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62 and led to a sharp controversy. Mr. Breckinridge thought that the electors had plainly exceeded their powers; that under the constitution Logan was elected, and that even if Logan was not elected that Garrard was certainly not elected, as the article of the constitution having been modelled on the national Constitution the same procedure would be properly applicable if any, although the Kentucky article omitted the provision for a reference to the house except in case of a tie, seeming to imply a plurality election. Logan appealed to the senate, by the law made arbiter of gubernatorial contests, but after a sharp fight the senate dodged the matter by declaring the law which gave them jurisdiction unconstitutional, and Logan's case went by default. But Mr. Breckinridge's argument was never refuted.

Governor Garrard was installed on the 1st of June, 1796, and in December of that year Mr. Breckinridge resigned his office. During his incumbency one thing had been brought home to him with great force. The Kentucky Criminal Code then in use prescribed the death penalty in no less than one hundred and sixty cases, extending it to some of the most trivial offences. The other penalties it prescribed were equally severe. To his broad and humane mind such a code was barbarous and a blot upon the State; but his judgment condemned it even more, on the ground that its very severity was an effectual barrier to its application, since juries shrank from convicting criminals where the punishment was so