GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE AND ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE PUBLIC OFFICERS OF THE STATE, OF THE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS, AND OF THE VISITORS, SUPERINTENDENTS, AND OTHER AGENTS OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OR INTERESTS OF VIRGINIA. PRINTED UNDER THE CODE OF VIRGINIA. RICHMOND : WILLIAM F. RITCHIE, PUBLIC PRINTER. 1851. 2 Ya Dee 2.10[Doc. No. 1.] 185 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY 7 Dee 23 butt from the Borginen Hale Guye & Hanford, unser LIST OF DOCUMENTS ACCOMPANYING THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. No. 2.-Report of the Auditor of Public Accounts. 3.-Report of the Treasurer of the Commonwealth. 6.-Report of the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia 8.-Report of President and Directors Eastern Asylum. 9.-Report of President and Directors Western Asylum. 10.-Report of the Adjutant General. 11.-Report of Visitors of Virginia Military Institute. 12.-Report of Superintendent of the Armory. 13.-Report of Superintendent of Public Edifices. 14.-Report of Board of Directors of Penitentiary. 15.-Bank Returns. 16.-Report of Superintendent of Weights and Measures. 17.-Report of Weighmaster of Live Stock. 19.-Report of Agent for International Exchanges. 20.-Report of the Attorney General. MESSAGE. To the General Assembly of Virginia. GENTLEMEN, The circumstances under which you have convened and organized are of no ordinary character. Since the adjournment of the late general assembly many, and it is confidently hoped, beneficial reforms have taken place in the organic law of the state. We are in the dawn of a new era. The convention, which assembled in the capitol on the 14th day of October 1850, in pursuance of laws enacted by your predecessors, "to consider, discuss and propose a new constitution, or alterations and amendments to the existing constitution of the commonwealth," terminated its labors on the first day of August last; and the instrument which was the work of its hands was on the fourth Thursday of last October adopted by the citizen suffragans of the state as the CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA, by a majority amounting almost to unanimity. What a sublime spectacle is here exhibited! How strikingly does it illustrate the beautiful theory and practice of representative republican government! With what unbounded confidence it should inspire the friends of such a government, and with what awe and reverence it can but impress its enemies! Our beloved commonwealth has just passed through a revolution, instantaneous and radical in its character, operating upon and affecting every class and condition of society, and yet all is peaceful and quiet within her borders. It was not the achievement of the sword, its pathway is not traced by the blood of the citizen, no desolated kingdom witnessed its triumph, and no emblem of glory adorns the military chieftain. In the first days of our republic it was ordained as a part of the basis and foundation of government, that when it should be found inadequate or contrary to the purposes for which it was created, "a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable and indefeasable right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal." And in accordance with this wholesome and wise provision of free government, incorporated in the organic law of our state by the patriot statesmen by whom it was founded, and recognized and acknowledged by their descendants, the civilians of our own times looked to the councils of the state instead of the tented field for the redress of grievances under which they lived. The people WILLED a change of government, and it was made; and now it remains for you, the re presentatives of their choice, in your legislative capacity, to perfect and carry into practical operation this new system. Its merits were elaborately and ably discussed in the convention which framed it; and more recently its several provisions have been thoroughly canvassed and considered by every section, county and neighborhood of the commonwealth. It is unnecessary, therefore, that any eulogy should be passed upon such of its features as may be considered conducive of good, or that the evil tendencies, whether real or imaginary, of other provisions should be made at this time the subject of comment. It may not, however, be improper to express the opinion that the friends. of reform and of a truly representative republican form of government will never have cause to regret the change. The unanimity with which it has been sanctioned by the people of the state is well calculated to inspire its friends with an abiding confidence in its merits, and gives assurance that, on your part, individual prejudices, should they exist, will be forgotten, and that each will vie with the other in the advocacy and adoption of such laws as may be required. to give it efficiency in its operation. The distinguished ability with which the executive department of the government has been conducted by the statesmen of our own and former times, and the proud position and merited fame of our judiciary, exhibit in a forcible light the wisdom and fidelity with which the duty of electing these officers has been discharged by your predecessors for a period of nearly three-quarters of a century. The new constitution relieves you of this important and weighty responsibility, and transfers to the suffragans of the state the right to elect the executive and judicial, as well as the legislative officers. This new feature in our organic law excited the apprehensions of some as to its practical operation. But with the experience before us of some of our sister states that have adopted this principle, and remembering the moral and intellectual character of our fellow citizens, and the high sense of honor which has ever characterized the Virginia people, it is confidently believed that with the experience of a few years, the fears of the most timid reformer will be dispelled, the prejudices of those most wedded to ancient customs will be removed, and confidence in the wisdom and integrity of the great body of the people will take the place of distrust in the minds of those who fear that political and other causes may endanger the healthful exercise of this power on the part of the people. By our present system, that identity of interest and reciprocity of feeling which should always exist between the representative and the constituent will be maintained; the officer, holding under the immediate and voluntary suffrage of those who are directly and most deeply interested in a faithful discharge of his duties, will be inspired with confidence in his position, and a fearlessness in the discharge of the functions of his office; and the people, conscious of the great responsibility with which they are clothed, will feel a lively interest in the subject, compare opinions, and elicit information from every source. And thus, whilst the exercise of this power will unite and endear more closely the citizen to his government, it will enlighten and elevate the masses upon whose intellectual, moral and political education, depends the stability of a representative government. When we consider the many inestimable advantages which must inevitably accrue to the suffragan by extending to him the right to elect to office the men of his own choice, it must be to you a source of unfeigned gratulation that another provision of our new constitution extends the benefits resulting from the exercise of the elective franchise to a large and respectable class of our citizens, who heretofore have been driven from the polls, and whose poverty appears to have been their only fault. That Virginia should have so long retained this exclusive and anti-democratic feature in her state government, and that this numerous class of citizens should have acquiesced in it up to this time, is another striking illustration of the fact, "that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed," and proof conclusive that our people, though acquainted with and jealous of their political rights, are nevertheless pre-eminently a law abiding people, and unwilling to seek constitutional reform by other than constitutional means. I herewith transmit you a copy of the new constitution, from which it will be seen that many subjects embraced in it will require legislation on your part to give it efficiency and effect. It makes it your duty to cause every city or town, the population of which exceeds five thousand, to be laid off into convenient wards, and establish in each a separate place of voting-to district the counties for the election of justices of the peace, and to divide the state into three districts for the election of a "Board of public works" by the people. How these wards and county and state districts shall be laid off-whether immediately by the legislature or by commissioners appointed for the purpose, will be a subject for your consideration and decision. I cannot dismiss this subject, however, without congratulating you upon the fact that these are the only geographical divisions provided for in the organic law of our new government, and they are not political in their character. Those arbitrary lines by which the state has been heretofore laid off into political divisions and districts, were unnecessary and unwise in their conception and only productive of pernicious results. These lines are now obliterated. And though our magnificent mountains traverse the state from one extremity to the other, they no longer are assumed to divide a people having conflicting interest and a separate destiny. Henceforth, the Blue Ridge will not form a dividing line between the East and the West; Tide Water and Piedmont, the Valley and Trans-Alleghany are united by indissoluble bonds, and with a common interest and a common destiny we shall know no East, no West, but all shall be VIRGINIA. I cannot too strongly recommend the adoption of such measures as will effect a speedy organization of the new Board of public works, The interests of the state require it, and particularly that great and growing interest over which this board is designed to take control. At an early day, before our government had become so deeply interested in the subject, a board was organized by the appointment of commissioners taken from different sections of the state. These com |