mate connection and relation subsisting between the various grades of the educational institutions of the State, and how absolutely the welfare of each particular grade is dependent upon the success of each and all of the other grades, I cannot, although my official position connects me more particularly with the public schools, and perhaps in the view of many, exclusively so, refrain from calling attention to some of the evil consequences resulting from what now appears to have been an unnecessary and unwise multiplication of colleges.

Recent events in the history of our country, by exhibiting the advantages which have inured to the managers of the existing rebellion, from the large supply of men who have received a military education from the great number of military schools and colleges that have flourished within the bounds of the seceding States, have so far revolutionized the public sentiment of our State in regard to the expediency and necessity, through the establishment of institutions expressly devoted thereto, of providing for the requisite military education of our people, as to have secured in a measure the permanent prosperty of the military school established at Norwich, in our State.

And therefore in what follows special reference is made to the existence in the immediate vicinity of each other, of the colleges at Burlington and Middlebury, as co-ordinate, and under the circumstances, almost necessarily rival institutions.

None can appreciate more highly than I do the vast amount of good for the race and the world, that has been effected through the instrumentality of these two institutions. The thousands of noble men who have graduated from their halls, and through the inspiration there received have gone forth into every part of our country, with heart and hand and voice ready for every good work and word, are themselves the best witnesses both of the efficiency of the instruction they have received, and of the persistent zeal and self-sacrificing devotion with which these two institutions have been fostered and cherished, by the comparatively few generous and liberal men upon whom their support has mainly devolved.

But however great may be the measure of good which has been accomplished by the two institutions, it may well be doubted whether a still larger amount might not have been effected by either one of them in the same time, if the other had never existed.

Admitting the superior excellence of both of these colleges, and attributing to neither any superior y over the other, it is demonstrable both from reason and by facts, that the collegia e interests of our State have suffered from their very co-exist

ence.

The existence of both of these institutions has been one continued contest with pecuniary embarrassment.

Located as both of them are in the midst of a population of more than common intelligence, and capable of estimating, and in fact rightly appreciating the value of higher culture, and in a State the economy of whose civil government and the general prosperity of whose citizens, give it ample ability to make munificent endowments for literary purposes if it were so inclined, these two institutions claiming and receiving a comparatively high character for literary excellence, have struggled along side by side year after year, in a never ending effort to prolong existence by constant appeals, at one time to the local pride and liberality of our own State, and at another to the generosity of friends of education resident elsewhere.

And during all this time more native Vermonters have graduated from Dartmouth and Cambridge, and Amherst, and Williams, and Yale, and Union, than from both these institutions together.

The literary strength and the pecuniary and numerical weakness of these two colleges, have for many years fastened the attention and awakened the serious consideration of friends of education throughout the State; and from personal intercourse with many of the wisest friends of high culture throughout the State, I well know that for several years a conviction has been gaining strength continually, of the necessity of a return to the original educational policy of the State, by a consolidation of the University of Vermont and Middlebury College.

If this by any means could be accomplished, a decided change for the better in various respects would immediately follow.

1st. The single institution that would result from such consolidation, would become an object of State pride and concentre upon itself a general interest of much wider and more uniform prevalence, and of far greater intensity than has ever been granted to the existing colleges.

2d. Being the sole institution of a higher character in the State, and having gathered about it a more general and intense interest, it would afford an opportunity for the exercise of legislative patronage, which has been hitherto prevented by the existence of a local prejudice and partisan hostility, which has induced liberal minded legislators rather to deny all legislative aid for educational purposes than to grant to either of two institutions pecuniary assistance which could not be well claimed or expected by both.

Legislative aid wonld be claimed, and it would be granted, and before the lapse of many years a single literary institution would receive endowments that would plant it upon a firm and substantial pecuniary basis, and thus with increasing independence it would excrt a wider and stronger influence for good.

3d. The fountains of private and individual munificence which have been closed to a great extent by the indisposition to choose between two institutions of equal excellence, by granting to either pecuniary assistance which could not be granted to both, and the bestowal of which upon either would excite the jealousy and hostility of the other, these fountains would be opened, and liberal minded men of opulence and generosity by ample contribution of their means to the endowment of the one State University, would here, as in other States has been done, connect their names with the history of high mental and moral culture.

4th. Thus gathering strength and power from various sources and thereby becoming more efficient and more worthy of support, the one State University would attract to itself hundreds of young men, who in the absence of any especial predilection for either of two rival colleges, now seek in colleges of other States a culture no better than would be given here.

I have felt constrained from a sense of duty to introduce this matter in the present report for various, and as I think sufficient reasons.

1st. As I have stated, I personally know, that much of anxious thought has been given to this matter of the consolidation of these institutions by many earnest friends and graduates of both institutions in all parts of the State, who have expressed to me a desire that the subject should in some way be brought prominently before the public mind.

2d. Under existing circumstances in our State, the consolidation of these two colleges almost necessarily involves the selection of either Middlebury or Burlington, as the site of the institution resulting from such consolidation.

