the supreme effort of a brave people to save themselves and their posterity from the blighting ruin of black supremacy. It was the most remarkable demonstration of courage ever shown to an admiring world; it was the courage that dared death and defied the world in its struggle against infamy and dishonor. The struggle was begun by a well attended mass-meeting of leading men from every county in the State. Lawyers left their books, doctors their patients, preachers their sermons, merchants their stores, and farmers their fields, and formed themselves into a mighty force for the overthrow of misrule. These brave and determined men met together at the State capitol in Jackson, Jan. 4th, 1875, and organized what is known to history as the Taxpayers' Convention of Mississippi. The convention was called to order by Hon. W. L. Nugent, one of the great lawyers of the Jackson bar. Gen. W. S. Featherston, of Holly Springs, was called to preside over the deliberations of the meeting, and his pure patriotism and great influence gave force to a gathering that was prepared to call the people of the State to arms if need be, in defense of their rights and liberties. To Gen. Featherston and Judge Wiley P. Harris all honor is due for the brave stand they took at that time. They were both remarkable men of fearless courage and sound judgement. The labors of the convention resulted in a petition being drawn up for presentation to the legislature setting forth the desperate condition of the State, demanding reform and economy, and appealing to the people to rise up in their might and overthrow their oppressors. An extraordinary increase in taxation was shown to be almost equal to confiscation. The convention of taxpayers claimed and showed conclusively that in 1869 the State levy was 10 cents on the dollar of the assessed value of lands. For the year 1871 it was four times as great and for 1874 fourteen times as great. Such a condition of affairs could only result in general ruin and bankruptcy. After the adjournment of the taxpayers' convention the delegates returned to their homes and organized local taxpayers' leagues in every county in the State. The property-holders determined to reduce taxation or refuse to pay their assessments, and, if necessary, to resist the collection of all taxes for the support of the State government.

A new legislature was to be elected in November, 1875, and the only hope of property holders to save their lands from confiscation was to elect a legislature composed of white men pledged to economy. The Democratic State Convention met in Jackson on August 3d, 1875, and was made up of the best men in every walk of life. Gen. Charles Clark was made chairman. He was an ex-governor of the State and was reverenced and loved for his patriotic devotion to his adopted State. Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar was a delegate to the convention from Lafayette county, and was the leader in every movement. He made the greatest speech of his life on the floor of the convention, and it served as a bugle call to action to the white people to throw off the ruin and dishonor that threatened them. The campaign was placed under the guidance of Gen. J. Z. George, as chairman of the Democratic State Executive Committee, and such men as Lamar, Walthall, Barksdale, Lowry, Money, Featherston, Singleton and Chalmers took the stump and aroused the people to action. The people laid aside their business for three months and worked for the protection of their homes and for the preservation of free institutions. The popular heart was fired with enthusiasm as never before. Public feeling found utterance in the following resolution that became the slogan of the campaign, and was passed by the people of every county in the State:

"_Resolved_, That without equivocation and without mutual reservation, we intend to carry out the principles enunciated in the platform of the Democratic party at Jackson, on the 3d day of August, 1875, and to this we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor."

The State executive committee met in Jackson, August 15, and organized for the campaign, and its first act was to issue the ablest and most stirring address that ever came from such a body. The address was prepared by Gen. George, the chairman of the committee, and is a masterpiece of political literature, and closes with this appeal: "In this contest Mississippi expects each of her sons to do his duty; brace up old age to one more effort, nerve, manhood, to put forth all its strength, and invite youth to its noblest enthusiasm."

