ground, to make them adequate to the wants of the whole community; to place them on such a footing as to furnish the best instruction, not only in the more common, but in all the higher branches of elementary knowledge. "But," says the Superintendent, "the most perfect organization of the entire system in all the varied departments of instruction must fail of securing the desired results without a sufficient number of COMPETENT TEACHERS." To this end, it was suggested, as a subject for consideration, whether it would not be expedient to fix, by law, a minimum price, below which no teacher should be entitled to receive aid from the public fund, and to provide prospectively that every teacher of the public schools shall have been through a regular course of training, and received his diploma from the academic board, setting forth his qualifications as a teacher, It was suggested, in relation to the public money, whether any township ought to be entitled to its proportion of the income of the fund, which did not comply with the provisions of the law, and maintain an EFFICIENT SCHOOL BOARD. It was recommended that the active agents of the schools, upon whose activity and energy the success of the system would depend, be few as possible, their duties clearly defined, and their services paid for; that the time of any man was his property, and ought not to be taken by the public without remuneration. It was recommended that the legislature provide, as soon as circumstances would permit, for DISTRICT LIBRARIES. The clear proceeds of all fines, the equivalent for exemptions from military duty, and a district tax of $10, were suggested as establishing the basis of a fund for the purpose. ACADEMIES OR BRANCHES. The original plan, as reported, provided that any county containing a given number of inhabitants, should be entitled to an academy of the highest grade, as a branch of the University, on condition that the board of supervisors should procure an eligible site, and cause suitable buildings to be erected, such as should be deemed sufficient, and approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The board of supervisors were to appoint six "wise and discreet persons," who, together with one appointed by the Superintendent, were to constitute the board of trustees. Of this academic board, the judge of probate and the two associate judges of the county, were to be ex-officiis members, and the county clerk, clerk ex-officio of the board. The trustees were to superintend its general concerns, appoint professors and teachers, and make a report to a board of visitors. This board was to consist of three persons, to be appointed annually, one by the supervisors, and two by the Superintendent. It was to be their duty to visit the academy at its annual examination, to inquire into its condition. examine the proceedings of the board of trustees, and forward their report to the Superintendent. For the support of these institutions it was proposed that the board of supervisors cause to be raised by the county, a sum equal to that which should be apportioned to it from the income of the University fund. In each academy were to be three departments-one for the education of teachers, one for the higher branches of English education, and one for classical learning. The course of instruction for the teachers' class, to be three years; this department to be open, without charge, to all who wished to fit themselves for the business of teaching, on pledge of teaching at least four years, under a forfeiture, if they did not. Tuition for English department not to exceed ten dollars, and for the classical, twelve. Whenever any county complied with these requirements, they were to be entitled to an appropriation of $500 for the purchase of apparatus and books. In the TEACHER'S DEPARTMENT the following studies were recommended: the Engfish language, writing and drawing, arithmetic, mental and written, and book keeping, geography and general history combined, and history of the United States, geometry, trigonometry, mensuration and surveying, natural philosophy and elements of astronomy, geology and chemistry, constitution of the United States and of the State of Michigan, select portions of the laws and duties of public officers, principles of teaching, rhetoric, algebra, the nature of man physical, intellectual and moral being, and his relative duties. THE UNIVERSITY. as a The additional and general interest created by a change of the organic law in 1850, in placing the University under the control of Regents elected by the people, and the consequent questions of policy which have arisen in relation to this institution, renders it not only desirable, but an object of the deepest importance to trace with care For this reason, it is deemed important to give much of it, in detail. The following extract contains the plan of government for this institution suggested by the first Superintendent: the history of legislation in regard to it. In the organization of the University, it will be proper and necessary to create a Board of Regents to superintend and manage its general concerns. The powers to be vested in this Board, and its duties may and ought to be prescribed by law. The Board of Regents shall consist of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, Chancellor of the State, and the Chancellor of the University, who shall be ex-officio members, and twelve others to be appointed by the Legislature. Of these twelve, three shall continue in office four years, three three years, three two years, and the remaining three one year, to be determined by drawing. This arrangement will make it the duty of the Legislature, after the first organization, to appoint three annually. Of this Board, the Secretary of State shall be ex-officio Secretary. The Regents shall have the power, and it shall be their duty, to enact laws for the government of the University, to confer degrees, to appoint a Chancellor, and the prescribed number of professors in the several departments, and the requisite number of tutors, also to determine their respective salaries; to appoint a steward and fix the amount of his salary. The university shall consist of three depart ments: 1. The department of literature, science and the arts. 2. The department of law. 3. The department of medicine. In the department of literature, science and the arts, there should ultimately be established the following professorships: One of Ancient Languages. Modern Languages. Rhetoric and Oratory. Philosophy of History and Logic. Theology. Political Economy. Mathematics. Natural Philosophy. 