Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1845-12-11
ANNUAL MESSAGE
~ TINE -
GOVERNOR on IIRGlhIl.

LArLtI1NE4 DEPARTMENT. ,
slaI have DE hdnor d ,ncos. -. -
mitted 5 H. ed p Teqest tha. may besa-
= ,e 49, q lsiesaes- am. mos, respectfully
JAMES Nj MCDOWELL.
Aoins spsaksr Of DE Hose d Delegates. :
ftlloap- Citizens Of fIe Ss,ats
aadef ~ HSussef Delegates:
~, an grasle % say il Ills annual communication.
4eni e aiieet N an i.ernnl onIes seoi or
s ass and ; Sc q: e, s. SINGLE
without oppression Ifrm public burthens Or
from business disorders Ga asides We have been free
from any unusual disaster, affection OF wrong have
maintained involaie uie laws and credit Of the Stale
have suffered il nothing from which sound condition
Of public uses and private morals conla protect
have been blessed generally bya kind Providence, with
our usual hea and, II in particular places the profits
of hsbahAy have been lost from the severity
season. general means Of subsistence quite equal
il is believed for our general wants. f
And here, in further enumeration Of advantages, Twill
add, that Temporary debt, which amounted 10 three
hundred and City thousand dollars three yars ago, has
been entirely extinguished that Staie stock IS at
premium and that our revenue for the present calendar
year will be more than adequate the ordinary wants Of
the goyernmen-resnlis which have been accomplished
under two successive reductions in the rate of tax, and
under system Of taxation by far satisfactory and
more equitable than The il has recently succeeded
and important aggregate Of general good-the condition
Of the State j. highly satisfactory and furnishes to cer
tain extent the evidences Of well-doing and welor
dered Ce9rn9nweaiih But in other respects, and those
inseparaby connected with every form OF public and pr
vale welfare, that condition much less satisfactory
and is SUCH indeed that wise and provident people,
having the control Of IN their own hands should permit
to continue This IS true especially the labor and ed
ucatiun of peoplcthose parental Interests which lie
at the foundation Of all Others and whose Improvement
and union form together SO esseuialu part Of the refine
ment, vigor and prosperty Of State Instead OF chg
rshing these Interests with the anxiety and care which
was the clear duty of the government have done we
have aided neither Of them BY any effecfual system o
public means aild have very generally ministerial 70 e
wants OF both with as renctan' and backward spirtas
if the welfare and efficiency of State consiste in
something else than In the number of hands and minds
that were freely integeniy and uscfully employed,
No community, free and able is, provide for
welfare il pleased and pressed ours by the grow
ing necessities ola suffering and critical situation make
that provision boldly and completely has ever perhaps
permitted enfehing an anionnto of lis intellect and m
dustry to be given up TO so much appropriateness and
waste. The Illuminating extent which the very alpha
bet Of knowledge unknown amongstus, tells how deep
y our intelligence has suffered, and still suffering from
neglect whilst the no less humiating amount Of our in
tenal and export trade when compared with the size and
fertility of the State, tells how efectuay part of
private labor has been destroyed by the oyerpowering
difficulties which attended the transportation and ex
change Of its products. But this is not all. Another
and probably worse effect Of this neglect is the dis
turbing and unhappy influence which il eaeFts over the
loss the productvenes Of labor which has occasion
ed having fallen with more severity upon certain geo
graphical portions of the State than upon Others il has
excited an impotence and sense Of wrong amongst
them, which il foreign TO the interest Of common peo
which y daily suparading To its other
mischief strong and bitter Of sectional dsaecon
Such beingthe condition of these interests submit
them to the Legislature with an earnest commentator
to provide for them both speedily and efficiently
their Importance and the power Of the State will jus
tify In this the Legislature viii perceive the renewed
several occasions urged upon its adoption and which
urge upon again, certainly in spirit of idle impor
nifty but from the most solemn conviction that il is
only just wise and benecent policy indispensable
the good government Of the State but which the Le
gislaure cannot continue to postpone without eparable
evil and which, or later, it will be compelled tc
adopt upon principles Of selfdeence If Virginia would
retain the masses Of her people who crowdmg into
other States, and thus save for her own power, the
youth, enterprise and wealth which she is annually Civ
ing up 10 the power Of Others she must direct the adj
minsraon Of her government TO make their inter
est far itcan be done, to remain where they
All that necessary to accomplish this purpose cannot
| indeed be done blythe Government hut what can be
done, ought to be done. The emigration which is en-
feebling and wasting us to a vital degree, must if posi-
ble be stopped, and this, far as that emigration de-
ponds upon internal causes and therefore within the
reach Of positive control, the Government cooperate
and is bound to cooperate in efiecting And that il
within the reach, available extent of such con
troll is evident from the fact that the causes which gen
orally Cypress the condition Of people and drive them
1 a
Of national personal relief have scarcely
conceivable existence operation here. We have
territory incapable offurther settlement subdivision
no population pressing on the limits Of subsistence
capital and business so concentrated in few hands
place the great body Of society under their command
we have none of these Of hardship dependanc
poverty for which emigration offers, wherever the!
