xt71zc7rng6v https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt71zc7rng6v/data/mets.xml Methodist Episcopal Church. Conferences. Kentucky. 1843  books b92-163-30098348 English Observer & Reporter Print., : Lexington, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Augusta College (Augusta, Ky.) Communication from Commissioners of the Kentucky Conference to the Legislature of Kentucky, in reply to a memorial from the Trustees of Augusta College text Communication from Commissioners of the Kentucky Conference to the Legislature of Kentucky, in reply to a memorial from the Trustees of Augusta College 1843 2002 true xt71zc7rng6v section xt71zc7rng6v 






          COMMUNICATION



                  FROM




COMMISSIONERS OF THE KENTUCKY CONFERENCE



                  TO TM:



LEGISLATURE OF KENTUCKY,




         IN REPLY TO A MEMORML



              FROM THE



     TRUSTEES OF AUGUSTA COLLEGE.



   LEXINGTON.
OBSERVER AND REPORTER PRINT.

       .. ....
       18R4 3.

 This page in the original text is blank.


 



                               TO THE
  HON. THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
                       OF KENTUCKY.

  With a view to enable the legislature to judge correctly of the merits of a
Memorial recently presented to your honorable body, from a portion of the
Trustees of Augusta College, the undersigned, Commissioners in behalf of
the Kentucky Conference, with full right and authority to act in the premi-
ses, would respectfully represent: That some twenty years since, the Ken-
tucky and Ohio Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, united in
an application to the Legislature of Kentucky, for the charter of a College,
which by agreement between the two bodies, had been located at Augusta,
Bracken County, Ky., pledging themselves, in the usual form, to use their
utmost exertions to endow and sustain the institution, as a respectable seat
of learning; and the long continued exertions of the Conferences to this ef.
fect, have become matter of history, and must be well known to the Legis-
lature of Kentucky. It is material to state, what is susceptible of the meat
conclusive proof, and without proper reference to which, the true position of
the Kentucky Conference cannot be understood, that the location of the
College, immediately on the boundary line between the two Conferences,
proved unfortunate, and failed to secure the approval of the Church within
the limits of either Conference, and the result was, it has always been with
great and increasing difficulty, and only in a very limited degree, that the
patronage of either has been secured, whether in the shape of funds, students,
or otherwise.  And this has been especially the case, for several years
past, since the well known division of opinion and feeling in Kentucky and
Ohio, in relation to the existing controversy on the subject of slavery, with-
out being in any way attributable to either of the Conferences. Apart
however from this last item, entirely, the Church in Ohio has, for years, and
not, we believe, without good and sufficient reasons, demanded a College or
University upon her own soil and within her own limits, and has long been
resolved upon having one.  And accordingly, her proper representatives
have repeatedly, in public and in private, as well as through the inedium of
the press, avowed such determination in behalf of the church.
   And, on the other hand, the Church in Kentueky, equally dissatisfied,
has demanded a College or University more centrally and otherwise eligibly
located. Under these circumstanceu, it has long been felt by both hudies,

 

4



that the College at Augusta was not likely to accomplish the purposes of its
establishment in the instance of either of the Conferences pledged to its
support, and the attention of both has been separately directed to some other
point presenting superior facilities for the purposes of collegiate education.
And in accordance with such views and convictions; and in furtherance of
what the 0hio Conference found to be her true interest and policy, she has
for the last seven or eight years, been establishing successively, in various
parts of her territory, high schools and academies in which the course of in-
struction has not materially varied from that in Augusta College, and in
which she has been annually training at least quadruple the number of
young men she has sent to Augusta.  It is also well known, that for the
last four years, the Ohio Conference has been engaged in the establishment
of a University, now duly chartered, the President (a gentleman of distin-
guished nbility,) and part of the Faculty appointed, with one of itsdepart-
ments already in operation, and to the support of which the Conference has
publicly pledged its utmost exertions-that is, the precise support, in kind
and amount, originally pledged to Augusta College. It is due to the Ohio
Conference to state, that she has not withdrawn from Augusta College in
any otherform or sense than the abore, and that she disavows the intention
of any such movement at present; but with a University and several ijnpor-
tant high schools under her immediate patronage and control, whose effective
management. in accordance with official announcement, will require the
disbursement annually of at least 10,000, and with an education fund
yielding only a few hundred dollars per annum, what is the patronage of
that body, even with the kindest intentions, likely to amount to, in favor of
Augusta College!  It is further true, and has been matter of notoriety with-
in the limits of both the Conferences, that a large majority of the people of
the county in which the College is located, have always been decidedly
hostile to the Institution. They have even made it a question at the polls,
and have formally attempted to wrest from the College the Bracken Academy
Fund, the transfer of which has always been a source of dissatisfaction
with the County. And when, a few years since, the Board of Trustees ap-
plied to the Legislature for a loan of 5,000, the present representative
from Bracken, then in the Legislature, and a member of the Board of Trus-
tees, refused to sustain the application or vote for the loan, on the alleged
ground that he had been instructed by the people of his county not to vote
for such loan. This fact, and the effect it had upon the application, must
be within the recollection of many gentlemen now members of the Legis-
lature. And it is scarcely necessary to add, that the hostility of the county
has always operated most injuriously upon the interests of the College, and

