Virginia Legislature.
[Extra Session.]
Senate.
Thursday, March 2, 1865.
At 11 o'clock the Senate was called to order.
Prayer by
Rev. Dr. Edwards.
A resolution of thanks was adopted by the Senate to
Major-General Heth and the officers and men of his command, reported from the
Committee on Military Affairs through its chairman,
Mr. Keen.
Mr. Christian, of
Augusta, from the
Committee on Public Institutions, reported, without amendment, a bill making an appropriation to the
Central Lunatic Asylum.
Mr. Christian, of
Augusta, from the
Committee on
Banks, reported, without amendment, a bill to create the governor and proprietors of Exchequer of the
Confederate States of America.
Mr. Dulaney, from the joint committee appointed to examine the
Register's office, reported that the books, papers, &c., belonging to said office are legibly written, well arranged and carefully preserved, "and, so far as they can ascertain, all the duties required by law of the Register of the Land Office are performed in a prompt, faithful and efficient manner, to the satisfaction of all concerned."
Joint resolutions adopted by the House of Delegates condemnatory of the recent execution by the
Yankees of
Captain John Yates Beall, of the
Confederate States navy, and proposing measures of retaliation therefore, were read the first and second times, and, the rules being suspended, on motion of
Mr. Hunter they were ordered to a third reading, and subsequently laid on the table.
The order of the day, being the bill imposing taxes, was taken up, amended and discussed, the subject engaging the attention of the Senate till the hour of adjournment.
House of Delegates.
The
House met at 11 A. M.
Speaker Sheffey in the chair.
The
House took up and concurred in the material amendments of the Senate to the bill amending the law creating a commercial agency for the
State of Virginia for the manufacture and distribution of cotton cloth,
cotton cards, etc., and defining the duties of the agent.
A resolution of thanks to
Lieutenant Jesse C. McNeil and his command for their gallant capture, in their fortified camp in
Maryland, of
Generals Crook and
Kelly, now prisoners of war at the
Libby Prison,
Richmond, was unanimously adopted.
Mr. Bouldin, from the Finance Committee, reported a bill for the relief of
William E. Herndon, late member of the House of Delegates, now in the lunatic asylum, the result of a wound received in battle.
Mr. Buford, from a special committee, reported a bill to incorporate the
Lynchburg and Danville Railroad Company.
The bill to appropriate the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars to the Virginia Military Institute, as a fund for the education of wounded and disabled soldiers by an increase of the salaries of the corps of professors whose duties are to be augmented, was passed — ayes, 85; noes, 15.
Senate bill amending and re-enacting sections of the Code exempting the property of persons in the military service of the
State or
Confederate States from distress for rent payable in money was passed.
Bill ordering the sale of certain bonds and stocks of the
Confederate States and State corporations, held by the
State, to meet the expenses of the
State Government, was taken up, and rejected by a vote of seventy-two ayes to thirty seven noes — not a constitutional majority.
Nearly an hour was consumed in the efforts of members, patrons of certain bills, to take them from the calendar.--Among them was the bill to confer upon the next Legislature conventional powers; the bill concerning the repeal of the liquor license law, and the bill concerning the employment of slaves on fortifications, and providing for their impressment among the counties of not more than ten thousand under one call.
The slave impressment bill was finally taken up as it came from the Senate, with amendments, and passed.
Mr. Hunter, of
Berkeley, submitted a preamble and resolutions expressing indignation at the murder of
Captain John Y. Beall, of
Jefferson county, Virginia, a regularly commissioned officer of the
Confederate States navy, and requesting the
Virginia representatives in Congress to urge upon the
Executive the adoption of some retaliatory measure for the said murder.
The preamble and resolutions were adopted unanimously after some strong remarks from the author of the resolution.
He said he died as only a true Southron could die, and his noble old mother,
Virginia, would enshrine his name among the martyrs of this war, as one she will not willingly let die.
Mr. Staples, of
Patrick, called up
House bill No. 101--a bill conferring upon the General Assembly the power of a convention.
The hour of 3 P. M. having arrived, the
Speaker's hammer fell, and the
House took recess until half-past 7 P. M.
