Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1841-12-07
RICH MOND:
TUESDAY monNINo. pEoHmpER7.
MEETING OF rus GENERAL AssENpTy

The General Assembly OF Virginia, yssterLa,
convened in annual session, We have rarely know
d 80 iull meeing-never except In very high part,
tunes, and when great events were upon the wing
ihere were moro abstntses in the Senate consis,n,
OF only So than there were in the House of Dali,
gates CO imposed Of 1874 In this latter body. wber
the roll was called, all except So Wings and
" Loeos--answered to their names. We were pre
pared IN a measure for this full attendance on IN,
parton the Loeos; Tor we had heard il inlima ted
come weeks tack, that missves had been dcspatch
ell throughout the Commonwealth, to rally the
emoeus OF that political persuasion, Tor the purpose
OF defeating MIR Southa for the Chair. But the
assembling OF the Wings, who had received no such
summons, was not moro gratifying than it was sur
! prisins. For the hrst time in party annals. moro
Loeos came up missing than Wings. We hnil tbi,
as a good omen,-aS manifestation Of the in,om;
Ao'e spirit pervad'ng the Wing ranks, and an car.
nest OF zeal und'smayed for the glorious cause
Election Of Speaker
Although the Locos mustered nj, thu .,,.r,,L
they could, and, relying upon the supneness of the
Wings expected an easy and certain triumph. thew
could not quite "Como it," and in propo,,;o, -
'her previous eaion of spirits was their
depression. They had a particular erudge ,g,io,,
Mr. SHu'hHll-Some because Of his refusal tn CO.
~
SION (wEen they were IN an accidental mniori,y, TO
iosi Governor on the Commonwealth f.. r..
yeHrs-o'hers because Of wounded vani,y.-Nr g
having wisely omitted, last Sessioo-to ,o,Lo
them Ch7'rmen of important Commttees-for
which they were in al! respects uufued. They
CAME together Of purpose to wteak vcn.eapce on
mum The magnNnmity IT the wings in ,lecti,,
Mr. Nash IN the Senate, aud Mir Munlord clerk Of
the House, was thrown away upon them. rLo,
were violently aud yindctively bent upon his i'm
mo'"i'n--ond supposiuS, that their precau,ion had
@'Ven them the temporary Uscsndency in the House
'he'' sens. OF Justice and deceucy inerposed no bar
rer to the qualification Of their mRligp,n, E,,I;,c,
I They held Caucus, and although som. or ,Lo
better spirits among them, deprecated all oppo,i,on
tn the late Spoaker-hoth on the score oC b,s ov,
merits and The injustice and mproprietv of p,o6t,in
ny an accidental M jority, to impose n LocoC,.,
Speaker on a Wing House;-The leaders could
hot be diverted from their yindic:Iye purnos.
Ihcy threw overt board Gsu'I Yentoso vvitbo,.
eeremony-as they always will do such airy M
'hinSS-Niter having used him by aattering his
morbid vaniiy-ond selected Mr. Hoem,n NJ I,lo
OF Wight. BY way, we suppose. of atopip, f,r ~,
sight IN passing him over he was honoured win
the distinction of bringing MIR Hoeman's claims
before the House. This he did in a speech ,orthv
/ OF NM MIR Hopkins sustained the nomination.
but as he had no personal maleyol,nc to gr,trv-
no wounded seif-ove to nvengc;-- whilst he p,ss,d
high eulosium upon his friend, he INDUCED 10 No
dsParasIns and dcfama,ory comments upon liz
competitor. Wv
no one responded. The roll was called, and Mr.
Southail was elected by 5 majority! The cbnerin
and notification, which ensued, let no man under.
take to narrate.
GOrTnO-'s Message
| The election Of Speaker and other off over
the Message of the acting Governor was received
and read TO stless House. This Document IS
spread before our readers to-day, and thew will
have a better opportunity TO form an opinion of its
merits than we have yet had From very hastv
Perusa', II seemed TO US the most wshy.gashv pro-
duc'on that ever emanlted from an Executive
Every side of every important su jsct is espoused
ahd repudIated. In one part, you feel confident
thai his EIceilency Is the Champion of the Banks
OF Internal Improvement SC; in another, YOU en-.
teFiaIn an opinion just the reverse, and again YOU
are induced to believe, that both your first inpres
sions were erroneous, and you conclude that he de-
signs 10 support every thing and oppose every thing
| u language were given to man TO conceal his
thoushts' lis EXceilency has no right to COMPLAIN
mat he was not munifcentIy endowed in that ,Snv
/ we nave neither space nor time for an extended
houce OF the contents Of the Message and must
content ourselves with few very brief comments
The finances engage the drs, consideration of the
Governor. Here we are told, that the State has
borrowed s2i5,OO0 of the Banks during the year.
winch together with 100000 previously borrowed
make the round sum of 345 OOO to he p,id TO those
institutions on the 18Th instant Nevertheless. the
finances are said TO lie IN very "healthful eondi-
uon.' How, or Wherefore, we arc not given TO
understand-eNeept that the Literary Fund, and
the Internal improvement Fund stand between
US and bankruptcy. His ETcelIency must have
had 10 his head the character Of Lady Ginning.
ton, who was "a most excellent person-except.
ing that her inyeterate Immature rendered her
inlolerahe to all the world" We cannot recon
Gle deficiency Of S3i5,ODO with a "hoaIthful
condition" on any other principle. The Governor.
If we understand him, recommends al increase Of
taxation to meet the deficiency, ami enable the State
to abandon the disrePutabo eTpodient Of resorting
TO loans 10 preserve the public faith
With respect TO the Banks, the Message is almost
too deep to be understood. Il, justfes the suspen.
sion--ihIrks the resumption last winter was preml
ture-nbuses oyCr.banking, over. trading, &c.-c5n.
sders the he only remedy for the dsordCrod curren.
~ - for some OF the States To wind up their 3 INK
Virginia eTcep'ed)-set,cs the question Of the
unconsuIutonalty ola National Bank, for good and
nil-ndmlts the impruccabiity Of coercing an i'm
mediate resumption by the Virginia Banks--bur
threatens them uwfully Il they ever suspend again
and pours hot shot into Bdde's monsterl There
never was greater tumble. II we can extract any
thing from Il, It IS that resumption in the abstract
a very good thing, but resumption in practice, j.
horrible to think about We stick pin therel
Touching Internal improvements, his Excslrency
IS quite as oracuiar uni unin,elligible as on the
Banks. The deposition is NANTES, to eoncilial,
every body and in the effort to do it. he may come
within an ace Of dIspleasing all. Sundry improve
menls arc specially enumerated as meriting the
special favour Of the Legislature-but in the end
b We are substantially tod, that none ought to b.,
aided because there means in the Treasury
Of doing il. We have IN inyincible aversion to th
. milk and water mode Of doing business--and W,
q should have preferred to see his Excollency TAX,
decided ground At once, and like man, agains. al
. the great Improvements Of the State
The views relating 10 the reform Of the Military
r. will create some stir among the Captains and Colo
{. nsls Of tho Commonwealth. As wo do not per
tain to the Military, and as Gov. Rutherford
himself Militia Colonel, VIC presume not 10 ques
y lion the wisdom Of his suggestions.