The Daily Dispatch: December 12, 1863., [Electronic resource]

---

---

Governor Letcher's message.

Among the many sources of annoyance, not to say mortification, to which newspaper editors are subjected in this time of war, is their occasional inability to make room for important public documents in the small sheets they are reduced to the necessity of publishing by the scarcity of paper. In this manner we were forced, while we printed the message of the President in full, to print that of the Governor of Virginia in abstract; for both could not appear at once, and delay in such matters is not to be thought of. We regret that we were forced to put forth the Governor's communication to the General Assembly in such form, for it was one of his best. We concur in the encomiums passed upon it by some of the leading papers of the day. It breathes the proper spirit of patriotism, of unfaltering devotion to the Southern cause, and of determination never to yield to the Northern tyranny. It is marked by a courage and constancy worthy of the Governor of Virginia, and is honorable to the retiring Executive alike for its wisdom and its loyalty.