 

                                    5

has greatly tended to produce indifference and alienation in other parts of
the State, and particularly in Ohio and at distant points, wheresuch opposi-
tion has been lookod upon as strange, if not unaccountable. The indiffer-
ence and alienation. and especially the discouragement, of which we speak,
have been but too common and universal. It is as true as strange, that the
actual endowers of the College, after giving liberally, and among them
Trustees of the College, and even Preside ts of the Board, have at differ-
ent periods sent son and ward elsewhere, to be educated.  WVe intend no
censure; we speak of the fact only, and merely to show that what we asume
was not confined to the ignorant and uneducated, who might be supposed to
have groundless prejudices against the Collego. All these facts existed, as
they now exist, with scarcely any exception, when the Kentucky Confer-
ence, in the autumn of 1841, first entertained the question of turning its
attention to some point-scome theatre, upon wvhich its influences could be
brought to bear more successfully than at Augusta. A variety of circum-
stances, however, essentially similar in character and bearinr, in addition to
the facts alluded to, operated as motives with the Conference, in the action
then had upon the subject. Tlhis action was contingent, not final, and was
in character, the same kind if action had on thle subject by the Ohio Con-
ference, two years before, and for which that body was denounced at Augus-
ta, as the Kentucky Conference now is, and by the same persons. Among
the additional reasons to which we refer, the following may be regarded as
those most likely to fix attention upon the more important facts in controver-
sy between the parties.
   The Board of Trustees of Augusta College had failed to comply with an
express written stipulation, to give the Conference security for funds raised
by the Conference, and placed in their hands, and which by the original terms
of the instrument, were to revert to the Conference upon a dissolution of the
College, and it had been very plainly intimated that such security as that
stipulated never would be given, and no such reversion, under aly circumstan-
ces, ever take place. To understand the business character, together with
the legal and moral bearings of the whole transactions, it will be necessary
to premise, that the contract in question, can only be understood by reference
to the appropriate original documents, two in number, one originating with
the Board, and agreed to by the Conference, and the other originating with
the Conference, and receiving the public sanction of the Board, at the time,
through their special Agent, and a special deputation appointed by the Board,
to attend to this specific matter, in conjunction with him. In the plan of en-
dowment proposed to the Conference by the Board, is the following lan-
guage: "Thle subscriptions shall be obtained, and the monies collected by

 


6



agents of tike Conferences, and placed in the hands of the Trustees of Au-
gusta College, to be funded safely and profitably, and the interest only applied
faithfully, agreeably to the design of the donors, and not otherwise, the Board
being responsible to the Coitference,for th e security and proper application of
the capital and interest. And should the Institution ever be dissolved, by
the withdrawal of the charter or otherwise, the endowment -hall revert to the
Conference, to be disposed of in any way they mav see proper." It will be
seen, that it was in response to the proposition from the Board, that the
Conference after protracted deliberation and debate, in which the authorized
representatives of the Board took an active part, adopted and its members gave
their signatures to an instrument, by which they bound themselves to raise,
and through their Treasurer, place in the hands of the Trutees, a giv-
en sum of money, upon specified conditions. The conditions to be fulfill-
ed by the Board, in order to render the contract binding on the part of
the Conference, are 1st. Proper security nmust be given for the safety of the
fund. 2d. This security includes, also, a faithful application of the interest,
to the support only of ihe Professorship endowed, and 3rd. In this way, the
reversion of the fund, was to be secured, in the event the College is ever dis-
solved, from whatever cause. This is the only instrument, by which either
Conference ever bound itself to raise or pay money. These are the only
conditions on which they agreed to do it. On these terms the Trustees ac-
cepted the money, and without having complied with a single condition of
the contract, claim it as their owai. It should be borne in mind too, that the
contract is denied by the President and Trustees of the College. The Board
have published and explained their denial at length. The President has sta-
ted explicitly, that he knew of no document or instrument, binding the Board
to give security for the funds in question, and yet his signature is found to
both the original documents from which wve quote, the one emanating from,
and the other receiving the constitutional sanction of the Board, in the manner
stated. This view of the subject will present the true issue between the par-
ties, so far as this matter is concerned, which has been a principal ground of
action with the Kentucky Conference, and was once ground of grave nego-
tiation between the Board and the Ohio Conference.
  The plan of endowment was first submitted to the Ohio Conference, and
by a joint committee from the Conference and Board of Trustees, the Confer-
ence subscription paper was adopted, as the completion of the outline plan
submitted by the Board, and through its proper organs, was as fully accred-
ited by the Board as by the Conference. The committee was numerous and
intelligent. In behalf the Conference, were Rev. A. W. Elliott, Rev. T. A.
Morris. Bishop, and Reverend John Collins. The Board     was repre-

