Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-10-09

will, In all appointments, vote with
out fhvor, affection, partially or pre-
ljudice; and that win not propose or
assent to any bill, vote or resolution
which shall appear tome injurious to
the people, or consent to any act or
thing whatever that shall have ten.
dency to lessen or abridge their RICH Is
and privileges, as declared by the
Constitution Of the State. So help
me God.
On the seventh ballot Mr.. w.
O,Neil Perkins was declared duly
elected Speaker of the House.
The newly elected Speaker then
took the Chair, and delivered the fol-
lowing remarks:
Gentlemen of the House of Represen-
tdtiUes:
In accepting the position ofSpeak-
err of your honorable body, cannot
refrain from expressing to you my
grateful appreciation fthe high hon
or which you have conferred upon me,
and returning you my sincere thanks
for the distinction you have shown
In assuming the duties you have
assigned me, while 1 yield to none
upon this floor in devotion to the well
fare of my State, yet must confess,
as | look over this assemblage, that q
feeling of unworthiness eonstrains
me to say that tins important trust
might have devolved upon many. a
member of greater ability than my
self.
My only hope, therefore,. of doing
Justice to the position and credit to
your judgments arises from an hum
BILE reliance upon that spirit of har-
mony which feel sure pervades this
entire body, and upon the certainty
of having your earnest and hearty
cooperation in every effort / NAV
make to regulate our future delibera-
ton. ..-..... d., ....,
This Legislature has assembled at
one of the most important eras in the
history of the State of Tennessee. =
For several years past the anomalous
spectacle has been presented to us of
a State supported pecuniarily by the
contributions of her citizens, vet with
ligence which made up that support
rigidly excluded from any participa-
ton in the benefits of her govern
ments.
The motives which were assigned
by the party lately in power for adj
opting course SO destructive to the
best interests of the State, and so an
tagonistic to every principleof repub-
lican liberty, and the different steps
by which our Commonwealth has
emerged from the darkness of polit-
zeal bondage and placed herself upon
a platform of equal rights and equal
benefits to all, need not be discussed
at this time, nor in this presence.
Suffice II to say that, as the inevi-
table result of its own workings, the
policy of prescription has been broken
to pieces, and we are to-day allowed
I to look upon body of legislators
fresh from the masses of the people,
free from the bias of sectional strife or
party demands, and representing the
interests of the whole State.
Upon this, gentlemen, / congratu-
late you T; and earnestly invoke yon
to come up to the discharge of your
duties under full sense of the impor-
lance of your situation. l beg you to
reflect that the attention of all your
sister States is fixed upon you at this
time with more than ordinary inter-
est; and that questions of vast mo-
ment-questions frOught with the ftt-
ture veal or woe vf Tennessee-await
your decisive action.
can not refrain from admonishing
you of the great necessity which ex-
lists for the utmost prudence and mod
GRAFTON in your councils.
AS the representatives ola political
revolution, we are called upon to
avoid the danger of an extreme
course; and, casting aside all petty
animosities and lingering resent
ments, to legislate in the spirit of
charity and forbearance.
At the same time, gentlemen,
urge you, in the performance of your
duties, not to abate one jot or little of
your zeal I'm the cause of constitutions
al liberty. We are here at the behest
of great State, and it behooves us
so to demean ourselves, that the flu
ture historians may be able to record
no act of ours as unworthy of the de-
mands of the hour or recreant to the
trust which she has confided TO us.
/ thank you again for the honor
implied in your selection and ask
your aid in the performance of its du-
ties, ~