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soldier left to hold it proudly floating to the breeze. Go, and may a kind Providence attend you, and bring you back in health and safety, the pride of an admiring and grateful country. AARON V. BROWN, Governor and Commander in Chief.

MESSAGE

Of Gov. A. V. Brown, to the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, October 6th, 1847.

Gentlemen of the Senate

and of the House of Representatives:

Assembled as you now are, as the representatives of the people, you cannot fail to observe in the circumstances which surround you, increased cause of gratitude and reverence to that Supreme Being who presides over the destinies of nations.

The two past years have been signalized by unnumbered blessings and benefits. The labor of the husbandman has been crowned with abundance, whilst fair and remunerating prices have been received for the rich productions of his fields. Our commerce has been greatly increased, and our domestic industry, of every variety, has flourished in the most remarkable degree. Tranquility and good order have been maintained, and the supremacy of our laws acknowledged throughout all our borders.

In the full enjoyment of these blessings, to which may be added that of almost uninterrupted good health, the people of Tennessee have been steadily advancing in knowledge, in virtue, and indeed in all the elements of national greatness. It must be a pleasing duty to serve such a people, and a delightful task to add any thing valuable to the legislation of such a noble State.

When the reports of the various branches or departments of the State government shall have been made to you, I doubt not that you will find that all the duties of them have been performed with a promptitude and fidelity in perfect harmony with the other pleasing circumstances under which you have assembled.

The benevolent institutions of the State, (the Lunatic Asylum, and those for the education of the Blind and the Deaf and Dumb,) will be found to have realized, in a good degree, the expectations of the public. They will, however, continue to appeal to the noblest sympathies of our nature for still further advancement and promotion.

The sale of the Lunatic Asylum and its location in the country, for reasons which will be communicated in another form, has not been effected; and I recommend a reconsideration and amendment of the law directing its sale. During the past two years, I have many reasons to believe, that the institution has been well and faithfully managed, especially the female department of it, which has been superintended by a lady of singular energy, skill and ability for such a station.

From the Penitentiary, I anticipate a very satisfactory report to you. The convicts generally have been in the enjoyment of good health, and have manifested no spirit of rebellion or disobedience. The keeper, his deputy, and the other officers, having great skill and experience in such matters, seem to have blended the stern rigor of discipline with all the kindness and humanity which such a situation will admit of. The greater portion of the efficient labor of the convicts has been directed to the building of the State Capitol, under the law directing it so to be done. A most beautiful edifice is slowly rising up, likely to attract the admiration of the country, and to outstrip in magnitude, convenience, durability and elegance, the capitol of any other State in the Union.

I have no reason to recommend any change in this policy, nor any material ones in the details of the law on this subject. There is no subject upon which I desire to hold communion with you more freely than on that of Education.

Our Universities and Colleges are, in the general, meeting the just expectations of their friends. Some new ones have

been recently established in the State, founded chiefly, if not entirely, on the enlightened liberality of individuals, which promise soon to rival their older predecessors in the diffusion of a sound and wholesome intelligence among the people.Among these, it may not be considered invidious to mention the one at Lebanon, whose rising reputation gives fine promise of its future usefulness to the State.

Our county academies may also be said, in the general, to be doing well. But besides all these, we must have a full and complete system of common or primary schools, dispensing their benefits to all those whose means do not enable them to send off their children to distant seminaries of learning.

No system can be compared to this latter description of schools. They secure to the great mass of society an education, if not highly finished and polished, yet commensurate with the everyday wants and necessities of the people. We should never relax our exertions on this subject until we could send the gratifying intelligence abroad, that not one native born son or daughter of Tennessee could be found who could not read the Scripture of Divine Revelation, and likewise the laws and Constitution of the country. How such a blessed and happy result is to be attained, is a question constantly addressing itself to the friends of education throughout the land. That legislature which shall be able to answer it in the establishment of such a system, with adequate funds to support it, will have well entitled themselves to the gratitude of the present, and the blessings of future generations.

For the reasons formerly given by me to your immediate predecessors, I cannot recommend a present resort to taxation, until by some unequivocal expression of public sentiment, it is made manifest that such a measure would be cheerfully acquiesced in. How far it might answer a valuable purpose, to authorize such counties, whose population might be willing to do so, to levy and collect a school fund, for their own county purposes, to be applied in the same manner as the other school funds furnished by the State, and the propriety of such a law is respectfully submitted, both as to its constitutionality and expediency, to your consideration. Such legislation should be carefully guarded, both as to its amount and application.

If but a few counties should set the example of self-taxation for so noble an object, the beneficial effects resulting from it might open the way to its imitation by other counties, until public sentiment, although slowly and cautiously developed, might demand the measure as one of great policy, eminently calculated to improve the minds and elevate the morals of the whole community.

If, however, the wisdom of your honorable bodies should find insurmountable objections to this limited and experimental mode of eliciting an expression of public opinion, I know of no better plan than to husband the resources of the State Bank; and by establishing a sinking fund of adequate amount, finally absorb our outstanding liabilities and leave the whole capital and funds of that institution, amounting to several millions of dollars, as a permanent endowment of common schools. Taxation is therefore the immediate and direct mode of establishing the system. Through the agency of the bank is the more remote and contingent one; and the wisdom of the legislature must decide between them, or devise a better one than either.

With a mind fondly lingering over this subject, and unwilling to leave it, I beg permission to trouble you with another suggestion in aid of those already made.

We have no "Superintendent of Public Instruction." The examples of other States, and the very nature and importance of the subject, would seem to rebuke the omission. Even if such an officer were of temporary appointment, with no power over the funds, he might be of great advantage in rousing up and directing the sleeping energies of the people. He should be a man eminent for his attainments in science, and for his devotion to the moral and intellectual welfare of the rising generation. He should commune freely with the learned and the pious of the land. He should visit every county in the State. He should organize county committees of such zealous and patriotic citizens, as might agree to visit the school districts of their respective counties, and by suitable appeals and lectures, impart new vigor and energy to the present system. He should excite the acting school commissioners of each county to renewed exertions in raising and increasing the present school fund by voluntary individual subscription. In short, such a

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