 


7



vented by Rev. J. S. Tomlinson, President of the College, Rev. J. B. Fin-
lay, Marshall Key, Esq., and S. G. Shropshire, Trustees, and Treasurer of
the College. Of this committee, J. B. Finley was chairman, and J. S. Tom-
linson, Secretary. The instrument agreed upon, after the most minute in-
quiry, was reported to the Conference, in the following words: "The com-
mittee having met and examined the plan, submitted by the Trustees of the
College, for endowing Professorships in said College, resolved, that the said
plan, to/h the amendment thereto made by said committee, be submitted to the
Conference for their consideration and approval."
                                         J. B. FINLEY, Chairmnan.
                                         J. S. TOMLINSON, Sec'ry.
  What the committee added, by way of "amendment" was simply to throw
the plan of endowment into the shape of a subscription paper, and render the
item respecting security as the Board had previously authorized, if necessa-
ry, more explicit and binding, as without it the Conference refused to sub-
rcribe. The question of security was debated in the Conference at great
length. The agent of the College, H. B. Bascom, was called upon to know
what kind of security would be given. Ile replied he was not authorized to
say what kind, but was authorized to pledge tie faith of the corporation, that
good and sufficient security would be given.
  Judge McLean was called upon, as a member of the Board of Trustees,
and in an address to the Conference, assured them, that after what had taken
place, he considered the Trustees bound in law and honor, to give what is
usually understood to be good security for the. funds they might raise. Bish-
op Soule and Rev. 0. M. Spencer, members of the Board of Trustees, sus-
tained the statements of Judge McLean and Mr. Bascom, and the Confer-
ence immediately subscribed 10,000. Wie appeal to more than fifty living
witnesses in the Ohio Conference, to sustain the statement, that but for the
explanations and assurances of Judge McLean and Bishop Soule, in support
of those of Mr. Bascom, the Ohio Conference would not have subscribed at
all. The manner of proceeding at the Kentucky Conference, a few days af-
ter, was precisely the same. The Ohio Conference subscription paper was
adopted without the change of a word, as it regarded the terms of subscrip-
tion, the Agent and deputation from the College, AMessrs. Bascom, Landrum
and Hawkins, acted the same part performed by the Agent and deputation at
the Ohio Conference, and the Kentucky Conference followed the example of
Ohio, and subscribed 10,000 also, as the endowment of a separate Profes-
sorship. The Rev. G. C. Light, a member of the Board of Trustees, was
also present, and one of the original subscribers. The Conference, the
Agent and the deputations, all understood the subscription paper, as simpley

 



