The first president of the University Board of Regents was Doctor Ashbel Smith. After his services to the Texan Republic, Doctor Smith devoted himself to scientific study and to the free practice of the medical profession. In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate States army. He was elected a captain in the second Texas regiment of infantry, and was promoted to the colonelcy on the battlefield of Shiloh for personal bravery. He was in command of the post of Galveston at the time of the final surrender. He was chairman of the committee sent from Galveston to New Orleans to escort to Texas the remains of General Albert Sidney Johnston. [Illustration: The University of Texas.] His wise counsels were of great service during those troublous times. The joy and pride of this truly great man’s declining years was the University of Texas. He lived to see it answer to his highest hopes; and his memory should be eternally associated with its fame. In 1895 the Board of Regents was authorized to manage all lands belonging to the University; at the same time the office of president was created. A number of charitable and other public institutions have been added to those already in existence. The new Penitentiary at Rusk (1877), a State Orphan’s Asylum at Corsicana (1881), and two Insane Asylums, one at Terrell (1883) and one at San Antonio (1890), are among these. In 1891 the John B. Hood Camp of Confederate Veterans at Austin was taken under the kindly care of the state, and its name changed to the Texas Confederate Home. Many state questions of importance have been considered; new laws have been made and old ones improved. The public debt has been reduced. A new constitution has been adopted by the people (1875). The state revenues have been materially increased by the introduction of wiser and better regulations. The school tax has been raised. Arbitration laws have been passed, greatly to the advantage of disputants; and anti-trust laws have been enforced. In 1895 suit was brought by Texas, in the Supreme Court of the United States, for Greer County, a body of land on Red River claimed both by the United States government and by Texas. The decision of the Supreme Court (April, 1896) awarded the county to the United States. [Illustration: The Old Alamo Monument.] A new court, called the Commission of Appeals, was created in 1881; the same year an admirable quarantine system was established, with a special station at Galveston. A memorable feature of the year 1895 was the extra session of the legislature called for the purpose of making prize fighting illegal in the state of Texas. The brutal and degrading sport was promptly declared a felony, and a law was passed prohibiting it on penalty of confinement in the Penitentiary.