are found, the common and efectua remedy. On III,
contrary, il is known to all, that if population wer
several times greater than is could be maintained
employed not only without the slightest burden up
onou capabilities but with the most obvious and decid
ed benefit 10 their development and activity Still
people abandon US. SomN to withdraw from Slave
holding community some io make more profitable ap
plcation Of their slave labor to the staple products
other States to avoid associations which time ant
changes have rendered painful some TO retrieve upon
new theatre their losses in business and others thai the
may rush to the newest and most stirring scenes and pro
secue the purposes Of life in the midst Of excitement
enterprise and adventure. These make up movabl
class of people whose emigration is bnt dependan
upon the policy Of the State, and whom therefore, W
may not by any change IN TINT policy expect to retain.
But there i another and very numerous class, who
influenced by none Of the considerations suggested
hard working, provident and valuable class, who
tached TO tesr homes, and to all the uages laws and
sociatons which surround them, but who obligee
nevertheless Ito abandon Them all under the stern
auirements OF duty to themselves and their families
Without any adequate market near them, and wiiho,
any distant one which they have cheap and suitab
access the whole products labor are so absorbe
III the expense Of exchanging them, and the expense
self IS So irreducIbe by any economy or prudence
theis that the only alternative left them is 10 toll on
comparative poverty, 70 60 elsewhere, where their e.
ersions can b turned 70 wiser and better account
However natural and proper for citizens thus situated
do this il neither the the other for the Sta
passively allow it. She j the final sufferer Of ever
loss which emigration involve, and she, too, Is n
final and ghtful party to prevent the loss, whenever
arises from general distractions 10 labor, which priva
means are adnped nor sufficient oremoye. Let d
oructions which have already operated so disasirou
lIywhic have parayzed the labor, disurbedthe peac
the education nteniicted the intercourse, low
cred the moral and social advantages Of large POI
tion OF our peopelet them but continue, and the ruiz
Gus process Of depopulaton and impoyershment now
Il work viii 20 on with accommodating force until the Con
monweal win be rendered powerless for The ygorot
II measures which her restoration will require Bnie
Virginia therefore, Is ready TO submit herself 70 The u
miigated cyl OF snch result and, forgetting alike h
security and herTenown Is willing 70 drag on IN down
ward career Of angushment and decay. let cf put lori
her POWER and remove once the obstructios whic
are 81 overwhelming her people, and thus enable n
great mass Of them 10 find as eligible home within The
n native borders d any where beyond them She canine
l1ndeed By any eEerton or policy d hers, take fro
other States any advantages Of residepce which are
culiar 10 fem but she check the emgraiing spil
land overent Of her people, BY raising up kindred ~
leouyalent advantages OF her own To this end ana
one f tie suret and most Indispensable OF AL the meal
81 obtang IT, let the Legislature revise amend and e
large our systems 81
RI EprcArfox AND lxTKEKAL InrKovEnEsr.
Tnr,r % the first Of these subjecis nothing nee
r "a mon he general question Of IL Importance.
viii suhf in addition what has been said m iorm
cou1.nunsations remark or two only upon some q
.hsr aspscs And, first il i obviously ilnportznt ~
the feesafufe should setfle definitely upon the grouI
on which this subjsctis % Be g p
nj .fhF q slss saaiE Il N y lsdg'rsns y sassi