embodying in the formn of an obligatory instrument, the terms proposed by the
Board, and it was agreed to by all accordingly. At any rate, it is the only
instrument upon the basis of which either Conference ever promised to pay
money to the Board of Trustees, and from it, we quote the following: "The
money subscribed is to be paid to the treasurer of the fund in behalf of the
Conference, who shall place it in the hands of the Board of Trustees, to be
safely and profitably funded, and the interest faithfully applied to the support
of the Professorship endowed, the Board giving to the Conference," through
their Treasurer, "PROPER sECURTrTY for the capital, and should the College
ever be dissolved, by the withdrawal of the charter or otherwise, then this
fund shall revert to the Conference, to be disposed of, in any way they may
see proper." "We therefore agree to pay to any authorized agent of the
Conference," 'agreeably to the terms stated." The inquisition with regard
to security, was severe and extended in both Conferences, and we are confi-
dent, that nearly all the original subscribers, in both conferences, will sustain
us in the statement, that but for the security pledged in the contract, the 20th
part of the sum, would not have been obtained from either Conference. The
undersigned were themselves subscribers, to the amount of largely over a
thousand dollars, and they certainly would not have subscribed at all, but
for the security pledged by the board. When the committee of investment
from Ohio, in 1836, consisting of Rev. Messrs. Elliott, Wright and Chris-
tie, proposed paying over the Ohio fund, they required security by mortgage
upon real estate. This the Board refused to give, but offered personal secu-
rity, which was refused, and the money was taken back to Ohio. The matter
was in controversy for several months, and when finally the Board was satis-
fied, they could not get the fund on personal security, in 1837, they waived
all right, and proposed to the Ohio Conference to invest it in the Book concern
at Cincinnati, and simply draw the interest. The first payment by the Ken-
tucky Conference was made by the Rev. Wm. Adams, then Treasurer. He
claimed the security of the contract, which it was alleged at the time, could
not then be given, as the President of the Board was absent. Security was
promised, however, at a subsequent period, but this was refused, by Mr.
Adams, who, instead of paying the money to the College Treasurer, left it
with H. B. Bascom, upon personal assurance front him, that he would indem-
nify Adams against all liability. The Treasurer of the College pledged
himself, both to Mr. Adams and Mr. Bascom, that the security should be
given, and proposed to Mr. Bascom, that he would bind himself, in a receipt to
that effect. A receipt was presented, drawn, it was said, by M. Marshall,
Esq. Mr. Bascom objected to the receipt, as not sufficiently explicit. Mr.
Shropshire frankly admitted it, but pledged himself to Mr. Bascoin, that the

 

9



security should be given in due form, upon which assurance, the money was
paid over. Mr. Bascom succeeded Mr. Adams as Treasurer, and made his
first payment in 1335, when Mr. Shropshire proposed to him, as the pay-
ments were not large in amount, to receipt to him in the form he had before,
and assured him that so soon as the amount became considerable, he would
see that security was given. Mr. Bascom only required good personal secu-
rity, and on the basis of this arrangement. continued to pay out to the Col-
lege Treasurer. In Mr. S's. receipt is the following language, which he
said, Mr. Marshall had dictated, as recognizing the obligation to give securi-
ty: "Which amount, is to be invested, and in all respects used, agreeably to
the stipulations existing between the Kentucky Conference, and the Board of
Trustees of Augusta College." As by the stipulations alluded to, the right
of investment accrued to the Board only upon the condition that they give se-
curity, it must have been the design of the receipt to recognize this principle
and the College Treasurer individually not less than the Board is in equity
bound for the whole amount. These are the facts in the case, and present
the subject in its original and proper light. Before dismissing the topic,
however, it may be proper to add, that the plan of endowment in question,
was presented in outline tothe Board, at their February meeting, in 1833,and
Mr. Bascom was appointed their agent to carry it into effect. At this meeting,
the subject of security was discussed at length, but left unsettled, except that
all agreed, that the Conferences were not likely to act without security. At
this time Johnston Armstrong, of Maysville, was Treasurer of the Board of
Trustees, and so perfectly satisfied was he, that the Conferences would re-
quire, and the Board give security, that he made a formal proposition to the
Kentucky Conference in writing, proposing to take the whole fund himself,
and give security for it by mortgage upon real estate, in behalf of the Board of
Trustees. Is it conceivable, that two hundred well informed men could have
misunderstood the Board of Trustees, under the whole train of consecutive
circumstances detailed in this communication! On the Journal of the Ohio
Conference for 1836, will be found the following entry: "Resolved, That a
committee be appointed, to pay over the monies collected for the McKendree
Professorship, to the Board of Trustees of Augusta College, and take from
them PROPER SECURITY for the same." The committee appointed, and the re  
suit of their visit to Augusta, have been already noticed. It is susceptible
of proof, that the committee performed the duty assigned them, and that the
facts were, as stated before, the published denial of the Board, notwithstand-
ing. The offer to pay over the money according tocontract, was called a
"transfer," but was such only in accordance with the preceding statement,
and the Journal of the Ohio Conference, for 1837, reports: "Resolved,

 