66 Geology and Mineralogy. Botany and Zoology. 26 Fine arts. Civil Engineering and Drawing. The department of law should consist of the following professor ships: One of International Law. Common Law and Equity. Commercial and Maritime Law. In the department of medicine there should be the following professorships: One of Anatomy. The immediate government of the several departments must necessarily be intrusted to their respective faculties. The Regents shall have the power to regulate the course of instruction, and prescribe, under the advisement of the professorships, the books and authorities to be used in the several departments. And it shall be the duty of the Board of Regents to report annually to the board of visitors, the condition of the University, the amount of its expenditures, the number of its professors and tutors, the number of students in the several departments, and in the different classes, and text-books used, to be accompanied with an estimate of expenses for the coming year. The board of visitors, to consist of five, shall be appointed annually by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. But the question will arise, and it is an important one and must be met, can an institution on a scale thus magnificent be sustained? It is confidently believed that the day is not distant, when the wants of the State will require such an institution, and when its resources will be amply sufficient to sustain it. With a population already exceeding two hundred thousand souls, and floods of immigration of intelligent, enterprising and educated men pouring in upon us, it cannot be otherwise. To suppose that the wants of the State will not soon require a superstructure of fair proportions on a foundation thus broad, would be a severe reflection upon the foresight and patriotism of the age. And to suppose that such an institution cannot be sustained, would seem to be a contradiction of the known laws by which human affairs are governed. Let the State move forward as prosperously, for a few years to come, as it has for a few years past, and one-half of the revenue arising from the University fund, will sust in an institution on a scale more magnificent than the one proposed, and sustain it too, with only a mere nominal admittance fee; a consummation most devoutly to be desired. And this fee. say $10 from each student, may be applied to the increase of the library. The institution would then present an anomaly in the history of learning, an university of the first order, open to all, tuition free. It is not to be expected, nor will it be necessary, that all the professorships should be filled at the commencement of its career. One-half the number judiciously appointed and arranged could ad interim discharge the duties of the whole; they could do so without difficulty, until the wants of the institution and the state of its funds should warrant the completion of the plan. But in laying the foundations of a superstructure to be raised in just and equal proportions, and to be continued, as we trust, through all succeeding ages, liberal and ample provisions should be made for the anticipated wants of a high-minded and growing people. Present appearances warrant the belief that the income of the University fund cannot fall short of $50,000 per annum. One-half of this sum will be amply sufficient to give life and vigor to the several academies as branches of the University, and the remaining half will be fully adequate to sustain the parent institution on a scale as grand and magnificent as that proposed. But there is another question to be considered, and one which requires a more detailed examination than can now be given to it. It is the propriety of engrafting upon an institution destined for public education in the higher branches of literature, science and the arts, the departments of law and medicine. Lord Bacon, one of the great master-spirits of the human race, states the true doctrine on this subject, and gives a conclusive reason for it. He says-" to disincorporate any particular science from general knowledge is one great impediment to its advancement. For there is a supply of light and information, which the particulars and instances of one science do yield and present for the framing and correcting the axioms of another science, in their very truth and notion. For each particular science has a dependence upon universal knowledge, to be augmented and rectified by the superior light thereof." In an address delivered on occasion of the dedication of Dane Law College, as a department of Harvard University, President Quincy made the following lucid remarks:-"In no way, perhaps, can the truth of this doctrine be better illustrated, than by the history of the progress of the English law, from its ancient, barbarous, and perplexed, to its present cultivated and lucid state. So long as it was disincorporated from general knowledge, and pursued exclusively under the guidance of professional men, in the Inns of Courts, or in offices of practitioners, its outline was obscure, its aspect forbidding and mysterious; none dared to pretend to master it, except the regularly initiated; and to some of these, its reason was a closed book, which they had not the strength or patience to open. No sooner, however, was the common law introduced among the branches of University education, than it became liberalized and refined. Its particular light was augmented and rectified by the superior light of universal knowledge. Its foreign jargon was abandoned. Its technicalities were diminished-by the labors of Blackstone the rough scene was changed. After the publication of his work, men of general science began to think and to speak of the English law, as of a subject which could be understood without the exclusive devotion of a whole life to it. Professional men also, their progress thus facilitated, found more leisure themselves to pursue general science. From the hour when the great magician, Blackstone, standing in the halls of Oxford, stretched his scientific wand over the illimitable ocean, without bound,' where, to the uninstructed eye, cold, hot, moist, dry, in their pregnant causes mixed, |