General Assembly of Virginia.
[extra session.]
Senate.
Saturday Jan. 19, 1861.
Called to order at 12 o'clock.
Prayer by
the Rev. Mr. Minnegerode, of St. Paul's Church.
The first business in order was the unfinished business of yesterday, the amendment of
Mr. Coghill to the report of the
Joint Committee on Federal Relations, under consideration at the time of adjournment.
On motion the rules were suspended and the bill providing for authorizing the
County Courts, &c., to arm the militia, and providing means for that purpose was passed, and communicated to the
House.
The consideration of the report of the
Joint Committee on Federal Relations was then resumed, when
Mr. Coghill, by general consent, withdrew the amendment offered by him on Saturday, and proposed another, which was agreed to.
Mr. Bruce then proposed to amend by providing that, in case the
Commissioners fail to effect a compromise of the unhappy differences, every consideration of honor and interest demands that
Virginia shall unite her destinies with her sister slaveholding States of the
South.
Being urged to offer this as an independent proposition,
Mr. Bruce consented to its withdrawal.
Various other amendments were proposed, which caused considerable discussion.
The report as amended by the Senate is as follows:
‘
Whereas, It is the deliberate opinion of the General Assembly of
Virginia, that unless the unhappy controversy which now divides the States of this Confederacy shall be satisfactorily adjusted a permanent dissolution of the
Union is inevitable, and the General Assembly, representing the wishes of the people of the
Commonwealth, is desirous of employing every reasonable means to avert so dire a calamity, and determined to make a final effort to restore the
Union and the
Constitution, in the spirit in which they were established by the fathers of the
Republic, Therefore,
- 1. Resolved, That on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia, an invitation is hereby extended to all such States, whether slaveholding or nonslaveholding, as are willing to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the present unhappy controversies, in the spirit in which the Constitution was originally formed, and consistently with its principles, so as to afford to the people of the slaveholding States adequate guarantees for the security of their rights, to appoint Commissioners, to meet — on the 4th day of February next, in the city of Washington — similar Commissioners appointed by Virginia, to consider, and, if practicable, agree upon some suitable adjustment.
- 2. Resolved, That Ex-President John Tyler, Wm. C. Rives, Judge John W. Brockenbrough, George W. Summers, and James A. Seddon, be appointed Commissioners, whose duty it shall be to repair to the city of Washington, on the day designated in the foregoing resolution, to meet such Commissioners as may be appointed by any of the said States, in accordance with the foregoing resolution.
- 3. Resolved, That if said Commissioners, after full and free conference, shall agree upon any plan of adjustment requiring amendments of the Federal Constitution, for the further security of the rights of the people of the slaveholding States, they be requested to communicate the proposed amendments to Congress, for the purpose of having the same submitted by that body, according to the forms of the Constitution, to the several States for ratification.
- 4. Resolved, That if said Commissioners cannot agree on such adjustment, or if agreeing, Congress shall refuse to submit for ratification such amendments as may be proposed, then the Commissioners of this State shall immediately communicate the result to the Executive of this Commonwealth, to be by him laid before the Convention of the People of Virginia and the General Assembly Provided, That the said Commissioners be subject at all times to the control of the General Assembly, or, if in session, to that of the State Convention.
- 5. Resolved, That in the opinion of the General Assembly of Virginia, the propositions embraced in the resolutions presented to the Senate of the United States by the Hon. John J. Crittenden, so modified as that the first article proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States shall apply to all territory of the United States now held or hereafter acquired south of latitude 36 deg. 30 min., and provide that slavery of the African race shall be effectually protected as property therein during the continuance of the territorial government, and the fourth article shall secure to the owners of slaves the right of transit with their slaves between and through the non-slaveholding States and Territories, constitute the basis of such an adjustment of the unhappy controversy which now divides the States of this Confederacy as would be accepted by the people of this Commonwealth.
- 6. Resolved, That Ex-President John Tyler be appointed by the concurrent vote of both Houses of the General Assembly, a Commissioner to the President of the United States, and Judge John Robertson be appointed in similar manner Commissioner to the State of South Carolina and the other States that have seceded or shall secede, with instructions respectfully to request the President of the United States and the authorities of such States to agree to abstain, pending the proceedings contemplated by the action of this General Assembly, from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms between the States and the Government of the United States.
- 7. Resolved, That copies of the foregoing resolutions be forthwith telegraphed to the President of the United States, and the Executives of the several States, and that the Governor be requested, without delay, to inform the Commissioners of their appointment.
’
The report having been completed, the yeas and nays were called on its adoption, with the following result:
Yeas.--
Messrs,
Armstrong,
Brannon, Bence,
Carson,
Carraway,
Carter,
Christian,
Claiborne,
Coghill,
Critcher, Day,
John Dickenson,
Asa D. Dickinson,
Douglas,
French,
Gatewood, Greever,
Hubbard,
Isbell,
Johnson,
Layne,
Logan,
Lynch,
Marshall,
McKenney,
Nash,
Neal,
Neeson, Newlon,
Newman,
Pate,
Paxton, Quesenberry,
Richmond,
Rives,
Stuart,
Henry W. Thomas,
Christopher Y. Thomas,
Townes and
Wickham--40.