                                  10

That the Conference accede to the proposition of the Board of Trustees of
Augusta College, to invest the funds of the McKendree Professorship. in the
Book Room at Cincinnati." And as confirmatory of this whole view of the
subject, when in February, 1833, the Board directed Mr. Bascom to use all
necessary exertions to accomplish the endowment project, and the fear was
strongly expressed, and generally consented to, that he would have to pledge
security in order to secure the zealous action of the Conferences, the Board
to meet the contingency, gave him the following general, yet special com-
mission:                           "AUGUSTA COLLEGE, Feb. 5, 1833.
  "The Rev. Mr. Bascom, is authorized duly, by the Board of Trustees of
Augusta College, to act at discretion, as general and permanent agent of
the Institution. Signed in behalf of the Board.
                                 JOHN ARMSTRONG, President."
  This unlimited authorization, continuing in force from date, until the hour
of Mr. Bascom's resignation, the 5th of March, 1842, is quite sufficient to
protect him and the Conferences from the insinuations, ungenerous as they
are unfounded, with which they have been assailed at Augusta. Moreover,
had the Conference subscription paper, originated with Mr. Bascom alone,
which we have seen was not the fact, his action would have bound the Board
of Trustees, as effectually, as they could have bound themselves, had they
all been personally present and consenting, instead of a special deputation
acting conjointly with the agent in behalf of the Bcard. At the time the
subscription paper was adopted by the Ohio Conference, the President and
Treasurer of the College and at least seven members of the Board of Trus.
tees were present, and at the Kentucky Conference three more were present,
with the agent and yet the Board aay by formal publication they never heard of
it. Mr I. Collard, a trustee, lends his name to this statement, and yet his name
is on the original document, as one of the subscribers. Three hundred aind
fifty copies were printed and distributed throughout the length and breadt of
the Conferences, and yet it was never heard of, by the showing of the very
men who gave it legal existence and sanction, in behalf of the Board. Be-
sides, the plan of endowment submitted by the Board, proposed the very stap,
the specific form of action on the part of the Conferences, to which they es-
cept. In this plan the Trustees say "Let a subscription be opened," and the
agent was directed to propose one. The whole subject was canvassed in the
Board at length. He asked of the Board express instructions, as to the lan.
guage he should employ respecting security. Real estate security was advo-
cated by some. Thisewas decidedly opposed by 31. Marshall, Esq. and oth-
ers, and was rejected. TIhe agent proposed the terms, "good and sufficient
security," but finaliy, UpOJI the suggestion of some one, the terms "prcper

 

It



security'" were agreed upon. If then, after all this, it be true, as now afilrm-
ed by the President and Trustees of Augusta College, that they never inten-
ded giving security, did they or did they not, bv their own showing, seek to
obtain money from the Conferences, under false pretences It will readily
occur to all, what effect such a state of things must have had upon the Con-
ferences and the church in Kentpcky.
  Nearly the whole amount of the Bracken Academy fund, transferred by
the Legislature to the Trustees of Auzusta College, and appropriated as the
endowment of the "Bracken Professorship of Languages," except the unre-
covered part, in the hands of the defaulting Treasurer, had been recently
consumed, principal and interest, to meet the current expenses of the Col-
lege, and the permanent resources of the Institution, were thus reduced in
amount, some ten thousand dollars, more or less. To indemnify themselves
against liability, in the instance of this consumption, the Trustees, without
the knowledge of the Conferences, had procured a lien upon the College prop-
erty by legislative enactment, to the amount, say of 13,000, and the prop.
erty thus liable, was alienated from the Kentucky and Ohio Conferences and
placed beyond their use or control, except at the will of others, and the Insti-
tution was not only so much poorer, but property which the Conferences had
regarded as their own, was now held and occupied by a tenure, depending
entirely upon the management of the Board, without remedy by the Confer-
ences, and the bonus consideration, originally influencing the Conferences in
the selection of Augusta, now ceased to exist.
  The interest of the funds raised by the Conferences has never been applied
as expressly stipulated in the contract, but in direct violation of it, has been
applied to any and every purpose, connected with the disbursements of the
Board, without reference to the Professorships endowed by the Conferences,
to the support of which only it is declared applicable by contract.
  The President and Treasurer of the College, had both assured members of
the Kentucky Conference, that without an increase of funds, beyond what we
had any reason to expect, the College could not be kept in operation more
than one or two years longer.
  The President had in form, proposed to the Faculty, to remain for such
term, say two years. until the funds of the Institution were consumed in fact,
and then leave the College to its fate, and the Trustees, in his own language,
"without the means of carrying it on," when its abandonment could afford
no right of complaint.
   For the College year 1841-2, an arrangement was actually enter
ed into with the Treasurer, at the instance of the President, as the best that
could be done, to pay the Faculty, one half their salaries in goods and groce-

