Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-12-12
81 & S : q & (
Of the Governor Of Virginia.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

Of the Governor Of Virginia.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
December z, 1874.
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate
and House Of Delegates:
| am happy to say to you, at the
commencement of this annual commu-
nicatlon, that you return to your duties
at the Capital under circumstances of
decided and general improvement in
the private and public interests of the
State. The distressing embarrassments
which have so long disturbed and Grip
pied the operations Of business, have,
in a great measure, begun to relax; the
abuses ofcredit, with the extravaganza,
speculation and debt they encouraged,
to disappear; more rigorous and self
denying frugality to be practiyed-and
thus the foundation of wiser and sa-
fer system Of individual transactions
has been gradually and extensively
commenced in the experience, habits
and spirit Of our people.
Whilst in these respects, affecting
advantageously the sources of our prl-
vate prosperity for the future, we have
reason to be gratifed, we have, in 9TH
er respects affecting the sources ofpub-
lie good, reason even for warm and pa
triotic congratulation. The public re-
venue and credit of the State-those
great interests that bring into issue the
charcter and well-being Of a whole peo-
pie, and which to us for years past have
been the subjects of profoundest ankle
ty-haye not only been rescued from
every danger to which they have been
exposed, but established upon footing
of the greatest soundness and strength.
In 1910, the treasury being unable
to meet the public obligations then due,
such sum as was necessary to supply
the deficiency was authorised by the
Legislature to be borrowed from the
Banks. This sum, SO borrowed for
that purpose, has been increased from
time to time since then, as the increas-
ing necessities Of the treasury required,
amounting in December 1870 to two
hundred thousand dollars, in Deem
Der last to three hundred and fifty thou
sand, and constitutes what is common
ly called "the temporary debt" OF
this deot two hundred and fifty thous-
and dollars were paid in December,
I843, out of the revenue Of last year,
and the residue of one hundred thou
sand dollars will be paid off out
of the revenue of the present year,
with a balance over, as it is now ex-
pected, of near, if not altogether, a
hundred thousand dollars besides
Highly gratifying, under any circum-
stances, as would be the complete and
rapid extlnguishment Of SO considera-
bic debt, it is especially gratifying to
have had it effected in the face and I'M
der the Encouragement Of many diff
culties, and by means, too, of a reve-
nue. system which, however untried and
novel amongst us in many of its pro-
visions, has accomplished it all without
harshness, oppression or inequality.
Upon this branch, therefore, Of the
public sereice-the state of the treasu-
ry-it affords me the highest satisfac-
ton to report to you, as now do, that
everything is safe-that every engage
ment chargeable upon the treasury
within the present Year, has been, or
<svill be fully and punctually met, and
q 1sat a handsome surplus will remain
for such appropriations to the public
welfare, as your wisdom shall determine.
Upon another, and associated branch
of the public interest-the pecuniary
credit Of the State-it affords me equa
satisfaction to report, and in the same
terms, that everything also is safe -
that the strenuous exertions which
were made to maintain it with inviola-
Bile fidelity, cost what it might, have eff.
fectually protected it against every pre-
tence of suspicion, and that the bonds
on the Commonwealth, as a conse.
ouence, now stand, where intrinsically
they deserved always to stand, at pre-
MUM IN the market. This happy re.
suit is, in both cases, the direct and ID
climate effect Of bold and wise counsels
promptly, heartily and faithfully sus
tanned by those who, at last, had L
carry them through. And rich in it
practical benfts as this result may
well be considered to be, it is yet i'm
measurably more so, as having reveal
ed, in all the circumstances which
brought it about, and revealed through
the most infallible of tests, how keer
and deep are the sensibllities Of GU
neople TO the obligations of nationa
faith, and how over-mastering and IN