In the very beginning of the campaign it became evident to Governor Ames and the Republican boodlers that the election would result in their defeat. Ames, in his desperation over impending disaster, applied to the Federal government at Washington for United States troops to be used in terrorizing the people on election day. He boldly declared that the death of a few thousand negroes would make sure the success of the Republican party, and did everything in his power to bring about an armed conflict between the two races. Bloody riots occurred at Clinton, Yazoo City and Vicksburg, in which hundreds of negroes were killed. President Grant refused to send Federal troops into Mississippi, and his refusal was based on the report of Mr. C. K. Chase, an agent of the attorney-general of the United States, who had been sent to report on the application of Gov. Ames for troops, his report being that there was no legal excuse for the presence of armed men. The Democratic orators, on every stump in the State, declared that the negro had proven himself unworthy of the right of suffrage, and should be deprived of it. They showed that wherever the negro controlled, depression and ruin were evident on every side. They proclaimed aloud that the honest, intelligent and decent white people should and would control the State. Negro suffrage had been tried for ten years with terrible results. They pointed to the ominous fact that the Southern States were behind in the road for progress, just in proportion to the number of negro voters in each. The right of manhood suffrage was daily denounced as a doctrine that was ruining the State by making it a prey to the worst and most depraved elements of society. Bitter experience had taught that freedom could not, in a moment, transform an ignorant slave into a good citizen. The most dangerous experiment in modern times in government had proved to be a most colossal blunder. The negro had slavishly surrendered his vote to the dictation of a band of petty thieves and plunderers, who were interested in nothing but gain. Where was the State, under such control, that showed even a trace of honest, intelligent government? The appeals to the people were effective. After the most remarkable of political campaigns a legislature, with an overwhelming Democratic majority, was elected. The legislature met in Jackson, January 4, 1876, and organized by the election of Hon. H. M. Street, of Prentiss county, speaker, and Hon. George M. Govan, clerk. It had among its members, such men as W. S. Featherston, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow, W. F. Tucker, W. R. Barksdale, I. T. Blount, J. S. Bailey, J. G. Hall, G. B. Huddleston, G. D. Shands, George H. Lester and Thomas Spight, in the house; and J. M. Stone, R. O. Reynolds, John W. Fewell, R. H. Thompson and T. C. Catchings, in the senate.

At the time the legislature assembled, the executive and judicial departments of the government were under the control of the Radical party, made up of and dominated by negroes, disreputable adventurers and carpet baggers. Adelbert Ames was seated in the executive chair. At the close of the war he was in Mississippi as a colonel in the Federal army, and after the State government set up by the white people was overthrown by Federal bayonets he was made military governor. After a new constitution was adopted and Mississippi was re-admitted to the Union, Ames was elected by the legislature to represent the State in the United States Senate. James L. Alcorn was his colleague, and fierce conflict arose between the two over the control of the Republican party in the State. Alcorn was a man of admitted ability. He had been a lifelong Whig before the war, but became a moderate Republican after its close. When the constitution of 1868 was adopted the military government of Ames gave way and was succeeded by Alcorn as the first governor elected by the people after the new organic law went into force. Gov. Alcorn was a large property holder and really desired the peace and prosperity of the State. His plan was to unite the old followers of the Whig party for the control of the negro element, and save the white people from the ruin that would result from negro control. The new governor was soon found to be in the way of the negroes and carpet baggers, and he was sent to Washington as a senator of the United States.

Ex-Gov. Robert Lowry thus writes of Alcorn and Ames as Senators from Mississippi, in his history of the State:

"Governors Alcorn and Ames were occupying their seats in the
United States Senate. The former, a man of high bearing,
wealthy, full of courage, proud and imperious, had a supreme
contempt for the pretensions of the latter, and asserted in
substance, on the floor, of the Senate, that Ames was a fraud,
that his poverty of intellect was only equalled by his arrogant
assumption of unauthorized powers; that he was not, and never
had been a citizen of Mississippi."

Ames made the best reply he could, but he was no match in debate for his opponent. The estrangement and breach between them culminated in both declaring themselves candidates for governor of the State. Ames gained the negro support and was elected, and ruled the State with all the autocratic power of a czar. The public scandals of the Ames administration soon became notorious throughout the State, and the legislature stood pledged to a full investigation of all executive acts.

Early in the session a resolution was introduced by Gen. Featherston providing for the appointment of a committee of five to investigate and report whether or not Ames had been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors in office. The resolution was passed and Speaker Street appointed Gen. Featherston, Gen. Tucker, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow and Fred Parsons. After an investigation, lasting thirty-eight days, the committee made a report recommending that Ames be impeached and removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors. The report of the committee was adopted by the house, and W. S. Featherston, W. F. Tucker, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow, W. R. Barksdale, and Thomas Spight were appointed managers to conduct the impeachment trial before the bar of the senate. Twenty-one articles of impeachment were presented by the committee, to the house and adopted. They contained specifications and charges, involving high crimes and misdemeanors in office. The senate proceeded to organize as a high court of impeachment, and summoned Gov. Ames to appear for trial. Chief Justice Simrall, of the Supreme court, appeared in the senate March 16, 1876, and after having the oath administered according to law by Associate Justice Peyton, announced that the trial of Adelbert Ames, governor of Mississippi, for high crimes and misdemeanors in office would begin the next day. It was a time of great excitement in Jackson, and that feeling spread all over the State.