And the recent acceptation by this State of the Congressional grant of lands for the establishment of an Agricultural College, seems to afford a better opportunity than may ever occur again, to make compensation in some degree for the loss which may result by the non-selection of either of these two towns as the site for the location of the consolidated college, by tendering to it, its selection as a site for establishment of the proposed Agricultural College, perhaps in connection with that of a State Normal school.

3rd. The suggestion of this matter seemed indispensably necessary to the completion of the discussion of the importance of a more general adoption of graded schools.

The necessity for general intelligence and virtue is the impregnable basis upon which every system of State educational institutions rests.

But if such necessity be admitted, and intelligence to even a slight degree be indispensable to the prosperity of the State, who shall say when and where the neces sity for further culture ceases, or precisely to what extent it is expedient and desirable that the culture provided by the State through the establishment of educational institutions, shall proceed.

The same inexorable logic which fully vindicates both the prosperity and necessity of the establishment and support of a common school of the lowest grade, to be supported by a general taxation, is amply sufficient to warrant by the same reasoning the indefinite extension of the scope and reach of the culture that may and of right ought to be thus freely given by every republican commonwealth to each and all of his children irrespective of their circumstances or social condition.

The educational institutions of the city of New York, furnish the most beautiful exemplification of the beneficent operation of liberalized and christianized republican institutions that ever existed. There through its Ward schools, its Grammar school, and its noble Free Academy, all supported by general taxation, and all equally open to every child of every class and every condition, the son of the millionaire and the son of the washerwoman, side by side and hand in hand, without any distinction except such as may arise from a difference of merit, may and do proceed from the primary school, through all the various intervening grades, finally to step from the portals of the Free Academy, having there received every advantage afforded by the highest collegiate institutions in the land, fully prepared mentally and morally to act well their part in the great drama of life, by the faithful discharge of all the difficult duties of American citizenship,

A consideration of the policy of a more general adoption of graded schools, has naturally and almost necessarily led to a discussion of the expediency and desirability of a solidification of the higher educational interests of the State. Could these two measures be accomplished, and all her educational institutions be placed upon the same basis, the unity and beauty of the original design for the thorough education of the people of the State would be restored, and our noble State would have a complete educational system, whose rod of power by smiting the rocky obstacles that impede and obstruct the upward march of the coming generations, should unseal the very fountains of knowledge, and proffer a participation in the healing and purifying influences of their flowing waters, without money and without price, to every son of woman, regardless of his condition or circumstances, who might truly thirst therefor.

The same matter was presented to the attention of the Legislature, by His Excellency the Governor, in his annual message, as follows:

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE-LAND SCRIP.

The Legislature at its last session passed an act "providing for the appointment of agents to receive and dispose of the land scrip to which this State may be entitled under the Act of Congress, approved July 2d, 1862."

The act, after appointing the agents to receive the scrip, and conferring upon them certain powers, and imposing upon them certain duties, authorizes the Governor of the State to receive proposals for such donations of land, buildings and funds, as may be tendered from any portion of the State, or from any person or persons, for the purpose of establishing a College, according to the provision of the act of Congress. The act also provides, "that all moneys derived from the sale of the land scrip shall be invested by the Treasurer of the State, in safe stocks, yielding not less than two per cent. upon the par value of the stock, and the interest of the fund shall be appropriated for the purpose declared in the act of Congress.'

The act of Congress donates to each State, land to the amount of thirty thousand acres to each Senator and Representative in Congress, the proceeds of the sale of which, or of the land scrip to be issued therefor, is to be invested in stocks of the United States, or of the States, or some other safe stocks, yielding not less than five per cent. upon the par value of said stocks, and to constitute a perpetual fund, the interest of which is to be inviolably appropriated to the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one College in each State, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to Agriculture and the Mech

anic Arts, in such manner as the Legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life,—and further providing that any State which may take the benefit of the provisions of the act, shall provide, within five years from the date of said act, at least one College, as described in the act, or the grant to the State to cease; and requiring the State, by its legislation, to express its acceptance of the provisions of the act within two years from the date of its approval.

This brief synopsis of the general features of the act of Congress will enable you to understand more readily the position which this State, by its action at the last session of the legislature, occupies in reference to the subject. The act of last fall expressed the acceptance, by the State, of the provisions of the act of Congress, within the prescribed period. It also appointed agents to procure the land scrip from the United States government, to which this State is entitled, to dispose of the same, and invest the proceeds of the sales in safe stocks, bearing not less than five per cent. and appropriated the fund to establish a college, as required by the act of Congress.

The agents appointed under the act will, in due time, submit a report of their doings. I understand, however, that application has been made to the Secretary of the Interior for the land scrip, and that the scrip has already been, or will soon be, issued by the State.

There remains now but a little more than three years, within which time the State must comply with the provisions of the act of Congress, and establish a college for the purposes specified, or the grant, as to this State, is to cease.