 


12



ries, and the balance in money, and even this arrangement was not mnet by
a large amount.
  The President had proposed borrowing money, belonging to the Kentucky
Conference, before paid over to the Board of Trustees, in the fall of 1841,
to be divided among, and held by the Faculty, as indemnity against the
strong probability of the non-payment of their salaries by the Board, and this
too, the specific sum of money, for which the Conference Treasurer, H. B.
Bascom, has since been sued by the Board.
  The President and many of the Trustees resident in Augusta, had fre-
quently expressed the opinion, that in view of the policy adopted by the Ohio
Conference in establishing a Universitv of her own, indirectly but seriously
affecting the hopes and interests of the College, it would be best for the Col-
lege to dissolve with Ohio, provided the funds of the Conference could be re-
tained by the College, and the propriety of proposing a dissolution to that
body, had been repeatedly urged. The President moreover alleged, that ma-
ny students from the South, were annually prevented from entering the In-
stitution, because of its connection with Ohio.
  The President had proposed the dissolution of Augusta College, at the in-
stance of the Conferences, by repeal of its charter, or its reduction to a
Grammar School, should more favorable auspices be presented to the church
elsewhere, and he had especially urged it both in the West, and at the Gen-
eral Conference in Baltimore, in 1840, in relation to Transylvania University.
   Moreover the President of the College, had repeatedly assured members
of the Kentucky Conference, that a large minority of the Board of Trustees
-a minority constituting the usual acting majority, at the meetings of the
Board, were so decidedly and even overtly, inimical to the church and its in-
terests, that unless they were removed from the Board, the Conference would
be compelled to abandon the Institution, and he declared solemnly, at differ-
eat times, that unless they were removed, he would resign his place and
leave the College. And to show how deeply in earnest the President was, in
relation to this measure, it is only necessary to state a single, but well known
fact. A member of the Board, as the Bracken Academy Treasurer, was a
defaulter to a large amount. The Board employed two of its members, a le-
gal firm, to bring suit against him. The suit was brought, but before trial,
the Board compromised with the delinquent, and by relinquishing a part of
the debt, secured the balance and discontinued the suit. The legal advi-
sers of the Board, Messrs. M.  W. C. Marshall, presented a claim of 500
for services rendered. The claim was pronounced shamefully exorbitant,
and was not admitted. The President and many of the Trustees took the
ground, that even 100 was more than full compensation for all the service

 


13



rendered, and that the claim was so manifestly unjust, it would be an out-
rage in itself, and especially upon the claims of others, to admit it. The
aggrieved claimants were unyielding, and were about to sue. At this stage
of the business, the President informed those concerned, that if the cliamants
were paid, he was authorized to say they would immediately resign their
seats in the Board, and to secure a result so desirable, and relieve the Board
of men so hostile to the interests of the church, as he regarded these to be,
he proposed giving them 500 of the College funds to get rid of them, and
the appropriation, which had been several times negatived before, was made
accordingly.
  Before the Conference had taken any decisive step, or proceeded to any
conclusive action, in relation to Transylvania, the President of the College
had declared, that the funds the Conference had raised, would be liable for
the Bracken Academy fund, and other debts of the Institution, and that the
Trustees, instead of giving security for the funds, would, by legal process,
take them out of the hands of the Conference entirely.
  The President stated to members of the Conference immediately before
the session of that body, in 1841, that lie had nothing to propose to the
Conference respecting the College, as he had come to the conclusion, that
the Institution must cease operations, in the course of two or three years, at
the farthest.
  Not only the President, but W. C. Marshall, counsel for the Board,
had threatened suit in the instance of the Kentucky Conference fund, before
the date of the note of Mr. Bascom, refusing to account to the Board
until instructed by the Conference, and the allusion of Mr. Bascom to
legal process, was in reply to such threats. The statement, therefore, that
he courted legal adjudication, is not true to the facts in the case, and mis-
represents both his conduct and motives. His note merely alludes to legal
adjudication, in failure of an amicable adjustment.  These movements,
opinions and indications, could not have been without their influence, and un-
der these circumstances, and numerous other developments, kindred in char-
acter, and equally grave and important with those adduced, it was felt by the
Conference, that it would be well nigh useless, as well as manifest injustice
to the character and interests of the Conference, to continue t