House of Delegates.
Saturday Jan. 19th, 1861.
The House was called to order at 12 o'clock M., by Speaker Critchfield.
The Throne of Grace was eloquently addressed by Rev. C. H. Read, of the United Presbyterian Church.
Personal Explanation.--Mr. Newton rose to a personal explanation.
He had seen his name included, in one of the morning papers, among those who were either absent or did not vote upon the bill appropriating $1,000,000 for the defence of the State.
He was present, and voted distinctly in the affirmative.
If there was an error upon the record, he desired it to be corrected.
Bills Passed.--Senate bill, entitled An act to authorize the County Courts, and any incorporated city or town, to arm the militia of their respective counties, cities and towns, and to provide means therefore; House bill, to incorporate the Virginia Boot and Shoe Manufacturing Company, with amendments; a bill to defray the expenses of a pedestal, setting up and transporting the Statue of Jefferson; a bill to amend the act concerning trespasses on the Potomac.
Resolutions of Inquiry.--By Mr. Ball, of allowing compensation to the officers of the Hillsborough Border Guard for services rendered during the John Brown raid; by Mr. Watts, of amending chap.
134 of the Code of Virginia; by Mr. Kemper, of authorizing and requesting the Board of Public Works to audit the accounts of the Commissioners of the Armory, and to state and report a settlement of the same to this House; by Mr. Kee, of reporting a bill for the purpose of preventing the hunting of deer with dogs in the county of Pendleton, at any season of the year, except when wounded in still hunting; by Mr. Mathews, of relieving the securities of John E. Lewis, late Sheriff of Greenbrier county, from the payment of damages, and granting them further time for the payment of certain judgments against them; by Mr. Morgan, of amending the Code so as to allow volunteer companies in contiguous counties to form battalions and regiments; by Mr. Walker, of reporting a bill requiring all property sold under execution to realize two-thirds of its value; by Mr. Jett, of allowing J. F. White pay for tuition of indigent children in school district No. 3, of Richmond county; by Mr. Seddon, of providing for the extension of the time in which the Sheriffs are required to pay the taxes into the State Treasury; by Mr. Montgomery, of increasing the allowance of Peyton Morton, late Commissioner of the Revenue of Fayette county, for services rendered the State; by Mr. Segar, of repealing the provision of the Code of 1860, in relation to the marking of Western tobacco; by Mr. Carpenter, of requiring the Board of Public Works to furnish to this House any information which may seem pertinent, in their judgment, to the question involved in the petition of Edward McMahan and other contractors on the Covington and Ohio Railroad; by Mr. Friend, of reporting a bill making it unlawful for negroes to own or keep dogs in the county of Chesterfield.
Bills Reported.--A bill for the relief of Emory Edwards, of Washington county, in the State of Maryland; a bill for the relief of T. D. Fendall, Administrator; a bill to increase the pay of the Commonwealth's Attorney for the Circuit Court of Ohio county; a bill authorizing the payment of $147.75 to Captain Wm. H. Werth, of Company A, of the 101st Regiment Virginia Militia; a bill refunding to Samuel A. McMechen and John G. Harness, Jr., a sum of money paid by them on an erroneous assessment of land; a bill exempting from taxation the property of the Virginia Mechanics' Institute; a bill amending the 107th section of chapter 35 of the Code of Virginia, and providing for the correction of erroneous assessments of taxes on land; a bill authorizing the payment of forfeited commissions and damages, to the executors of Chas. Holden, decide, late Sheriff of the county of Harrison.
Bank Statements.--Statements were returned from the Presidents of the Exchange Bank, Farmers' Bank, and Bank of Virginia, in response to the resolutions of the House of Delegates, relating to the monthly discounts of those Banks for twelve months past, the average amount of the State deposits, the average discount of paper payable at the Banks, and the average discount of paper payable outside the limits of the State, the amount of the latter which was protested and returned, and the monthly circulation.
On motion, they were laid on the table and ordered to be printed.
Petitions, &c.--The following petitions and other documents were presented and referred; By Mr. Graham, the petition of Ro. Roper and others, asking that taxes be refunded on land erroneously assessed; by Mr. Woolfolk, the proceedings of a meeting of the people of Greene county, in reference to the present posture of public affairs, --also, by the same, proceedings of a meeting of the people of Orange, on the same subject; by Mr. Carpenter, the petition of sundry citizens of Allegheny county, for the relief of Pitman Boley from a fine imposed by the Circuit Court of Allegheny county at its April term, 1860; by Mr. Woolfolk, the petition of the people of Orange (through their committee) to the General Assembly of Virginia, praying for the passage of an act authorizing the County Court of Orange to borrow money for the purchase of arms, &c., for the defence of the county, and providing means therefore; by Mr. Ball, the petition of citizens of the county of Loudon, praying that the volunteer companies of the border counties, and especially the Loudon Guard, may be forthwith furnished with the most improved arms and equipments now in use; by Mr. Carpenter, the petition of Edward McMahan and other contractors on the Covington and Ohio Railroad, for relief from their present financial embarrassment in the prosecution of that work.
Reports from Standing Committees.--The Committee on Claims asked that the petition of Robert H. Grey, attorney, &c., be referred to the Committee of Courts of Justice.
Referred.
The same committee reported against a resolution for the relief of Floyd Smith, late sheriff of Montgomery.
Report received.
The Committee on Finance asked that the resolution for allowing compensation to Jas. Carskdan and Wm. F. Davis, for services rendered the 77th Regiment Virginia Militia, be referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, Granted.
State and Federal Relations.--A message was received from the Senate through Mr. Johnson, communicating the passage, by that body, with amendments, of the resolutions reported by the Joint Committee on State and Federal Relations, (adopted by the House on Thursday.) The report and resolutions provide for the appointment of five Commissioners to meet Commissioners from other States in Washington city, to adjust the present alarming differences in the country, and express an opinion as to the proper basis of such adjustment.
All the amendments proposed by the Senate were concurred in by the House.
Then, on motion of Mr. Seddon, the following resolutions were offered for adoption:
- 1. Resolved, by the General Assembly, That in the present alarming condition of affairs, it is a dangerous delusion to suppose that the interests of Virginia are not those of her Southern sisters, and that any impression that her people are looking to any other combination, in the last resort, than a union with them, is calculated to weaken the position of our friends and strengthen the hands of our enemies.
- 2. Resolved, That in the opinion of the General Assembly, no reconstruction of the Union between the slaveholding and non-slaveholding States can be permanent, just and satisfactory, which will not secure to each section a self-protecting power against any invasion of the Federal Union upon the reserved rights of either.