The shortness of the time, the importance and magnitude of the enterprise, its effects upon the educational interest of the State, and the great variety of questions involved, justify me in calling your attention to the subject at this time.

By the terms of the grant there will fall to the share of Vermont, one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, which, at the minimum valuation of government lands, is equivalent to one hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred dollars, which, safely invested in our own State stocks, bearing six per cent. interest, would yield an annual income of eleven thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, for the support of the institution to be established; or, computing the valuation at double the minimum price, which it is not unreasonable to expect to realize for the scrip, and which is the rate of railroad grants, the valuation would be equivalent to three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, yelding an annual income, for the purposes contemplated, of twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars. These valuations of land, or amounts to be realized from the sales of the land scrip, will be varied according to circumstances, and may be enhanced or diminished according to the location, and the judgment and skill in making sales of the same, and a variety of other causes that may contribute to appreciate or lessen the demand for them. Taking into account the tide of emigration setting towards this country, growing out of the efforts being made, and the various organizations which have been formed, in various parts of the country, to stimulate and encourage it, it is but reasonable to suppose, that with proper care in the location of the lands, and judgment in the sales of the scrip, at least the last figures named above may be realized to the State.

The object of this generous grant is fully expressed in the act itself, "the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes, in the several pursuits and professions in life." A most worthy object indeed-and sustained by a most munificent grant,-available to every State, and abundant, if properly managed, to secure the desired end-the education and consequent elevation of the masses of the people. Fully harmonizing with the genius of our democratic institutions, utilitarian in its scope and plan, favoring no privileged class, but generously opening broad the door for the liberal and practical education

of the industrial classes, affording them access, not only to the higher branches of a scientific and classical education, but superadding to this a systematic and thorough training in the every-day, practical, and hitherto almost untaught, science of agri

culture and the mechanic arts.

To Vermont this scheme has a peculiar value and importance. Eminently practical in all her pursuits and interests, with a population hardly equalled, certainly not surpassed, in intelligence and virtue, her hardy sons only need the stimulating influences which a thorough education in such an institution, properly managed, would afford, to place them in the foremost ranks among the cultivated and refined, and secure to her a position for intelligence, wealth, influence and refinement second to none in the great sisterhood of States.

The grave question, however, arises, how the benefit to be derived from such an institution can be best secured, Shall it be established as a separate and independent institution, in which shall be taught all the higher branches of a scientific and classical education, with a school for military tactics, and the agricultural and mechanical branches? This is, manifestly, the design and scope of the grant. But can such a college be sustained, and yet, justice be done to other institutions, already established in the State, and which, to a greater or less extent, have always been under its fostering care? Can a department of agriculture and mechanic arts, and of military tactics, be attached to one or the other of these institutions, without creating local jealousies, and in this way secure the benefits of the act?

There are now in the State two Colleges and one Military School, each of them established under the authority of the State Legislature, with certain powers and privileges, and each having been made the beneficiary, to greater or less extent, of gifts, bequests and endowments, and yet, so far as my knowledge extends, neither of them is fully self-sustaining, and although they all rank high as seminaries of learning, and have accomplished a good work in the cause of education, numbering among their alumni many of the noblest minds of the country, of whom the State and the institutions may well be proud, yet, in financial resources, they have not that healthful vigor and strength, necessary to a full and proper developement, and without which it is, and ever must be, impossible to realize the true idea of their creation.

If a plan could be devised, by which the several institutions could be combined into one, uniting the strength and resources of all, and adding to this the departments contemplated by the acts of Congress, and securing thereby the funds to be received from the grant of lands, then, indeed, might be realized the true idea of a University for the State, an institution which would justly be the pride of the State, and which, without being its beneficiary, would yet receive its liberal countenance and its patronage. For such an institution, in all its various departments, the best talent of the country could be secured, and a rank and character given to it that few institutions now enjoy.

I am by no means unmindful of the difficulties that lie at the threshold of such an enterprize. There are local questions and jealousies to overcome, all the feelings which so strongly attach to Alma Mater, and a variety of difficulties, that will naturally occur to the minds of all. Still, are not the benefits to be derived from a combination of these several institutions, and the establishment of one, on the basis which I have suggested, sufficient to override all these objections and difficulties.— Will not the new impulse to be given to the cause of education and the facilities to be afforded to the industrial classes in the State, through the agency of a well organized institution of this kind, be sufficient inducement to overcome local prejudices and feelings and other minor difficulties that may stand in the way?

There is another feature connected with this subject, which may not be unworthy of consideration.

By the act of last fall, the Treasurer is authorized "to invest the proceeds of the sales of the land scrip in some safe stocks, yielding not less than five per cent. per annum ;" and the act of Congress authorizes the investment in United States stocks, or in State stocks. The amount to be realized from the sales of this scrip, as has already been stated, will vary according to circumstances, but it is not unreasonable to hope that it may reach the highest figures named.