Nays.--
Messrs, August,
Early,
Finney,
Pennybacker and
Thompson--5.
Mr. August and others, in voting against the resolutions, explained their reasons for so doing.
Bills Reported.--A bill to incorporate the Valley Railroad Company; a bill allowing the Northwestern Bank of
Virginia, and any of its branches, to establish an agency in the city of
Richmond for the redemption of its circulating notes; a bill to authorize the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad Company to construct a branch and to increase its capital stock; a bill authorizing the Winchester and Potomac Railroad Company to extend their road from the town of
Winchester to connect with the Manassas Gap Railroad at or near the town of
Strasburg; a bill authorizing the Board of Public Works to confirm the sale of the
Marysville Plank-Road to the county of
Charlotte; a bill for the relief of
Patrick H. Scott, of
Halifax county; a bill refunding to
Elizabeth C. Richardson, of
Henrico county, a sum of money paid by her on an erroneous assessment of land, and for correcting said assessment; a bill refunding to
Moses G. Booth damages paid by him as surety of
Samuel S. Turner, late
Sheriff of
Franklin county; a bill to incorporate the Virginia Arms Manufacturing Company; a bill to incorporate the
Virginia Fire-Arms Company, and a bill to provide for taking the sense of the voters of
Henrico upon giving authority to the
County Court to raise $2,500 for arming the county.
Resolutions of Inquiry.--By
Mr. Newlon, of amending the law, passed at the last session of the General Assembly, ‘"chartering the Monongalia Bank of Morgantown,"’ so as to reduce the minimum capital of said Bank; by
Mr. August, of amending the first and second sections of an act passed 29th March, 1858, entitled an act to incorporate the Insurance Company of the
State of Virginia, in
Richmond; by the same, of incorporating the Amherst and Nelson Woolen Manufacturing Company of Nelson county; by
Mr. Dickinson, of G., of authorizing the payment of the school quota for the county of
Grayson for the year 1850, the same having been forfeited; by
Mr. Marshall, of refunding to
Capt. John Adams $91, the expenses incurred by a company of cavalry in drilling, under his command, by order of the
Colonel; by
Mr. Townes, of amending the general laws of the
Commonwealth regulating the issue of Bank notes on the amount of cost in their vaults, so as to equalize the powers conferred on each Bank; by the same, of reinstating an act omitted at the last session of the General Assembly, providing compensation for services of attorneys for the
Commonwealth in Circuit Courts held for the cities and towns of this Commonwealth, and providing compensation for services withheld on account of the omission of said act.
Mr. Bruce offered the following resolution:
‘
Resolved, That if all efforts to reconcile the unhappy differences existing between the two sections of the country shall prove to be abortive, then, in the opinion of the General Assembly, every consideration of honor and interest demands that
Virginia shall unite her destinies with her sister slaveholding States of the
South.
The resolution was adopted unanimously.
’
Mr. Stuart offered the following resolution, which was ordered to be printed:
‘
Resolved, That, in the opinion of the General Assembly of
Virginia, the following would constitute a satisfactory basis of adjustment of the unhappy controversies which now distract and threaten to destroy the peace of the
United States:
The
Territories having been acquired by the common efforts, blood and treasure of all the States, are of right the common property of all the States, and neither the slaveholding or nonslaveholding States have any just claim to appropriate all of them to their exclusive use.
By existing provisions of the
Constitution of the United States, Congress is the trustee of all the States in regard to the
Territories.
Experience, however, has shown that in consequence of irreconcilable differences of opinion between members of Congress representing the slaveholding and non-slaveholding States, the common property cannot be so regulated and administered by that body as to do full justice to all the beneficiaries of the common property, it is therefore necessary to provide new agencies for its regulation and administration.
To this and the
Constitution of the United States should be so amended, so as to withdraw the trust in regard to the
Territories entirely from the hands of Congress, and to provide for an equitable partition of the
Territories between the slaveholding and non-slaveholding States, by assigning to the former, as an outlet for its increasing population, all that portion of the common territory, now held or hereafter to be acquired, situated
south of the parallel of 26.30 north latitude, and assigning to the latter, as an outlet for its increasing population, all that part of the common territory, now held or hereafter to be acquired, situated
north of said parallel.
It should be further provided, by a similar
amendment, that the slaveholding States should be constituted trustees in regard to the territory
south of 36.30, with full power, through their respective Legislatures or delegations in Congress, to determine and regulate the
status in regard to slavery of such territory, and that the non- slaveholding States shall be constituted, in like manner, trustees of the territory
north of said line, with like power, through their respective Legislatures or delegates in Congress, to determine and regulate the
status of said territory
States created out of territory north or south of the parallel of 26.30 shall be admitted into the
Union with or without slavery, as their respective constitutions may ordain.
A communication from the
Adjutant-General, in reply to a resolution of the Senate, was received, read, laid on the table and ordered to be printed.
A communication was received from the
House, announcing the passage by that body of a bill to defray the expenses of a pedestal, setting up and transporting the statue of
Jefferson.
The
House bill, appropriating one million dollars for the defence of the
State, and the bill establishing an Ordnance Department, were made the order of the day for Monday, at 12 1-2 o'clock.
On motion, the Senate adjourned.
’
